Guest of the Week: Benita and Reijo Rantamäki, nature lovers with a motorhome

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Benita and Reijo Rantamäki, or Rantamor and Rantafar as they call themselves on their blog, love motorhome life. Travelling mainly in the mountains of northern Sweden, but also exploring Norway and Gotland, they enjoy life in nature. This often involves activities such as fishing or berry picking, and the blog features pictures of fantastic meals prepared from what nature has to offer.

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Benita also has a great interest in photography, which of course is reflected in all the beautiful pictures of nature and food. Feel free to read the interview with Benita and Reijo, where they talk about motorhome life and their favourite places, and also take a look at their great blog. Rantamor's adventures and stories.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? Where do you live and what do you do when you're not travelling by motorhome?

We are two overwintered hippies, or well, we are two rather positive two human children, who moved from Ostrobothnia in Finland in 1974, to Timrå. I had one child in the move, and there were two more born in Sweden, suddenly we were a family with three children, two girls and a boy.

Thrived, built houses and put our whole soul into football when the kids were young. Two teams where we were involved as coaches and team managers, we thought life was just the best, and could really have paved our garden, which got no love at all. But we enjoyed life together with our three children, lots of outdoors and lots of fishing and camping holidays.

How long have you had a motorhome and why did you decide to get one, Benita and Reijo Rantamäki?

We always had a fondness for motorhomes, but never had money earmarked for them. My great-grandfather had an electrical company, and in 1994 he converted his Mercedes bus into a somewhat functional motorhome ... we were absolutely blissful. On the back of the bus we made a slogan..."Hello and kiss holiday bus" and we loved our motorhome bus.

We bought our first real motorhome, a Dethleff -90, in 2007, which was brought home from Stockholm and we enjoyed our gem incredibly. 2015 we bought our current motorhome Swift Kontiki -98, what a luxury we just enjoyed, and still enjoy Kottebobil. We just love motorhome life!!!

What is the best thing about motorhome life? What do you usually do when you are travelling?

So the best thing about motorhome life is the freedom, to just be able to stay where we see a nice place to park, we very rarely live on campsites, should probably be when we are so dirty that we can not even sleep with ourselves without wrinkling ... sorry ... wrinkle the nose. We just love spring when we can drive the motorhome out, and just have everything planned after a cold winter.

Can you tell us some of your favourite places to go with your campervan?

After all, we have been very keen on Borgafjällbut in recent years we've really set out to explore the Nordic countries. We have visited Gotland two years now, and just love Gotland. Gods so beautiful and heavenly.

We have visited Norway, crossed over from the Riksgränsen and to our incredibly beautiful neighbouring country, we went the entire North Norway's fjords, stayed and fished in fjords, we enjoyed the trip so much that it is still in our minds. We finished up in Kirkenäs. But we turned a blind eye to the North Cape which was both expensive and overrated, there were several free alternatives for the view.

This year we also travelled to Norway and had selected Lofoten as a travel destination. But this year we went from Finland, up the Finnish arm towards Kilpisjärvi, a really beautiful road. Then went over to Norway and the beautiful Skibotn which was just so wonderfully beautiful. A road to really recommend. Lofoten IS beautiful, but has become a bit touristy, we thought, who like beautiful quiet nature, a little stingy with free pitches actually.

But then we went Vildmarksvägen this year, an incredible trip actually, the Stikkenjokk road was just opened, and there was snow by the road which enhanced the holiday trip incredibly, and it was just so beautiful that we swooned. Before 10 July you were not allowed to stop and or drive off the road up there, because there has been so much theft of bird eggs, and to allow the birds to nest and protect their eggs and young.

Therefore, we returned later and had a fishing licence and hiked on the bare mountain and fished in the beautiful small lakes that are up there. And since there was plenty of snow left then too, we just had to bury the fish in the glacier snow around the lakes. It was just so incredibly beautiful that the tears flowed sometimes when we sat there and just enjoyed it.

Can you share some good cooking tips with local ingredients from nature?

We can recommend Borgagården in Borgafjäll where we have been served good food the times we have eaten there. Otherwise, we prefer to cook ourselves, grill and eat mostly self-caught fish. Our favourite tip when you have managed to land a delicious piece of fish is to:

• Wrap the fish in foil with plenty of butter, also inside the fish.
• Season and salt, slice an onion and a few slices of lemon.
• Place the foil packet on the grill for 20 minutes without turning it over.

A real gourmet dinner for those of us who love fish!!!!

Can you tell us about your interest in photography? What kind of photographic equipment do you use?

I really like photography, see pictures everywhere, have a Nikon D7100, and some macro lenses. My interest in photography has probably always been there, and when our children thought I should fix a blog, it became so.

Where was your last motorhome trip and what are your travel plans for the near future?

Our last trip went to Borgafjäll, where we have a boat to winter, and where we usually pick up a reindeer at the slaughter in the autumn. We travelled from Borgafjäll over Gitsfjället and over to Stalon towards Stikkenjokk, where we collect the reindeer.

Finally, a question we ask everyone we interview: What is your dream destination?

Because we are a bit Nordic, we have a longing to return to northern Norway, and we want to experience and visit Åland, which we have not yet experienced at all. Now winter is coming soon and then we are making new plans for the summer and Kotteboibil.

Thank you Benita and Reijo Rantamäki for sharing your experiences and thoughts!

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