When we booked our trip to Abisko, Sweden, the focus was on the Northern Lights, so we didn't book anything. Who needs a guide when you can walk out to the great outdoors and find it on your own?

About a week before the trip, I started to think about the fact that we'd want something to do during the day. I looked at the website for our hotel and found all kinds of interesting things: dog sledding, ice climbing, Nordic skiing, snowshoe hikes, photography classes. Perfect outdoor activities!

Then, my hopes were dashed as I went to book  - each and every one was booked solid, many of them booked up through the end of the winter season. Panic ensued - what the heck were we going to do for 2.5 days? There was nothing around, no sights to see, only outdoor stuff.

Of course, I shouldn't have panicked - you can rent your own gear, find your own trails, even just look out at the beautiful scenery while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate inside. But, in my anxious state, we went searching high and low for things to fill our time in Abisko.

Dog sledding was one of the things I KNEW I wanted to try so we focused on it. In Abisko, there was absolutely nothing. Not a single dog sled available to mush us around. Luckily, I happen to have a very sweet, and persistent, husband. After a day of emailing and calling sledding companies, Paul found someone in Kiruna with availability. They picked us up at the airport and whisked us off to the anticipated dog sledding.

I was expecting the stereotypical husky - blue eyes, big puffy fur, just like my parents dog at home. When I arrived, our sled was hooked up to 12 dogs, none of which were what I had pictured. But perhaps, it was better. Each dog had it's own look and personality. Our driver told us that while the Siberian or Alaskan huskies are what some companies use since that's what people think of, these breeds were better - smaller, therefore, more agile and quicker! I took a few minutes to introduce myself to each of my runners, then settled myself on the sled for the ride.

We went across snowy terrain, basking in the sun, taking in the sunlight glinting off the snow. Our guide told us about the dogs and the area. It had been a warm winter even for them, not as much snow (although they were about to get more), meaning what was there was hard and packed down. We had a stop to warm up in a cabin with a log fireplace, coffee and tea, then got back on our merry way to finish up the ride, before getting back to more conventional transit on our train ride to Abisko.

For our time in Abisko, we found a company to take us ice fishing. I was hesitant on this since I don't fish, but fears of boredom won out, so I agreed to give it a try.  I am so glad I did, it was an incredible experience. Because of the snow storms, we were some of the few people out on the lake. This combined with the wind swirling the snow across the expanse of ice made you really feel as if you were all alone on the Arctic tundra, fishing to survive. We drilled a few different holes, taking the metal device and cranking it until it made it all the way through the meter thick ice and freezing cold water came erupting out. After sitting with the poles for 10 minutes, we decided it was much better to leave them there out in the open, then go get ourselves somewhere a bit less windy (and therefore hopefully less cold! and come back to check on our luck later.

This meant we got to explore the ice caves nearby, as a good spot to get out of the wind. They were magic, with icicles dripping down from the ceiling, some forming columns within the cave. As we scooted into the cave on our stomachs, you could look down through the ice to the bottom of the lake, giving you an intense sensation of floating on water.

Next, we braved the winds again to trek out to view where the ice had pushed together to form a giant crack in the middle of the lake. We did have a guide this time, who confirmed it was safe to walk, so once we got close, we simply stood there, enjoying the view and the magic of mother nature.  When we returned back to our poles, we found we were as unlucky with fish as we were with the Northern Lights, so we went home empty handed.

For the rest of our time in Abisko, we explored on our own. We rented some snow shoes to explore the paths around the hotel and river. The first day was cut short by high winds, snow and my fear that we had taken ourselves off the path and would end up making ourselves an igloo to spend our night lost in the forest. Luckily, I was wrong and Paul's sense of direction took us right back to the trail.  The next day, the winds had subsided some, so we enjoyed the fresh powder on the trails as we looked for ice falls and simply soaked up the beauty of being the first ones out in the snow that day.

After that, I had to say that I had my fill of winter wonderland for the winter. Now, hopefully London's summer will be filled with sunshine and warm weather (here's to wishful thinking!)

Last year, we were lucky enough to catch the Northern Lights during our weekend trip to Iceland.

This year, with friends going to Iceland to try to see the lights, I realised once was not enough. I needed more! There's something about the whole experience - the gambling of it all, the feeling of waiting out in the cold with hope abounding, the moment of let down or excitement. Plus, our experience in Iceland, while amazing, I felt could have been more if we would have been further from the lights of the city and especially from the tour bus of others chasing the same lights.

So, I set out to plan a trip to take us away from the city and up into the Arctic Circle to chase the lights yet again.

After some research online, I found out about Abisko National Park in Sweden. It was described as having it's own microclimate where it's usually clearer than the surrounding areas. It also said that if you stay 3 nights, there's an 80% chance to see the lights, and you can visit the sky station there which specialises in tracking the lights and providing an idea platform for seeing them.

Since it's a national park, it's not exactly the easiest to get to though and it's certainly lacking the usual hotel options that you would find somewhere like Reykjavik.  We left work on Thursday to start our trek - first into Stockholm, with a night at the airport hotel, then up and at them first thing next morning to Kiruna in the north. We had a short stopover in Kiruna for shopping and "sightseeing" (more to come on this!) then hopped on the 90 minute train ride north to Abisko.

We stayed at the Abisko Touristation, a mixture of "hotel" rooms and hostel rooms and conveniently located a 2 minute walk from the train station and a 15 minute walk down to the lake.  Around us is nothing but the outdoors and a few roads where cars occasionally passed by which double as roads for snowshoers and skiiers at other times.

We arrived in the afternoon and started to think about trying to see the Northern Lights that evening. We couldn't get tickets to the sky station, so we decided we would walk down on the paths towards the lake to try and glimpse them.  We took a nap and set our alarms for 10 pm to suit up and head out.

When we were awoken by the alarm, we looked out the window to find not clear skies, but a snow flurry. After several weeks without snow, a big storm hit the northern part of the country meaning no visibility and no Northern Lights. We got up a few times throughout the night to see if our luck had changed, but each time we were sorely disappointed.

The next day, we woke up to a veritable winter wonderland. It was beautiful, especially after our exceedingly warm winter in the UK, I realised how lovely a winter landscape can be.  We enjoyed a day outdoors, despite the winds and continuing snow.

That evening, we decided to give the Northern Lights another go. Again, we took a nap, set our alarm for 10 when it was scheduled to clear up, and set our minds to the fact that we'd stay outside to catch them until 1 am.

It was hard to force ourselves out of the warm bed into the cold when the alarm went off, but we piled on all our layers and treked down to the lake to get a prime watching spot. We walked along the paths lit only by the moonlight and it was deserted out. When we finally came to the lake, after a few trips and stumbles on icy patches, we found a few other small groups with the same mindset as us. We set up our tripod and camera, got out the blanket and thermos of hot chocolate, then hunkered down to wait for the show.

Slowly but surely, the others who were waiting left to head back to the warmth until it was us and one other small group of 3 people. Around 11:45, we saw some traces of the Northern Lights, but they didn't put on an act for us and disappeared behind the clouds again. As the time went on, the sky continued to get more cloudy and at 1 am, our bodies were craving warmth and sleep, so we gave up and realised we were going to be in the 20% to miss the lights.

While I'm disappointed we didn't see them, we still enjoyed our time in Sweden and filled it with days outdoors and activities I had never tried, and will likely never get the opportunity to do again. I knew we were lucky last year in Iceland, but this just highlighted how lucky we were on our first trip and the unpredictable nature of weather. I know my chase of the Northern Lights isn't over yet, so looking forward to figuring out where I may see them next!