Tips of viewing northern lights

It's luck but here are a few tips:
-You don't have to go to North Pole to see northern lights or aurora borealis. Farther north does give you a better chance to see them.
-The best time of the day to see northern lights is on a clear sky after 10:00pm and before dawn, the hours when most people are in their warm bed. I saw you arrived at some places late at night - should have taken the hot shower and gone to bed and should have gone straight outside...
-The best locations to see northern lights are places away from city lights. You don't have to go to the countryside.
-Northern lights are around all year round. But you won't see them in summer simply because it's not dark enough especially as you go farther north. There are also better times of the year to see them - September is a good month to see them when the solar system is very active.
-There are also forecasts available on the web and here are a link:
http://www.mysteries-megasite.com/main/bigsearch/aurora-1.html
-I have been to Alaska a few times and still haven't seen northern lights. It gives me excuses to keep going back to this favorite place of mine.