Absolutely. Went to visit family in Indianapolis for the last one. We thought it was going to be cloudy but we saw it in all of its glory. It was truly awe inspiring and I still get goosebumps thinking about it. It cannot be described in words to those who have never witnessed it in person. Its like being a part of a secret club.
Street lights came on, bats came out, the dogs got confused, time stood still.....I understand now why people travel the world to see this. I was fortunate to see this as it will not happen again where I will likely be able to go until 2044 and that will be in Montana and the Dakotas.
Funny enough, I think photos do a phenomenal job of depicting what they literally look like.
The thing that you can never prepare for is the visceral, caveman reaction you have in your spine, gut, and soul when you’re looking up at the sky and seeing exactly what you’ve seen in photos. That shit simply should not be in the sky and your amygdala knows it. 10/10 experience.
I'm not a religious person at all, but seeing that, you'll understand the feeling of staring God in the face. Best way I can describe it. I truly pitty anyone who doesn't have the chance to experience it at least once.
It seems that you didn’t have enough breathtaking experience to motivate the cost. I saw one in Hungary in 1999 and I thought it was fantastic but I wouldn’t say it’s the most important memory of my life.
So worth it. The penultimate one was only a few hours from where I lived and I took the day off to go see it with my daughter. Huge bonding experience. Much less planned. Ended up pulling off onto a country road in a corn field and it was just us two.
The this last one, it was a little further away and decided to rent an Airbnb for it in the mountains of Arkansas (happen to catch the Airbnb before the prices raised due to the eclipse). This had more planning and we found a spot to go to beforehand at a scenic lookout at the top of the mountains. Much more people.
One of my kids was 3 and an eclipse landed in the middle of her nap time. She was a grumpy person and I really regret not finding a way for her to enjoy it. It was cool for me though.
If it won't bankrupt you, or destroy your retirement, this will probably become a core memory for your kids, and they will think fondly on it long after the event. I hope you have a great time! Plus, Spain is a great country!
I wnat to do it too.
But it's the south south south.
Long tavel time, even from France.
And ther's only like one city in it this time, meaning prices will be sky high :/
It happened where I live this Summer(yes, also Spain). I live on an area where it was a 100% total. It was cool, I saw it on the country with my family. But honestly, if you live far it is not worth it to spend a lot of money just to see it. The cool part last like 1 minute and that's it. What made it amazing to me was seeing it from my family's house in which I spend the summers, seeing it all suddenly go dark while the neighbours were making a barbecue and my little cousins and the cats were around
Yep, worth it. We were lucky that the 2018 total eclipse in the us went right through our town. Total darkness and the crickets chirping for 2 minutes.
Got to see two of them in the direct path in 2017 and 2024. This is a huge understatement. I remember the first one was trippy. Light circles reflected off of my house. Once the eclipse was full the birds went silent, the sky kind of looked dusky but can’t fully describe it as that as dusk still has a yellow/orange glow in the west. The full eclipse created a fire circle with a corona around the sun and you’ve got a couple minutes to look right at the sun without eye protection. And it’s pretty cool because you can even see stars in the sky.
I lived in Carbondale Illinois, which was the crossroads for the last two total solar eclipses. I feel truly fortunate that I didn't have to travel for either.
Additional note, if you're ever in the 90% zone for an eclipse, travel the little bit to see totality. I saw 99% and it was cool, but nowhere close to as incredible as 100%
I've seen two and the first time it literally made me weak at the knees. Second was longer and I was able to observe a bit more (like seeing it look like the sunlight was rushing back at you towards the end).
One of the key parts of viewing a total solar eclipse is witnessing it from the zone of 100% totality, and not from the area of <99.9%.
Also, clear skies are ideal. Clouds, haze, smoke from fires, etc. will all impact your ability to view. So it’s good to have Plan B viewing location if visibility might be reduced.
Be sure to buy solar eclipse viewing glasses online in advance to avoid paying peak market rate. Pick up a couple extras glasses to share with your neighbors or local kids. Be sure the glasses Certified, UV protectant and not some cheap knock offs that will hurt your eyes.
Was fortunate it passed over Dallas during work. Had a rooftop view on one of the taller buildings in the surrounding area. Could see edges of the shadow in every direction. Literally unlike anything else
I saw one a few years back in Indianapolis and I don’t know what I was expecting but it blew away any kind of expectation. Absolutely amazing and surreal.
The last 100 seconds before totality hits is something nobody understands, cant even actually explain it and no images or video works, you just have to see it in person.
I expected the eclipse to just be cool, but it was utterly profound. I vowed to never miss one on land again after Texas eclipse a couple years back.
Took my son to Iceland Eclipse this year for his graduation present.
I saw it in my backyard in 2024. I forgot to take landscape photos and only closeups. So I’m hoping to go to Australia for the 2028 one. Wanted to go to Iceland in August, but too much money and I had a job.
Lucked out to live in Northeast Ohio right in the path of totality for this most recent eclipse. Me and my friends went to a music event at this nature/camping called Nelson’s Ledges that has such incredibly clear and blue water cause it’s a quarry. We got drunk and high as the eclipse did its thing and it’s truly incredible seeing it in totality. Not just seeing it, but also how nature responds cause it looks like it’s dusk, but it was actually 3 PM. Truly once in a lifetime experience.
I was extremely privileged to have seen two in the span of 10 years. It is truly an incredible experience and gives you a sense of just how small we are and how magnificant space and our place in the universe and world is.
Yeah, this. My sons (ages 23 and 20) saw the April 2024 eclipse. We made an almost spur of the moment trip to Vermont and ended up with a perfect day and it was amazing. What you see is otherworldly and your brain can barely process it because the SUN WENT OUT. And you can see sunlight illuminating hills on either side of you, and you can see it's moving fast and you realize you're in a shadow. Suddenly, WHOOSH, it's over. It took six hours to drive home, half of it in heavy, post-eclipse traffic and none of us cared. The boys were...giddy. We talked about how cool it was for 3 hours. It was the best, most memorable thing I've done with them since they became adults.
I made the drive home from just north of Plattsburgh after the eclipse. The traffic was unbelievable and every roadside convenience store was overrun but it seemed like no one cared at all. We were all altered from the eclipse. Incredible.
It's cool and it would be neat to plan a vacation around it or something, but honestly I was slightly underwhelmed. I've heard a lot of good things about total eclipses and how there are people who try to witness as many as possible and how the entire energy of the crowd becomes saturated with magical wonder and people start crying with enlightenment and everything.
It's not quite that spectacular, but it is pretty nifty. I think having a really solid plan of where and how you want to experience it and with whom will vastly improve the experience vs what I did, which was drive 45 minutes to sit in a library parking lot with a bunch of strangers who also drove under an hour to sit there. So overall you need to make an existential experience of it, it's not necessarily going to make that experience for you automatically.
Saw totallity in Ohio for the first time, 2024. We drove like 90mins to a very small nature preserve in the middle of nowhere. Took a cooler and lawn chairs, basically tail-gated it for the afternoon. It was an amazing experience!
Seeing one during totality is easily the most beautiful (non-personal) thing I've ever seen in my life, and I'm a serious aesthetics (art/music/ect) snob.
I fully disagree. I've seen two in my lifetime (including the recent total eclipse on Mallorca), and I think it's extremely overrated. It basically did absolutely nothing for me (and anyone in my family). Sure, it's a nice thing to see, but that's about it.
I wouldn't recommend anyone to spend any significant amount of money to go see one (unless money/time is zero issue, then sure, do whatever).
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u/DkGphoto91 9h ago edited 3h ago
Seeing a solar eclipse, including the few minutes before, words and videos give such a poor version of it. Dont miss out on seeing it in person.
Edit: Was told by some that I should be clear that im speaking about seeing it in Totality.