The one that really floored me was getting moving out to an area that's dark enough to see the milky way without help after ~11pm.
Very few experiences as humbling as stepping outside and seeing it streak across the sky.
Very few experiences as humbling as stepping outside and seeing it streak across the sky.
It's not bright by any means, but yes it's the milky way. (and I live in Melbourne, Australia; not north in any sense :P) It would be very rare to see Aurora Australis from here; I don't anyone that has seen that in this area without driving out of the city and using a long exposure.
Can see the milky way much better when we drive 2 hours out of the city to the family farm.
But it's still a world of difference to go out somewhere rural, and preferably high up (eg northern NSW Tablelands) to camp under clear skies.
Even without drugs, spending too long staring out at those enormously bright stars can be a very trippy experience.
You can almost convince yourself that at any moment you could fall off the planet and into those stars.
By German standards, that is not very "inner city". Street lights are on all night, and I cannot see any but the brightest stars even on a clear night. Jupiter and Saturn are easily visible, Orion's belt, too, but Orion's, eh, "sword" is very hard to see. No trace of the Milky Way at any rate.
When I was in a rural area at night for the first time, I was floored to actually see a bright band spreading across the night sky. I had always thought one needs a telescope + CCD to get a view of that.
Generally if I can make out 6+ of the stars in pleiades I've got a good shot of seeing the milky way.