Destination Santa

We are leaving for the airport ASAP so I'm needing to be brief for now! It took me four tries, but I've finally managed to upload our latest movie of a small piece of Northern Norway  After consulting the map it seems that at one point on Road Trip #2 we were actually closer to both Sweden and Finland than Tromso... and Russia was in the vicinity too!

I also have so much to share with you about our impressions on this region of Norway, but for now lets just get to the plane in time. We have a 90 min flight North to the archepilago (islands) of Svalbard, to the land of Spitzbergen, and it's only real town called Longyearbyen (population about 2,000). We are far from over, so I hope you have saved some energy for this part.

Destination Santa Part Two: 

We are here.  Let's pause a moment, it feels to be a requirement.

It's one thing to dream an adventure like this.  

And then you say, "Why not?" and put the plan in motion. 

The route is formed, you make all the reservations, and everything falls into place just so.

Most of us live busy lives, and so the time arrives quickly, and suddenly you find yourself on a plane to Norway.

At that point the journey becomes a living thing, and you have planned well; so it almost feels like you are on a magical ride.

Your family and friends from all over have joined you virtually, and each moment is a joy of discovery.

But then, all of a sudden you find yourself on a plane traveling straight for the North Pole.  You knew it was coming, but there is nothing to prepare you for it actually happening.

And so there comes this moment when you look outside of the plane and the very atmosphere looks different.  The whole world is ocean and white clouds. That's not so strange; and yet it does feel strange. And it sort of hits you all of a sudden that all those previous moments have been leading you here all along.

As land begins to reappear below the plane, there is a vast whiteness, a completely untouched majesty, something that you can't even begin to properly describe because there are no words for it. 

I shake my head, there are tears in my eyes, and you wonder if maybe you are now closer to Heaven because that's what it feels like.

Now that I'm on the ground, and safely settled in, I look outside and see white, with mountains of bare rock earth poking through, and in other places looking like large canyons, all covered in white. In the other direction I know we will see the ocean. It is perfectly still and perfectly quiet.  

And it very nearly demands that I be quiet too... and just pause.  This place needs nothing... IT IS.