Social distancing is a new normal as of March of 2020, and with this as our new reality, we need to become creative when in need of a vacation.
As far as the travel industry is concerned, social distancing can be challenging if you think about everything that comes into play when taking a trip: airplanes, trains, boats and hotels. However, thankfully there are some incredible spots out there where distance is abundant the word social doesn’t exist.
Last September I was 4 months pregnant with my 4th child and needing some alone time before life got even crazier and “me time” was about to be non existent. This off the grid trip sounded like the perfect adventure for someone needing some social distancing. Little did I know that was going to be the preferred type of travel after Covid struck the world.
Early summer of 2019 I called Arctic Kingdom and snatched the last spot available in the Polar Bear Expedition of 2019 departing in September.
I have always loved traveling to places that offer an adventure aspect to the trip. Yes, I love luxury hotels in bustling cities, but I also crave the adrenaline and thrill that a trip like this provide.
Being from Mexico, Canada is pretty much the North Pole for me. So when I got my itinerary of traveling a total of 12 hours north of Ottawa, I was ecstatic.
I got to Ottawa and hopped on a flight 4 hour flight to Iqaluit, located in Baffin Island, the main hub for anyone visiting the Arctic. After a brief layover and meeting our guides and other 9 guests, we embarked on the most memorable journey of my life.
We took off from Iqaluit and 3 hours later and 10 bitten nails after the fact, we landed in the most remote town I have ever set foot on, Qikiqtarjuaq.
Nervousness started kicking in when I realized if I needed any kind of medical assistance, I would have to be medically evacuated for 7 hours before reaching a hospital. I tried to brush off my anxiety and kept looking forward to the adventure since worrying was not going to help, except get in the way of my adventure.
Our small group walked around the minuscule town. I caught myself trying to grasp how the Inuits live here year round. A personal culture shock in this frontier was an understatement. Grasping the harsh living environment they face on a daily basis while seeing the immense beauty of the bare sorroundings was an inner clash I had never felt before.
After a few hours, a small ice breaker scooped us up and took us 3 hours north (yes, further north) to an even more remote location. We were finally at our destination, Arctic Safari.
There were 10 canvas tents adorning the small beach where we would be staying for the next 10 days. The tents and amenities were austere given the location of this safari. But with that said, you had everything you could need.
No electricity, no showers, 23-hour day light, no cell service and nothing that connects you to the modern world was a welcomed challenge. (Disclaimer: There was one shower, but the temperature was around 0 degrees Celsius so I oped out). The innitial shock dissolved quickly when I turned around and saw the surroundings. Glaciers upon glaciers in the clear blue water surrounded by calmness and silence I have not experienced in years, or actually probably never.
Just like in any safari, you could not leave your tent without an Inuit ranger with a shot gun. Polar bears are everywhere and are one of the most dangerous animals in the world. If they have an eye for you, they will hunt you down.
After a long lecture about safety, self defense and responsibility towards the national park, we were ushered to our tents to settle. I happily gave the “kitchen” all my beef jerky I had brought with me since bears can smell it from 32 kilometers away and can be the cause of an attack if not handled properly.
Although accommodations are bare, the food is outstanding. The camp has 2 chefs that use local fish, fruits and vegetables to whip up meals you will never forget.
The next 10 days were magical to say the least. It took me a few minutes to get adjust my brain to slow down from the modern world and manage my technology withdrawal. Once I did that, I was fired up to start looking for polar bears and narwhals.
Morning boat rides were about 4 hours, we would then look for a safe place to disembark on a glacier and have lunch cooked for us by the fire. After eating, we would grab kayaks and explore glaciers before heading back for another 3 hours to look for more bears which in total I spotted more than 15 bears and 3 narwhals.
After the day was winding down, we would use wipes to wash off before dinner. Dinner again was delightful every single night. My favorite meal was arctic char caught that day with sauce of local mushrooms and a blueberry cobbler from blueberries picked by the guests on our morning hike.
The best part besides the magnificent bears and narwhals, was having such deep and meaningful conversations with adventure loves like myself with nothing getting in the way. Everything from professional photographers to brothers reuniting after years of not seeing each other, the trip might have ended, but the group will never be forgotten.