Lapland Welcome: Northern Lights Tour and Finnish Fortune Telling

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I’m addicted to chasing the Northern Lights. Ever since my first solo trip to Alaska, I have wanted to see them again. The main priority of my Lapland trip was to share the Northern Lights with my husband. He got his first glimpse while we were in Norway when we stayed in a glass igloo. I had seen the Aurora twice this trip, but was was still yearning for more. When we arrived in Rovaniemi, I booked a solo trip to see the Northern Lights with Lapland Welcome. Chris had decided he was going to catch up on his sleep.

I was picked up by my guide at 7:50 PM to start our trip to our viewing spot. First, we stopped at their place of business to get properly dressed in our winter gear. Lapland Welcome supplied me with insulated coveralls, socks, gloves, and boots. After dressing, our group hopped in the van and made the hour journey to where we would hopefully see the Aurora.

In the van, I met 2 girls from China, 1 from Spain, and a couple from Portugal. I love that despite us all being from different countries, we all had the same desire to see God’s amazing magic show in the sky. As we travelled, we discussed our past history of the seeing the lights and what camera settings to use to best photograph them.

We stopped a couple times to get our first glimpses of the Northern Lights. Since it was not bright, our guides decided to go ahead to our viewing spot.

When we arrived at our final destination, we were given a final chance to use the bathrooms before making our trek to the viewing area. Then, we gathered our camera gear and started our hike up the snow covered hill.

The Northern Lights were not very bright in the sky and the clouds were moving in. When the Aurora is lazy like this, it appears like a gray rainbow across the northern sky close to the Big Dipper. It was difficult to decipher which was the clouds and which was the Aurora. The best way to find out if the Aurora was visible, was to take a photo.

Since it was so cold, we made our way to the teepee to warm up by the fire.

Inside we ate sausages cooked on the fire and had warm drinks. Then, we learned how to read a Finnish fortune. Watch the video below to find out more.