The not-so-easy journey to ticking the Northern Lights off my list

The northern lights are something that permeates the imagination of most people. Cast the first stone who has not watched Brother Bear and not been thrilled, right? Every year thousands of people around the globe travel to Nordic countries and buy costly tours to hunt for the lights, with the conviction that all the time and money spent will guarantee an unforgettable sighting of this solar dance in the skies. However, my experience ticking off the northern lights from my bucket list was not easy at all. Here is everything you need to know about the search for the northern lights, without unrealistic expectations.

By Anna Rizzo

@annarizzo_m

I chose the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, for my hunt for the Northern Lights. Exotic country, a land of fire and ice, abundant in natural beauty, surrounded by volcanoes and fascinating geothermal pools, Iceland is ranked third among the best countries to watch the lights, with the first being Norway. I recommend buying a collective bus tour, it is cheap and efficient.  The ideal is to have at least four nights available for your hunt and schedule the tour on the first day of your stay because if the weather forecast does not help (and, believe me, it doesn’t!), you will have the other nights available. That’s what I did.  But as soon as I set foot in the country, a heavy snowfall took over the national territory.

To be able to see northern lights, you need to have three factors in your favour: dark skies, high solar radiation and no low clouds. The website https://auroraforecast.is/ is the best to monitor all these indices, if you choose Iceland to have the experience, don’t take your eyes off it!

In my case, I had already rescheduled the tour three times, it was my last night in town and, to my despair, my last chance to see the lights had been cancelled again: the weather would not change at all.

Checking the forecast on this site, I noticed that the day after my departure, the indices would be very favourable! The low clouds would have diminished, leading to better visibility. 

So I bet all my money and faith on it, I paid fines and postponed all my flights to stay one more night in the city. I bet big! Because, you see, the conditions for watching the lights are very unstable. Even with a forecast of a big solar flare and clear skies, you might end up seeing nothing! I took a deep breath, crossed my fingers, and cheered: it was that night or nothing.

The Big Day

I woke up with a blue sky – wonderful – that was a good start! Throughout the day, the snow was coming back, and…. tours were cancelled. No way. I had spent a lot of money to stay that extra day, I was determined I would not give up. The forecast on the website showed that, yes, midnight, the sky would be very favourable and it would be possible to see the lights, but the tour agencies didn’t want to risk it. So the night came and I started monitoring the forecast every minute, following the best visibility points on the map: I decided I would go to see the lights on my own! Knowing I would need a dark environment to find them, I thought there was nothing better than… the sea.

Play like a Pirate!

Yes, the sea. It was eleven o’clock at night and I walked to the docks in search of a fearless fisherman who would venture with me and his boat into the bay of Reykjavik. Winter in the Arctic Sea is absurdly cold, and there I was paying 80 euros for an unknown man to spend two hours with me standing on a boat in the middle of the sea, looking at the sky.

At about 1:30 a.m. on a freezing winter night in Iceland, after much sacrifice, I saw the most beautiful green lights. Tears rolled down my cheeks (and let me tell you they almost turned into popsicles!).

To tick off the northern lights from your bucket list you need to have courage, be prepared for adversity, and follow your intuition. Nature listens! Oh, and wrap up warm.

Don’t forget to wrap up warm!

---

Who is Anna?

---