The mental images we develop of places we’ve never been are the first casualties of travel. Nothing is ever really how we imagine. The warm southern states I pined for during 39 winters in the Northeast are one such illusion. We’ve discovered that reliable winter warmth can only be found by traveling to the farthest southern reaches of the country; or by leaving it entirely.

Of the two, the second option is more desirable. There are just too few places in the U.S. to explore during all those long winter months. Southern Florida was great and Texas, well, I’ll have more on that later, but we’re really not keen on returning to the same couple of places year after year. Next winter we’re considering jetting off to South East Asia.

But yesterday’s BBC article about aurora borealis chasing has me rethinking those long-term plans. Seeing the Northern Lights is high on my to-do list and the next two years promise peak activity. Unfortunately winter is prime time viewing owing to extraordinarily long nights. It’s also prime time cold.

So can these two hot-house flowers withstand arctic conditions to witness one of nature’s greatest displays? Probably not. But we’re thinking about it.

Image courtesy of Beverly & Pack