Northern lights in Tromso Norway

It has been a month since I had witnessed God’s miracle, but it is still fresh in my memories.  The Northern lights is nature’s spectacular firework, and I can’t seem to find words to properly explain how mesmerizing they are. 

“Sometimes we have so many words to say that we remain speechless.”

Maybe because its the humid dry weather in most of the year in Dubai that made my husband and I longed for the snow.  This time of the year while most of the people are plotting for the summer sun, we were the exact opposite.  The dropping temperatures makes us excited to travel north where the harsh cold winds crack across our face; where the environment is in total darkness as the sun hides away from everyone on top of the Earth.  One of the most accessible place which fits this description is, Tromso Norway which is located on top of the globe.

Tromso, Norway – is located 350 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, it is called “The Paris of the North.”  We arrived in this magical place during the polar night.  What is a polar night?  It is a phenomenon that happens inside the polar circle where the sun technically disappears from 21^st of November and doesn’t come back until 21^st of January.  In this period, there won’t be any daylight but it isn’t really pitch black either, but do not get disappointed as this City is surprisingly active and famous for its party life and pubs.  It has a lot of things to offer even on polar nights from dog and reindeer sledding, fjords tour and of course the obvious one which is one of the most popular place to observe the majestic northern lights.

To be able to go and experience how it is to be literally on top of the Earth is magical itself.  It was a wonderful sight to behold, despite its cold and challenging climate conditions.  There are no boundaries to the excitement and exploring which the Arctic can bring.  The Arctic nature with its rare fauna and wilderness is something that cannot be found anywhere else in this world.  So, I got the sign right here to try and curious enough to see for ourselves the incredible wilderness of Tromso. 

Thus, made us so eager to try a different way of exploring the world.

Seeing the Northern lights is not as easy as many imagined it to be mainly because of several factors like weather condition and the solar activity.  In short, it is purely NATURE.  I had booked my “chasing the Northern lights tour” right behind the hotel, The Booking Point tour.  It is not easy to do it on your own, as you need to drive for about 2 hours or so to be able to arrive on the perfect place to see them.  There are a lot of group tours all over Tromso and mostly they are on the same price.  Before I made the booking, I had asked the agency to be honest with me if there is a chance of seeing the Aurora that night and she was helpful enough to check their predictions online and inform me that there might be a chance (with a wink) that it is still up to God in the end.  So, I trusted the Creator and paid for a big bus tour.  The big bus tour is somehow the cheapest one of all the other Northern lights chase.  Although, it is not really cheap at all but this is what I came here for.  The meeting time is at 06:00PM and the chase will be for 7hours with free hot drinks and some snacks for the whole duration of the tour.  Christian, our guide for the trip was explaining and educating us regarding the Northern lights while checking everyone’s camera and helped us on how to properly set up the settings to capture the perfect picture.  So, everyone was all set once we arrived at the location. 

The Northern lights or Polar lights (Aurora Polaris) is a natural light display in the Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in the high-latitude regions like the Arctic.  It is an incredible light show which results from electrically charged particles from the sun colliding with gaseous particles such as oxygen and nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing displays of bright and colorful dancing lights.  By the way, we know that Northern lights is mostly green but I had learned that there are some other colors like pink, yellow, violet and one of the rarest colors are blue and red. 

Some of the tourists on the bus had been chasing the lights for 2days, 5days or more and they were still unable to see the Northern lights (I couldn’t fathom their frustrations).  So, the moment we arrived while everyone was still preparing themselves to go out on a negative 13 to negative 20 degree Celsius weather.  I heard the guide was shouting with joy that we are all so lucky; Aurora was already dancing in the sky. 

I couldn’t even remember how I went out of the big bus and there I was in the middle of nowhere with my own thoughts lingering that it was just a dream.  I had tasted my tears and realized that it was….real.  I had no idea why I had cried but believe me I was out of words.  The world is so fragile and yet offered me a lot of wonders.  Wonders that I am forever humbled to be able to experience them in person.  I did not only tick off one of my bucket list but I had shed tears for it.  Tears of joy, is in fact a cliché.  It is a long-time dream to see it in person but this one is quite incomparable and out of the ordinary.

I could still hear everyone shouting and happily screaming “Oh! My God” as the Aurora was dancing across the sky above us in a spectacular show of green and purple.  Everyone was excited and I could hear it from their voices considering that the Northern light was already showing herself when we arrived.  Those little wisps of greenish and purplish made my heart leap for joy.

Now, the hardest part was staying in the middle of a negative-ish cold snowy weather, while being able to capture the right pictures properly in a pitch-black environment.  We are allowed to go back to the bus for as many times as we feel freezing.  The bus just parked right behind us with a 1 minute to 2 minutes-walk but it was way too hard to keep on walking back there with a knee-length snow. 

I did my part of capturing more than 80 photos all by myself (I think I had made my husband proud as I am no professional with his camera) and not to mention that I fell off from the big bus right into the middle of the street.  I think it was all part of this wonderful journey right?  Plus the bruises and pain two days after. Well!  Don’t worry if you do not have a professional camera that is required for this, as the tourist guide will help you with that.  They will capture your best shot if you want but there will be a payment on their website the day after your tour.  It is worth it though to bring your own camera, as they will be charging per piece of your photo ‘cause you are in Norway, it is costly.  I did have one or two from the tour but my husband Riggi said that we don’t need to purchase it as I took better pictures than those.  

The calm, icy beauty of the Arctic is impressive and a memorable sight that will stay with me forever especially seeing the Northern lights from my naked eye.

What a beautiful way to end up 2019.  It was the most cherished Christmas gift ever.

Love,

M xo

Disclaimer:

This is a personal blog.  The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.

In addition, my opinions may change from time to time.  I consider this an open-minded consequence of my thoughts and personal views.  This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point at the time being and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed may vary in the near future.