Here we are at the end of our journey north. This morning we arrive in Kirkenes and will be here for 3 1/2 hours. Some people terminate their journey here and other people will come on board to go south. We are only 7km from the Russian border so most of the street signs are in Norwegian and Russian. The local Norwegians have special Russian visas that allow them to go just 50km into Russia but no one else can cross the border without a visa or risk being detain...

Today we are going to the Nordkapp (North Cape) Imagine a place in the far north, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Arctic Ocean and their frigid waters mix. That place is Nordkapp - the North Cape - in Western Finnmark, Northern Norway. Here, the only dry land between you and the North Pole is the Svalbard archipelago. It's our first ship based excursion, most of the feedback so far about the very expensive excursions has been mediocre at best so we are not ex...

After a late night last night, it's a bit of a slow start for me at least. Glenn is up, been to the gym and wandered around the deck of course. We don't dock in Tromsø until 2.15pm so before that we have a short film about the Arctic Capital Tromsø followed a bit later by a lecture about Hunters and Trappers in the Arctic. Both are quite interesting and the lecture given by Peter is entertaining as always as he usually starts off with a few stories or jokes. We...

The call came at 12.25am to say the Northern Lights were visible again on the Left hand side of the ship. I was better prepared tonight and grabbed my jumper and trackies, camera and phone and raced out the door. They were visible but feint to start and then there was a splash of green smeared across the sky. It seemed to just float. I attempted photos but they didn't work so all I have is my memory? Back to bed very content. Awake early by the sunrise over the m...

Woke at 1.25am this morning to an announcement to say the Northern Lights were visible from the left hand side of the ship, of course we are on the right hand side!. I shook Glenn to tell him then quickly grabbed some trackies and a top and raced outside. I couldn't see anything except a grey/brown streak across the sky. I found out later in the day that was all there was to see. It's possible they could appear again as we go further north. By the time I came bac...