Adventures in the Arctic, by Kat Hyde.

Embracing the winding roads, and white-knuckle style driving, IAM RoadSmart’s Director of Marketing and Communications Kat Hyde, headed to the Arctic Circle.

On the February 5, I headed to the Arctic Circle. Tromso, Norway, was the destination where the temperature flitted between -16 and 20 during my stay.

I’ve been to many Scandinavian countries, but Norway was a first for me, and I wasn’t too sure what to expect from my trip, but it was better than anything I could have imagined; the focal point of the trip being an Aurora Borealis chase, and ‘chase’ is exactly what we did.

My childhood friend and I landed at Tromso Airport; we had an hour to rest before meeting Gunnar, our established Aurora chaser, who, credit to him, was a big advocate of seat belt-wearing (a legal requirement in Norway), making sure that everyone was strapped in as we set off on our journey to track the lights, with a possible crossing into Finland.

For the chase, I was separated from my friend; she was at the front of the minibus, and I was at the rear. It was an interesting drive for both of us, with slightly different experiences. Below are just a few of the things that were anxiety-inducing for me as I settled into the hairy drive as a backseat passenger and an employee of a road safety charity.

1) Tackling the icy roads

Gunnar…liked speed! He reassured us that he’d lived in the area for many years, and the frozen roads and the 2m snow drifts were comfortable for him to tackle…because he had known nothing else. He mentioned the importance of winter tyres and explained that the minibus was equipped with them, but it seemed to act as further reinforcement to justify a foot on the accelerator.

2) Winding roads and lights out

As we set off out of town and travelled along the winding roads, twice, he stopped the minibus in the middle of the road, and turned off the ignition and lights, so we were essentially sitting ducks on a road that had bends, blind spots, and no lighting! His sole focus was to see the skies, and whilst I am sure this was because we were a group of tourists, had paid good money, and he was keen to deliver on the experience, it wasn’t overly reassuring for myself and other passengers at the time.

3) Steering and mobile phone usage

A fellow tourist was next to the driver, and on our way to track the lights, I could see the driver steering with one hand, sometimes just a finger at a time, leaving me questioning what control he had of the vehicle, if any, whilst he was proudly showing other passengers pictures that he’d captured of lights on his social media page, with other tourist groups.

4) Deer…reverse, reverse, reverse!

The lights did appear for us, but the cold got to our bones, despite the many layers, so, 5 hours after we’d started our ‘chase’, we hopped back in the minibus to get some warmth in our bodies, making our way back to Tromso central. While I was beginning to snooze in the rear, I heard someone shout DEER, and the driver started reversing, at speed with so much focus on the deer that there was little observation about the fact that we were half a foot away from the edge of the road...and a sheer drop!

The trip has left a lasting impression, some good, some bad, and I thought it would be good to share my experience as a tourist in another country because the experience on the road was certainly an eye-opener for me.