The Northern Lights

Travel and Aspiration

HOW TO WITNESS THE AURORA BOREALIS AND REALISE A DREAM WHILST EXPERIENCING SOME POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

One of the first things my husband ever said to me, that he wanted to do during his lifetime was to see the Northern Lights. After nearly 35 years it finally happened and it happened because he turned sixty and, I decided that having achieved a milestone birthday, waiting for him to realise his own dream whilst, being a workaholic probably meant it might never happen. So, he was presented with a birthday gift, he couldn’t refuse.

Personally, I hadn’t ever considered venturing to see the lights, partly because of having to endure extreme cold. But I saw it as a once in a lifetime event, that I had to make happen.

The science of the Northern Lights

The science of the northern lights, is that they start on the surface of the sun and, the news to me was that there are lights in the South Pole too. Aurora Borealis happens around the north pole, whilst Aurora Australis happen around the south pole. They occur simultaneously.

Solar storms on the surface of the sun emit clouds of electrically charged particles that travel towards Earth. Some of the particles collide with our planet, many are deflected, whilst some are captured by Earth’s magnetic field. At great speed the particles move into the atmosphere being drawn towards the Earth’s north and south magnetic poles, colliding with atoms and molecules. The collision creates heat to the atoms and molecules of oxygen and nitrogen gases and that is what creates the glow. The dancing wavy ethereal patterns of light are created by the lines of force on the particles by the Earths magnetic field.

This excitation process is happening constantly throughout the day and night, so the lights aren’t just a night time phenomenon, they are present all the time, but they can only be seen at night when the sky is clear and cloudless. To the naked human eye they appear as a thin mist that can be seen actively moving, but the colour green appears through the oxygen, with the scarlet red from the oxygen at higher altitudes smashing against the solar particles. The purple, blue and pink come from the nitrogen . The depth of the lights can be as little as 80 miles above the earths surface, extending several thousand miles above Earth.

Generally, Aurora Borealis remains in a corona pattern surrounding the north pole, but occasionally when solar activity is quite strong the lights can be visible as far south over the British Isles as Cornwall. this however is a very rare occurrence. Iceland appears to be a very popular destination for tourists to see the Aurora and that’s generally speaking, the go to place to see the Northern lights.

But, when family members or friends have set out to Iceland to see the Northern Lights, in my experience more of them have been disappointed than have actually achieved their goal. I questioned why so many visitors chasing the lights left Iceland having to contemplate making yet another trip? I thought about how I could increase the chances of both nature and my husbands aspirations aligning. That’s how I came across the town of Tromso, Norway. I had never heard of this place before but, I discovered that the chances of seeing the Aurora was considerably increased by going to see them at that destination, rather than going to Iceland.

I don’t wish to sound anti-Iceland, for many other reasons I know it will be a spectacular place to visit but, I was a woman on a mission and failure was not an option. Therefore, Iceland was not where I would be taking my husband.

So, we set out from Luton Airport (as I say it, images of Lorraine Chase in the 1980’s advertisement for an alcoholic drink, flood my memory) and in order that the experience was relaxed, I booked for us to arrive and chill out in the VIP lounge and how apt that the lounge was called ‘ASPIRE’. I could call it a coincidence but really if you think about it, travel is an aspiration; to see, to feel, to experience a phenomenon that is charged with positive psychology. The excitement that allows you to overcome the idea of waiting in airports for your flights. The anticipation of what is about to unfold does allow you to access the happy place within you. The goal is getting to your destination and that focus sets up the psychology for success and achievement. Nothing and no one should prevent you from getting to where you want to be.

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We flew out on the 11th January 2023. We got into Tromso at around 11.30am local time and immediately upon arriving at our hotel ‘The Clarion Collection’, we set down our things and took a bus ride on the number 26 that took us across the waterway past a pretty little church and headed up the cable car to a vantage point that allowed us to see the whole of Tromso. It isn’t that big, but the Christmas lights were still up and they looked so beautiful, as did the town. Pretty and picture perfect, although sadly I feel my images don’t reflect that, however they are the visual gist to what we were seeing and so hopefully it won’t offend your eyes for me to share.

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Whilst we were up on the mountain above the town, the little bit of dim light that we had, became dimmer, and it happened very quickly. Initially the excitement of taking photographs and cooing over the spectacular landscape around us meant that I hadn’t noticed the time. It was only 2.30pm. I thought the darkness must be something to do with thick cloud cover and thought nothing more about it. Anyway, we were hungry so we found ourselves a seat in the very busy mountaintop restaurant and my husband ordered Reindeer stew whilst, I had a Fish Soup. Both came with a roll and a hot chocolate and we paid in the region of £50. You would not be mistaken in thinking this was a very very expensive town. Luckily for us, we had a busy itinerary, with lunches and snacks included in all our tours and our hotel was on half board, so we never had to pay that kind of money anywhere else.

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As we sat in the restaurant it became dark very quickly, by 3pm to be exact. We returned to our hotel to coffee and cake and later on some dinner and through nothing else other than sheer exhaustion we managed a really good nights sleep.

On the morning of the 12th January we had a leisurely breakfast, kitted up for the icy cold temperatures and went out to meet the coach that was to take us to see snow domes. I point out that at almost 10 am it was still dark. Naively, I thought these domes had something to do with the local indigenous population known as the Sami people. It turned out that they were in fact Ice Domes built as a hotel and tourist attraction. I booked the excursion through a company called Get Your Guide and the write up wasn’t terribly informative and previous travellers had clearly enjoyed the trip so, I had no reason to doubt it would be a worthwhile thing to see.

Initially disappointed that I had frozen my finger tips to the bone for a commercial venture I got into the spirit of things and listened with interest at how the hotel was built every year for the upcoming season. It melted in the Spring, but each year the rebuild followed a different theme always around the Norwegian culture, always with new ice sculptures and everything in the build was made from blocks of ice. The tables, the chairs, the beds and even the shot glasses from which we were treated to a non alcoholic berry juice were made from ice.

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After taking a bunch of photos, during which I managed to damage an ice sculpture, despite being asked to be careful around them (To be honest my Google Pixel 7 which, I got expressly because I wanted to take lots of good images turned out to be flimsy and pretty useless in my extremely cold hands, gloves were not an option whilst handling the phone and in the end I gave up). We laid on an ice bed and explored the rooms of the ice hotel. I thought about that James Bond film ‘Die Another Day’, that hotel looked a bit more upmarket, but considering each build here cost 200, 000 Euros and there were only 6 rooms that melted come spring, I dreaded to think how much it might cost to stay. Although it would never occur to me to pay any price to sleep on a slab of ice.

Once we finished exploring we were given a bowl of local stew, which was very nice and hot coffee, very much needed and then that was it, we left to return back to the hotel. So, my thoughts on that excursion were, that had I known I was being taken to a hotel, instead of a truly local phenomenon, I probably wouldn’t have gone. It was a waste of money, but, I don’t want to speak in negative terms because I enjoyed spending time with my other half and I know that the engineering side of the whole build fascinated him, not to mention that the sculptures were breath taking and I had to take my hat off to anyone who could hold a chisel to sculpt ice animals when I couldn’t even hold my mobile phone to take pictures of them. So, therefore, read my honest opinion but make up your own mind, because visually it was a real treat for the eyes and if I hadn’t gone I would have remained in the dark and continued to imagine I had missed out on something.

Whilst, I was getting warm back on the bus, Asgar got talking to one half of one of the couples we had sat with to eat our meal. A Scottish couple. It turns out that the reason behind this particular trip was a surprise proposal of marriage under the lights, for the young lady. Now, it was even more imperative that the Aurora became visible. I am sure a marriage proposal would have happened regardless, but to have that magical moment of joy suddenly made even more special by the appearance of these ethereal colours, I felt the joy, for them both and silently sent out a little prayer not just for us, but for everyone on the same mission, but for different reasons.

We got back to our hotel at around 4pm, and again had coffee and cake, then we went back out and saw the smallest pub in the world. Like a little booth with alcoholic drinks on sale. We had gone to sample a non alcoholic mulled wine, but the queue was too long, there was no where to sit, and as it was well below zero by this point, we returned to the hotel with the aim of perhaps visiting the pub at a less busy time. We enjoyed a tasty evening meal and went out for a short walk during which I noticed a strange looking cloud on the horizon above the harbour. I pointed it out to Asgar who was certain it was just low lying fog. Returning to the hotel we went straight to bed.

On the 13th January we set out around 10am and visited a settlement occupied by the Sami people and here we fed Reindeer, took a Reindeer sledge ride and then got treated to a talk about the culture of the Samer people. Like the Red Indians of North America, Aborigines of Australia and the Maori of New Zealand the Samer’s experience of the invading cultures was no different. Their lands were over run and their rights were being constantly eroded, but like everyone else they tried to make the most of things by telling tourists about their life, their culture and their beloved herds of Reindeer. Once again we were treated to a local stew. They eat a lot of stews, hot and hearty and extremely filling. It was while enjoying the stew, I overheard a very interesting conversation.

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A quite vocal, American gentleman was talking to another American Gentleman. I heard him recount a story from the previous night of scenes he had seen from the skies above Tromso whilst, in the hot tub of the hotel next door to us. Apparently the skies in the vicinity of our hotel had been alive with the particles that we had ourselves come in search of. The nice man then showed me pictures, which I couldn’t believe. I told him that we had gone for a walk around the same time but saw nothing and then he explained that the aurora with the naked eye looked like very odd clouds and to see them you had to look through the lens of a camera and only then were the colours visible. Oh my actual God, I had seen the Northern lights the night before but had no idea I was seeing them! Don’t you think it seems a little bit anti climactic when you realise the naked eye sees thin misty clouds rather than actual colours?

Despite that initial thought, you can imagine my excitement, tinged with an annoyance that Asgar had dismissed my sighting as fog. Anyway, no matter because, that very night at 7.15pm we were due to go on a chase. I was not in the least bit disheartened when I saw the cloud filled skies upon our return to the hotel. I said a prayer, had a beaming smile on my face, determined that we would not be disappointed. But I had also taken out insurance in the event that my faith was misplaced.

To increase our odds of seeing the lights on this visit, I had booked a Catamaran tour on the very next night which would take us out onto the waters away from light pollution and give us a second opportunity in case our first attempt failed.

We were picked up on time and set off towards the border between Norway and Finland. Our guide assured us that on that night, it would be impossible to catch a glimpse over Tromso because we needed clear skies and that’s what we were chasing, clear skies!

Well, what can I say.. we got them and nothing prepared me for the awe that I would feel. Heavenly angels dancing around the stars is what comes to mind. All around us the shrieks of excitement and sharp intakes of breath were audible from all the other groups in fields and laybys around us. Our own little party enjoyed a bonfire with cake, coffee and marshmallows, just sitting looking up at the constellations and without having to search, the Northern lights came to us. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t see colours with the naked eye. The movement of the aurora was like nothing I had ever experienced. Looking through the camera lens and capturing images was then just icing on the cake. I would just say you need decent cameras. The Google Pixel was useless in my hands, but it didn’t matter because we got plenty of snaps to carry the memory through to the end of our days.

I had made the right decision, not to go to Reykavik. A couple of ladies I had met at the hotel, said that this was their 4th attempt to see the Aurora, that 3 previous trips to Iceland had left them disappointed. I felt a real glow that finally they would be paid for their perseverance. We had seen them and I couldn’t get enough. Realising now that the colours were absent with the naked eye, I followed them everywhere I could see them, viewing through my camera. I saw mostly greens and pinks and very slight reds, but mission accomplished. Asgar could tick this dream off his bucket list and how fortunate for me that I got to experience this with him.

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On Saturday morning our last full day, we set off to the Luyngen Alps. A short bus ride, a Ferry and then a private car took us to a fjord somewhere and there we got on snowmobiles. Before we could do this, Asgar managed to fall on ice, as soon as we arrived and injured his left hand, but he persevered and that turned out to be a pretty fun, but extremely energetic and tiring morning. We were treated to a fish stew and left to go back to Tromso.

The Troll museum was just across the road from where we got dropped off and as everyone raved about what a fantastic experience that was we decided to take a look. It was surprisingly good and amusingly interactive. I wished at that point we had more time because the pictures of rock formations that leant credence to the troll myths seemed worth exploring, especially as Asgar loves geology. Perhaps we might consider another trip and return during the summer months. After coffee and cake at the hotel we needed a rest and after dinner we went back in search of the worlds smallest pub.

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At 9pm we set out for the Catamaran, just as the wind picked up. It was slippery and icy and biting cold and the wind was difficult to push against. Not far from the meeting point Asgar turned to me and said “Shehnaz, I really don’t fancy going out on the water in this. If anything untoward happens I’ll be a real grump and to be perfectly honest my hand hurts and I’m not up for it”. Of course we had seen what we came to see the night before. The purpose of the trip wasn’t to torture or tax ourselves and so we turned back and met up with the ladies we had spoken to the day before and for the next two or three hours we chatted and laughed and reminisced until we were all tired enough to go to bed. They too had finally seen the lights. That made me feel so happy and for a fleeting moment I thought about the couple we had met at the ice domes and I hoped the proposal had happened as planned. I wished them a silent congratulations and a happy married life together.

We got home on the 15th and I was so glad to come back to sunlight, although luckily we weren’t in 24 hour darkness, the dimness and dullness, which in itself was only four hours long, did little to cheer up my circadian rhythm. We were ready to see our grandchildren and our daughters and just share our joy.

It was a short trip but filled with so much in way of memory that we could hold onto. For my husband it was an item on a bucket list, for the mother and daughter it was a life long ambition, finally fulfilled and for a young couple about to begin their lives together it was the beginning. The significance of these particles from the suns surface is more than just a scientific phenomenon. For real people it holds meaning and where there is meaning there is aspiration. Life’s aspirations are so much nearer for us than it was for our ancestors. Our great world that takes a year to travel around the sun has become so much smaller and so much more accessible for some and we are the lucky ones. As both my husband and I move forward to another stage in our lives, travel is intended to be an integral part of that and post covid, its significance is so much more front of mind.

I will just mention Asgar’s fall on the ice one more time. Over night he didn’t complain too much, but by morning it was causing him a few issues. At the airport, whilst waiting for our flight, I administered manual lymphatic drainage to reduce the swelling and therefore the pain.

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This has been the story of our journey into the Arctic Circle and our next great adventure takes us eastwards to our first port of call; Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. But for now, thankyou for joining us to see the Northern Lights.