Jumping on the JOMO Trend on a Winter Trip to Finland

Travelers continue to prioritize ways of slowing down their travel plans, whether in the form of taking longer trips, spending more time in a destination, or simply choosing slower methods of getting to their destinations. 

New rail offerings and services, including Europe’s revival of night trains, investments in wellness travel that continue to deepen, even the rise of nostalgic travel trends like cowboy-cations that focus on activities of simpler times, all point to the notion that slow travel is here to stay. 

And one of the newest trends to emerge in 2025 not only centers a slower, more intentional approach to travel, it also highlights how one particular season may be the perfect vehicle to get the most out of the trend. 

The “Joy of Missing Out,” otherwise known as JOMO, is one of this year’s travel trends promoting a more relaxed way of vacationing. JOMO is the opposite of FOMO, the “fear of missing out,” which experts say is prone to inducing anxiety and feelings of dissatisfaction and disappointment; hardly the foundation of a great travel experience.

Through JOMO, travelers are encouraged to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of their modern, daily lives and be more present on their trips as a way to achieve a greater sense of peace and wellness. It’s about doing the things that make you happy and not worrying about what you’re not doing instead, where you aren’t, and who you aren’t doing those things with. And winter might be the best season to experience JOMO in since disconnecting, hibernating and recharging are natural elements of the season.

I put the JOMO trend to the test on a recent trip to Finland earlier this month with Collette, where I was in hot pursuit of a wintertime experience in a truly wintry destination, and ended up achieving that experience, and much more. 

A Wintry Travel Dream About to Come True

Finland, like all of the other Nordic countries on my bucket list, is a place I had long wanted to visit for its heavily snowed-over landscapes, proximity to the Arctic Circle, and of course, the potentially likely chance of seeing the Northern Lights on crisp, cloudless nights.

I was set to join Collette’s seven-night Northern Lights of Finland tour, visiting the capital city of Helsinki and the country’s Lapland region, located above the Arctic Circle. I wanted to experience a personal travel dream of mine – a stay inside a cozy glass dome igloo surrounded by a serene winter landscape – which I had discovered was possible years ago through none other than Instagram, where – not unlike many Millennial and Gen Z travelers – much of my travel inspiration comes from these days. 

Collette offers a three-night stay at the Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort – the same resort whose Instagram photos first drew my attention to the Nordic nation years before. The company also offers three nights in Helsinki, a city I had a separate interest in due to its world renowned sauna culture, which has earned the distinction as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Finland, a country of 5.5 million inhabitants, boasts over 3.3 million saunas.

Origins of My FOMO

My excitement for this trip ran high, but it had almost been eclipsed by another offer I received weeks before departure: a VIP invitation to attend the Super Bowl LIV in New Orleans, complete with access to official pre-game parties all weekend, special events, a field walk-on experience after the game, and an enviable suite from where I would have seen in-person what ended up being an iconic performance by halftime headliner and Pulitzer Prize-winning rap artist, Kendrick Lamar. 

What cruel twist of fate was this? I felt as conflicted and confused as Beyonce at this year’s Grammy Awards when she was named the winner of Best Country Album for her 2024 album Cowboy Carter. Here I was on the verge of finally living out my winter travel fantasy, only to be tempted by something anyone would consider a once in a lifetime experience. 

Long story short, I didn’t end up choosing the Super Bowl (or rather, fate had decided it wasn’t going to choose me), and I gladly went on my long-awaited trip to Finland, but I couldn’t help but wonder what could have been. 

Jumping on the JOMO Train

After this near-miss plot twist, I felt up to the task of trying to understand the essence of JOMO through this real-life opportunity I had been handed to weigh what was important to me. I could have moped around all week while I was in Finland, torturing myself with thoughts about where I wasn’t – but I didn’t want that. 

Instead, I dove head first into all the things I wanted to do while I was in Helsinki and Lapland. I found a traditional Finnish sauna, Kotiharjun Sauna in the Kallio district, one of Helsinki’s oldest public saunas and the last of the wood-heated saunas in the city. My visit here turned out to be a very different experience than the more touristy saunas near my hotel, Lilla Roberts, as the guests here were all locals, most of whom seemed to be arriving after work during my early evening visit. I walked around the city plenty and got to know my way around the some of the surrounding neighborhoods, one of my favorite things to do in any city I visit. 

In Lapland at Kakslauttanen, in addition to the planned activities we had as a tour group, which included a reindeer sleigh ride, dog sledding and a Northern Lights hunt, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the resort had its own planetarium – and a large one at that, a whole 18 meters in diameter. I spent my first two nights in a cozy, secluded log cabin on the property in the Gold Digger section, and made good use of my private sauna inside. I also got to know my way around the sprawling property and enjoyed the 10-12 minute walk from my cabin to the resort’s main reception and restaurant area. 

My final night at Kakslauttanen was spent in my glass dome igloo. Except that it wasn’t quite the igloo I had always dreamed of – it was better. I stayed in one of the newer Kelo Glass Igloos on the property, which is basically a log cabin and an igloo combined, giving guests the best of both worlds. Resting in a bed tucked beneath the stars with nothing obstructing my view above, I hardly wondered about anywhere else I would have rather been.