[Tromso, Norway, Jan 16, 2024]
As unexpected as my trip to London was, my side trip to Norway was even more so. My friend Maria had been working at Pukka Travels, an adventure tour outfitter in Tromso, since October. Nicknamed “Gateway to the Arctic”, Tromso is 217 miles above the Arctic Circle but enjoys fairly mild temps due do the Gulf Stream. Ash was going to be busy with his conference for the next few days anyway. I couldn’t resist the chance to add another country to my list and possibly see the Northern Lights.
I woke up at an ungodly hour to catch an early morning flight to Oslo. The sun had not risen yet in London as I departed, and it would not do so until my return.
In Oslo, the sleeve would not attach on plane when we landed, so we had to sit tight for about 15 minutes. I already had a short connection here, so I was afraid I was going to miss my flight. Upon disembarking, I had to go through passport control and customs, then back through security before I could go to my gate – all thanks to Brexit. I made it to my gate just in time.
I landed in Tromso 1:45 pm, and it was already getting dark again. Tromso was nearing the end of its polar nights, the period between the end of December and end of January when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon. The first sunrise of the year was just days away, so that meant I was going to get about 4 hours of twilight. I very much looked forward to experiencing this extended sunset in its entirety.
On my bus into town, I marveled at the tunnel we entered. It was miles long and it avoided the mountain it was built under. It even had traffic circles!
The town of Tromso was still decorated with lots of lights. I guess they don’t care that Christmas was over, and I wouldn’t blame them. When the sun doesn’t rise, you need a pick-me-up!
I arrived at the Pukka Travels office to meet Maria. On our walk to lunch, I couldn’t stop taking photos – these were taken at only 2:30 pm!
The mussels and scallops at Dragoy were to die for. We washed it town with a glass of wine and even treated ourselves to dessert!
Back at Pukka, Maria had signed us up for a Chase the Northern lights tour. Our guides fitted us for snow boots and snow suits, and went over the weather forecast and our possible routes before we departed.
We drove away from the city to avoid the light pollution. On the island of Klavoya, we stopped at a shelter by the side of the road where our guides built a fire and treated us to hot soup and marshmallows. We kept taking photos with our phones to see if the aurora would show up there before we could see it with our naked eyes.
Unfortunately, the cloud cover thickened and we decided to try a different spot. We drove around for a while hoping to find a spot without clouds, but no such luck. As disappointing as that was, I will still cherish this uniqu experience. The highlight was hanging out with people from all over the world who had also travelled all this way hoping for a light show. People had come from as far away as India and Brazil! I remained hopeful that the aurora would show up the next night.