Alright everyone, cue up the Frozen soundtrack and get ready to build a snowman, I finally made it to Norway.
To say I’ve been obsessed with going to Norway for the last 6-12 months would be an understatement. Most of my Instagram feed is photos of Norway, and I would just look endlessly at flight and hotel options in that glorious country. Finally, one night, the stars aligned and all of the sudden a direct flight from London Gatwick to Tromsø popped up. I had to book it, I JUST HAD TO. So I did. I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it.
Now before I tell you anything, let me just answer the hard hitting questions right away.
- No, I did not drop my iPhone off of a dogsled, or any other kind of sled for that matter.
- No, I did not sleep through the Northern Lights again. I will never live that down.
- No, I STILL have not seen the aurora with my own two eyes alone.
- Yes, I will go back constantly until I see them.
Glad we got that out of the way.
I arrived in Tromsø late one Wednesday evening, so once I checked into my hotel, I just wandered around the immediate area and found some food to take back to my room where I could obsessively check aurora forecasts. None on night one.
Thursday morning rolled around and already my aurora tour for that evening had been canceled. There was a lot of snow in the area and cloud coverage was expected to be 100% for the entire day and night. I was BUMMED, but the company was great and rescheduled me for the following night. I hadn’t planned anything for that day since the aurora tour would be the main even and I assumed I would need a nap at some point, because I’m an adult, duh, so I had to wing it that day. Winging it worked out well. I made my way over to the Arctic Cathedral, and attempted to go to the cable car that goes to the top of a mountain, but that was closed.
During the time I was wandering around the Arctic Cathedral, and back across the bridge to the main part of town, the weather changed about 13 times. I kept hearing people mention microclimates and THEY ARE REAL. Massive chunks of snow one minute, complete calm and bits of sun the next.
As I wandered aimlessly, I remembered I had looked up the brewery in town, Mack, which is (as of now) the northernmost brewery in the world, and they do tours daily at 3:30PM, so I headed over to learn about and drink some arctic beer. Then went to the oldest pub in town, which is conveniently next door to the brewery, to try some more Arctic beer. It was a great time.
While sitting and sipping on said arctic beer I decided to see if any other aurora tours were still going out that night. I knew if I didn’t go the sky would clear up and they would have the best display anyone has ever seen. So I found one and I went, and you betcha it was 100% cloud coverage all night. In fact, the tour guide said that week was the first time he’s seen three nights in a row without an aurora this time of year. So there’s that. I drug my camera and tripod all the way out there, so I at least took some photos.
Friday was full of activities, and a nap. I had pre-booked a visit to a reindeer farm, so after watching a girl take photos of her paper teacup for 12 minutes straight at breakfast, I set off to Tromsø Arctic Reindeer . The tour includes bus transfer, feeding the reindeer, optional sleigh rides, lunch, and some information about the Sami culture. FYI – this particular reindeer farm decided to bring tourists in as a way to help pay for the food for their reindeer as their herd was dying off because they weren’t finding enough food on their own, so they love the humans.
After plenty of time spent with Rudolf, Sven, and friends, I took a big old nap, then got Burger King for dinner. I do what I want.
Now it was time for another aurora hunt. I put on my 3 layers of clothing and packed up my winter gear and went swooshing off into the sunset (snow pants are loud, you guys). But for real, there was a sunset, so I was STOKED to see the sky through those clouds.
This tour was a small group of 8 in a van with a guide. Our guide had done some research and picked a spot he likes to go to in hopes of seeing the lights. We got there after about an hour of driving in the snow, and our guide dug out some seats in the snow and built a fire.
We sat there for hours and hours staring at the sky and eating some delicious reindeer soup. After a while, our guide suggested as a way to move around and get warm, he would set up for some photos. So we each at least got individual proof we were there. Shortly after this, I saw it, A STAR, which meant the clouds were moving out of our way. As more and more stars appeared we all got WAY too excited, and I think went a little bit mad while staring for so long. We think there was a weak aurora happening, that was not quite visible to the eye, but something was happening with long exposure through a camera.
Ultimately, all we really saw with our eyes was that shooting star. After about 10 minutes the clouds came back and never left. I still loved this tour and would definitely recommend Wandering Owl and use them WHEN I go back.
The tour got back to Tromsø at around 2:30am, so the following day I was in NO hurry to get out of bed. But I had to check out by 12:00, so at 12:05 I checked out, left my luggage, headed out into town and promptly rolled my ankle. Luckily it wasn’t too bad, so after a coffee break I was ready to go again. I wandered around town and hit up another pub.
I felt like I couldn’t leave Tromsø without actually eating at one of the restaurants in town that I had read about. I had mostly been eating all my meals on tours or quickly on the go, but on the last day I finally made it to one place I had been eyeballing the whole trip, Bardus Bistro, and I ate the most beautiful “sandwich” I’ve ever seen.
LOOK AT IT. That’s reindeer steak. SO GOOD.
Through Instagram stalking, I figured out the cable car would finally be open that afternoon before I headed to the airport, so I grabbed a cab over there (Tromsø has its own handy dandy taxi app, BTW, in case you also roll an ankle or are just feeling lazy). I wont lie, the cable car was TERRIFYING because I hate heights and the wind was fierce. The clouds came in as I got up there, but it was still a good view from the top, on a clear day, its probably heaven up there. After that I had to head back to the tiny airport and go home.
Even though I didn’t see the Northern Lights, I still LOVED this city and this trip. I am a big fan of snow, and would rather go to the arctic than to the beach because I’m a freak, so this trip full of giant snowflakes made my cold wintery soul so happy, aside from the injury that is still haunting me. Not quite the souvenir I was looking for, Norway. Gotta go ice my ankle now, please enjoy some more photos of this glorious place.
Elsa out.
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