5th Nov'2018 – Location : Copenhagen, Denmark.
It was Monday (5th Nov) when suddenly the situation on my project changed
and this sudden change got us good luck in the form of 2 days of leave. Some breather to our dying souls after crazy work days. I just tossed the idea of northern lights to my colleague and we both just jumped on to the idea. We did the entire research in just one eve and prepared our plan. So the plan was set.
3 days in Tromso. Primary Goal would be to see Northern Lights.
Based on the situation, we decided to take a last minute call on Arctic landscape and Whale Safari. We checked the site for Northern Lights weather forecast before booking our flights and it said “GO GO GO” for Thurs, Sat and a NO for Friday.
We booked our flights and hotel on Tues evening for an immediate thursday trip to Tromso. Ofcourse the trip was making a big dent in our pockets. But it was now or probably never. We booked the Northern Lights tour with a group for thursday night.
It was an amazing tour company, Wandering Owl (www.wanderingowl.com), which
was recommended to us by our friend. I would highly recommend them to anyone.
Day 1 – 8th Nov – 2 super excited souls started for Copenhagen airport at 6:30 AM. Packed with all sorts of winter wear and some cup noodles and soup packets as we both were vegetarians and it’s very hard to find vegetarian food in Tromso.
We reached Oslo by 9 Am. Oslo airport is very beautiful and lots to shop but I had to close my eyes and kill my shopaholic instincts since everything out there was super expensive. Our next leg, from Oslo to Tromso was a 2:15 hours flight. Our plane took off from Oslo at 12:15 PM afternoon. Most of the flight was filled with people coming for Northern Lights. There was a local in our flight, chatting with a few other passengers. He loudly said to one of them that the weather in Tromso is very bad today. “The weather suddenly changed sometime ago and you guyz won’t get to see anything today”. It was like somebody whispering (BOO BOO BOO) in my ears. All the excitement sinked in.
I and my friend looked at each other with complete disappointment and blank faces. We were approaching Tromso at around 2:10 PM. It was full of fog. Visibility was almost nil. Our plane kept hovering around for almost a hour as the pilot announced that we are not getting landing permission due to bad weather. Then he announced that we might not land at all in Tromso. We might have to land at another airport. Person sitting next to me was travelling for work. He says, “Do you know the airport he is referring to is 4 hours away from Tromso by drive”. His words came crashing down on me. Even if I land, we will miss our tour as the tour starts at 6 PM from Tromso city center and its already 3PM.
I must have prayed to all the gods and my entire universe while sitting in the plane. And then, all of a sudden our pilot announced that we are landing now at Tromso. We have got the permission. It was like an angel coming with a magic stick in hand.
We rushed to our hotel. Freshened up. Came to our pickup point at 6 PM. Our tour group arrived and we set off for the lights show. We were a small group of about 15 people. Our tour leader raised our hopes by saying that the mid and low level clouds have cleared and we do stand a chance to see something today. And indeed, the first teaser was seen immediately at 7:30 PM itself as we were driving north of Tromso. That was our first eureka moment (:D). We stopped by the waterfront and spent good 45 mins there with activity increasing and decreasing. But let me mention that you won’t see a bright green colour to the naked eyes. It is only captured in cameras. They are seen as white lights in darkness. You will see tinge of green, pink, purple to naked eyes based on activity, intensity and altitude.
Our next pit stop was in the forest which was pitch dark. We all changed into our winter suits & boots. It was freezing cold outside. I felt like I would become an ice sculpture myself. Tiny headlamp on our forehead was the only guiding light in that darkness. Soon, we spotted the lights again but they were steady and seen as a big patch between the mountains. We had our photography moments there ;). Later the activity started to fade and after about an hour, we headed to our camping spot near the lake in the middle of the forest. For me, it was a very different and a wonderful experience. We set the bonfire and sat around it. It was time for our dinner. Lentil Soup for vegetarians with bread. A nice cup of hot chocolate and cookies for later.
It was 10:45 PM in the night. We all were sitting, chatting and staring at the skies. No sign of any lights anywhere.
Soon they started to show up. Slowly crawling in and then at rapid speed and with great intensity. And then there was no looking back.
They danced, they formed shapes as we all started screaming “Look left. Hey !!!look right”. Tinge of pink, green. They just filled the entire sky. One guy was like…”Where do I look, they are all over”
It was the most spectacular Light Show this Diwali for me. It left us feeling surreal, divine, completely speechless. In awe of the great universe. Words are less to describe the emotion. I can only thank my universe to allow me to experience this. One of the best moments for me. As per Fernando, our tour leader, we had one of the very good Northern Lights view that night. Indeed it was. 🙂 🙂
We wrapped up at 12:45 in the night. Thought of a small pit stop again to see the lights. Then headed back to our hotels by 2:45 AM. And then it was time to crash on the bed for a very very peaceful sleep. With this ended our Northern Lights tour. A night to remember forever.
Signing off for now. Await the next post on Arctic landscapes and whale watching.
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