When Koh Joo Beng, an astronomy fanatic from Singapore, first watched the moon slide between the earth and solar 18 years in the past, he didn’t anticipate the influence it will have on his life. “It struck me that eclipses aren’t simply scientific phenomena,” he says, recalling his preliminary glimpse of the August 2008 eclipse from China. “They’re profoundly emotional and non secular experiences.”
Since then, Koh has travelled to see 14 photo voltaic eclipses around the globe, and even co-authored a e-book, Chasing Totality: The Complete Handbook for the 2026 Total Solar Eclipse together with his son Jared Koh.
This transition from eclipse-curious to avid umbraphile (the identify for an individual who travels lengthy distances to look at photo voltaic eclipses, actually translating to “shadow lover”) is sort of frequent. As I realized after my very own style of totality in 2024, when you see one, you need to see all of them.
This week’s complete photo voltaic eclipse on August 12, seen from east Greenland, west Iceland, and Spain, is proving to be no exception—regardless of its inconveniently slim path. Throngs of travellers—myself amongst them—are chasing the phenomenon to distant islands and rural cities, reserving up flights, resorts, and even celestial-themed raves.
Northern Spain alone is anticipating an estimated 460,000 abroad vacationers, with one other 128,000 heading to Iceland. In line with knowledge from Amadeus Travel Intelligence, year-on-year flight bookings are up 25% for Spain and Iceland, with areas like Bilbao in northern Spain seeing the most important vacationer uptick.
I realise that, on paper, travelling abroad and into congestion for an expertise that lasts mere minutes (from my northern Spain perch, simply over 90 seconds) sounds absurd. To umbraphiles, although, there’s no query: these fleeting minutes below false nightfall, when the moon covers all however our solar’s ethereal outer ambiance, is value each penny.
“There’s nothing prefer it; you possibly can’t really perceive it till you expertise it,” says Minnesota-based astrophotographer Marc Rassel, who’s chased eclipses since 2017 and plans to observe this yr’s spectacle from Spain. “The sunshine is unusual, all the pieces will get darker, there’s a 360-degree sundown, and the temperature drops. The birds chirp. When you see that first one, you’re like ‘yep, that is it.’”
For many who haven’t skilled the indescribable magic of totality, I talked with quite a few fellow umbraphiles to grasp this particular sensation of awe—plus, gathered intel on the place they’re planning to observe this week’s occasion, in addition to the long run eclipse journeys they’re trying ahead to.
