Keep your jackets and mittens handy – even in the middle of the night. We’re aboard Hurtigruten’s MS Trollfjord , flagship of the company’s Signature voyages, cruising up the Norwegian Coast, enduring biting winds and sub-zero temperatures in our quest to see the Northern Lights. Even on the coldest ski days, or in Antarctica, I’ve never worn so many layers.
The cold doesn’t deter any of the more than 250 people aboard. So anxious are guests to get photographs that the ship makes announcements – even in the middle of the night – when the Northern Lights are visible. They’ve flown in many cases more than 24 hours for the experience from 18 countries, including Australia, Malaysia, India, Singapore, as well as all over Europe.
Americans are in the minority, it seems. Many are traveling with grown or nearly grown kids, though there is one family from London with a baby, all checking off a trip on their bucket list. Sooner rather than later for Kim Plummer, traveling with her family from Australia.
She explained she is being treated for breast cancer and has long wanted to see the Northern Lights. So here was the Plummer family, including mom and dad, three daughters ages 16 to 21, two boyfriends and 16-year-old Phoebe’s good friend. Another plus: A white Christmas and plenty of fun in the snow for the Aussies.
While Grace Wong has loved the chase for the Northern Lights, as well as seeing them (a week until we see them), her granddaughter Isabelle Shee, 9, is.