Your travel specialist on: The Northern Lights

On my Bucket List was to go see the Northern Lights. I talked my husband into going to Fairbanks, Alaska with me for this purpose and he said never again, it was 40 below and he said he had done his cold weather training in the Marines. When I said I wanted to go to see Norway’s northern lights, he said – have a good time, so I went alone. I’ve visited Norway many times, since I used to go skiing with my family when I lived in Great Britain. I’ve also done the fjords cruise many times, so I know how beautiful the country is.

I flew to Bergen, and boarded a Hurtigruten coastal cruise all the way to Kirkenes, on the Russian border. You can visit 34 different ports, and this is the Norwegian way to deliver mail, supplies, and for the locals to visit family. Many local people just hop one and only go one port before they get off. You can watch them load fresh produce from local suppliers which they take up the coast to little towns and villages. Some ports you aren’t there long enough to get off, and others you have time to go explore the town. My two favorite places are Tromso and Trondheim. There were very few foreigners on board, just a few nuts like me, and a group of British astronomy lovers who had a University professor with them who gave smashing lectures on board. It was much warmer than Alaska, and the Northern Lights were better so I was happy. I haven’t seen all the colors yet.

They now have a fantastic offer. They are so confident that the Northern Lights will make an appearance during your Norway cruise that if they don’t they give you the cruise free of charge.

The cabins are basic, but the food and service was excellent. You visit ports which big ships cant enter, and you are off the beaten path for tourists.

Because of the proximity to the Gulf Stream, powered by the rotation of the Earth (the Coriolis Effect) the harbors along the coast of northern Norway are free of ice throughout the year. Norway’s Gulf Stream climate is the largest positive temperature anomaly relative to latitude anywhere in the world and creates unique access to Arctic environments. The different colors reported range in shade from red, yellow, green, blue to violet and the cause for the change in hues is due to the different gas properties and particles interacting with each other.

NASA predicts that this winter is near the peak of the 11-year cycle for dazzling displays of the Northern Lights. The closer you are to the Earth’s magnetic poles, the better the quality of auroras you will see. Tromso is situated right in the middle of the Magnetic North Pole and traveling along the celebrated Hurtigruten Route from Bergen to Kirkenes will offer travelers the time needed for unforgettable Arctic and Northern Lights experiences.

You have the opportunity to take a husky sledding tour, visit the hotel that is made entirely of snow and ice, drive a snowmobile in the Arctic, explore the North Cape, and a must, is to attend a midnight concert in the Arctic Cathedral.
You have the choice of dates starting in October 2015, thru March of 2016. You can go for 6, 10, or 12 day cruises. They have 15 ships, holding 100 to 600 passengers. You travel very close to the mainland, so there are no rough seas to worry about.

I enjoyed it. Loved the food, the people, the scenery, and I would take a Northern Lights cruise again.

Go on our website www.allhorizonstvl.com and explore.

Do something different this winter.

Maureen Jones
Scandinavian expert

Maureen Jones is president of All Horizons Travel at 160 Main Street. Members of her staff are experts in business travel, cruises, and all types of leisure.