Aurora watching

[mattbell]

I'm thinking it would be fun to spend a few days watching the aurora borealis. People who've seen it put it on par with total eclipses as far as being one of the most incredible nature-related experiences of their lives.

I've been doing some research into it and have found the following:

- The weather is not totally reliable and the *space* weather is also not totally reliable, so it's best to go for at least 4 days. You need no clouds + a certain aurora strength.
- Airfares have gone up a bit since last year. Roundtrip to Fairbanks is around $650, roundtrip to Reykjavik is around $1000.
- It's very cold. And dark. Duh.
- Reykjavik is more interesting than Fairbanks from a cultural perspective, but these still seems to be a decent bit of stuff to do in Fairbanks. However, I think, like Burning Man, part of the appeal of the trip is meeting the sort of people who would fly out to see an aurora instead of, say, Hawaii.

Hey, if any of you are interested in joining me, let me know. I'm planning on doing this sometime between this November and next March, and probably not in December-January, when it's the coldest and darkest.

Comments

[tinkerbell-mk.livejournal.com]

When I was in Reykjavik in March I saw the northern lights and I totally agree, it was awesome! Completely worth seeing! But in my 6 nights in Reykjavik the aurora borealis was only visible one night. So if it's the primary motivator of your trip I would highly recommend spending more than 4 nights. Also, avani mentioned that expenses in Iceland will likely be cheaper than Fairbanks. I've never been to Fairbanks but I highly doubt this to be true. Even post currency colapse (which is when I was there) Iceland was a very expensive country. (More expensive than the US.) And looking at hotels.com for a totally random price comparison the hotels in Fairbanks seem to be cheaper.

That said Iceland was really really awesome and I think you should go there.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks for the advice.

[tinkerbell-mk.livejournal.com]

No prob, let me know when/if you get solid plans. I loved Iceland and I'd love to go back. (Plus I know airfare is expensive now but Iceland air runs some awesome sales if you look out for them.)

And I haven't really been to Sweeden or other northern countries, so even if you end up going there, it might be fun to tag along.

=)