When my oldest son, Florian, got selected to study for one semester in Sweden, both he and my husband started talking about how they wanted to plan a trip to Lapland, up above the Arctic Circle, and I was like, Arctic Circle? Cold? Dark? Are you guys crazy? Even during mild Belgian winters I always feel cold, I couldn't even imagine what it would be like in Lapland. But they were determined and started investigating it and when they discovered a company that offered a four night Northern Lights package over the Christmas holidays, there was no way I was going to stay home and miss out!
So way back in August we committed ourselves to spending Christmas in Abisko, Sweden. and putting ourselves entirely in the hands of the company Lights over Lapland, for the full four days - accommodation, all meals, activities and a nightly Northern Lights photography session were all included. All we had to do was make sure we had plenty of warm clothing and an SD card each for the cameras they would loan us, and get ourselves up to Abisko two days before Christmas.
We met Florian in the airport in Stockholm - it was wonderful to see him because despite Skype, Messenger, and email, there's nothing like getting a real in-person hug from your 20-year-old kid you've been missing. (I might have shed a tear or two, but they were definitely happy tears.) Then we all boarded a plane bound for Kiruna, a mining town in the very north of Sweden. What an experience getting out of the plane and seeing nothing but snow everywhere. We were lucky as far as the temperature was concerned - the driver who picked us up told us that they were having unseasonably warm weather (-5 to -2 C) and it was actually causing a lot of problems. We, however, were relieved it wasn't too cold. But man, was it dark.
The drive out to Abisko, 90 km further north, was made in complete darkness even though it was mid afternoon. All I could see was the snowy road in the headlights in front of us, and a herd of reindeer at one point standing like ghostly apparitions on the side of the road. In Abisko, a small village originally established to keep the railway line clear so the iron ore mined in Kiruna can get to the sea on the Norwegian coast, there is also a national park and lodge for visitors. Our guide for the week, photographer and adventurer Oliver Wright, met us as we arrived and helped us get checked into our bungalow that would be home for the next few days.
At dinner, we met the rest of the folks who would be in our group - Aimee and Toby, a young couple from Australia, Dixon and Joanne, a young couple from Singapore, and Helle, a Danish woman who also happened to live and work in Belgium - at the same place my husband works! It truly is a small world sometimes. We really enjoyed getting to know everyone over the five days we spent together. Our group clicked amazingly well.
After a three course gourmet dinner each night (with a delicious different alternative every evening for the one vegan in our group - me - which was quite a treat all by itself), Oliver took us to a different location to attempt to photograph and view the Northern Lights or as they call it there, Aurora. We each were loaned a fancy camera, a tripod, an Arctic jumpsuit and Arctic boots to keep us warm. Oliver helped us get the cameras set up and made sure we knew what we were doing in order to get great shots. The only hitch was...would the Aurora make an appearance? This is the one thing no one can predict. But the team at Lights over Lapland is pretty confident that if you come for four nights, you'll have a 95% chance of seeing Aurora. So it was our first night, we weren't worried at all, but were very excited.
We headed out to a site that is a replica of a traditional Sami camp. Oliver set up a fire inside a hut and we all started practicing taking pictures with the wide aperture and long exposure settings that would get us optimal Aurora pictures. I don't know anything about photography so I was unprepared for the effect this would have on pictures taken in the pitch dark - I could not get over how they looked like they were taken in broad daylight!
Yes, this is me, in front of a Sami structure with a very faint line of Aurora behind me.
It was actually pitch dark. But this is what it takes to catch the Northern Lights on film.
We were very lucky - on our first night out and after a bit of patience, we saw the most amazing display of Aurora...and soon enough it got intense enough that it could even be seen without the help of the camera.
The next few days were one incredible experience after another. We spent a morning on a frozen lake, ice fishing with Roger Marklund of Activities in Abisko. Despite the fact that no one actually caught a fish, we had an awesome morning on the ice enjoying the beauty of the Lapland scenery and sky. We ended up spotting a very rare Nacreous cloud while on the lake, while enjoying a glass (or two?) of Roger's vodka spiked lingonberry tea. It was Christmas Eve, after all, right?
We got a chance to try snowmobiling and man, those things go fast! I flew off the trail and over a rock at one point but luckily no harm was done, to either the snowmobile or my passenger, Helle. Phew!
And we had three more evenings with Oliver and our group, taking photos and waiting for Aurora to start up, chatting around the fire and drinking the ubiquitous lingonberry tea (without vodka this time to be sure we all made it back home at the end of the evening).
Our final day, a huge snowstorm blew in, meaning a lot of activites got cancelled. We were supposed to go up the mountain in a chairlift to the Abisko Mountain Station, to view and photograph Aurora. The raging storm winds meant the chairlift was closed, and we had to make other plans. Oliver suggested hiking down to the lake (about 1.2 km downhill in about 30-40 cm of snow) where there was a boat house and sauna building we could use as a shelter. Everyone in our group was up for it, so after dinner, we got suited up and bravely hiked down, and got our cameras set up. This was the coldest night we had experienced so far, with temperatures at about -15 C. Still not terrible but I could definitely feel a difference to the previous nights. Consequently I spent a lot of the evening in the sauna room, by a fire, talking with Helle, Aimee, and Joanne. The guys were all outside enjoying their last chance to get pictures. Suddenly, Oliver burst in, excitedly telling us that the Aurora had started up. So we all went outside, and were blown away by the best display we had seen so far. I ended up not even taking many pictures because it was all over the sky and just too amazing not to watch with my own eyes and experience the moment fully. At that moment I could really understand the magic of the Aurora and why it draws so many of us to come and find it. The way the lights dance and shift in the sky, the way they seem alive, is bewitching. You can't help but stand there with your mouth open, saying wow over and over again.
And then I was grateful for all the walking and hiking I've done over the past year, because we had to hike back up to the lodge - 1.2 km in 30-40 cm of snow UPHILL this time in a heavy Arctic suit. It felt good to know I could do it without a hitch but I certainly was sweaty when I got to the top.
And so our trip came to an end. We said goodbye to all the new friends we had made, we thanked Oliver for the wonderful job he had done taking such good care of us. We boarded the bus back to Kiruna, this time in the gorgeous mid-morning blue light, and we sat with our mouths open the whole 90 km ride back, enjoying the Lapland landscape, the amazing colors in the sky (another Nacreous cloud our bus driver Ingrid stopped to let us all take pictures of because they are so rare - go figure that we saw at least three of them during the five days we were there), the many reindeer and the one single fox we saw along the way.
And then Kiruna-Stockholm, goodbye again to Florian, and finally Stockholm-Brussels. Where it felt amazingly balmy at 16 C the next day, and I could wash our woolens and hang them out in the sun all day long to dry. What a contrast! I won't lie - it felt great to see the sun again. But I feel so very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience Lapland and the Aurora in the dead of winter, something I never thought I would do.
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| The Nacreous cloud we saw while ice fishing |
And then Kiruna-Stockholm, goodbye again to Florian, and finally Stockholm-Brussels. Where it felt amazingly balmy at 16 C the next day, and I could wash our woolens and hang them out in the sun all day long to dry. What a contrast! I won't lie - it felt great to see the sun again. But I feel so very grateful to have had the opportunity to experience Lapland and the Aurora in the dead of winter, something I never thought I would do.
I guess I'll just have to wait and see where my other two kids go if they do an Erasmus semester...do you think it could get any more exotic than this?
