- The Nordic Sojourn 2022 — start of trip
- Western Norway — Fjords, mountains, and a lot of rain!
- Longyearbyen, Svalbard, and start of the cruise
- Magdalenefjorden and Gravneset
- Texas Bar and…
- Arctic pack ice and polar bears — what a day!
- Ny London, Ny Alesund, and the massive glacier!
- Poolepynten and fin whales!
- Northeast Greenland National Park and Scoresby Sound
- Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland
- Patreksfjordur, Iceland and the bird cliff
- Reykjavik and the start of our Icelandic sojourn
- The Golden Circle, Iceland
- Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland
- Westman Islands, Iceland
- The South Coast and Waterfalls, Iceland
- Vatnajökull National Park — Svartifoss, Skaftafell and Glacier Lagoon Jokulsarlon, Iceland
- The East Fjords, Iceland
- Working our way north — canyons, wastelands, fumaroles, pseudo craters and lakes!
- The Diamond Circle
- Akureyri, a breakdown, and a detour
- VR Viking battle, Glaumbær, Icelandic horses, and back to Reykjavik
- Husafell
- Into the Volcano!
We are off again, on the last of our Covid-delayed trips. This time we are off to visit a subset of the Nordic countries — parts of Norway, Svalbard (an unincorporated part of Norway), Greenland, and Iceland. This trip will be all about planes, trains, and automobiles — oh, and boats! This month+ long trip can really be broken into three parts: (1) a brief visit to Southern Norway to see some of the fjord lands that we haven’t seen in our previous two trips there; a 2 week cruise, leaving from Svalbard and visiting some remote islands and areas of Greenland and Iceland, and (3) a 2 week circumnavigation of Iceland.
We wanted to do this trip for multiple reasons:
- It continues our search for remote, wild, beautiful, and almost primeval lands. Many of the places we will visit are isolated and almost otherworldly. It seems that lately, we have been seeking places like this out
- It’s another interesting case study of migrations, in this case, primarily with the Vikings. While not being “ancient” or even covering huge distances, the Viking migration is particularly interesting to me because of the hazards they faced without true ocean going vessels and very rudimentary navigation methods. With the recent popularity of the Vikings and both their legends and history, it will also be interesting to follow the history and travels of some of the characters we have learned about over the past few years.
- The Arctic is the “canary in the coal mine” regarding the impacts of climate change. The Arctic is warming up three times faster than the rest of the world, and the temperature difference between the Arctic and lower latitudes is lessening. This is resulting in the weakening of the jet stream, leading to polar weather reaching lower latitudes and warmer weather heading north. This explains some of the bizarre storms we have experienced over the past few decades.
Anyway, we are off and running! So far, the trip has been uneventful — on time flights from Seattle to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Alesund, Norway, where we will spend some time visiting some of the fjords we haven’t made it to in our two previous trips to Norway.
This entry was posted in Norway, Travel
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
