The family of Mr. Tran Dang Khoa (38 years old, currently living in Nevada, USA) did not have to "hold" any regrets when returning home from Alaska. The members were all satisfied when hunting for the aurora, walking on the ice lake, visiting Santa's house...
Lucky experience
Khoa's family's plan to hunt for the aurora has been hatched for at least 4 months. For him, hunting for the aurora is an activity that depends a lot on luck.
“I know people I know who travel for 5 days and 5 nights but still don’t have the chance to see the aurora. So we are determined to go hunting for the aurora this year to increase our chances of seeing this beautiful phenomenon. My family chose Fairbanks, the largest city in the interior of Alaska, where the aurora often appears,” said Khoa.
This year, thanks to solar storms, the visibility of auroras, especially strong ones, is very high. The auroras appear at much lower latitudes than usual. The stronger the solar storm, the further south the northern lights can be seen. Further south, the auroras appear red instead of blue.
Before the trip, Mr. Khoa’s family continuously researched locations on social networks and chose the appropriate travel time. In addition, the couple carefully researched the route and related issues such as driving on snowy roads or low temperatures at that time to prepare suitable clothing.
His family arrived late Friday night and stayed for the entire weekend. They didn’t return until late Monday. Having carefully researched their itinerary before the trip, the family didn’t book a tour and decided to hunt for the aurora on their own.
The family rented a yurt - a traditional nomadic home - on Moose Mountain. The yurts were both close to nature and provided a quiet space to hunt for the aurora.
For Mr. Khoa, this was a wonderful overnight experience. In addition to the unique design on the outside, the inside of the Yurt tent is still fully equipped and comfortable with two bedrooms, a bathroom including a toilet, and even a loft. The interior is fully equipped with electricity, water, heating, TV...
“Outside, in early November, the night temperature drops to around -10 degrees Celsius. However, because the heater is turned on continuously all day to avoid freezing the plumbing system, the inside of our tent is always maintained at 20 degrees Celsius, very warm,” Mr. Khoa shared.
The sky is bright
According to Mr. Khoa's research, the time and location of the aurora can be predicted using phone applications, such as Aurora Tracker, available on Android and iPhone.
To clearly observe the aurora, visitors should avoid areas with artificial light or light pollution. Therefore, they should choose a place without street lights, specifically on high mountains like Khoa's family's house to easily observe the aurora.
“The first two nights, it was snowing and cloudy, so we could only see the aurora dimly. Therefore, we had to use the phone’s night mode to capture clearer images. On the third night, we were lucky to see the aurora clearly with the naked eye, it was really impressive,” Khoa recalled.
“Seeing the aurora with the naked eye was an unforgettable experience. We felt very satisfied to be able to cross one thing off our bucket list,” the male tourist added.
If we don’t see the aurora on this trip, we will definitely regret it, because getting to Alaska is not easy. Even many people living in the US hesitate to go to Alaska in the winter.”
In addition to the goal of hunting for the aurora, Mr. Khoa's family also visited some other places such as Santa's house in North Pole, The Pump House restaurant with unique architecture renovated from a pump house serving gold mining on the Chena River, Moose Antler gate made from the horns of moose - a species of deer in the Northern Hemisphere...
All the locations on the trip were completed as originally planned. However, the visit to the Castner Ice Cave was not smooth.
His family arrived at nightfall. Furthermore, the ice in the cave had not yet completely frozen, so the members were unable to really explore the cave. Part of the cave had collapsed, so visitors were advised to be very careful when entering.
“However, the experience of walking on the frozen lake is still very interesting. The surrounding landscape is covered in white snow, creating a beautiful scene,” said Mr. Khoa.
