Thoughts on/Tips for a Northern Lights Trip

Overall I realised that I actually don't mind the cold if I'm wearing suitable gear (I just don't like being cold!) and I quite like snow (I just don't like the fact that snow=havoc in the UK).

My obsession with Scandinavia is now even bigger than it was and I would love to see some more of it in the summer and experience the "midnight sun".

A few tips for anyone planning a Northern Lights themed trip:

-make sure you have plenty of other stuff planned so you will still have amazing holiday even if you don’t see the lights

-include at least one trip/activity that gives you better odds of seeing them-we were obviously very happy with our Abisko trip but there were other trips organized from the Icehotel such as a coach trip that each day drove up to an hour to wherever they thought would be best place for seeing them

-wrap up warm (generally places provide snowsuits and boots, but think about base layers and investing in a good pair of gloves, potentially with glove liners if you're planning on a lot of photography)

-if you’re not a photography expert but would like to try and take some photos then do a bit of reading about optimal settings etc. Consider a tripod (I bought a “Joby Gorilla” that was very portable and did a job), I didn't have a special lens and used the timer setting rather than a remote trigger.

Generally I like organising trips myself-there's a certain satisfaction in sorting the best flights/hotels, arranging schedules and excursions. However for this trip we used Discover the World (http://www.discover-the-world.co.uk/en/) and I was thoroughly glad we did and would happily use them again, just a few of the benefits were:

-easy access to direct flights to convenient airports

-helping to fit as much as possible in to a short space of time

-nice to know someone is on hand to answer questions/offer help if necessary