It was a long time dream. Every time I saw pictures of Lofoten, I felt like going there. The desire to visit became stronger and stronger. And when my friend Anja visited Norway, she got me some maps and brochures of Lofoten. After receiving those, could not stop myself from planning and booking the trip immediately for Autumn holidays. Some dreams can not be postponed.

We had flight from Düsseldorf to Oslo & Oslo to Bodo. From Bodo a ferry to Moskenes. At Moskenes had booked a rental car. The rental car guy did not give me confirmation till 3-4 days before departure. When I called up hotel and asked for transfer service, they said, “you can even walk from Moskenes to Hamnoy, it is not far, just 10 km”. We were to reach Moskenes at 19:45 and then to walk 10km during dark days of Autumn, 10 km with Children. huh. Would have been a nice experience though. But unfortunately, the rental car guy called up and confirmed that we will get our car at the port of Moskenes.

At Oslo airport, one has to collect the luggages, clear customs and check in again. Our flight reached at 21:05 and boarding was starting at 21:20. We were left with 10 mins and when we asked at SAS service counter, they asked us to go and catch the flight and after reaching Bodo to report missing baggage. Else, it was guaranteed that we would miss the flight. As we had already come out of Gates to Baggage claim, we had to again go through security and Run to the Gate. Our little one ran with full enthusiasm and when we reached the gate she says, “Rennen ist sportlich, na mama”.  When we reached the gate, boarding had already started.

After reaching Bodo, we informed the SAS service people about missing baggage, filled up the forms and went to our hotel. They told us, we might get our baggage after 2pm next day at the earliest. That meant possibility of missing our ferry to Bodo. We kept our fingers crossed and informed the hotel reception to inform us if they hear anything from Airlines service. In 10 mins after checking in to hotel, we got a call from SAS service that baggage was there. It was a miraculous surprise!

Next day morning we explored areas around the port of Bodo. Had nice pizza at Peppes Pizza. Went early to port and awaited our Torghatten ferry. (http://www.torghatten-nord.no). Ferry left the port at 16:30. Sun had already started going down and colours of the surroundings were changing drastically.

Soon after reaching the port, we gave a call to the Rental car guy and he instructed to walk 50mts to the right after coming out of ferry. There was a small yellow cabin with 2 headlights of the Car and he was awaiting us. We got our car and drove to Hamnoy.

The roads near Reine was so curvy, we had to keep our eyes on the Road all the time, although the scenic beauty of the surroundings were more attractive. We had booked our Cabins at Eliassen Rorbuer. We got the keys out of key locker which are fixed near the Cabin doors by entering passwords and entered the Cabin. It looked very cozy with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. Had a balcon which was facing the mountains and the bridge towards Sakrisoy.

Around 21:00 we spotted 2 people with their tripods on the Bridge clicking pics of mountains. Realised they were trying to capture Aurora Borialis. It was not visible to bare eyes though. Luckily had read few articles about how to photograph Aurora and could get my Camera settings up quickly. Took some pics from our Balcony and ran up to bridge as composition from Bridge seemed to be much better. Unfortunately had carried only a Gorillapod as this was not a photography trip, instead a family vacation. Fixing my SLR on Gorillapod seemed difficult, so had to rely on placing the camera on the flat surface of the Bridge and using remote shutter release to get long exposure pics. Though not satisfied with the results, could not have expected better results with that level of preparation. It was cold and windy. In spite of having 2 thick jackets, I was almost shivering. Hands were getting frozen. Aurora was not persistent either, it was disappearing every few seconds and used to show up again. At times it was so bright that it was clearly visible to bare eyes as well. It was as if someone was creating a laser show from behind the mountains. Once clouds started covering the sky, people started leaving one after the other and I came back to Cabin to have a good night sleep with aurora dreams.