2infinity
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- Sep 18, 2015
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I went to Iceland for a week in 2020, just before covid shut down the world. Like most people going to Iceland, I hoped to see the Northern Lights. Unfortunately due to 3 North Atlantic storms rolling through, pretty much on the back of each other, the weather prevented any chance at the lights and cancelled several other tours. Thankfully I had my duty free to spend the days locked up in my room. I've always wanted to see the lights and this was my first opportunity in life to have seen them. But weather is weather and that's a part of travel. Bright side of the storms was there was an amazing display of ice on Diamond Beach, absolutely spectacular. But anyway I'm not here to talk about that trip. This i did a trip report for that one.
An opportunity arose for my covid dormant QFF points to be used for a Southern Lights Flight with Chimu Adventures, so not having travelled much, like most of us since covid, I jumped at it. 140,000 points, no surcharges
, for an economy no wing seat. Normally these sell for about $2,500, so I thought this was a good deal.
So, on 23rd September, I departed CNS - SYD on QF923 for my direct flight via A330. We were offered complimentary beer/wine in economy during the flight. Not sure if this is a normal thing with Qantas at the moment, but I wasn't complaining. Flight went perfectly fine and we arrived in Sydney and settled into my accommodation for the night.
Did some sight seeing in Botany Bay during the day and then headed back to the airport about 6pm for my Southern Lights Flight. There is no check-in prior to the airport or even at normal check-in, so straight through security and off to the gate. Chimu was all set up waiting but advised they weren't handing out boarding passes till later, so next stop the Lounge. There was conflicting information from Chimu about whether we would be able to access the Qantas Lounges, as the flight is a charter flight, not a scheduled flight, but on the evening, I was let in. The Club was closed, probably due to it being quiet, so I was given access to the Business Lounge. Had a bite to eat, several drinks, a shower. The fire alarms went off, while I was showering and I was wondering if the terminal was going to be evaculated and what that meant for the flight. But after about 15min, it turned off and we weren't evacuated, phew. When the time came, back to the gate to collect my boarding passes (yes, 2). First boarding pass was for the first half of the trip and then you swap seats for the second half to allow the majority to have access to a window. Seating is assigned by Chimu and you don't know your seating till you get your boarding passes. I was hoping for window seat first up, but I was given the aisle first up and window for the return leg.
We were flying on a Boeing 787 this evening, my first 787 flight, yay. (Bit of glare off the terminal window, ooof)
Due the fire alarms, we boarded and departed about 20mins late but it wasn't a drama, we were going, that was the main thing. This flight was treated like an international flight, there was a care package (snacks etc), blanket and pillow on my seat and I settled into 48C for departure. After takeoff, we were served dinner. The menu was on the IFE.
I chose the beef
I've certainly had better looking meals, but it was edible, lol.
After exchanging pleasantries with the lovely ladies siting next to me, I settled in and watched a couple movies, until we heard over the PA that the pilots had spotted the lights. We were about half way to Antarctica
There was still some flying before the main cabin could see the lights, as we only have side views from the plane, but the excitement was building and before we knew it, the pilots dimmed the lights
It does look quiet dark, but I discovered after I started taking some photos of the aurora that it's still too much light and you get a lot of cabin light glare.
I was stuck on the aisle so my view wasn't so good to start, but after a while, my seat buddies were quiet happy to swap around, even before the scheduled seat swap so we could all share the experience. This was good. Thank you seat buddies.
My camera was an Iphone 13 pro max and I was hoping that as it was Iphone's most advanced camera yet, that it would be good to take photos of the aurora. IT WAS NOT. It managed to capture the dark. with some window glare, lol. Luckily for me, I took the advise of Chimu at the airport and downloaded an app they recommended called LongExposure. It cost $10, which is an expensive app, but its a minor expense to allow you to capture the aurora. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DOWNLOAD THIS APP OTHERWISE YOU WON'T CAPTURE ANY PHOTOS OF THE AURORA IF YOU ARE USING YOUR SMARTPHONE, which the lovely ladies next to me found out. I ended up sharing my photos with them.
We've all seen pictures or videos of the aurora right? We all know the aurora is colourful, vivid greens and the occasional purples or blues? WRONG!! To the naked eye, the aurora seems like a greyish colour and I think it could be quite a disappointment to find this out at the time of seeing them for the first time because you're expecting to see green lights dancing. Luckily I read the material provided by Chimu prior to my flight so my disappointment was managed. Despite knowing I would see the lights as grey I was hoping I had super sight and would see the greens for myself. I do not......... Because the camera sees light in a larger spectrum than the naked eye, we get to see what the camera snaps, which I think is pretty cool. It's like a dog can hear sounds that humans can't. So for millennia up until the invention of a colour camera (only 90 years ago in 1932), nobody ever saw any colours in the aurora, just the dancing lights.
An opportunity arose for my covid dormant QFF points to be used for a Southern Lights Flight with Chimu Adventures, so not having travelled much, like most of us since covid, I jumped at it. 140,000 points, no surcharges
, for an economy no wing seat. Normally these sell for about $2,500, so I thought this was a good deal.So, on 23rd September, I departed CNS - SYD on QF923 for my direct flight via A330. We were offered complimentary beer/wine in economy during the flight. Not sure if this is a normal thing with Qantas at the moment, but I wasn't complaining. Flight went perfectly fine and we arrived in Sydney and settled into my accommodation for the night.
Did some sight seeing in Botany Bay during the day and then headed back to the airport about 6pm for my Southern Lights Flight. There is no check-in prior to the airport or even at normal check-in, so straight through security and off to the gate. Chimu was all set up waiting but advised they weren't handing out boarding passes till later, so next stop the Lounge. There was conflicting information from Chimu about whether we would be able to access the Qantas Lounges, as the flight is a charter flight, not a scheduled flight, but on the evening, I was let in
. The Club was closed, probably due to it being quiet, so I was given access to the Business Lounge. Had a bite to eat, several drinks, a shower. The fire alarms went off, while I was showering and I was wondering if the terminal was going to be evaculated and what that meant for the flight. But after about 15min, it turned off and we weren't evacuated, phew. When the time came, back to the gate to collect my boarding passes (yes, 2). First boarding pass was for the first half of the trip and then you swap seats for the second half to allow the majority to have access to a window. Seating is assigned by Chimu and you don't know your seating till you get your boarding passes. I was hoping for window seat first up, but I was given the aisle first up and window for the return leg.We were flying on a Boeing 787 this evening, my first 787 flight, yay. (Bit of glare off the terminal window, ooof)
Due the fire alarms, we boarded and departed about 20mins late but it wasn't a drama, we were going, that was the main thing
. This flight was treated like an international flight, there was a care package (snacks etc), blanket and pillow on my seat and I settled into 48C for departure. After takeoff, we were served dinner. The menu was on the IFE.I chose the beef
I've certainly had better looking meals, but it was edible, lol.
After exchanging pleasantries with the lovely ladies siting next to me, I settled in and watched a couple movies, until we heard over the PA that the pilots had spotted the lights. We were about half way to Antarctica
There was still some flying before the main cabin could see the lights, as we only have side views from the plane, but the excitement was building and before we knew it, the pilots dimmed the lightsIt does look quiet dark, but I discovered after I started taking some photos of the aurora that it's still too much light
and you get a lot of cabin light glare.I was stuck on the aisle so my view wasn't so good to start, but after a while, my seat buddies were quiet happy to swap around, even before the scheduled seat swap so we could all share the experience. This was good. Thank you seat buddies.
My camera was an Iphone 13 pro max and I was hoping that as it was Iphone's most advanced camera yet, that it would be good to take photos of the aurora. IT WAS NOT. It managed to capture the dark. with some window glare, lol. Luckily for me, I took the advise of Chimu at the airport and downloaded an app they recommended called LongExposure. It cost $10, which is an expensive app, but its a minor expense to allow you to capture the aurora. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DOWNLOAD THIS APP OTHERWISE YOU WON'T CAPTURE ANY PHOTOS OF THE AURORA IF YOU ARE USING YOUR SMARTPHONE, which the lovely ladies next to me found out. I ended up sharing my photos with them.
We've all seen pictures or videos of the aurora right? We all know the aurora is colourful, vivid greens and the occasional purples or blues? WRONG!! To the naked eye, the aurora seems like a greyish colour and I think it could be quite a disappointment to find this out at the time of seeing them for the first time because you're expecting to see green lights dancing. Luckily I read the material provided by Chimu prior to my flight so my disappointment was managed. Despite knowing I would see the lights as grey I was hoping I had super sight and would see the greens for myself. I do not........
. Because the camera sees light in a larger spectrum than the naked eye, we get to see what the camera snaps, which I think is pretty cool. It's like a dog can hear sounds that humans can't. So for millennia up until the invention of a colour camera (only 90 years ago in 1932), nobody ever saw any colours in the aurora, just the dancing lights.
