Title text:
I've had countless nights where the line never left the bottom zone of the graph, but the few moments where it's climbed all the way to the top have made up for them all.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3196/
I'm from Iceland and this pretty much checks out. Pro tip, renting a cabin with a hot tub on days with good conditions is really good. Also travel with people who smoke so they go out and check on a regular basis.
The only northern lights I've ever seen were in Iceland. Honestly, the conditions were less than ideal and what I did see was very dim to the naked eye.
What a lot of people don't know is that a camera (like on your phone) picks up even the faintest aurora with ease. I have pictures that make the whole thing look many times more vibrant than what I could see.