I Am A Polar Bear

Hello, welcome to my blog. I’m Julie, a polar bear in human form.

I’m a travel blogger, adventurer, paddler, language fan and professional researcher. I spend a lot of time in the frozen north, mostly in Iceland but also in Norway and Finland. I love Iceland in all its seasons – I love the snow and the Northern Lights in the winter and I love that I can drive and camp around the country in my tiny yellow tent, stopping off at volcanoes and hot springs in the summer. I usually travel solo and my adventures have ranged from jumping off mountains to kayaking frozen lagoons, although I’m not averse to something a bit calmer, like a city break or a glamping weekend (as long as I have a hot tub. I love a hot tub).

By day I’m a researcher and analyst, dealing in 51 specific countries I’ve never actually been to. Yes, I have a full-time job. I travel on my salary and my annual leave allowance. I work from home permanently now. My job has been remote since 2017 anyway but as of 2020, I have my own home office/craft room/chaos room instead of working from a coworking space or from my desk at my previous job (that was messy; two jobs, two companies; one desk). I don’t have an official title, my boss isn’t really into formalities like that but he’s sometimes introduced me to new people as “heads up the research section”. That mostly means I am the research section but at the beginning of 2024, we acquired a second researcher so now I’m a manager! We’re a very small company – we generally oscillate around 8-10 people and at least two of us don’t work Fridays.

By night I’m a Girlguiding volunteer, specifically a Brownie leader, a Ranger leader, a leadership mentor, an archery instructor, a fencing coach and a paddlesport assistant. I love getting to fill our programme up with exciting and adventurous activities and introducing my girls to everything from shooting to kayaking.

I live in a nebulous part of the south-west I refer to as Wessex, where buses only run six times a day and we haven’t had trains since Dr Beeching’s day. I’m near the Jurassic Coast so sometimes I’ll walk bits of the South West Coast Path and a few years ago I decided it was time to start making use of the sea by trying out learning to pilot various watercraft. The one I’ve particularly taken to is the kayak and I’m a paddlesport assistant at my local Girlguiding boathouse. I have a background in languages and every now and then, I decide it’s time to start a short-lived love affair with a new one – the latest is Finnish. There’s so much more in and around the field of travel than just going to places.

A few extracts from my travel & adventure CV:

• BA (Hons) French & Spanish (2007)
• RYA Levels 1 & 2 (Dinghies) (2016)
• Archery GB Instructor Award (2016)
• British Fencing Core Coach (2018)
• Girlguiding TACs in-house bushcraft training (2019)
• University of Oslo Introduction to Norwegian (2019)
• British Canoeing Discover & Explore Awards (2021)
• British Canoeing Paddlesport Safety & Rescue (2023)
• Traverse Creator Awards – Best Responsible Piece shortlist (2024)