How far can your craziness bring you? I guess mine brought me to the Arctic Circle — I have this obsession with the Northern Lights. So, last year was a time of firsts. First time to experience a colourful fall (I always prefer to travel during spring to maximize my vacation and to see flowers in full bloom), to step into Scandinavian land, to do some Aurora hunting.

I sum up 2015 with one word: WANDER. I’d say the year wasn’t so grand — nothing relatively significant has happened except the travel part where my wanderlust has reached a whole new level. My way to de-stress from work back then is to research and feel inspired for the Eurotrip.

By now, have you defined what kind of traveller you are? I feel giddy when the adventure has something to do with nature, same feeling I had when I went for solo travel in NZ when you go somewhere fascinating you never thought it actually exists.

Travelling on a Budget:

The question is can you actually travel on a budget in the Arctic Circle? Hardly. But then again, there are things that you can defy. As I said, you don’t have to be rich to travel far, it all boils down to proper planning/budgeting and enough time to research, prepare and speculate on the rates. When we reached Stockholm, I almost died with the high prices of effing everything, and the crazy thing is, Abisko is even more expensive.

So how did we survive the Arctic Circle?

First, we cooked. It’s quite fun that all of us share the love for cooking. Occasionally, it’s cool to do some solo travel, but one of the perks of travelling with friends is that you can cut on costs, yes, the economies of scale. We bought everything from Coop supermarket, which is walkable from our hostel.

Find a decent, cheap hostel. Sorry to disappoint, but AirBnB has not reached Abisko (having population of 85! as of 2015) yet. We booked at Abisko.net (yes, this is actually the name of the hostel, about S$50/person); the hostel isn’t that bad — we almost have the hostel, the kitchen and common toilets all to ourselves. Plus, it’s a walking distance from Abisko Ostra Station. The only catch is that you get to pay for the bed linens (S$15), which you don’t have a choice — you wouldn’t want to bring some sheets all the way to the Arctic Circle.

How to get to Abisko:

Our point of entry in Sweden is Stockholm, Scandinavia’s capital. From there, we took a plane ride going to Kiruna (Norwegian Airline, S$142 return). We were able to find a bus from Kiruna airport to the train station that goes to Abisko Ostra.  The bus ride was very short and I was baffled that it costs SEK 100/ S$ 17! Oh well, what do you expect when you’re at the edge of the world? Kiruna – Abisko Ostra train ride plus snacks cost S$30.

The Aurora Borealis Hunting:

Lonely Planet has named Abisko’s Aurora as the most illuminating experience in 2015.  Northern lights would normally show up from September to March but would require so much: clear skies (we had to track the weather, make sure it does not rain/drizzle that night — clouds obstruct the lights), free from light pollution, darkness (timing is essential too — we spotted them close to midnight).

So when you have the chance, get out of your shell. Travel far. Run wildly. Brave the cold. Chase the lights. Eat something exotic. Be bold to see what’s unknown out there. Get lost and laugh about it. Prepare to be mesmerized with nature. It isn’t easy, nor is it perfect — you’ll surely meet a few disappointments along the way, but trust me when I say it definitely is rewarding.

**Abisko is the 3rd leg of our 2015 Eurotrip.