Northern Lights

[HirplesWithHaggis]

DH has a fascination for the Northern Lights, and I'd like to give him the opportunity to see them in real life. In February 2024 he will be 65, and we will (probably!) be celebrating our 40th anniversary November the same year. Both fall in peak aurora season, whoopee! I'm not a high earner, but with four years to save should be able to squirrel away a couple of thousand.

Anybody here done this? There are a number of organised tours, one including a night in a "bubble" (www.buubble.com/) which look tempting and I like the thought of visiting Iceland. I haven't organised foreign travel since our honeymoon, do I book well in advance and pay it up, wait for a last minute deal?

Yes, we did it last January. We went to Reykjavik.

Transfer from the airport was easy. We booked a transfer and the bus (coach) was waiting outside. Took about 40 minutes.

We opted for a minibus tour for the Lights as I didn't want to be on a huge coach. We booked with Time Tours as they had a 5 star rating on Trip Advisor, something I'd never seen before. We were taken out by the owner of the company, and that man knew his stuff. Even had boozy hot chocolate for us at one if our stops. It was a steal at £90 for the both of us (picked up at 9pm, dropped back at 1am).

That was the best value thing in Iceland. To get there (we flew from Manchester) was reasonable. To stay (we stayed at the excellently located Radisson Blu 1919) was reasonable. But that's it. Everything else is eye wateringly expensive. Roughly £10 a pint. And for the two of us to have burger/chips and a drink in a bar was £50. We bought the DC a bobble hat and some haribo type sweets each. That was another £50.

We went for three nights and booked our tour for the first night, as then we had two more chances. Tour operators will usually move uih to the next day if you're not successful. Happily we were.

I got some okay photos with my phone (Google Pixel 2, which had just come out). But the best ones were taken by our guide. He then emailed them to us at no charge. He even told us to stop trying to take them, to enjoy the show and let him do the photography. So we did. Plus it was really cold every time I took my glove off.

I agree with what other people have said about them not looking like that. To us they were white. But you could see them moving and dancing very clearly.

It was incredible and we loved every moment of it. And now every holiday since feels inexpensive!

This is one that our guide sent us.

By going in a minibus, we were able to get down this small track. It was DH and I and three other couples on the minibus.

If you click on the picture, you can see the fantastic backdrop we had.

@FiveGoMadInDorset if you Google birdwatch g boat tours they sail out of Poole and Swanage

Thank you! I'm almost embarrassed we've never considered a boat trip. We go abroad a lot as well as to Cornwall and always, always go on wildlife boat trips, just never done one from our own back yard

Thanks Lauri, I'll have a look round FB. Though the top of Louden Hill maybe isn't as romantic as a cruise to the Arctic Circle...

damn sight cheaper, mind

I would love to see the lights. I'm just outside Glasgow but I know a few people who have seen them up at White Lee windfarm. That's only about a 20min drive from Killie. Follow Aurora watch and take your chances one night up at the windfarm!

North wales also has fantastic (no guarantee!) northern lights. This article is about a friend who is a photographer here. More than once he has gone to Northern Europe to photograph the lights, come home and had a better ‘show’ here. Light pollution is so minimal up around Penmon on Anglesey.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/stunning-timelapse-photos-show-northern-16102780.amp

@HirplesWithHaggis sorry have only just logged into Mumsnet again!
Our cruise was approx. £1300 each but this did include ALL meals which were lovely - also please bear in mind that when buying food and drink in Norway, its bloody expensive so inclusive meals saved us a fortune (we think). We didn't join any excursions as they were pricey, but someone on board said that they contacted the excursion companies directly and saved a good 30% each on the cruise prices.

I would really recommend this cruise. It can get a little boring at times when you're going from port to port in the dark (most of the time) but getting off, relaxing, eating and sleeping in a comfortable bed without having to drag your luggage around with you was amazing. Happy to give more info if you need it.

@HirplesWithHaggis sorry, forgot to add that the price also included flights from Gatwick and transfers to/from the ship

We would love to do this, as both my children are a bit obsessed with seeing them. It's so expensive, but 3 or 4 years to save sounds doable.

@Unicorn34, many thanks, I was hoping for a savings target and you've given me one! And it's do-able. Ooh, excited all over again!

And I was accepted onto the FB aurora Scotland group, wow, I had no idea sightings were so frequent here! Have nagged DH to rejoin FB so he can see them too, might get him out one night.

I went in January, stayed about four days and nothing happened; apparently the night we flew back, they were spectacular!
Given the tiny window of daylight/gloom for sightseeing, we did seem to spend a lot of the day just hanging around waiting for the lights to happen. This was in countryside though; Reykjavik might be livelier. If we'd seen the lights, of course, it would have been worth it.

We see them regularly here in Northern Canada.

We saw them in Canada in August, apparently they’re quite common and no one else seemed that bothered by them.