WHAT ARE NORTHERN LIGHTS?
The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as ‘Aurora borealis’ in the north and ‘Aurora australis’ in the south..
Auroral displays appear in many colors although pale green and pink are the most common. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with glow.
The Hunt for lights….
The hunt around Arctic Circle started with 11 travel buddies for 17 days (#travelbuddiestalk). As per predictions , year 2017 is one of the best. The 11 year cycle will make it less intensified in coming years which will be again at its best in 2025.
Day 1 & 2  (Stockholm – Sweden) : We landed at beautiful city of Sweden Stockholm, city with colorful buildings. The city brings lots of colors which is seen in its old structures of town. City runs on buses, trains, trams and ferry. We were mainly attracted to the ferry rides, by which we moved around

Day 3 & 4 ( Kiruna – Sweden ): The first destination in our list to hunt for lights was Kiruna. When we stepped out of this airport it was like a harry potter movie. There were snow covered roads and trees and that’s it. It was a dream place.After such a scenic ride, stay at ICE HOTEL was like cherry on the cake. Its a world famous hotel . For art lovers they have an exhibition of snow & ice.The entire hotel and all its sculptures are made of ice from the frozen Torne River just beside the hotel. It is at Swedish village of Jukkasjärvi – 200 km north of the Arctic Circle. Each sculpture is made of ice and its amazing to watch it. Since the night was cloudy we couldn’t see lights that night.

Next morning was again wonderful as whole city was covered in white snow and we were to catch train to Abisco National park. The station and whole journey was amazing.

Day 4 & 5 & 6 (Abisco – Sweden ): When we reached Abisco National Park , it has just one place to stay and that’s STF Turiststation. This place has many activities like dog sledging, lights, hiking etc.
Early morning we went for hiking till lake Torneträsk where I lost my phone and I was without phone for next 15 days
There is a sky station near by and chair lift to reach top. It was closed down for repair. But nothing could stop us trekkers . Though we had to return from the last patch since it was getting cloudy and felt like it could start snowing any time, but the view from there was worth the toil. On our return we saw the magnificent canyons in all possible geometric shapes. After a most tiring day, we were relaxing and there we caught a glimpse of lights just outside our cottage.

When sky is not clear and there is light pollution, lights are seen in white color. There are shapes and formations seen but with naked eyes we were not able to see the green color. This was our first day when we spotted the lights and we were busy in setting up camera and taking pictures and trying various settings. We were also wondering whether we would be seeing the real green colored lights or its just this way. Though we saw many formations when we walked to more dense forest area. We 11 buddies walking together and it was all dark and everyone were seeing different colors with their color schema in their eyes   .We also named the lights as “Arora Uncle” and it was a fun walk.

After spending 2 nights at Abisco and spotting lights we had to leave for next destination by train to Narvik and then bus to Tromso (Norway).
Day 7 & 8 (Tromso – Norway) : Train to Narvik is most beautiful journey I have ever seen in my life. We saw snow fall, rivers, Fjords of Norway … view is just breath taking. All hunters were busy in enjoying the view as this beauty is difficult to capture in camera.
When we reached Narvik , there is a bus which takes you to Tromso. Now again talking about this bus and it’s ride is one of the best experience in life. It was a 5 hour ride which cost approx. 2500inr and was worth every penny. The buses were very comfortable with an in-house washroom  The view was amazing. No words can describe it. We saw almost all colors of nature from orange to white to green to brown to…..I dint feel like even blinking my eye for a second not to miss a single thing on this path.
The bus was on time and immediately when we reached Tromso (all about port and bridges) , there was a message by tour guide Andrie (#Enjoy the Arctic).We put bags in hotel and he sent message that lights are seen ,go out. and yes there were some spots of lights in city but we were very keen and excited for this tour because if lights are not seen then Andrie (tour guide) drives till Finland too. We immediately started drive with him and what we saw was magical.. We thought we are hunting lights but here lights were following us and everywhere we could see were green lights. We were taken to place which is far from city and the formations and colors what we saw were simply magical. We actually felt emotional and that was really a moment of happiness, sentiments and dreams coming true for everyone. That was a Diwali night and sky showered us with lights and colors of all kinds. There were so many formations seen on sky that if we had asked anything else then our wish would have been fulfilled. Formations with green ,pink and magenta …really breath taking.
We had campfire and food and lights. Some pictures were taken but we were just amazed with nature and its show.

After reaching hotel (after midnight) we had another beautiful day, the next day.
The Fjords tour , Fjords are Norway and Norway is Fjords. We went for drive and drove till islands of Tromso. We covered one full island and its border. The view again here where changing as we go ahead. There were different colored mountains, water, small red colored houses. Different Fjords which has high cliff and rivers in between, Norway is just about that. Its beautiful. Its Raw. Its Pure.
By evening we also walked in city which has churches , bridges and ports. There are cable cars which takes you to top to enjoy the whole panoramic view of city.

Day 9 – 14 (Iceland) : Road trip to Golden Circle of Iceland begins. It started with relaxing geothermal spa at Blue Lagoon at Reykjavik. After spending 3 hours in spa we started moving to hotel and we were followed by lights again.One more show for lights with all different formations here. The sky was completely covered with green lights.

Day 1, We started a road trip with Gulfoss, Geysers (near active volcano area) , Seljalandsfoss (this fall has both front and back view), silfira (rift formed with North America and Euresia) and ended a day with most famous spot of Bollywood movie (Dilwale) by SRK – A plane wrek. The walk to this place is 1 hour(5-6 kms one way) and we all typical fans walked till that spot in windy crazy rains on black sands. We were late to drive back and it was raining. Iceland doesn’t have street lights so its safe to drive back before day light ends.

The overnight stay at guest house and Icelanding owners were very welcoming. Breakfast next day had all traditional options from cheese to cakes.
Next day we explored glaciers of Iceland like Jökulsárlón, Skaftafell national park (again small trekking), beaches , light houses. And funny boomerangs at every place were part of our journey. There was music , masti ,food and stunning view throughout the journey. The Icelandic coffee are really good to try out. We also paid for highly expensive but delicious soup in country. We drove back from coastal area and again it was a amazing drive.

On day 3 of trip, we went to widest waterfall of Europe – Dettifoss .It is very far away to drive but worth a place to visit.On our way we explored active sulfur lands with natural geothermal water pools.

Day 4 , we explored canyons (Kirkjubaejarklaustur ).Reindeer , Sheep (with thick woolen layers) and Icelandic horses are commonly seen crossing your path while driving. The houses have unique structure with red or black colored roof.

Crossing this nomad land to city also includes crossing a long tunnel which is made under the sea.
City welcomes you with old structured church, small lanes , colorful houses, small café and people riding cycles.Our road trip ended and we were ready to get good sleep and pack bags for next destination…but no wait…lights loves us…it follows us…it was waiting just outside our guesthouse. Whole sky in green to give us warm GREEN good bye.

Day 15 to 17 (Croatia) : Next destination is to celebrate lights and say cheers to our travel. Its Croatia.
Day 15 : When landed at Dubrovnik,  it’s a small town near coastal area. Hotel was just beside beach and morning breakfast was with a view. The city is mesmerized by “Game of Thrones” and you can simply walk whole old town and be part of this crazy famous show. Old town is a beautiful walk surrounded by ports, sea , blue water (yeah finally we could see some different color ), small red colored roof houses.

From Dubrovnik there are 2 ways to go to Split : by Ferry or Bus. We took bus as it was late and cheap.
Bus ride again was 4 hours but scenic as it covers whole coastal route .
Day16 : It is good to stay at Split as there are multiple options from Split to travel to different places as this is the biggest tourist destination. The stay villa was very close to port and old town. People chose different options for this day to explore. Few went for city explore and shopping, few went to some near by islands and I chose to goto Krka National park which is mini version of UNESCO heritage site Plitvice lakes. The locals suggested us to goto Kraka instead of Plitvice as it takes less travelling time plus its more beautiful. So we just followed what locals say and changed the plan at last moment.And no doubt, krka was very beautiful with wide collection of waterfalls which are at different levels. The path throughout was small wooden narrow lane and there is a walk and small trekking involved here. I always end up with option where mountains, lakes, rivers and trekking is involved. Nature always attracts me towards that direction. We spent around 3-4 hours inside and returned back. After returning back, we had a small walk in city and old town. Also could see beautiful colors of sunset near port.

Day 17 : This is last day of trip so we all decided to be together and make a islands tour. There is island called Hvar and blue caves close to Split. The Island of Bisevo is composed of limestone rock & is inhabited by just a handful of people all year round. The cave which was formed by erosion from the Adriatic Sea is best visited around 11 and 12 each day, depending on the time of year you visit, to fully appreciate its beauty. Once at the cave you’ll be struck by the piercing blue hues of the cave, which are caused by sunlight reflecting through the water and bouncing off the white limestone bottom. The path to enter the cave is actually a narrow one. The private speedboat and its speedy journey with cold breeze and colorful sunset was amazing. Hvar is a small town which can be walked. Small café and restaurants near port is typical traditional European coastal land.Do not miss the special ice-creams in this city ecen though it’s cold

Things about Croatia is that rates are reasonable and its not so expensive country. It solely depends on tourism for income but still they are decent enough to maintain their tradition.
With a good note and lightening memories we head back to our homes and it’s a priviledge to get upgraded to upper class in a flight after a hectic trip