After the amazing trip to Antarctica in 2016 I decided that I now had to see the top of the world. The northern ice is receding so much each year, I decided that I needed to do this trip sooner rather then later.
While on Sea Spirit, Anja did such an amazing talk about northern trips I knew I had to go. So the research began. And then to make it even better Helen decided that she could come as well. I’d asked her while sitting in the spa, sailing past glaciers and ice bergs in Antarctica. Haha.
Where to go? What trip to do? We wanted to see Greenland an of course Iceland, but also wanted the chance to see Polar Bears and maybe some other exciting creatures. Of course nothing quiet fitted with what we want so we decided on a 14 night cruise on Sea Spirit from Svalbard to Franz Josef land – in the Russian territories right up in the Arctic Circle.
We booked and then started to plan the rest.
A land trip in Iceland – may as well ‘pop’ over to Greenland since we are so close – Oh but Helen hasn’t been to Europe, lets go to Poland. Hey and why not the Channel Islands. And of course a bit of England.
We had a plan. Bring it on. It is fun planning with someone else. Google maps and google documents makes it so easy. That and many many multi-hour phone calls and we came up with a plan.
And what a plan it is. Lots of to-ing and fro-ing, many many flights and lots of long days but we are going to see so much! Google maps and Google spreedsheets are amazing when planning an travelling with someone else.
We planned a pretty exciting trip. Helen has never been to Europe so we decided to make the most of it with an extra week.
Fly to England – straight on a flight to Poland. – 2 nights in Poland.
Back to England for a drive around then onto a ferry to the Channel Islands – Jersey then Guernsey.
2nd August – Off to Greenland via a night in Iceland. Then three days in Illusiat, Greenland – home of ice bergs.
5th August – Back to Iceland for an 8 day drive around the whole island. It’s called ‘The Ring Road” and is one of the famous drives in the world.
12th August – Fly to Longyearbyen, Svalbard – At the top of the world, for a few days.
15th August join Poseidon Expeditions (my Antarctic mob) for a 14 night cruise to Franz Josef Land. Home of Polar Bears and who knows what other amazing sights.
29th August – off the ship and beginning the long long trip home.
So – super busy and super wonderful trip.
So off we went – Canberra – Melbourne (where I met Helen) – Dubai – London – Krakow.
A few drinks at the Qantas Club and onto our flight.
Now the adventure had really begun.
We flew through Dubai. Dubai is always late, with a rush…but we made it to the lounge for a shot time -water and wifi. They have an amazing phone charge system. You open a ‘safe’ with your own code, then put your phone in the charge. Off you go for a meal or what ever and come back to a charged phone.
Back onto the plane and off to England. At Heathrow we collected our luggage, found the luggage storage place, paid the huge fees then headed off to Poland with just hand luggage. Luxury.
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