I never imagined I was one day going to embark on an expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula! But it’s like a dream coming true. I had to work hard to achieve this feat. I had to experience and face the perilous Drake Passage, the wildest sea in the world! Just cannot forget sailing through the stormy waters!

My dream experience of a holiday on the Caribbean Cruise came true with #WOWClub!
It was one of the best holidays of my life, right from the day we started for this trip till the last day when we departed. Was extremely happy and content with the way the whole trip was organised, coordinated with the cruise and executed by the charming WOW buddy Vithika.
Being on Harmony of Seas was always on my wish list but never thought would ever be able to tick it off until it finally happened.

The recent trip to Norway with WOW has been an extremely enriching experience. The entire trip was thought through and extremely well planned and executed.
We started with a day in Oslo on a quick city tour. The Vigeland Park was the highlight of this tour - a sculpture museum of over 200 installations in bronze, cast iron and granite.
The following day was an exciting train ride to Flåm on the famed Flåm railway. The spectacular vistas through mighty snow covered mountains was breathtaking. Upon reaching Flåm we drove up to Stegastein viewpoint where we were literally blown away in blizzard like conditions. There were plenty of selfie and wefie moments in the snowing wilderness.
The following day was a cruise around the fjords leaving us completely in awe of nature and its varied forms.
The following day was another
train ride to Bergen and on reaching there, a trudge through calf high snow in the rail station dragging our bags to the waiting bus. Quite an experience !!!
We boarded our onward flight to Tromso fingers and toes crossed as we would soon be chasing the Northern lights - the sole reason that each of us on the tour were ready to battle the Arctic winter!!
Whilst we were on the flight high above the clouds, I started to notice some colours in the evening sky, and as the sky started to darken the Gods appeared in all their glory for us to see them up close from the air craft. All of us were super excited and once in the hotel couldn’t wait to board the bus to start our chase. That night, after a two hour bus ride outside of Tromso (to get away from any kind of light pollution) we stopped at a certain point to get off the bus and lo behold the lights appeared and performed for us for an hour and a half!! It was bitterly cold, pitch dark and no time to set up the camera - but the phone app worked and we got some amazing shots of the famed Northern lights.
Each one of us were exhausted that night due to sheer excitement and went to bed with the celestial show in our minds eye.

To do it not to do - husky sledding in Tromso. Big ethical dilemma -was undecided until just before I left india.
And was I glad I finally did it!! To put to rest the fears, apprehensions of dog /animal lovers - the huskies require tremendous exercise and pulling sledges is what they enjoy most. They were clamouring to get going.
The sledge ride through the magical Arctic winter wilderness - just blankets of snow and brown branches of endless rows of trees and a caravan of husky sledges - fairyland indeed!
The dogs range in ages between 2 to 15 years!! They run 10kms and are happiest doing that. On checking we were told that each team of six dogs do two such trips every day with a two hour rest period in between. They love being petted and are adorably affectionate. The slightly shy ones look away, wanting to be just left alone. Truly a once in a several lifetime experience.

The next and final stop was the Lofoten islands.
The Archipelago of Lofoten is one of those places that is so beautiful that I could get into an argument with Nature on how unfair she has been.
Check this out for yourself - and honestly, my pictures do scant justice to the breathtaking beauty of the place and the hospitality of the locals.
The islands are spread across the north western coast of Norway and there’s a fishy fragrance in the air as fishing is a big industry here. Drying fish begins early in February so that they dry naturally and turn out to be the best quality.
The small islands are connected by tunnels - some which are undersea road tunnels going several meters below!! The berries come out a bit later. It’s just like wonderland here, snow notwithstanding.
Though within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude!!! 😛😃
After one final evening at Oslo, we bid goodbye to the stunning sights of Norway and headed homewards you our respective cities in India.
Thank you Vithika for being the best ever WOW buddy ever. Your cheerful disposition, your proactive attitude and ‘being on top of all situations’ was truly appreciated. You were an epitome of grace and professionalism.
This WOW journey was superbly WOW indeed!!! Thank you.