I was in class 7, my Geography teacher explained to me about the phenomenon of lights glowing in dark sky in Arctics and Antarctica. I was amazed and I can recall clearly that the naive me, had wishes to see them in the terrace. After one and half decades now, the curiosity has not reduced rather growing dearly.
I was pulled back from my thoughts when stewardess announced we will be landing in Tromso in next few minutes. Flight kissed the land, I could not believe that I was in the Arctics. It was one my very very dear dreams to set foot in Arctics.
Geography: Tromso is to the north of Norway, in fact to the north of Earth, the Arctic circle.
Language: Norwegian, Nynorsk, Sami, English
Currency: Norwegian krone
Getting There: Domestic flights are available from Oslo, Bergen, Bodo and Narvik. International flights are available from London, Helsinki, Gdansk, Stockholm and Munich. Please do check as some of th flights operate only during winter. I suggest flights simply because of road conditions in winter.
What’s famous here: Northern Lights, Arctic Church.
My Story:
Dramatic views of mountains dressed in snow, frozen lakes and thin sunlight escorted me to my hotel from airport. There are frequent buses from airport to city center.
It was freezing cold, sunlight is very different in this part of the earth. There is no lack of fascinating phenomena in the Arctics. I was here in the first week of February. Between end of November to end of January, we have something called polar nights, during which sun never comes above horizon. It is hard to imagine this unless we experience it.
I had a lovely chat with hotel guys and left to explore the place. I covered streets in the city, had delightful lunch and continued crashing with arctic winds and blowing to rest of the streets.
The lifestyle here is so relaxed. I moved across the Tromsoysundet strait, walking over the majestic marvel Tromso bridge giving splendid views of the lands on either sides.
I met the Arctic church on the other side of the strait.
It was already getting dark and I had to get back to prepare myself for a very special night.
More food to energize and I reached tourist office on time. I had booked a tour with Chasing Lights and I had only one shot at this. The bus arrived, our guides for tonight, Jonas and Meda greeted us and told us that we had to go far away from city lights and look for absolute darkness to have great views of Aurora. I was praying that nature should be kind to me tonight.
Millions of miles away, Sun emits solar flares. These winds posses charged particles that travel at tremendous speed and crash onto earth's atmosphere. When they collide with earth's Magnetic shield they burst giving colorful photons. This is Aurora and can be seen in the poles.
We drove to north east of Tromso to a valley called Horse Track. It was freezing cold, snow was squeaking under my feet. I had never been in such cold until then, when I inhale my nose used to freeze and when I exhale it would be back to normal, my face was frozen. It was 10 past 9, we were still waiting in the same valley in the dark waiting for the magic to take place. To the north, our guides shouted, and all of us looked in such excitement but we could not spot anything. It was very very faint glow. So, we decided to go to a much better place and we drove for another 40 mins to reach village Laksvatn.
Even in such darkness we could absorb and notice the beauty of that place. The outline of mountains surrounding us, cold breeze and to add to this incredible location we had a frozen lake behind us.
We were free to explore the place and were moving all around. Had a nice chat with Meda and Jonas about their job and about places I have been to. The sky was so clear, though I live under the same sky, I have never seen it so clear. The stars were so bright and seemed as if they are closer to me.
A pleasant ambush in the north horizon, a faint arch growing stronger and brighter. I was looking up and smiling in awe. Slowly the wave of excitement increased and everyone were laughing, giggling, kissing and taking pictures.
In a short time the arch was huge and began to change its shape. It covered the entire sky making beautiful formations.
I could experience its full glory as there were many bursts of Aurora one after the other dancing in dark sky with its beautiful colorful robe. I have never felt nature so close to me, it was in its purest form.
I would also like to spill the secret out that, the intensity of northern lights that can be seen in pictures is not the same with naked eye. It is less intense, but that being said, it is absolutely soul stirring experience.
I felt so lucky, from being a kid when I had dreams of witnessing this celestial phenomenon to this night, on a cold winter night out there somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the arctic circle, engulfing the wilderness.
For a very small time frame I felt part of Universe than just being part of earth. It's a feeling I can't explain. A celestial phenomenon makes you feel so tiny.
After such a splendid choreography of northern lights in pure style, we decided to have a camp fire near the frozen lake. The guides spelled out saying it was -21 degrees and the feel temperature could be around -23 degrees. It is the coldest I have been so far.
The crowd was a mix of people from Columbia, Sweden, England, Korea and me from India. There were so much fun chit chatter that happened, each of us shared the best places that can be visited in our countries.
We became a little wild and started to walk on the frozen lake, rather slide I should say on the frozen lake. Holding hands and helping each other to take one step at a time. Moving boulders of ice, breaking them, having hot chocolate and biscuits in the middle of some unknown valley, how much more satisfying this can be.
It was around 1:30 AM we left the place, soaked in adventure and delight. I can't Thank enough to Chasing lights for making my dream come true and yeah all the above pictures of northern lights were shared by them
I had a peaceful sleep that night.
Early next morning I had my flight back to Oslo and to Brussels from there.
Our planet has plenty of wonders to give us. There are places that are not explored, places that are less explored and places that can never be explored.
Each inch in our planet is a gift. The versatility in texture of our planet from one place to another is above our imagination capabilities. Come to the Arctics, experience what it feels when there is scarce population, when it is freezing cold, when days and nights have a different meaning, when nature is intimidating and beautiful at the same time.
The glory of travel is the feeling of being born again. Where you are unaware of everything around you. You are a child again. You cannot read anything, you cannot speak the language, you don't know if you can even cross the road or reliably eat something present in a menu card. Your existence is new, its a series of mix of learning and guesses. Perhaps you can experience to live many lives in one single life and that can happen only through travel.
Tips:
-UR
uday.s7@gmail.com
I was pulled back from my thoughts when stewardess announced we will be landing in Tromso in next few minutes. Flight kissed the land, I could not believe that I was in the Arctics. It was one my very very dear dreams to set foot in Arctics.
Geography: Tromso is to the north of Norway, in fact to the north of Earth, the Arctic circle.
Language: Norwegian, Nynorsk, Sami, English
Currency: Norwegian krone
Getting There: Domestic flights are available from Oslo, Bergen, Bodo and Narvik. International flights are available from London, Helsinki, Gdansk, Stockholm and Munich. Please do check as some of th flights operate only during winter. I suggest flights simply because of road conditions in winter.
What’s famous here: Northern Lights, Arctic Church.
My Story:
Dramatic views of mountains dressed in snow, frozen lakes and thin sunlight escorted me to my hotel from airport. There are frequent buses from airport to city center.
It was freezing cold, sunlight is very different in this part of the earth. There is no lack of fascinating phenomena in the Arctics. I was here in the first week of February. Between end of November to end of January, we have something called polar nights, during which sun never comes above horizon. It is hard to imagine this unless we experience it.
I had a lovely chat with hotel guys and left to explore the place. I covered streets in the city, had delightful lunch and continued crashing with arctic winds and blowing to rest of the streets.
The lifestyle here is so relaxed. I moved across the Tromsoysundet strait, walking over the majestic marvel Tromso bridge giving splendid views of the lands on either sides.
I met the Arctic church on the other side of the strait.
It was already getting dark and I had to get back to prepare myself for a very special night.
More food to energize and I reached tourist office on time. I had booked a tour with Chasing Lights and I had only one shot at this. The bus arrived, our guides for tonight, Jonas and Meda greeted us and told us that we had to go far away from city lights and look for absolute darkness to have great views of Aurora. I was praying that nature should be kind to me tonight.
Millions of miles away, Sun emits solar flares. These winds posses charged particles that travel at tremendous speed and crash onto earth's atmosphere. When they collide with earth's Magnetic shield they burst giving colorful photons. This is Aurora and can be seen in the poles.
We drove to north east of Tromso to a valley called Horse Track. It was freezing cold, snow was squeaking under my feet. I had never been in such cold until then, when I inhale my nose used to freeze and when I exhale it would be back to normal, my face was frozen. It was 10 past 9, we were still waiting in the same valley in the dark waiting for the magic to take place. To the north, our guides shouted, and all of us looked in such excitement but we could not spot anything. It was very very faint glow. So, we decided to go to a much better place and we drove for another 40 mins to reach village Laksvatn.
Even in such darkness we could absorb and notice the beauty of that place. The outline of mountains surrounding us, cold breeze and to add to this incredible location we had a frozen lake behind us.
We were free to explore the place and were moving all around. Had a nice chat with Meda and Jonas about their job and about places I have been to. The sky was so clear, though I live under the same sky, I have never seen it so clear. The stars were so bright and seemed as if they are closer to me.
A pleasant ambush in the north horizon, a faint arch growing stronger and brighter. I was looking up and smiling in awe. Slowly the wave of excitement increased and everyone were laughing, giggling, kissing and taking pictures.
In a short time the arch was huge and began to change its shape. It covered the entire sky making beautiful formations.
I could experience its full glory as there were many bursts of Aurora one after the other dancing in dark sky with its beautiful colorful robe. I have never felt nature so close to me, it was in its purest form.
I would also like to spill the secret out that, the intensity of northern lights that can be seen in pictures is not the same with naked eye. It is less intense, but that being said, it is absolutely soul stirring experience.
I felt so lucky, from being a kid when I had dreams of witnessing this celestial phenomenon to this night, on a cold winter night out there somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the arctic circle, engulfing the wilderness.
For a very small time frame I felt part of Universe than just being part of earth. It's a feeling I can't explain. A celestial phenomenon makes you feel so tiny.
After such a splendid choreography of northern lights in pure style, we decided to have a camp fire near the frozen lake. The guides spelled out saying it was -21 degrees and the feel temperature could be around -23 degrees. It is the coldest I have been so far.
The crowd was a mix of people from Columbia, Sweden, England, Korea and me from India. There were so much fun chit chatter that happened, each of us shared the best places that can be visited in our countries.
We became a little wild and started to walk on the frozen lake, rather slide I should say on the frozen lake. Holding hands and helping each other to take one step at a time. Moving boulders of ice, breaking them, having hot chocolate and biscuits in the middle of some unknown valley, how much more satisfying this can be.
It was around 1:30 AM we left the place, soaked in adventure and delight. I can't Thank enough to Chasing lights for making my dream come true and yeah all the above pictures of northern lights were shared by them
I had a peaceful sleep that night.
Early next morning I had my flight back to Oslo and to Brussels from there.
Our planet has plenty of wonders to give us. There are places that are not explored, places that are less explored and places that can never be explored.
Each inch in our planet is a gift. The versatility in texture of our planet from one place to another is above our imagination capabilities. Come to the Arctics, experience what it feels when there is scarce population, when it is freezing cold, when days and nights have a different meaning, when nature is intimidating and beautiful at the same time.
The glory of travel is the feeling of being born again. Where you are unaware of everything around you. You are a child again. You cannot read anything, you cannot speak the language, you don't know if you can even cross the road or reliably eat something present in a menu card. Your existence is new, its a series of mix of learning and guesses. Perhaps you can experience to live many lives in one single life and that can happen only through travel.
Tips:
- Choose your time wisely. Between December to Mid of February is the best time for northern lights.
- Book with Chasing Lights, they are very friendly and makes sure you get the best scenes of sky drama.
- Hotels and hostels are pretty costly, book in advance.
-UR
uday.s7@gmail.com
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