XVRPNX130702 : Realm of the Polar Bear July 02, 2013

[geoff & heather]

Nothing like being first in
This cruise is the start of our 3 month European Holiday. We fly from Australia to Oslo then Longyearbyen - arriving on 1 Jul. When we leave the cruise we are spending a day in Tromso, then back to Oslo to do a day trip on the train to Bergen, before heading off to the UK and Scotland to be at the Edinburgh Tattoo on Sat 3 Aug.
Our next scheduled event is a river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel starting on 10 Aug.

We are looking forward to hearing from our fellow Arctic adventurers

Cheers,
Geoff & Heather

[lesliew]

Hello! I just booked this trip too! I am coming from the U.S. I plan to arrive in Longyearbyen on July 1, and after the cruise fly to Stockholm and spend a few days in Sweden. I love wildlife and am really excited about this Arctic adventure!

Leslie

[laurenfarmer]

Hi Geoff, Heather & Leslie!

I'll be joining you on this trip as the Photographer in Residence. So looking forward to meeting you! It's going to be an amazing week.

I was recently on the MS Expedition in the Antarctic so if you have any questions about the ship or anything to do with your camera gear, let me know either here or my email is lauren.e.farmer@gmail.com.

See you soon!

Lauren Farmer
laurenfarmerphoto.com

[lesliew]

Hi Lauren! I took a look at your website and the photos are beautiful! I loved the one of the whale under water in Antarctica!

[laurenfarmer]

Thanks Leslie! That was a really special moment. It was playing with us!

Hopefully we'll be seeing much of the same up in the Arctic in a few weeks.

[geoff & heather]

Hi Lauren,
Thanks for emails about camera gear.

Leslie,
I thought I might share this website with you so you can keep an eye on the weather and ice for the next few weeks - though it's been pretty cloudy for the last few days so you can see much.

Four weeks until we leave Australia
Cheers,
Geoff
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imag ... .aqua.250m

[lesliew]

Geoff, thanks for the website! It is pretty cloudy, but I can still see some ice/ocean. That's pretty neat!

[srablair]

Also on this trip.
We are travelling from UK arriving in Spitsbergen day before departure.
We were intending to bring Parkas we got in Antarctica, assume that Red will not scare the wildlife and that we won't be too warm in them.

David and Sarah

[geoff & heather]

We hope red is not a problem - mine is red and Heather's is bright yellow

We'll keep our eye out for a couple in red parkas around town on 1 Jul !

Cheers,
Geoff & Heather

[robzau]

Hi Geoff and Heather,
My daughter and I will also be coming from Australia, she will be arriving Oslo in the afternoon tho I get in at 8.00am flying Perth-Singapore-Helsinki-Oslo, will spend the day in Oslo having a look around.
I also have a bright Yellow jacket compliments of my daughter who has twice been to Antarctica and picked an extra one up for me.
After the cruise its back to Oslo for a flight to London to meet up with my wife and son (8yo)and then 6 weeks around Europe.

Cheers,
Rob.

[geoff & heather]

Rob,
Sounds like a few people doing similar things
We spend a couple od days in Copenhagen on the way, and visit Oslo on the way back. We are flying with Emirates from Brisbane via Dubai to Copenhagen.
After the cruise, we are spending another day in Longyeabyen, stopping at Tromso for a couple of days on our way back to Oslo. From there we go to the UK for a couple of weeks, then another couple of months around Europe.

Cheers,
Geoff

[lesliew]

I'm so glad to hear that you all have brightly colored parkas - I have a bright pink one! I actually own two - a pink one and a yellow one, and I was debating which one to bring (the pink one folds up a little better to fit in my luggage) - and I really didn't want to spend the money to buy another one just for the trip. So look for the pink coat walking around Longyearbyen on July 1st!

[srablair]

Glad to see we will not be alone in our bright Parkas, however just noticed we are actually on the trip leaving 9th July, so we may just wave to you as our paths cross

David and Sarah

[geoff & heather]

Oops - I hope your airfares line up with the crusie bookings
Guess we'll keep an eye out for the red parkas when we return - but somehow, I don't think you will have the onlt red parkas in town !

Have a great holiday

[geoff & heather]

Have a look at today's satellite image - 2013148 (05/28) (link in earlier post) the cloud has finally cleared !