# Some Vacation Photos

In the past three months, I've flown overnight from San Francisco to the UK/Europe three times.

Three times, I got a window seat on the left side of the plane.

And three times... well, see for yourself.

![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ABLVV86O698l_sQFLfFieVei8keCPzJA8AoxVjGh1vTWMWoScYjEzsIpyE3buo9rgpvNZko7WamuyMilVRiupm6XHrvLeYTSBcoJFeLR9TXPUEQSfsnYSANwuswdBlYWqW3DDaZQ6ZBlXJ0orafdR6Dnp01WEHp3tObi49ilrdp17xEEs0q7J-ENJW0HtZ41iI4Y8ftJw_4OIbDbGEVJMJi-irNxU5YLPypcXHVz7Fwwf4Zacu7pn17Yq5uE32BQcZXILDOoV5YbMBLJHcPPDwgPh-Ul7ypwTv-e9NfEvKuZoZ4Am1fqxNOSq3PLmug7Wfsuzv9Ih2arUUhnhGJImtbIpE1qpdfDNztp1x-w4swLhRPIEdsfuJrOxjBbg1kM2d4tBGySB_eywKSVUGpim2vcE0MD-sOMwV1WnR1N4Ea3_IU5TxrkADxHQVFBO7HYsxC_RfrJ8i-uOcAbnMnUJNZVI05dsSnfBc7n5rKVKbQB2hXkCzI2LkJ2FQ2kgIs6GRMVY3B92roAO8sNvuPqG8Uc0GKM-BxFA0CxbeycJvg0uK2LFTv_DL5FT6FZCjFb-C_b_ko7QrtfvbvHMEvEHLP8bV0AdfGwXZBWXpuArG5qb3AGIPDgSwF7GhIoMxn4u0p264GB8z3XVVfSC2SzNznKEQw_qIgIOUdMf3xnc3Rv1HUxHmBqD5L3CmymFuKZkffm13MXH-dh1-9X4LMeQHfl0yRxtFiCIsgg85XINm1oMq13rXC8Bv9Gg3wkrP76wmMTlEZ3LtuA469_Ns9Gz9KBTuogE2JCA14O8Mpn7S-1phSvlTglZ42mMFJmV3RwNV739M5rX-799rHB3YeVCb0UcO9pP2RxFgZbAbGV0Wa5PJmtXIbLtzkQA1am8-DqzqSzWMohxirHKihQjihzTNL4eUL_4wPE8MicI89KEnGWQyM=w1236-h927-s-no-gm?authuser=0)

First trip

![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ABLVV85j8vJ5W1KX2AWYF5w8n9EiZBezCYrwdXSurrrJG39QmAhyxzD6v5useVp7vJuhXgdPiW-kA2WDOJCEqmPS-s1X2Ai9br0x06wVcMXIHO_R3yApDu8oYNTf-kM44r8x1CcHFRKMMkaLTTPeXvm__ReEsokisacDOXzFbWTuYCn5Wpk2HuZT9OkjyzIcpZW3JASR5kEiW7LEGJN2eTh9ib93Ad-bdC0zBx6X2TFozTWYIKrViLgl0Glc1JufFHAPHw9cQ5FZR9jKoscsCmZzWkAM6IV1plzMH30RBtPrJZBgy3JIV4ij3pTr8sRt9L4b3X9SDlcEgEMGbJ41G3BqDX7stfgpjdF25sjjwtUlh3kSozKMNdgVJG017or5odNzIEjJBhUi8hZzbpLKEHDuVtlzoljTFM4TBrx1oQ6wY2hjIcHCA0WB3ICUxIVUeicwzE4lwHooxDHLfx79lwsDbAcV8L1ZahriR4zZIw5xGGM02y2LvuBsby87tCFgxOkdP9I-HDsYT77HCnG-WHP6R42EDW65ZukiDJEYownrJNc76gwtlRTwV3mhkNCyApaNXMLEpvy9gDS0FOX8-TPSFqZoW_SitCT4hmdNV1HxwWFDs1CsUWKAw-t-T1eYA3wjoFcG4srJYphnzn9gtZwU0R8fX6B-b07N8xGiYCwHxIm-xMXl5TCNupG_GlZvX_bMUvIb3Wvz0y2A9uPa1Cq0j8wF_hW5qBWT6dlrx0wOBotIoELyuGjND7G-QiBuZjW6-zmA2auAG6HBS7qdPNiZanyc6rL2XfI_wJPAKxFAdWPClDWqAupewwH3UbU_gf6rA0NcIidVJsHNjSAHWL5N4NF5PHXWISfVQInEJppczlH6chT5QsbLyOfaRMXRpxsDe2eJUANrC00Wag2PKsXF8RcI_sGNJQIPTOhjIax3ask=w695-h927-s-no-gm?authuser=0)

Second trip

![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ABLVV86ZWqxExpyVGfa_1nAsih19uP1gCfHVspLUQOlAmo36mvvoXF2a22TYRi0TWbHU9qBblW2-CryhNIGv3bxXZjXy1kxiTxTxXzPlJo-eScOeCoJ78VwEHJWApoBFx8xYWuteDfrdUAjKfCKcGGWVisffBva9scRMNaUZeTxtgod0mYOu9wQcRbqoE3mi_nTbjJZGCXKx8_gWlZFEXvcMbdsDWOjrZ7nlQ6henY8oalUm-MPFH3Bf_y4jKT_2HuoERqOH14csQRJkA6DhTFVSV9huJQNeoObbWMj7pRgwVkpEckmTpQhoZULubi1L1vjwt9NdnXRK9yqeqY_3i7NJHmRJGJmAWuEENnUtnIcvWwpBPhkS4ySsFHMRlyEZVZ4Dh6VQ8cEMi8NSFHq6A5gFCGmxU5bmkznqRl-wITt1ccdUWMVFDqppbp__kCtm0Qu7viEfP27g4UkRaysIsyKSy43P7YESmnd5sDoR7JjcScDTNz1Jo0f6mIdTb4f7bdT9GDL8NrdUCdDJvzPm1SWSvdws5sv2LA97Z51_TTTcChDYhbAglipIQByBm9Sc42PWp3O4EHTaYKOrxvsXv3agj7GdfoBbmR0Sv65WpuLbpJtujWLopS_5jgLKs7CfJTtPxZLWa2ZEBDbAu4_Ncg27rYHg49wUJj_q29CU0cdUL1LcidsQxgDAnU6yCZBTcb7CLgOWs-GA5yIZWwcq9lA21W-kYCi46hnmuugRPHo1bpLaR_12k8SfUPyUqzM-gieoktSbdLQCZrCzAEOLWRoS89uRi-MSrpUhI1nXvS87lhqlXE3j08zpN2ibJnr9etOBKIXAPYxaS924SnQzuI1OZwGZx3SlumFRUxr8RW2BGL1v_crGpj9Pk6P0I1yx1ILgT0-5cGoiBoUECxYpvkJNegCpM2r6EwB6AyO7WkthiXQ=w1236-h927-s-no-gm?authuser=0)

Third trip

Key thing to know: these aurora did *not* look like this to the naked eye. They were usually too faint to see the color at all; they looked like faint moonlight shining around the edges of a dark cloud. Except the "cloud" was higher up than an airplane flying at 10+ km.

It wasn't apparent what they were until I blocked out light from the cabin and took a long-exposure photo. (On my phone, that just means using the "night sight" mode.) That kinda makes these aurora cooler, in a way - you won't really notice there's anything interesting there unless you know to look for it and then image it in a special way.