Southern Girl, Northern Lights

By Jasmine Stone

Some journeys give us joy. Others give us clarity, courage, or a reckoning we didn’t know we needed. Travel has a way of placing us in unfamiliar spaces where the noise falls away and the truth has room to surface. In this series, we share deeply personal stories of time spent on the road that shaped, challenged, or changed the way someone moved forward in their life. These are not light lessons, but honest ones — reflections from the road that speak to resilience, perspective, and the enduring human capacity to grow through experience.

If you’d asked anyone who knew me between 2010-2020 where I wanted to travel most they would have told you without hesitation — to see the Northern Lights. I’ve always been fascinated by the sky — sunrises, sunsets, full moons, rainbows — to me, the sky is one of the world’s most underrated wonders. No matter how many sunrises, sunsets or star-filled nights I see, I’m always in awe.

Years ago, a friend living in Norway sent me a photo of themself skiing under the

Northern Lights and from that moment on, I knew I had to see them with my own eyes.

Then life happened.

Cancer. Cancer again. Not the kind of journey I liked… though, through all of it the

Northern Lights quietly stayed on my bucket list, waiting for a better time.

I’d always imagined sharing the trip with someone. I’d meet the man on my dreams,

we’d head to Norway, Finland or Iceland together and we’d spend our nights chasing

the ‘Dancing Lady’, as the aurora is affectionally known.

Then I lost one of my closest friends. I realised I couldn’t keep waiting. So, I booked the trip. Solo.

My itinerary took me through Tromso, Bergen and Oslo in Norway then onto Iceland and Sweden before finishing off meeting up with a bestie for a thaw out in Bali.

The ironic part, just six weeks before I left, I met the man who is now my fiancé. We

laugh about it now because he probably would have joined me if I had asked him.

Instead we spent a month falling in love from opposite sides of the world, sending

messages morning and night while I adventured around Scandinavia solo.

After 32 hours of travelling from Adelaide, I landed in Tromso. As the plane

descended, I looked out the window and caught my first glimpse of greens and

pinks. I remember thinking “Either this is going to be the only time I see it, or it’s a

sign of what’s to come.”

The next night I headed out on my first of four Northern Lights tours — two in Norway and two in Iceland. I saw the lights on three out of the four tours — not bad!

Being my first time in sub-zero temperatures, I’d completely overprepared. I had what I thought was the perfect ski outfit, which was totally not necessary given we were not skiing! I also didn’t realise the tour company gave us giant insulated snow suits. Think Michelin Man... well that was me.

Thankfully the lights didn’t care.

They slowly appeared across the sky, growing brighter and brighter until green

ribbons stretched and danced.

My lifelong friend Mel, who had passed away earlier that year, had always

encouraged me to do this trip. I wished I could share some photos with her and tell her about it. I said to myself “Wow Mel, look at this.”

Almost immediately the sky exploded with colour. The green became brighter and

bigger as it grew across the sky. I was in awe, and also somehow knew that Mel

was with me in that moment.

I’d waited over a decade to see the Northern Lights, and they were somehow even better than I ever could have imagined.

Thank you Mel.

Do you have a travel story to tell? An adventure that changed or inspired you or gave you a new perspective in some way? 

We’d love to hear from you so we can share more authentic stories from real life travellers in our recurring ‘What the Journey Gave Me’ feature.

Email us at marie.sulda@weexplored.com and we’ll let you know the specifications required to look at publishing it.