Honestly, seeing the Northern Lights in person is one of the oldest items on my life list. As long as I have had a life list, I have committed to seeing them in person at some point in my life.
So, when we decided to go to Iceland for 24 hours, I immediately got excited that this was potentially the best chance I have had yet to see the lights. Why? Well, where we were staying was not in a city, it was kind of remote, and I was banking on the fact that being more ‘in the middle of nowhere’, the Aurora would simply just show up more.
But, what wasn’t on our side was the fact that we were literally there for one night! I have heard many stories from people who visit for multiple nights, and simply because of unfavourable weather conditions (too much cloud, for example), they weren’t able to see the Northern Lights at all. So, it definitely felt risky.
With that in mind, it was probably for the best, because we ended up having zero expectations that we would actually get to see them.
When we turned up at our hotel, there was a sign-up sheet where you could ask for a wake up call post 12am if the night staff spotted the Aurora. Of course we signed up! I thought this was a great service!
So, after our day out at the Blue Lagoon and our yummy dinner, we retired to bed. We had a glimmer of hope that it seemed like a super clear night (check out this photo of the sky before we went to bed), but honestly, I think we both had resigned ourselves to having ZERO expectations for actually getting a wake-up call.
Anyway, I was in the deepest sleep when suddenly, a phone rang out of the darkness. When I tell you I had the biggest heart attack and for some reason my brain was screaming at me that the phone call was because it was morning and we had missed our flight home..!! 😅😅😅
After a few seconds, and Lu shouting “GET YOUR CLOTHES ON”, I remembered that this was the Aurora wake up call!
We quickly rushed to put some clothes on to deal with the freezing outdoor temperatures (though in our haste both of us forgot coats and I had to come back in to get them later!) and ran outside.
I will share now completely unfiltered pictures of the Northern Lights that we saw…
Okay! So a couple of things:
- We didn’t see the strongest, most dynamic Northern Lights in the world! In terms of the display, it was definitely more on the underwhelming side to what I had somehow been expecting.
- HOWEVER! That does not take away from the fact that I have absolutely witnessed the Northern Lights with my own eyes, and it truly is an astonishing phenomenon to see IRL. Simply seeing the colours in the sky is absolutely fascinating and does feel very ethereal.
- (But I would also love to get to see a stronger display in a round two at some point, pretty please 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽)
So, we stood outside for about 30 minutes marvelling at the Aurora, and there were also a bunch of other guests outside which added to the vibe. However, after that we absolutely had to go inside as it was FREEZING! Even getting my fingers out to take photos or videos was a real struggle!
We went back to bed, absolutely satisfied at what we had experienced, and so thankful!
