First night searching for the Northern Lights

First night searching for the Northern Lights

Reykjavik, Iceland, Europe

Our first night in Iceland was definitely a success! We got to hang out with some good company, see some amazing northern lights, and have some laughs. The trip started off by meeting Lynne and Sean at Edinburgh Airport a couple of hours before our flight to Reykjavik so we could grab a bite to eat. Even though airport food is always about double the price that you would pay anywhere else, we knew it would still be about half the price of a meal in Iceland, so we took full advantage.

Our plane was meant to be delayed by about 45 minutes, but then they changed it to be only 5 minutes late, which I can never understand. How can the company be sure that you are going to take off 45 minutes late, but then be able to manifest a new plane out of thin air so you can take off earlier. Anyway, it worked out and we were in the air by about 6:15pm.

The flight was about 2 hours and as soon as we landed in Reykjavik we did exactly as the Icelandic people do, we went to Duty Free to buy some alcohol. We’ve read that alcohol is crazy expensive here so we thought we would try to get one over on Iceland and get some cheap booze. It turns out that the cheap booze in Duty Free is still pretty expensive but at least we are set for the week now.

We all hopped on the Gray Line bus to get into the city, and 45 minutes later we were delivered to Hotel Hilda. Strangely enough, a Colombian girl checked us in to the hotel and we had just enough time to drop our bags, throw on some thermals, and head straight down to the Old Harbour. We found the company Elding which was hosting our Northern Lights Cruise, and just a minute after Melissa and I arrived, Lynne and Sean showed up in a van. They managed to get a free ride from their Hilton Hotel down to the Old Harbour.

We got on a really weird boat that had whale bones on it and it was just like a massive gift shop. It also had a really funny smell, so we were happy to find out that this was actually a floating museum, so we were going to be taking a different boat out to see the Northern Lights. We got on the next boat and made sure to grab a table inside next to a window so we’d have a decent view. I was a bit worried that we weren’t going to get a good seat, but it turned out there were only 16 people on this massive whale watching ship, so we had plenty of space.

I had thought the boat would be taking us out of the main harbour far enough that we couldn’t see Reykjavik and therefore not be bothered by the ambient light from the city. I was wrong. We spent two hours scooting around the bat, and at first when the guy said he could see the northern lights from the top deck, we all went up to see a pretty sad display. I was really hoping that wasn’t all we were going to see, but then they went away completely, so we headed back inside to warm up a bit.

About 45 minutes went by before the guy came over the speaker to tell us that he could see them again. We went back outside to see the spectacle that we had all been hoping to see. The only colour that showed itself was green (you can sometimes seen pinks and purples as well), but it was pretty awesome. The host gave some tips on how to take decent pictures of them, so that was a nice little bonus. I managed to get some decent shots of them, but with a one second exposure, it was very difficult to keep the camera still, so they are a little blurry. Still, it was well worth it!

After a show of about a half hour, the lights went away again and we started to head back to Reykjavik. Most of the people on the boat were sleeping on the way back since it was now just after midnight. We had a few more laughs and some hot chocolate until we got back to Reykjavik Old Harbour. It was a great night, with a great Northern Lights show, and some really good company. Lynne and Sean hopped in the bus to get a ride back to their hotel and Melissa and I walked the few blocks to get back here. It’s definitely time to get some sleep because tomorrow we have a big day of waterfalls and sightseeing ahead of us!

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