Arctic Circle

If you drive from Fairbanks, AK, heed the warnings about taking extra tires and be wary of the big trucks barreling through. You’ll soon understand why Alaskans tend to have cracked windshields! There’s really not much out there but tundra and the big pipe, but it’s cool to go so far and feel so very very small…

We took a bush plane from Fairbanks to just across the line in Fort Yukon so we could say we went to the Arctic Circle. A quick tour of the town and 30 minutes later we went back. It was all interesting enough but too expensive.

I went to Bodø, the northernmost city in Norway, while I was an exchange student in 1999. I went in the middle of summer, and stupidly (pick the blonde Aussie) did not take any warm clothes – I figured my skirts and singlet tops would be fine. With 24 hours of sunlight I figured it had to be warm. Wrong! I spent my first couple of days shopping for jumpers and long pants.

Although it was overcast for most of the time I was there, it was amazing to experience 24 hour light – some locals took me to a bar to hear some live music, and inside it was dark and musty and full of smoke. We stayed til about 2am, and it really did feel like 2am. But when we walked outside it was fully light – with drunk people stumbling about; couples making out on the grass; exhausted people trying to get home. Bizarre!