Northern Lights - December 2013

swatchie

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It is not the most accessible place. But the scenery is :eek:

Can break the journey too. Northern lights in Mohe is seen in summer, not winter.

But from what I read, the viewing of northern lights is best viewed 9 days around summer solstice. And the temperatures in those 9 days before and after summer solstice can mean bitter cold. Even in the 2 weeks of summer they enjoy, its between 10-20 degrees celsius. I can't imagine what it will be like when the midnight sun goes away.. :eek:
 

swatchie

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Still, it would not be -22 to -40 deg cel right?!?!!

I have no idea bro. And seems like no one on the internet has any idea too :s13: But I'm pretty much set on going to Yellowknife next year in Sep when temperatures are nice and cooling in autumn and to catch the autumn foliage in the great outdoors :)

ps: I hope not to experience -40 degrees again. My last brush with bitter cold was 10+ yrs ago when it was -45 degrees in toronto with wind chill factored in :(

On the upside, schools were closed :s13:
 
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bedposthalo

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Never dreamed about catching the northern lights..

If I plan a trip for 2, about how much should I budget for each person? Including flight, accommodation, etc, $3-4k enough - per pax?
 

swatchie

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Never dreamed about catching the northern lights..

If I plan a trip for 2, about how much should I budget for each person? Including flight, accommodation, etc, $3-4k enough - per pax?

Depends on where you wanna go I guess. If you wanna go Norway or Iceland or Canada and just see northern lights, nothing else, I reckon at least 10k for 2 pax.
 

dilphinus

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Depends on where you wanna go I guess. If you wanna go Norway or Iceland or Canada and just see northern lights, nothing else, I reckon at least 10k for 2 pax.

Norway, Denmark and Iceland are notoriously known for being expensive. Say if just going to one place to just see the northern lights, then maybe $5k each is just sufficient.
 

applefreak

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read that a sandwich in norway cost around 10 pounds and a beer is six pounds :o

am doing research currently for my dec 13/jan 14 trip
will be spending a week in norway (tromso) to max out my chance of catching the northern lights
likely to join NL chase for at least one of the nights (with Guide Gunnar hopefully whom i got to know of from tripadvisor)
maybe get a 2D1N tour for staying in the Sami tent / dog sledding
and one of the nights will be doing the bus-to-Skjervøy-hurtigruten-back-to-tromso

if anyone interested we can meet up in tromso to go NL chasing together :D
 

Kurosaki @ Ichigo

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read that a sandwich in norway cost around 10 pounds and a beer is six pounds :o

am doing research currently for my dec 13/jan 14 trip
will be spending a week in norway (tromso) to max out my chance of catching the northern lights
likely to join NL chase for at least one of the nights (with Guide Gunnar hopefully whom i got to know of from tripadvisor)
maybe get a 2D1N tour for staying in the Sami tent / dog sledding
and one of the nights will be doing the bus-to-Skjervøy-hurtigruten-back-to-tromso

if anyone interested we can meet up in tromso to go NL chasing together :D

Hi, can share ur plan? Planning to go in sept but haven't decide on Norway,Iceland or Canada.
 

applefreak

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at this current moment nothing very concrete yet
will be spending two weeks in europe, one of which will be in tromso, norway for the northern lights
the other week will probably be joining either trafalgar or insight, still not decided yet
looking at this trafalgar tour
http://www.trafalgar.com/gsa/jewels-of-italy-2013

i'm going for norway coz of the proximity to other european countries and the shorter flight
norway is notoriously expensive though...
 
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daydreamer007

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pitching in.

spent 10 days in norway over cny this year, of which 1 week was above the arctic circle. flew in to tromso and cruised to kirkenes on the hurtigruten. blessed to have caught the NL on the 3 nights (all on NL chasing tours) we were out.

do also spend some time enjoying other winter activities such as snowshoeing, dogsledding and king crab fishing. you wouldnt want to leave this beautiful place remembering nothing but the wait in bitter cold, just in case lady aurora doesnt show up for the date =:p
 

Kurosaki @ Ichigo

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at this current moment nothing very concrete yet
will be spending two weeks in europe, one of which will be in tromso, norway for the northern lights
the other week will probably be joining either trafalgar or insight, still not decided yet
looking at this trafalgar tour
Jewels of Italy 2013

i'm going for norway coz of the proximity to other european countries and the shorter flight
norway is notoriously expensive though...

Hi,

I didnt know that norway is an expensive place to go. If that is the case, would gg to canada and norway be about the same price?

I am still deciding on which place to go for the NL. I heard canada has a nicer view for NL. Is it true?
 

applefreak

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pitching in.

spent 10 days in norway over cny this year, of which 1 week was above the arctic circle. flew in to tromso and cruised to kirkenes on the hurtigruten. blessed to have caught the NL on the 3 nights (all on NL chasing tours) we were out.

do also spend some time enjoying other winter activities such as snowshoeing, dogsledding and king crab fishing. you wouldnt want to leave this beautiful place remembering nothing but the wait in bitter cold, just in case lady aurora doesnt show up for the date =:p
lucky you! hopefully i'm as lucky as you to catch the NL on my chasing tours too

am planning to visit the polar zoo, take the cable car, snow mobiling and snowshoeing as well

care to share more about your trip so that we can get some tips while planning our own?
 
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applefreak

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Hi,

I didnt know that norway is an expensive place to go. If that is the case, would gg to canada and norway be about the same price?

I am still deciding on which place to go for the NL. I heard canada has a nicer view for NL. Is it true?
all taken into consideration, canada might even be cheaper than norway

like i mentioned earlier, i chose norway for the shorter flight and proximity to other european countries...

nicer view or not i'm not too sure
if you're really lucky you can even catch in down in london...
i guess anywhere in the arctic circle is a good bet :D
 
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daydreamer007

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lucky you! hopefully i'm as lucky as you to catch the NL on my chasing tours too

am planning to visit the polar zoo, take the cable car, snow mobiling and snowshoeing as well

care to share more about your trip so that we can get some tips while planning our own?

chances should be pretty good. summary from one of the guide showed NL caught on 83 out of his 86 trips this past season. but of course, sightings can be anything from whitish looking strips in the sky to full formed coronas. keep those fingers crossed!

my suggestion is to go on as many chasing tours as you can afford, or at least be somewhere outdoor without light pollution. don't think "i will be happy with one session" because you will want more of it. especially if you had stayed in and the next table in the breakfast room started talking about 'the spectacular show last night'..
 

Ev0d3vil

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read that a sandwich in norway cost around 10 pounds and a beer is six pounds :o

am doing research currently for my dec 13/jan 14 trip
will be spending a week in norway (tromso) to max out my chance of catching the northern lights
likely to join NL chase for at least one of the nights (with Guide Gunnar hopefully whom i got to know of from tripadvisor)
maybe get a 2D1N tour for staying in the Sami tent / dog sledding
and one of the nights will be doing the bus-to-Skjervøy-hurtigruten-back-to-tromso

if anyone interested we can meet up in tromso to go NL chasing together :D

All small pizza costs 15sgd already. Bought in Oslo.
 

dilphinus

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A few friends and my brother who have seen the northern lights say it's only nice on camera. It's nothing fabulous as seen with the naked eyes as on pictures.

It is how the camera process the captured lights, with long exposure. Something our eyes cannot process.
 

applefreak

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chances should be pretty good. summary from one of the guide showed NL caught on 83 out of his 86 trips this past season. but of course, sightings can be anything from whitish looking strips in the sky to full formed coronas. keep those fingers crossed!

my suggestion is to go on as many chasing tours as you can afford, or at least be somewhere outdoor without light pollution. don't think "i will be happy with one session" because you will want more of it. especially if you had stayed in and the next table in the breakfast room started talking about 'the spectacular show last night'..
guide happen to be Gunnar?:s13:
planning to go on 2 NL chase with him, and one of the nights doing the Skjervoy Hurtigruten back to Tromso
one more night either NL chase or Snowshoeing
the main purpose of the trip is to see NL, so must max out my chances...
hopefully i'll be able to catch a brilliant display of it when i'm there

what did you do during the day?
am trying to find out how to get to the polar zoo but proving to be tough...
also, did you rent a car? thinking of renting a car to drive to polar zoo :(
 

applefreak

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A few friends and my brother who have seen the northern lights say it's only nice on camera. It's nothing fabulous as seen with the naked eyes as on pictures.

It is how the camera process the captured lights, with long exposure. Something our eyes cannot process.
if the light is weak then yes the camera catches it better
but if it's a 10, then you will see exactly what the camera captures...
 

wuso

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if the light is weak then yes the camera catches it better
but if it's a 10, then you will see exactly what the camera captures...
No, if its the highest activity, the camera can't capture what you see..... ;)

After a "failed" attempt 3 yrs ago, and a successful one this year, let me share what I term as my 3 levels of aurora sighting :

level 1 : you see very faint greenish light, such that you are not even sure if its the northern lights... but, when you expose longer on the camera, yes, it becomes brighter and nicer

level 2 : the lights appear nice and in all manner of shapes - absolutely beautiful. it will fade. it will change shape etc gradually. of course, photographers also like to expose a little longer to show some super intense colours

level 3 : the lights weave around the sky like a snake; its like a timelapse movie... absolutely surreal... I was trying to frame a nice shot and 'kanangkapo', as in like dunno what to do.... the lights are just *moving*, its crazy... in the end, I just gave up and watch in awe.

Still photos can never capture the essense of the writhing lights; normal digicam video also can't capture it. I think probably only the highend videocams can......

So, not everyone who see the northern lights is the same..... :)
 

daydreamer007

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guide happen to be Gunnar?:s13:
planning to go on 2 NL chase with him, and one of the nights doing the Skjervoy Hurtigruten back to Tromso
one more night either NL chase or Snowshoeing
the main purpose of the trip is to see NL, so must max out my chances...
hopefully i'll be able to catch a brilliant display of it when i'm there

what did you do during the day?
am trying to find out how to get to the polar zoo but proving to be tough...
also, did you rent a car? thinking of renting a car to drive to polar zoo :(

one trip was with gunnar, the other with marcus, also from gunnar's associated group of companies.

we did snowshoeing the first morning there. took it easy walking around town the second day onwards, visiting the polar musuem, polaria etc. we returned to the hotel earliest at 2-3am every night, and after wash-up, browsing the photos for the day.. it was impossible to get out of bed in time for morning activites.. :s13:

its indeed quite a long way to the polar zoo. there seems to be a bus tour from tromso every friday (not sure if it only operates during summer)? very pricy though, just like almost everything else.

oh, and i highly recommend the fish gratin at emma's if you are a foodie like us. its really really yummy!!
 
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