The Great Mystery

My last post I mentioned that I would be taking one more trip before going to the UK. I had really left the place out because I was a bit tired of typing and I thought the last post was long enough. I figured why not add some slight mystery to the trip, by just leaving everyone hanging. I really didn't think anyone would notice...

Well I was quite wrong, basically every comment and email I got was about where I was going. Well now that I knew there was such interest, I couldn't just share with everyone... When replying to emails I conveniently forgot to answer any and all questions about where I am going. I actually had quite a bit of fun keeping my dad and his coworkers busy for a few days guessing places. I gave them little hints here and there, and they guessed everywhere from Helsinki, Finland to Roswell, New Mexico. Unfortunately for their guesswork, the answer was not that obvious. So finally after a few days worth of hints my dad put the pieces of the puzzle together and figured it out. Now, I can share.

I am going to a city called Tromsø, Norway. This small city is located well within the limits of the arctic circle and during this time of the year I think I will be lucky with an hour of daylight a day. So why in the hell would I go to the arctic circle in the cold winter, with little to no daylight, in a small city, and especially for nine days?!?! Well I have my reasons, maybe there good, maybe not, you be the judge.

First off I was deciding where to spend my last few precious days on my European Schengen visa. I had thought about many places around Europe where I could spend a couple of weeks. I was especially looking at places inside of Norway, since I was already here. My first thought was to go visit the Western Fjords. I had always had interest in them and they seemed quite beautiful. However, I heard from my hosts that the fjords are much prettier in the summer. During this time the grass and flowers come out from their hiding places beneath the snow and make for a much more dramatic landscape. Additionally, there are ample hiking opportunities during the summer months. So where else? Someone mentioned Tromsø. I had no idea where this city was, and what the point of going there could be. My answer was far up Norway and the Northern Lights.

I had always had interest about the beautiful lights in the sky called the Northern Lights, otherwise known as Aurora Borealis. Click here for the Wikipedia article on the phenomenon. I will say that apparently you are more likely to see the lights in winter time and Tromsø is one of the better places in the world to see them. To get to Tromsø you have basically one option. Click here to look at a map of Norway. Tromsø is up on the top left of the country, the trains don't run up this far. I am not too sure about buses, but my guess is to take them from Oslo would perhaps take days. So I had to fly. Luckily, Norwegian airlines had a flight sale going on and I was able to grab a flight to Tromsø for around $50.

Now why 9 days?!? Besides the Northern Lights I really don't know how much else to do in Tromsø. In fact I had only planned on spending a few days there, but that got changed for two reasons. The first is the housing situation. During this time of the year, quite predictably, there are not many tourists visiting the arctic circle. Therefore, all of the hostels close down until summer arrives. Hotels would be way out of my price range, so I had to use my option of Couchsurfing again. I sent out my normal amount of a few requests and was surprised to receive a few positive responses. In fact I had 3 very nice people who offered me a couch to sleep on. How to choose which one??? I couldn't pass up the chance to meet all of these people, so I worked out to stay with all of them for a couple of days. Perhaps I would have only choose two of them or at least spent less than 9 days if it weren't for the other factor. I was again lucky to find that there are actually a couple of direct flights from Tromsø to London that were also part of this flight sale. The flight on the 3rd was about $50 while the flights on the surrounding days were triple or quadruple that price (my only other option would have been to leave after 3 days on the 27th, but I didn't want to do that for the reason stated above). So the 3rd was picked, and coincidentally I believe that the third actually marks my 90 day visa limit. And that's why I am going to Tromsø, Norway for 9 days. I don't really no what to expect, but hopefully after 9 days, I better of witnessed some of the beautiful lights in the sky.