Reykjavík Grapevine - 03.12.2010, Page 19

19
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 18 — 2010
Travel | Northern Lights
your Holiday-Looking-At-
Aurora-Borealis Tips
like going down a sand dune by the ocean. And then
it was just walking, walking, walking down the same
way we went up before. Every one of us was silently
enjoying the nature around and watching their steps
on our fast way down. After about two hours of de-
scent in the late afternoon sun, we found ourselves
at the car again. Tired but happy, after almost seven
hours of intense hiking.
This twelve hour trip—about five hours of driving
and seven hours of hiking—is provided by Adventures.
is. The trip, including guide and a small lunch, costs
30.990 ISK. You can hike up Fimmvörðuháls on your
own also, but having to cross rivers with a car and then
walk on a dangerous fire spitting volcano we strongly
recommend you to go up there with a guide.
Hi everyone! Welcome to your holiday trip to Iceland!
We know that you really only came here to avoid your
family and watch TV in your hotel room, but surely
you must have some trips planned too, right? There’s
a whole country out there just waiting to be explored
and conquered by excited holiday tourists!
Now. We have no idea what sort of trip you’re
interested in. But if you need ideas you can start by
reading about the Eyjafjallajökull hike on your left.
Not interested? Well, then we advise you to head on
over to http://www.grapevine.is and feast on our
travel section. There’s lots of informative articles
about exciting trips there. Also talk to the tourist
information centres. They’ve got info about every-
thing, and they can probably book your trip too.
Now, if you have no idea what to do, might we
suggest trying to find some Aurora Borealis to look
at? Everybody loves Aurora Borealis (also known as
Northern Lights); they look really cool and most of
your friends probably haven’t seen them. Spotting
Aurora can be as easy as tilting your head upwards,
but if you’ve done that repeatedly without any results,
we’ve got some tips. Read on!
Now, the first thing you need to realise when it
comes to Aurora Borealis and the viewing of which
in Iceland (or anywhere, for that matter) is that there
are no guarantees. In fact, you probably won't see
them. Or you might. Who knows! In any case, there
is no precise way of predicting where and when Au-
rora will appear, so it cannot be guaranteed.
However, just like in Dick Cheney's world, there
are known unknowns and unknown unknowns—as
well as known knowns—to take into consideration
when one seeks the viewing of Aurora Borealis in
Iceland. Here are some of the known knowns:
You will not see them during summer. Optimal
viewing time is between September and March (ap-
proximately).
You can indeed observe Aurora Borealis from cit-
ies, like Reykjavík, but light pollution will render all
but the strongest instances of it damn near invisible.
So you can stay in town and hope for the best (an
intense case of Aurora), or you can venture outside
of Reykjavík and increase your odds of spotting the
elusive natural phenomenon.
Anywhere away from intense electric light pol-
lution is suitable, really. A thirty-minute drive away
from Reykjavík is often enough.
Cold, crisp, clear nights are the best. If it's cloudy,
you won't see a thing (obviously), so check the weath-
er conditions of whatever out-of-town destination
you have in mind for Aurora-watching. Keep in mind
that it's also nice if the weather is sort of calm-ish.
You'll want to stand outside and gaze in amazement
at the Aurora, and it's better if you're not thrown over
by a gust of wind whilst you're doing it.
There are organised 'Aurora-spotting' tours that
go from Reykjavík. Downside: they can't guarantee
your seeing them. Upside: you'll have an experi-
enced driver and guide that takes you around looking
for Aurora, and you'll be reimbursed (or get another
attempt for free - I forget (or it might depend on the
tour provider) if you don't see anything.
Natural hot pots and geothermal pools line the
Icelandic countryside. These are excellent places for
Aurora-spotting for obvious reasons, especially since
OPTIMAL AURORA VIEWING CONDITIONS will
mean that it’s really cold out. Get yourself a copy of
the excellent ‘Thermal Pools In Iceland’ (2010, Sk-
rudda. Available at the next bookstore) and plan your
trip accordingly.
My personal favourite place for viewing Aurora
Borealis is a small resort called Reykjanes, on the
West Fjords. If you wish to find out why, try googling
“Experiencing Aurora Borealis Underwater” (with
the quotation marks). I wrote that article about it
way back in 2006, long before Iceland and myself
lost our faith and innocence. The pool's since been
renovated, but it's still good.
HAUKUR S. MAGNúSSON
ANNA ANdERSEN
Always best price online.
Various online-offers to all Air Iceland's destinations.
www.airiceland.is
websales@airiceland.is / tel. +354 570 3030 Contact Air Iceland or
travel agent for reservation.
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