Below is the text (about 5-minute read) of the narration/voiceover for the video, “Chasing and Being Mesmerized by The Northern Lights” — the 30 minute video is embedded at the end of this post.
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What was it
that brought five souls
to be chasing The Northern Lights?
It must have been the dream
and fantasy of seeing
beauty and wonder
created by God
that made us spend more than 4 months
- time, energy and money,
preparing and planning
to chase the Northern Lights
making sure all the things that
needed to be done
were indeed all done
and all organized.
The adventure began
with Masilla and Hasan
flying 10,000 kilometers
first to Germany
and Ismail, Azah and Dilla
10,500km first to the UK.
The UK group of three
began getting used to the weather,
the walking and the walking,
and enjoying the sceneries, sights,
sounds and smells of lands
far away from our home.
“Welcome to Romeberg!”
While in Germany…
We got used to lots of
walking on cobblestones,
and began to get used to
the cold weather
needing a light jacket at first.
We were intrigued by the family home
of Germany's great writer,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
In Trier, Germany
we discovered a 2,000-year
old Roman structure!
We crossed the border
from Trier into the next country,
Luxembourg,
and its enchanting city.
In the countryside of Luxembourg
was the fantasy of Vianden Castle
with its short bed,
because they slept sitting up!
Had farewell dinner with our
Luxembourg friends,
Claudia and Matt.
The adventure continued
into the next country, Belgium,
in Brussels,
not missing, of course,
the Belgian chocolate
and the Belgian waffle!
Ten days after leaving home,
the five souls were reunited!
Amsterdam was even colder and wetter!
We explored the bicycles
and canals of Amsterdam,
then finding
the real canal village in Griethoorn.
“Can you see at the right side
the houses with the roof of reef?
The famous reef.”
“At earlier times these were all farmers
- before 1970, 1980.
Farmers with 6-7 cows.”
“Which you cannot live anymore
from that low number of cows,
but now all the cows are gone.”
“And the house is used for private living,
or restaurants or musea
for the tourism sector.”
“Captain Hasan is now steering the boat.
Applause for Captain Hasan!
The boat has the name Titanic,
there's no problem.”
“Thank you!”
It was Norway that we needed to be
to find The Northern Lights.
So we landed in Oslo.
It got worse!
Colder and wetter in Oslo
compared to the Netherlands!
We knew Oslo didn't have
the realm of The Northern Lights.
Meantime, we entered the realm
of the Oslo Castle
and entered the realm
of The Mighty Thor!
The realm of The Northern Lights
is in the Arctic Circle.
So in Tromsø we landed
and headed down
to the Lofoten Islands.
The first night at Lofoten
there were no Northern Lights.
We spent the daytime
driving all around
the Lofoten Islands
sucking in the beauty.
The second night at Lofoten Islands
had us chasing but not finding
The Northern Lights either.
So the next day,
other fantasies we needed
to get ourselves into
like Viking ships
and Viking warriors.
The third and final night at Lofoten
was more encouraging!
The sky was clearer.
The forecast for The Northern Lights
appearing at Lofoten
was above 20 percent.
We gazed up the sky and waited
... and waited.
We could see stars
and whitish formation
but they were just clouds,
not The Northern Lights.
North to Tromsø again we drove
to further chase The Northern Lights.
Still no Northern Lights
on the first night at Tromsø.
So the following day
as the sun set from our window,
we went to Tromsø town
and left it to the professionals.
Solar storm activity, the weather
and many other factors…
Only these people can guarantee us
to see The Northern Lights.
“We’ll probably stop and
go outside and wait,
because going more inland
doesn't really make any difference,
because the weather is the same there.”
“So if there is some hope
it should be soon.”
“More stars around and everything.
Yeah, seems more promising now.
That's very good.
The activity is still very high.
It doesn't get lower.”
“That's good. That's very good, guys.”
“Yeah, we just have
to drive a little bit more.
We are still not in Finland.
We are like 10-15 minutes
away from Finland.”
“We'll probably go past ...
… after the village.
So the weather there
should be slightly better.”
“Past Customs Finland.
And snow on the road.”
Two-and-half hours on the snowy road
and they had taken us
to another country, Finland.
and near the border of Sweden, too.
“Yes, it means that we are
going outside in 6 minutes.
So you can start getting ready
and try to get outside of the
bus as soon as possible.”
“Guys, this is our place!
I see some stars around.”
“It's also snowing a bit
and it looks also
quite windy outside.”
“So I don't think the weather
will be very stable
but let's let's try it here.”
We tried it there
in the cold, windy and icy weather.
Whoa!
Formations of The Northern Lights
were beginning to appear,
above the mountains and trees,
with the stars visible.
Colours of silver, green
and red were showing up!
The shapes were different every time.
We stayed close to the bus
as shelter from the wind,
and went back inside
the bus every few minutes!
I found myself panting away in the bus
as if the cold had sucked away
all my energy.
Outside the bus was
where the action was,
so outside, still clinging
near the bus we went,
and saw the huge..
formations in the sky!
Out of this world!
At least, out of the world
we come from!
Above the trees and below the stars
the aurora was slowly forming..
then a few minutes later disappearing..
We tried our best
to take Night Mode
photos of ourselves,
in the end
leaving it to the tour operator
to take the professional photos.
Alhamdulillah, all praise to God,
we had achieved
the mission of seeing
The Northern lights.
The sun rose through our
Tromso window the next day,
and we went about
our day's activities.
During dinner
the forecast for the aurora
appearing in Tromsø town
was just above 20%.
We set our expectations low.
But wait! After dinner.
What are those through our window?
Above the Tromso town and mountains
must have been 5 to 10km lengths of green?
Through another window
the reflection of the green
was so clear in the waters!
Downstairs and outside
the apartment we went.
More appeared,
and they became clearer!
Despite the light pollution
of Tromsø town
the aurora was so evident.
We thought, are we really on this planet?
They were appearing in
different parts of the sky,
in shades of silver, green and red.
Many times, the aurora occupied
almost half the sky
either in front of us or above us,
whichever angle we managed
to turn our head to.
What a commotion!
as the aurora was appearing
at different parts of the sky
almost simultaneously,
and we had to turn our head
from one direction to another,
alternating between taking photos
and just staring at them.
Does it make sense?
..that in the commotion,
we were also watching
serenely..
in wonderment and awe!
That looks like a giant bird!
What does that look like?
Does it make sense?
..that time was at a standstill?
..as if the few minutes of the aurora
forming and disappearing..
..it was also as if it was a long
long time that we extended
in our imagination.
What a surreal experience indeed!
We had seen
The Northern Lights the first night
but God has given us a bonus,
a reward - this second night
of even more beautiful
Northern Lights.
It was the dream and fantasy
of seeing beauty created by God
that got us to prepare and plan
and take this adventure
to chase The Northern Lights.
The dream and fantasy has come true!
Alhamdulillah, all praise be to God,
for taking us there,
and Alhamdulillah,
we are able to share
our adventure with you!
Seeing these images
cannot be the same
as being there in person,
but nevertheless
we hope you can see
the wonder that we experienced
through these photos.
Thank you for watching
and sharing the joy with us.
The rest of the video,
some seven more minutes
we share
the many other images we captured.
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The video, “Chasing and Being Mesmerized by The Northern Lights”: