The ever changing sky have always been amazing, showing us the mixture of colours that we thought we could only see on the palette. Starting with a ray of pastel sunrise, a baby blue background with a swirl of clouds and finally the red, yellow, pink and orange of the sunset, its always been a breath-taking sight. At night, apart from the moonlight, the stars were the little white dots that make up the view. The few lucky occasions, when the sun rays and the rain drops collide, we get to see the spectrum on the rainbow. But on an overcast day, its just all grey that turns to a tinge of red at night. All my life, these colours have been the ones at view when I look at the sky, until I came to Finland for the aurora.

Seeing the northern lights have been one of the far-fetched dreams that I never knew I would get to experience for real. I never hoped that high only to get myself down when I haven’t got a glimpse of it. I guess I just knew better from a lot of friends that have been to almost all of Scandinavia, only to come back empty handed. Even with careful planning, no one could really guarantee seeing it unless its already there. I planned the trip with a few friends, who ended up backing out a month before the departure date, when my tickets and the accommodation have all been paid for, so to my surprise, I have to explore the arctic alone, much to my independence and self-reliance. It wasn’t new to me to travel solo though, so I still pushed through with it although at first it seemed so daunting.

It was -3 degrees Celsius when I arrived at Rovaniemi airport all covered in snow. It was March but it felt more like December with Christmas décor still hanging all over the arrival hall. After settling down at the hotel, I walked around the neighbourhood to see a life-size and real Christmas village, only there were no decor, only coloured houses, evergreen trees and pavements under a thick blanket of white fuzz.

The next day, I started my journey by visiting the nearby Santa Claus Village where the actual Santa Claus receives letters from children all around the globe on his own post office. I got to meet, greet and have a photo taken with him, like a little child. I also got to ride the reindeers in service who took me all around the village and finally get to play with one of the elves, who is in charge of taking care of the bunnies, chicken and sheep in the farm. She even got me to roast a marshmallow and drink some Glögi by the bonfire with new friends from France. That night, it snowed so hard it was impossible to see the aurora. I downloaded an app on my phone tracking the aurora activities happening nearby and it haven’t even bleeped for sighting as the weather did not permit.

On the second day, I went ice fishing on one of the many frozen lakes in Finland called Norvajarvi, a few miles out of the city of Rovaniemi. It was organised by one of the tour groups I have arranged with, at the website http://www.visitrovaniemi.com. Completely prepared with overalls, boots and equipments, I drilled into the surface of the iced lake to make a small fishing hole and waited for an hour at -10 degrees C to get a fish on my bait. I ended up taking back the fish into the water as its too small for consumption anyway and shared stories over a cup of hot chocolate inside the warm kota with new acquaintances from Hong Kong and Spain. That night, the Kp indexes ticked on the app, which signalled activity from the sky. I got booked for the aurora photography tour as soon as I saw the notification and went to Kilpisjarvi to chase the phenomenon. A few minutes of driving in the dark, slippery road with my eyes watching out for both the aurora and the reindeers that might be crossing the road, it seems that I’m lost in the world, having no idea where we are heading, with strangers, gathered for one goal. Our guide advised us that in order to properly see the aurora, the conditions of the sky should be perfect, meaning it must be pitch black, away from the light pollution of the city, and cloudless, that’s why we have to drive into a remote location . A few minutes more, we reached a clearing, another frozen lake by the road with trees at the edges. I had my camera set up to capture the moment instantly, the others also busy on their own positions. After 20 minutes of waiting, we all got tired and frozen its already -15 and I couldn’t even use my phone as my hands were almost numb even with a thick pair of gloves on. We stayed by the fire and got to know each person from group we are on. There are these teenagers from China, who decided to see Lapland for 2 days as a side trip from Helsinki, the lady from Slovakia who is very fond of Moomins, and the American couple who met each other in London and is just as fond of photographing the aurora as I do. We had coffee and potato bread while sitting by the fire, exchanging observations we had about the Finnish way of life. Until suddenly, the green light starts showing up behind the trees. At first glance, I thought it is some kind of an illusion since I’ve stared at the fire for too long. But it was there, for less than a minute it showed itself to us, in a band of green light moving like the fire. We could have stayed longer, but its already past midnight and the sky got cloudy anyway, so we decided to call it a night.

It was snowing so hard on the third day, that I have decided to stay indoors and visit the museums in the city centre, luckily there were exhibits on show so I kept myself busy, taking in all the information I find interesting. There I discovered that the Finnish are one of the happiest, and also the most nature-conscious people on the planet. I found it hard to believe that a quarter of their whole population owns, or looks after a forest reserve, but it is a fact that you could instantly observe as they get all these efforts done to maintain their niche. As I stayed indoors, I also decided to get myself immersed in their cuisine. I got to eat reindeer meat in a dish called Poronkaristys. I must say that its quite similar to a beef kebab, but I can’t stop myself from thinking about the poor reindeer. However, the Graavilohi which is the Finnish cured salmon is my personal favourite, better than any salmon I’ve ever tried. Also the chocolate brand Fazer which was founded in Finland offers chocolate bars of premium quality, more so, the Fazer Mignon chocolate egg is out of this world, covered by a real egg shell, this wonderful creation is 10 times better than a Ferrero Rocher.

After the information and food overload of the previous day, I decided to do some activities to get myself back on track before another aurora hunt. Since I could not risk myself to try skiing by myself, which is also my first time ever to be in the slopes, I tried the cross-country skiing instead. It is basically skiing, without the scary downhill slopes. According to the locals I have met, they usually use skis as a form of transport when the snow is too thick to get cars through, passing through villages in a mostly flat winter topography. It was good fun, there were moments when I felt that I’m happily gliding, with the cold wind hitting my face and the towering spruce trees to see overhead, and there are also moments that I felt I’m slipping too fast, which takes the thrill up a notch. I also tried tobogganing with new found friends down a little hill. I honestly felt like a kid, sliding over and over again, until I am so tired, and have decided to lie down in the soft white snow, making snow angels with people that once were strangers to me. We also took a sled ride pulled by the intelligent huskies around a frozen park before sunset. When the night came, even though I was so tired of the activities I engaged myself into, I was full of enthusiasm as it will be the last night I will be out hunting for the aurora. The Kp indexes were promising and I have decided to join a tour of aurora experts, going deep into the darkest lakes of the Arctic. We drove almost to the border of Russia that night and kept ourselves awake with coffee and reindeer sausages over the bonfire. After a few minutes, the aurora came in a spectacular green band that dominated the night sky. It was such an amazing sight, way better than it was in any photo, moving, dancing, changing shades of greens and yellows.

If I could stay a little bit longer, I probably did, although I’m sure that I’m no lover of winter. But this too should come to an end. For my last day in Finland, I went to Ranua Wildlife Park to see the animals that I would never get to see in other parts of the world but the Arctic. There, I have watched the beavers take their morning bath, observed the owls hiding in their habitat, fed the wolves and the wolverines, saw the herds of ram and reindeer then finally get to see an actual polar bear. It was such an amazing sight knowing that some of these animals have been rescued in the wild. In the afternoon, I had the most relaxing part of the trip inside a Finnish Sauna to cap it all up before I flew to Helsinki the next day. It was a trip I’d surely never forget about.

Tips:

Flights to Finnish Lapland were rarely direct though there were 4 airports serving the area. In this trip, I used the Rovaniemi airport (RVN) since I also wanted to see the famous Santa Claus village, and it is the nearest possible route. If you’d skip the Christmas Village, and instead prioritise skiing and chasing the aurora, the Ivalo airport (IVL) is the recommended alternative. You can also fly to Helsinki (HEL) since it is the capital, but getting to Rovaniemi by land will took a long while.

Accommodations in Finland isn’t cheap since most of the places have their private sauna like its just a usual shower room. Some also offer the dreamy glass igloos for when you couldn’t miss the aurora even when you are in the comforts of your room. But you can surely find deals suited to your needs for your Finnish holiday. If you can’t drive or no one in your group could, I recommend that you stay as near in the city centre as possible since public transport is close to non-existent. There isn’t Uber in Lapland too, so make sure you get a Finnish taxi company on your contacts. And the most important bit, taxi is not cheap but you don’t have the choice. If you could drive and rent out a car for the rest of your holiday, then good news, you could live as far out as possible and doesn’t have to worry about fares.

There are loads of tour groups for chasing the aurora which you could book if like me, you are a solo traveller that doesn’t drive. But do not book any aurora chasing tour without looking at the aurora app. If there isn’t a high probability of an aurora sighting, no matter what tour you take, you wouldn’t see it and mind they are not cheap. There are also a lot of activities offered which you might be interested doing while you are in Lapland. You can book these ahead, but you can also find them on the spot like I did. E-sledding, husky and reindeer sledding, skiing, cross country skiing, ice fishing and so much more. The good news, tobogganing is free, you just have to find a snow hill.

The aurora season starts late August and ends April in Finland. According to the locals I have spoken to, outside of these months, Finland looks so different without the snow. However they gather here not for the aurora but for the midnight sun because in summer, the sun doesn’t set in Lapland.