Saturday, September 18, 2021

Stranded in Narvik Because We Missed Our Bus

<< Previous Post: Northern Light Spotting in Abisko <<

Sometimes, things don't go as we planned. And this happened during our journey from Sweden to Norway. 


Initially, we're planning to travel to Tromso, Norway by taking train from Abisko to Narvik and from there, continue by taking the bus. Everything has been planned and booked prior to our trip. But what caused us to miss our bus? Not because we're late or overslept but because the train from Abisko to Narvik was delayed for hours. And the worst part, that's the one and only train runs per day. Therefore once we miss the train, directly we will miss the bus to Tromso too. 
 
Oh dear train! Where are you now? 

Somehow, my friend and I were expecting this incident to occur cause it's pretty common, especially for those trains in outskirt area. After few hours of waiting, finally the train had arrived but we felt pointless, cause by the time we arrived Narvik, even the last bus has left and departed to Tromso. And that's mean we have no choice but to book a night stay in Narvik at the very last minute. Luckily for both of us, we do always standby with our debit/credit cards - you know in case of any unforeseen circumstances happened. 

Narvik, a city in northern Norway with a small population of about 14,000 

Overall, Narvik is proportionally small in size. There's nothing much for us to roaming around, except a shopping mall, Amfi Narvik which located right in the middle of the town. We're quite lucky that there are few accommodations available for booking on the spot cause Narvik is not well-known for tourism purposes. In case you have extra budget, you can consider staying at Scandic Narvik but my friend and I opt for the affordable one. 


OUR LAST MINUTE BOOKING OF ACCOMMODATION IN NARVIK
Frankly speaking, this is not my first time of experiencing last minute booking an accommodation in certain city. That's why my friend was kinda surprised to see why I wasn't nervous at all and yet, I was pretty steady when we missed both the train and bus. For me, no point of feeling down and we need to immediately come out with a solution if anything happened. So once we missed our bus, instantly I browsed those booking apps like Agoda, Booking.com and Airbnb. Time waits for no one, you know. 

The one we booked in Narvik was fairly good, especially in terms of location where it's quite close to the bus station. The host was quite accommodate with our last minute booking but at the same time, she was shocked why we did so until we told her what happened to our unfortunate incidents. The property was spacious and consider big for just two of us. I think this place is perfectly fit up to 4 guests. The area I adore much is the kitchen as it's well-equipped with all sorts of appliances. Should grab this opportunity to do homecook but both of us were kinda exhausted. 






Queenstreet Apartment (Unfortunately they're permanently closed due to the pandemic)
Date Stayed: 14 September - 15 September 2016 (1 nights) 

The apartment was utterly cozy and homey while the weather at outside was gloomy and cold due to the rain poured down earlier making both of us lazy to go out. We spent most of our times staying inside the apartment - browsing Facebook and Instagram, transferring photos and planning what to do on the next day. 

Our lunch before departing to Tromso on the following day


Friday, September 3, 2021

Northern Light Spotting in Abisko



What should I say?
"One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life."
"Another bucket list finally ticked off."

According to the most research I found, the best time to get catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights (or known as Aurora Borealis) is between December to March in the Artic Circle where the night time is longer than the daytime. Hence sighting this spectacle and bright dancing light of the aurora in the month of September, the chances are pretty low. On our first night in Abisko, the luck wasn't on our side as we can't sight any of the Northern Light.  


Thankfully, we have decided to stay for another night and we met a Taiwanese who has been living in Abisko for few years. He works as a freelancer where he will bring a small group of tourists for Northern light sighting tour. The icing on the sugar, he only charge us €500 - that's like half of the price from what we expected to pay earlier. Too bad I didn't save his contact, or else I could share with you all here (sorry!).  


The tour began around 10pm and we are advised to wear more layers and layers. Besides us, there are few tourists who joined this mini tour; 3 ladies from Taiwan and a guy from Hong Kong. Our freelance tour guide drove us to somewhere out from the city, where it's pitch dark without any lights on the street. We're also given headlight each before reaching a point for us to set up the camera and wait for the northern light to appear. While waiting patiently, we're served with hot warm drinks and some light meals. 

The weather on that night it's freezing cold and all of us were shivering non-stop, until someone shouted that he/she spotted the Northern light. At that moment, all I can say is I was absolutely speechless, my jaw was dropping and I totally forgot how cold was I that night. Spectacular, amazing, mesmerising, beautiful, impressive, astonishing - gosh, countless of these words keep running in my head. I just can't believe that finally I got to witness them myself with my naked eye.   



Thanks Abisko for the unforgettable night, before packing our bags for the next destination on the following day.

Besides Abisko. there are few best places in the world are well-know for great northern light spotting such as Tromso (Norway), Reykjavik (Iceland), Rovaniemi (Finland), Ilulissat (Iceland) and more.