Ellie Taylor

If you’ve seen Disney’s Tangled, then you’ve seen how mesmerizing lantern festivals can be. Cultures around the world use lantern festivals as a way of bringing people together and bringing light to their communities. Some lanterns are released into the air, some float away on the water, and some are used to decorate homes and cities. Below you’ll find a few examples of the many lantern festivals around the world.

If seeing the northern lights is on your bucket list and you are searching for the perfect place to view them, you can stop searching! Tromsø, Norway is the perfect spot to chase the northern lights. Because of its location in the center of the northern auroral oval, the northern lights are seen more often and more intensely in Tromsø than anywhere else in the world.

Imagine this: You’ve flown halfway across the country to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, expecting a relaxing drive, tales of lost colonies, and wild horses prancing on the sand. Instead, you lose your glasses out the window of your truck, get stuck with a weird tour guide who makes jokes about child labor, and have an admittedly good beach day—but there are no horses to be seen.