Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for polar travel
The Southernmost Post Office
By Linda Tancs
Move over, icebergs. The star of the show in Antarctica is…a post office? Well, not just any post office—the most southerly in the world. Located at Port Lockroy, it’s a British outpost run by the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust. Each letter sent from there (at least 70,000, at last count) will receive a highly-prized local stamp and postmark. The office, which also hosts a gift shop and museum, is manned for five months during high season, when, as luck would have it, a colony of gentoo penguins swarm the area to mate and raise their young.
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Urban Arctic
By Linda Tancs
You might not think of the Arctic as urban, yet Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, is an arctic metropolis. Brimming with a diverse dining and shopping scene (and the country’s largest microbrewery), it’s the heart of modern Greenland. A walkable city, Imaneq Street is a go-to destination for traditionally made goods, like knitted musk ox items. If you’d rather eat it than wear it, musk ox steak is a featured delicacy. And you won’t want to miss out on Greenlandic coffee, which gives Irish coffee a run for its money.
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The Last Ocean
By Linda Tancs
Named for British explorer James Ross, the Ross Sea in Antarctica has been nicknamed “the last ocean.” Located between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land, it’s the southernmost sea on Earth, quite literally the last sea. Perhaps not surprisingly, this remote ocean is deemed one of the most pristine environments left in the world, the perfect locale for a marine reserve (the world’s largest) twice the size of Texas. It’s also home to the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest in the world at around 193,000 square miles. And it even sings (well, sort of), making a didgeridoo-like sound as the wind blows across the landscape causing the outer snow layer to vibrate.
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Best Ice in Greenland
By Linda Tancs
Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord is filled with icebergs that calve from Sermeq Kujalleq, the fastest moving glacier in the world at 131 feet daily. The massive ice field occupies the same area as 66,000 football fields. The best way to take it all in is a flightseeing tour by helicopter or small plane. At ground level, you can walk along the raised pathway to Sermermiut or hike along the marked Blue Route trail. Whichever route you choose, be sure to take a midnight cruise in the icefjord, when the icebergs change from white and blue to shades of orange and red when struck by the midnight sun.
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Northern Lights Festival
By Linda Tancs
Nordlysfestivalen (The Northern Lights Music Festival) begins in Tromsø, Norway tomorrow through 5 February. About 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the annual event is known for musical performances in various genres. This year is no exception. One of the festival’s highlights is the performance of The State Hermitage Orchestra from St. Petersburg, slated to perform Russian music and to host the Opera Gala, a concert introducing two of the finest young singers from the Mariinsky Theatre in a collaboration with singers from the Norwegian Opera. Later in the festival, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will visit Norway for the first time ever. And, of course, there are those northern lights–aurora borealis–presiding over it all.
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Life on Ice
By Linda Tancs
Over 15,000 icebergs are formed in the Arctic each year, and you can see them in places like Disko Bay in the Labrador Sea in western Greenland. The native Inuit spend their winter months hunting for polar bear, seals, and walrus to feed and clothe their families. Consider a visit to their local archeological sites.
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The Right of Passage
By Linda Tancs
Some time ago, National Geographic News reported that an Arctic thaw had opened travels between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the fabled Northwest Passage, which cuts through the Canadian Arctic. That the passage offers a convenient trade route for Canada, the U.S., Russia, Norway and Denmark should come as no surprise. Neither should the fact that an ice-free passage (estimated to occur by 2050) offers unprecedented opportunities for oil and natural gas exploration, which has the above-named parties jockeying for position. Canada, for instance, has claimed sovereignty over its share of the waterway, setting the stage for the international equivalent of a fight among schoolyard bullies. Not to be outdone, Russia planted a flag at the bottom of the Arctic, and President Bush officially repudiated Canada’s position in his Arctic Region Policy directive. Whether the route ultimately achieves status as an international strait is anyone’s guess, particularly if Canada persists in giving its chums the cold shoulder.
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South Pole Research Station Open
By Linda Tancs
Germany’s latest engineering triumph stands on a 200-meter thick ice shelf in the South Pole. Named Neumayer-Station III after geophysicist Georg von Neumayer, the sixteen-legged research station bests the competition by sporting rooms with a view. There’s not much to see, however, but an endless horizon of snow and the occasional penguin. Let’s hope the yearlong climate data collection it offers is worth every bit of its 40 million euro price tag.
If you enjoyed this post, please share it on sites such as StumbleUpon, vote for it, or bookmark it. Thanks for your support! Travelrific® was featured as Blog of the Day on NJ.com!
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Traveling with Santa
By Linda Tancs
In the current edition of Travelrific® Travel Show, the topic is polar travel. Discover Santa’s northern delights in and around the Arctic Circle. Find the podcast here.
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Icecapade
By Linda Tancs
Most elementary school students probably learn that Greenland isn’t really green. In fact, the Greenland ice sheet covers nearly 82% of it. So except for seeing icebergs (or not seeing them, as the case may be), is there any reason to go there? Air Greenland would have you answer that question in the affirmative, and they’ve put together a site to make their case. You’ll find out the best time for dog sledding and what to do during the spring, summer and winter tourist seasons. Yes, there really are three seasons in this Arctic island, the world’s largest island by area. And don’t forget about the northern lights (aurora borealis), a popular tourist attraction from November to February.
If you enjoyed this post, please share it on sites such as StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg, or bookmark it on del.icio.us. Thanks for your support! Travelrific® was featured as Blog of the Day on NJ.com!
Travelrific® Travel Journal 