Heading off to Norway

Perhaps instead of Intentional Traveler this episode should be titled the Insane Traveler!  Booking a trip not only to Norway in February but all the way up, up, up to the very top! All the way up to above the Arctic Circle!  In February!

Thank heaven it is a cruise.  Viking Ocean Star is the saving grace.  It will be bright, and cozy, and warm!  Outside it will be white!  I expect to see icy blue seas with, hopefully, not too many white caps.  I expect to see icy peaks of the fjords and snowy banks.  Mountains with white shimmering down their sides like crystalline ball gowns glistening in the night light.  I expect to see dark. 2o+ hours of dark!  In Alta, our highest point of land there will be sunlight on February 10 from 9:45 a.m. to 1:36 p.m. 3 hours and 52 minutes.  And for me, who loves sunlight so much that I have 38 windows in my house, every minute counts!  I wonder if someone will tell me how many seconds?

My friend, Ruth, and I will be traveling together.  We meet up in London which is where we started our last trip together.  If you were with us in August for England, Wales, and Scotland, you might remember that Ruth is a lot of fun and we always have a good time no matter what!   This will be her first trip on Viking Ocean.  Ruth loved the river cruises when I introduced her to them so now I think she wants to compare.

A year ago the Viking Sky had trouble on this same itinerary at this same time of year.  I remember saying that if I was in trouble on a cruise, and, knock wood, so far I have been very lucky, and Viking is the line and the crew to choose.  They proved themselves then and I have total confidence in my safety and enjoyment on this one. A harrrowing adventure!

 

My friend, Anna, and her husband, Gary, will be on this tour as well.  I year ago I introduced them to Viking River.  They were so pleased that they immediately booked an ocean trip and this will be their second. We will be all together on some of the shore excursions and others not. For instance, Ruth is going to spend 7 hours visiting a reindeer ranch and even take a ride on a reindeer drawn sled.  Anna, Gary, and I are going to the top of a mountain at midnight to watch, with any luck, the Northern Lights.  

Yes, the Northern Lights are the reason for this cruise and the reason to go at this time of year.  Why Northern Lights?  We will see the spectacle especially well if there are a lot of electro-magnetic collisions of solar gasses entering the earth’s atmosphere.  To best enjoy them there must be clear (read cold) darkness and the patience of the viewer.  

I think of the Aurora Borealis, the proper name in the Northern Hemisphere, as a feminine phenomenon.  Like a girl with the name Aurora the lights might be shy or if they like us they may dance showily on the horizon.  If Aurora loves us she will fling out her colorful skirts and swoop and swirl above and around us!  We hope for the best.

If Aurora is reluctant to perform for us we will still have a great trip.  I have not been to Norway and so can check it off the list.  We will not be going to the capital, Oslo, but to the western edges.  Leaving from London we will be crossing through the English Channel and into the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea – The Arctic Ocean.

So please join me, once again, and let us explore together Norway, experience Arctic weather, and meet the Sami people and their language!