Tactic 17: Let others do their thing
places for solitude to reflect, contemplate or just have a break from other people. From 2018, it will even be possible to sail Antarctic waters for periods of complete silence on board Hurtigruten’s new hybrid dieselelectric expedition ships MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen. Everyone’s different but, when you’re living in the close quarters of a ship, you tend to notice exactly how different. But getting fixated on or distracted by what others are doing is a waste of precious time and energy.
Tactic 18: Don’t feel the need to swear
On my first trip to Europe, as a teenager travelling with my family, I promised postcards to all my friends at home. It didn’t take long to realise that fulfilling that was robbing me of my own travel experience. I am no less loved for refusing, to this day, to send postcards or bring home souvenirs.
Tactic 19: Do whatever it takes
Lying on my jacket in the sun on a white hillside staring out to the icebergs of Neko Harbour listening to my favourite music while eating snow helped me connect with Antarctica, but that won’t necessarily work for everyone.
Tactic 20: Don’t be Amundsen
‘‘I suppose it was too early in the morning,’’ Amundsen wrote in midDecember 1911. He was so caught up in the practicalities of the mission and the interpersonal relationships of his expedition team and preoccupied by getting the news of his upcoming achievement to the media, he had nothing left over. Instead ‘‘I abandoned my effort, after coming to the conclusion that each sledge gave one more the idea of a coffin than anything else, all the bases being painted black’’. - Traveller.com
Elspeth Callender travelled as a guest of Hurtigruten.