The Elusive Northern Lights of Norway!

Seeing the northern lights is on many a bucket list, and I am glad I managed to cross it off my list aged 34 and 2 months. For readers who wish to know more about the aurora borealis, this link is pretty useful.

It took four trips, yes, FOUR trips(!) to arctic Norway, three of them in Tromsø and one in the Lofoten Islands, before I got to see the lights in their full splendour.

Before getting to the pictures, a summary of my three failed attempts:

November 2008 - Tromsø, Norway - 1 night - camped under the stars with David, my Czech colleague, next to a sami tent (lavvu) for four hours in -20 degrees celsius temperatures - clear sky; no lights

February 2009 - Tromsø, Norway - as above, with three Singaporean girls on an university exchange program, this time in -25 degrees cold - cloudy; with some green spotted through the gaps

April 2009 - Lofoten Islands, Norway - 6 nights - My solo trip to the Lofoten Islands. Winter was ending, and I missed the final northern lights show of the season as I was on the wrong side of the mountain 

Success arrived in March 2013 - Tromsø, Norway - 4 nights - This winter was said to be the best year for northern lights in 12 years. I made sure I gave myself adequate number of nights to increase my chances of catching the elusive lights.

Night 1 - Just arrived at 2200hrs. Decided to defrost and rest.

Night 2 - Booked a northern lights hunting tour (5-7 hours for NOK 950) to chase the northern lights around the islands. Efforts from Lionel and Terje, our northern lights hunters, was commendable. After 2 hours of driving as far away from the lights and clouds of the city, we made it to Hilleoya, but alas, conditions were extremely windy and cloudy, and I only managed these pictures:

Night 3 - The weather forecase was clear, with low wind and temperature of -8 degrees. I stood outside Wendy's (my hostess) apartment and looked up for the lights. Now knowing how to spot them, the moment the lights started their show, Wendy and I went down to the nearby pier, away from the city lights, and got our cameras to work. And what a show it was....

Night 4 - Again outside Wendy's apartment, but it was cloudy, and within an hour of waiting, snow began to fall...

Last minute couch in Bodø, North Norway

Ever since finding out about couchsurfing from my sister in April 20o8, I joined the community and have been trying to couchsurf as much in my travels as possible. By the end of my European travels in early June 2009, I would have surfed more than 10 couches, and probably hosted more than 7 guests on my Oslo couch, including attending quite a few parties and gatherings, and meeting members for coffee and drinks. My profile can be found at:

http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/bentse/

This post describes the bizarre fashion I found a couch in Bodø, up in north Norway.

I had befriended 2 Czech tourists at Å, and we met again at the Moskenes jetty and contined our chat about photography, the Northern Lights and travelling on the 3 hour ferry journey. I was headed toBodø, where I would have to spend the night before flying off the next morning back to Oslo.
Saying goodbye to the Lofoten Islands


An hour away from Bodø, I told them that I still had no accomodation for the night, and that I was trying to couchsurf there, but due to the extremely few members there, I still had no couch for the night, and was hoping to find a cheap hostel or hotel.

Marketa, one of the Czechs, told me that she was on couchsurfing too, and she had actually found a couch for the night. However, she was making her way south to Trondheim that evening, and was not going to meet her host. She suggested that I contact her host via sms to check if I could take her place instead. I thought it strange to send a request via sms, but on the other hand, there was nothing to lose, and so I did. To my pleasant surprise, the host, Arvid, agreed to take me in at this last minute notice!

I made my way to Arvid's place upon alighting the ferry. Arvid would be around 40, very fit (he had just completed a kayaking tour), and was a manager of a dance club. His apartment was still under contruction, but the furnished parts were extremely modern and typically Scandinavian in design (ie nice). We had a half hour introduction and chat, he handed me his housekeys, offered me his food, TV, DVD collection, gave me permission to bring a girl home, and he left for a party. That was the first and last time I saw Arvid. I took a shower and went out for dinner, and to meet Katherine, my colleague who was staying with her family in town. I was introducing Katherine the couchsurfing concept and thought I'd show her Arvid's place, which looked like a cross between a spa and a construction site. Whilst at the entrance to his apartment, one of Arvid's neighbours opened his front door, and asked in Norwegian if we were from childcare services. Puzzled, we replied no, and ignored him. Ten minutes later, at the front of the building, a lady popped open her window, and asked us the same question! Again we responded no, but this time I asked Katherine if she should call them, as this family might have been abusing their child. I guess they raise their kids differently up North.

Katherine left shortly after, I went back to Arvid's, watched a couple of DVDs, slept, woke up early the next morning, left the keys in the living room, and caught the flight to Oslo.

Lessons learnt:

1. Couchsurfing is extremely popular, and do not be surprised if you meet a fellow member in your travels, wherever you may be.
2. Generosity and hospitality continues to exist, and sometimes it might be easier to trust strangers than friends/colleagues/neighbours
3. I appear to be a trustworthy person

Getting around in the Lofoten Islands

I spent Easter 2009 in the Lofoten Islands, a group of islands in the north of Norway, above the arctic circle, famous for its breathtaking scenery and laidback atmosphere.



I had planned to spend 8 days there, to make my way from the northernmost island of Svolvær to the southernmost tip of Å.

I had checked out all the bus timings to make the journey possible, taking into account that it was Easter period and that the bus frequency would be much lower. However, I did not take into account that it was still the low season for tourism, and that most of the hotels, bed and breakfasts and hostels were closed in this period. To make matters worst, the hostel at Svolvær was too expensive for me to stay too long, and the cheaper accomodation was at Å, all the way in the south!

Problem - How was I going to explore the middle islands without accomodation there?


I took a bus to Å on the third day. I knew I had accomodation. I just did not know how I was going to see the other islands. I read and heard that hitchhiking in the north of Norway was common and I thought it was about time I tried. Somehow the Asian mentality in me was still not too accepting of hitchhiking as a mode of transportation.

Upon arrival at the hostel in Å, I befriended 2 fellow travellers, a Finn by the name of Jakke, and an Austrian girl named Martina. We had all arrived around the same time that evening at the hostel, and I found out that both Jakke and Martina were driving through the legendary Lofotens!

I took up Jakke's offer to be his co-driver and "tour guide". He needed to know which parts of the islands to visit, and I needed his wheels. Perfect. We set off early the next morning and drove to Eggum via Reine, Borg and Napp. Jakke was short of time, as he was rushing to Tromso to meet friends for a ski trip. He dropped me off at Eggum, about 10km from the bus stop, where my plan was to either hitch hike back to the hostel, or to catch the bus, whichever was earlier. I was in no rush. I still had 4 days to discover 2 other islands on my list.

Jakke's car Beach near Eggum

As though my luck could not get better, within 5 minutes of getting off Jakke's car, Martina drove by and offered to drive me around the islands with her 2 friends! It's hard to understand how charmed I can get... we went to Utakleiv, Unstad, Nusfjord, and she even dropped me back at the hostel. And thus, I managed to see all the parts of the Lofotens I had intended to visit, and I still had 4 days to go!

And thus ended my hitchhiking opportunities...

I stayed around Å for the remaining days, doing some hiking (limited by avalanches), cycling (to find an unsecured wireless connection), photo-taking, befriending other tourists and even watching a dvd purchased at the petrol station (out of sheer boredom).

Lessons learnt:
- Sometimes less planning is better (as experienced in Morocco as well).
- Travel with an open mind. Insignificant things are better appreciated.
- People are nice and are willing to help in general. You just need a thick skin to ask for it.