3rd of October, 2022.
Hitchhiking in Sweden.
Is there destiny at all? Or everything that happens to us we attract to ourselves due to our own energy? How much can we get?
John passes by but then he stops a bit further. He seems extremely surprised on seeing me. He laughs. He tells me he is not going to Kiruna but just to Abisko. I have no idea “what” Abisko is. but I decide to go with him instead of going back to the parking lot. And I am so glad I did!
John is from Denmark and he is on holidays. He was in Norway and now he is spending a few days in Abisko.
Abisko is known for having the clearest air / sky to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) up here. What? Yeah, I had no clue. John is staying in the Abisko Guest House, where they have tiny rooms with one bunk bed each, and many programs and excursions for people who want to see the Northern Lights. That’s why John is here but he is hunting them on his own.
We go inside so I can use the wi-fi and arrange things regarding my crossing to Russia. Their official website says you must have a PCR test to enter the country. I am planning to use the NOKs Hilde and Håkon gave it me and get one in Kiruna. I just need to check the prices and places.
Abisko Guest House is very cute. They have a lovely kitchen and the young people staying here don’t have that “hostel party vibe” which I don’t like, so I feel good. While I am going crazy over internet, John has an idea and go away to work on it. I don’t know what he is planning.
I find out that a PCR test in Kiruna is costing 180 Euros. Laugh. Is that even for real? How could you possibly charge that much? Immediately I do two things: 1) I write to my CS host in Moscow, and tell him that unfortunately I cannot come and why; 2) I check flights out of somewhere I can reach in 2 days by hitchhiking, to some country not Schengen.
A., my CS host in Moscow, answers me that is bullshit and I can use a fake PCR test to enter the country. He has used many times in Russia and it worked. He even offers to make one for me, but I decide to do it myself. I do think a lot about it though. Should I? Isn’t that too risky? One thing is to fake a return flight ticket, to enter a European country, another is… trying to enter Russia with anything fake. When I tell John about it, he just says: “What the worst it can happen? You go to a prison in Siberia!”. John is very funny, I forgot to tell you that.
At least John has good news for me! His idea was to tell the people responsible for the Guest House about me and my story, and ask them if they could give me the other bed in his tiny room for free, only for one night. Brilliant! And they say yes! How lovely is that? From both of them! I can barely believe and I am so happy and grateful, but I am also so worried about Russia. I think I have never had such opposite feelings before. At least until the next hours…
No possible flights I can afford nearby. Nothing. So, fuck it, I decide to go to Russia anyway. I mean, I will try. Besides, is my best shot to enter Asia too, so what a hell, let’s do it!
After preparing the document and finishing everything I had to do, I go to the kitchen and prepare some left-over pasta from previous guests. It is very simple, just with some tomato paste, but they have garlic! So, all is well! Actually, it turns out to be delicious!
John is always checking his phone to see if we are lucky about the Aurora Borealis. He has some app and also, nearby here, there is some live cameras showing their activities right now. He detects something and we decide to go out and check. The others don’t seem very excited so it is just the two of us.
When we get outside, we only see a weak and thin green line on the sky. I am already happy when all of sudden… BOOM!
The whole sky becomes bright and green and I see the most amazing thing of my life! There they are, right on the top of my head, this amazing, incredible, exceptionally beautiful Northern Lights! Not many people know this but, up to this day, I used to think that they were fake! Laugh. No, but seriously, I couldn’t really believe that this was for real. Now I know!
I start to scream out of happiness and that attracts other people to come out. John runs inside and get the others. Soon enough we are a big group outside, staring at this phenomenal natural beauty!
John has a special app in his phone for shooting at night: it is a timer. He can hold the shot for a few seconds and that is perfect for photographing Auroras. But is the first time he is using, so we are experimenting. But he manages to take some really nice ones. Including one of me! I could barely believe! I wouldn’t be able to register this moment at all if wasn’t for him, because I simply cannot do it with my camera. In the end, I think I would be OK with that, but I have to say that, to be able to keep some memories of such important moment of my life, it is truly amazing! Thank you so much, John! Sometimes I think you are just an angel, sent to help me.
We stay out for more than one hour. The spectacular lights and colours stay with us. Sometimes red, orange and purple colours appears out of nowhere, and also out of nowhere they are gone, letting the phosphorescent green predominate.
Then it happens: right on the top of our heads, as there was a superior force or something which knew it was my first time seeing this unique demonstration of beauty, a spectacle as I could never imagine, starts showing to us. The lights are moving so fast and in a fantastic way, that it seem unreal, as we were into acid or something. Sometimes it seems like a butterfly, this gorgeous green, purple and pink butterfly, flying above our heads, shining as nothing else. I know I am using a lot of words, but honestly, it is difficult to explain what we saw and how we felt. It was sublime! I was laughing, screaming… it was phenomenal!
When the lights start to fade away, we go back inside. I am guessing is quite cold but I don’t feel it or care about it.
I am so excited and happy that I get all hungry again, so I prepare more pasta. John think that is funny and I love his honesty when he says: “You eat a lot!”. Finally, somebody who noticed!
I have to leave early tomorrow morning. Every second counts!
I think I manage to sleep a bit. I don’t know, I was so excited!
But I do get up early, sometime before 7 a.m., but I am so stupid that I don’t get the magnetic card for the door! So now I am just hoping John will get up soon. And he does! I told you! He is just an angel…
After getting all ready and packed, I have some breakfast.
By the time I am leaving, I meet Suzana, from Poland, who is working here. She is such a doll, so friendly and helpful! She asks me if I need anything, because the guests leave stuff behind all the time. I tell her the only thing I urgently need is a pair of socks, because now I have only one. But that’s something she hasn’t seem around. Shame.
By the time I am waiting on the road, Suzana comes and we chat a bit more. She brings me a pair of socks! What? Yeah, don’t ask me, but she saved me by giving me a pair of socks. She also gives me a package of hot chocolate (for the cold, she says), some Aspirine and some Coal pills, just in case I need. How sweet of her!
In a few minutes a car stops. He is going to Kiruna! Yay!!
10 Years Around the World 