Mind.Wanders

So the hunt for Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) continues this year in Lapland, Finland. Last year, we went to Iceland and was really looking forward to spot the beautiful dancing light. But luck were not on our side - we waited for a couple of hours in the freezing cold of the Icelandic winter, but we were still unable to see them due to low solar activity that night (even though sky was partially clear and we could see many stars). Fuhh, long intro!

So we specifically decided on this trip with high hopes to be able to see the lights (it was top of my bucket list and both Fizal and I really wished to see this beautiful phenomenon). Our flight from London Gatwick Airport to Rovaniemi was at 5:50am and we waited around in London St. Pancras International station from 10pm and stayed in the airport overnight until it was finally time to check in at 4:00am.

Waiting for our train to Gatwick Airport.

 I think this was around 3am where I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

Thankful for the airport wifi service!

We arrived at Rovaniemi airport at 11:10am. We could see carpets of white snow from the plane. Rovaniemi Airport is one the the 6 airports in Lapland, and is said to be the 'Official Airport of Santa Claus', haha. The sky was beautiful orange and pink hues, as daylight has just started (sunrise at around 10:30am). We took a mini van that was waiting outside the airport (for each flight into Rovaniemi) to our hotel Santasport Resort.


 So festive, so merry!

 As we stepped outside of the airport, it actually felt good to be breathing fresh air after the whole overnight in the airport and a 3-hr flight - despite the chilly air.

Sunrise that's about to set in a few hours.

Since we arrived before check-in time, our room wasn't ready for us yet. So we just put our backpacks at the luggage storage room at the hotel lobby, and went out for a walk around the area. Not too far from our hotel, we came across a very beautiful forest. We walked through the fluffy, untouched snow, and as we went deeper into the woods, the view became irresistibly more stunning, SubhanAllah. We kept on walking and there were people cross-country skiing in the forest and they'd just swoosh by you without you knowing. The beautiful clear sky with a hint of orange (as the sun doesn't really set high) made the whole place even more heavenly and I can never forget the feeling I felt at the time...





No words can describe how I felt amongst this beautiful landscape. It was unbelievable.

...it was surreal.

After a couple of hours of wandering around and taking lots of photos, it started to get dark, so we decided to walk back to our hotel. Our room was finally ready, we got in and had some sleep since we stayed at Gatwick Airport without any sleep the night before.

We had a good sleep since it was already dark and woke up at around 8pm. Made our dinner and went out at around 10pm that night, hopeful, in search of the Auroras. Based on the forecast, it was the only night with (if any) a chance to see the Northern Lights because it will be snowing for the rest of the week.

We walked from our hotel heading to Ounasvaara, which apparently, is hill's peak where photographers go to shoot photos of the lights. So it's a very famous place amongst Aurora hunters and photographers. It was about 25-minutes walk from our hotel. While we were walking, we also met some French tourist who were also looking for the same place, so we all walked together. The area was located behind the Lapland Hotel Sky Ounasvaara, which is a ski resort, so there were also ski slopes.


It was a nice night walk. It wasn't really cold since we were walking, and the paths were well lit up.

When we reached the hill's peak, it was strange that there was nobody there, since we read that it was a popular place amongst locals and even tourists who are looking to see the lights. Well, to be frank, it was't really that strange, because clouds have started to form above us, so any chance to see the lights can be buried now. But we weren't going to give up. Fizal and I went deeper so that it was darker and we didn't get any lights from the hotel..... and still nothing. Clouds already covering the brightly shining moon by this time. We waited a little bit more. After a while, the French tourists had already given up and headed back. So it was just Fizal and I, still patiently waiting and praying. Then my hands and legs started to feel the cold and it was really cold to a point I was shivering and cannot take it anymore. That was when we knew, that that was our last and only hope. So we walked back to our hotel, disappointed, but I said to Fizal not to put so much hope in the next few nights that we were there so we can just enjoy the rest of the trip with whatever Rovaniemi has to offer. So we just stayed in our room that night and watched some TV shows.

Our Finnish breakfast. The Finnish eat lingonberries or lingonberry jam with a lot of things, like bread, mashed potatoes and even oatmeal porridge.

As expected, it was snowing the next morning. After breakfast at the hotel, we decided to walk up to the Ounasvaara area again in daytime because it was beautiful even in the dark last night. So we took a walk along the same route that we did last night, and during the day, it was even more magical because we were fed with beautiful white winter scenery everywhere we turn. When we reached the Ounasvaara hill and walked deeper into more fresh and soft snow, this was literally the only thing we see around us. (More photos will be posted in my Photo Diary)






After taking hundreds of photos, on our way back, we saw some small pathways going into the woods. We took the path and were in awe at the most beautiful surrounding I have seen in my life, SubhanAllah. It was beyond words could describe. It was quite and very peaceful. Nobody was there and we were the only ones walking in there. Only our voices and our feet stepping on the fluffy fresh snow were to be heard. We walked deeper and it became more surreal as the snow gets thicker. Every now and then, while we were walking, there were some people cross-country skiing and just swiftly passing us.



Cross-country ski trails that they left behind.

After we got out of the woods, we walked to find a supermarket to buy some food for dinner and evening snacking.

Billboard of our hotel - Sportsanta Hotel.

And we saw a lot of colorful Finnish kids walking around here at the time, I guess they had just finished school?

 The view walking towards the supermarket was also a treat. We got to see local houses along the way.


...and finally, after about almost 45-minutes walking from the Ounasvaara hill, the supermarket was within our view.


And of course, Fizal was excited.
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The next morning, we took a taxi to Rovaniemi city centre. The taxi stopped us at the Lapland Safaris where we booked our Husky Safari trip the next day. See here for my story on our amazing husky safari experience.

After we had made the booking, we went to look for our Airbnb that we had booked prior the trip. It started to heavily and it was very windy while we were looking for the house. We even got lost because the host missed an important information on the address that he gave us. Fizal was already frustrated as we've been walking for quite a while, not knowing where to look anymore (we were literally lost and nobody was around to ask since it was snowing heavily) - and we were also carrying our backpacks! Until after going back and forth in the same street for god knows how long, we met a lady who helped us to find our way, and coincidentally, she knew out host (phew!).

The house that we stayed in had some beautiful Nordic touch to the interior!

After settling down and had some lunch, we went back out and spent the rest of the day wandering the city centre. It wasn't big, so we could finish in just one day.


There were quite a lot of shopping malls around not far from each other.

Look at how deep and thick the snow issssss!!!!
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The next day was the best part! We spent the afternoon at a husky farm and went husky sledding! It was such fantastic experience and I would do it again if I had the chance! (and money!). That was main the highlight of our trip and made up for us not being able to see the Northern Lights (and indeed, it snowed every night after our attempt to see the lights on our first night). I've really enjoyed this trip and will cherish them forever, and I would really recommend if anyone wants to come to Finland in winter to see this beautiful nature.

Until then! 

We were scheduled to leave the hotel at 10am that morning, so after a good breakfast at the hotel, we were ready to leave. That morning, the day was already bright enough for us to see the landscape around our hotel, and it was breathtaking! We were surrounded by vast greenery and beautiful snow-capped mountains. Fizal and I were the last ones to get into our minivan (it wasn't even 10am yet!) so I didn't dare to stop and snap some photos, hehe.

Our first stop that morning was the ever so popular Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, obviously, since it was just minutes away from the hotel. It was a very windy morning and it was freezing cold, but the view of the glaciers made it all worth it. If you're lucky you'll be able to see seals chilling on the ice and sunbathing, but since it wasn't a typically sunny day when we came, there weren't many of them laying around. - we saw a few! There was also a small cafe there for people to sit and enjoy some nice hot drinks after a walk along the glacial water line. After some good photos were taken and we couldn't bare the cold anymore, we hopped back into the minivan and departed to our next stop.












Can't contain my excitement!

Asgeir made a short stop just a few minutes (driving) from Jökulsárlón Lagoon to another beach nearby. Now this glacial view, is awesome at another level. There were probably hundreds of ice pieces, large and small laying there on the beach. The blue ice looked so stunning against the black sand beach, its just surreal. To me, this is more interesting than the previous glacier lagoon because we got to go closer to the blocks of ice and witness how humongous they were right in front of our eyes. We walked around the beach and in between the ice pieces, and as cheesy as it may sound, it really felt like ice-wonderland!




This was literally how we saw it along the beach!


They're hugeeeee ice blocks i tell ya!




Water was coming up to our feet!






These are all ice pieces! can you believe it! Another otherworldly landscape in Iceland.
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We then hit the road again and stopped for some snacks at a cafe near the Svínafellsjökull glaciers in Vatnajökull National Park. After that was the highlight of this trip, glacier hiking adventure! Because the ice-caving activity was cancelled due to flooding, the company refunded our money for the ice-caving activity but took us for glacier hiking instead. How awesome is that?! Although, we would obviously preferred and be much interested to witness the blueness of the ice caves, but hey, there's no one to blame for that and we were grateful for this spontaneous adventure.

We were given our crampons, ice axes, helmets, and were briefed prior to the hike. We then started the hike onto pure icy, wintry terrain! It was scary and mesmerizing at the same time. It was bit tricky for us first-timers to use the crampons because we were scared we might slip off the slopes of the glacier, but we got the hang of it after few minutes walking. The view was to die for, MasyaAllah. The colour of the glacier varies into 3 colours; white - snow that was recently compacted and turned into ice; dark blue - old compacted ice; brown - debris from the mountains/volcanic ashes that were trapped between the snow which eventually turned into ice as well.

We were told some amazing stories, histories, geological information and a bit of humor here and there by our guide and it was a incredible experience! Among the stories were, there was a couple of students that got lost in the glaciers long ago (can't remember when but I think it might have been in the 1950s - not sure!), and decades later, they discovered their backpacks/equipments emerging from the ice! The movement of the glaciers brought them along the way in which they were found by hikers. How crazy is that! So basically, whatever you lose or drop in the ice, you can retrieve them back decades later. We also heard a cracking sound of the glacier - we were told that it rarely makes those sounds and that we were lucky enough to be able to hear it. It was a bit scary as it sounded so loud against the empty vastness of the glaciers. Our guide also told us that because of climate change and everything, the glaciers are moving pretty fast now and is expected to melt in about 10-15 years! :(

Anyways, we are so thankful for this opportunity to be able to see and set foot on such magnificent nature. If the glacier hike was this spectacular, I wonder how would the ice cave experience be? hmm...


Asgeir prepping me with gears.


Yeah, we looked like miners. haha.


Awestrucked at this massive jagged frozen landscape! SubhanAllah.

 We couldn't even see the end of the glacier - all we could see was blurry icy-blue horizon at the far end. Its beyond the imagination. I'm speechless even til now whilst typing this. haha. I could still remember only hearing the sounds of scraping and crunching of our crampons against the ice while we're walking.

Fun fact: The movie Interstellar by Christopher Nolan was shot on this glacier representing a whole other alien universe.


 We conquered the Svínafellsjökull Glacier! We were lucky we had the chance to experience this hike with a nice sun setting. MasyaAllah.


And sad to leave... haha.

There is another post dedicated to this glacier hiking adventure, just because the glacier was super amazing and there were so many photos taken. It just wouldn't do justice to the place if I didn't post more photos and had just kept them to myself. haha. (See here for my photo diary of the glacier hike)

After lunch and some rest, we head back onto the road leading back to Reykjavik. We were scheduled to hunt for the northern lights that night. According to the forecast, there might be some clear skies on our way back to Reykjavik. Asgeir just said to keep our heads up and look for stars; apparently, if you see stars, then you're chance of seeing the lights are pretty good (given the activity is high too). We kept checking the aurora forecast (while praying in our hearts, haha) as the weather in Iceland are extremely unpredictable, you can get clear sky in one minute and pouring rain in the next!

We eventually came to stop at Seljalandsfoss. For your information, the waterfall at Seljalandsfoss is beautifully lit up at night, so you can visit and hang around there at night while star gazing, hehe. We went near the fall to take some photos and later came back to our minivan. The sky was clear, millions of stars were seen above us, so we all just hang around our van, chatting, heads tilted up, hopeful. We waited for more than an hour in the freeeeezing cold, shivering, wishing we would see this remarkable natural phenomenon. It was then getting late, we kept getting in and out of the van to warm ourselves, until Asgeir called it off. The activity was particularly low that night, although the sky was clear, we could hardly see the lights using naked eyes, We got in the van, in disappointment, hopes crushed, again. But it was still a great experience though, everyone was so desperately wishful and would even wait for hours in the freezing cold just to see them.

 We waited and stared into the sky for northern lights appearance with this view in front of us.

We got back to our Airbnb pretty late that night and just had our much needed rest from what seemed a very long day.
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We didn't really have anything planned for the next day, which was our last day in Iceland. Obviously we would want to make the most of it. One of our new friend we met in the tour said she was going Icelandic horse riding and snorkeling at the Silfra fissures in Thingvellir National Park. I was so intrigued by both, especially if you get to float between the tectonic plates of 2 continents; North America and Eurasia in clear blue water! But I guess we were a little too late to make any reservations, so we opted for the Blue Lagoon instead.

It was a Sunday morning and like in many European countries, the buses didn't come by very frequently. So Fizal and I spontaneously decided to try hitchhiking the Icelandic for a ride to Reykjavik city centre. A couple of cars drove by and ignored us, until we heard a honk behind us, and there was a man in the car signaling us to come over. The very kind stranger drove us to the BSI Reykjavik for our Blue Lagoon Express ride.

We didn't make any reservation for the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa because we weren't planning on dipping into the pool. So we bought our visitor's pass at the bus terminal. We arrived only to find that the visitor's pass were not available due to the area being still under renovation. Bummer - could've gone somewhere else instead. We stayed until the next bus scheduled to come (1 hour later) and just wandered around the area.


I just can't brain this guy's hair.
 The main pathway to the Blue Lagoon spa.













There was also some sceneries of the lagoon outside of the spa area. This is free to wander around and the water is as blue and you get beautiful mossy landscape in the area too!




And of course, we had to pose with the moss covered rocks/lava. hehe.

So when we reached Reykjavik, we had lunch and ended our last day walking around the town again for some last minute souvenir shopping. Our flight was early the next morning and I gotta say, Iceland left a special mark in my heart. It has been a wonderful trip, though some things didn't go as planned, but we had some really amazing times!


Definitely one of my favourite places and trips ever! Thank you Iceland for this wonderful experience!

Until my next trip.

Travel Tales on my Iceland trip Part 1 and Part 2 here.