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I Am A Polar Bear

Travel, adventure & wellness with plenty of snow

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Category: Adventures

I may never go camping again | iamapolarbear.com

I may not ever go camping again

August 18, 2022

*sighs* Look. I like camping. But the last two trips have been so offputting that right now, I feel like binning my tents and never setting foot on a campsite again. I freely admit that I use Twitter as a steam valve but I do try to keep this blog reasonably positive. If I don’t … More I may not ever go camping again

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A Twilight Spa at Aqua Sana Longleat | iamapolarbear.com

A Twilight Spa at Aqua Sana Longleat Forest

August 8, 2022

If you’ve been reading the blog or following me on Instagram, you’ll know that I’ve been trying to get in touch with my inner waterbaby this summer – I’m building up my kayaking skills and confidence, in part through wild swimming, and I swim a mile twice a week in my local outdoor pool. But … More A Twilight Spa at Aqua Sana Longleat Forest

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Swimming in Bude Sea Pool | iamapolarbear.com

Swimming in Bude Sea Pool

August 1, 2022

I spent the weekend (my birthday weekend!) camping in Devon. On Friday, having finally arrived at my campsite two and a half hours later than planned thanks to everything going wrong with the traffic, I decided to drive over to Bude for the evening. I fancied getting a wild swim in while I was in … More Swimming in Bude Sea Pool

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Ten people you'll meet in the pool | iamapolarbear.com

Ten people you’ll meet in the pool

July 28, 2022

If you saw my first wild swimming experience the other day or you follow me on Instagram, you might see me swimming in the sea quite a lot at the moment. But the fact is that I’m pushing my comfort zone – I’m still not a huge fan of the sea and also the actual … More Ten people you’ll meet in the pool

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The Big Wild Sleepout | iamapolarbear.com

Camping at RSPB Arne: the Big Wild Sleepout

July 25, 2022

RSPB Arne is a nature reserve, a peninsula covered mostly in rare lowland heath sticking out into the west side of Poole Harbour. You may remember it from my Christmas Adventure with Tom & Catherine this year. It welcomes day visitors but you don’t normally get to camp there so when the opportunity came up … More Camping at RSPB Arne: the Big Wild Sleepout

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Caroma stand up paddleboard review | iamapolarbear.com

Caroma stand up paddleboard review

July 21, 2022

I’ve had half an eye on getting myself a stand up paddleboard for a while – well, let’s go for plain paddleboard here; I can’t stand up on the things. They’re not my first love – that would be the kayak. I like the double-bladed paddle that lets me just charge through the water, fight the … More Caroma stand up paddleboard review

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I faced my kayaking demons! | iamapolarbear.com

I faced my kayaking demons!

July 18, 2022

Today was another big step on my journey to kayaking instructor, a journey I never thought I’d even be on a year ago. I faced my biggest demon and somehow I don’t yet feel as proud of it as I should. Let’s run through the backstory. I took  up kayaking semi-regularly back in 2018 or … More I faced my kayaking demons!

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Things I sewed for travel & adventure | iamapolarbear.com

Things I sewed for travel and adventure

July 4, 2022

I don’t claim to be a good sewist but I’ve got quite enthusiastic about it in the last couple of years. I’ve been sewing my own badges on my camp blanket for years and I’ve made a few drawstring bags but between 2020 and 2022, I’ve started going a bit more experimental and a bit … More Things I sewed for travel and adventure

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A few unexpected days in the garden | iamapolarbear.com

A few unexpected days in the garden

June 23, 2022

At time of publishing, I was supposed to be at a campsite on the Mendips wrestling with a recalcitrant tent but… I’ve got Covid! It’s not 100% definitely that trip to London from Monday’s blog but it’s a very strong candidate. My parents are going on holiday on Tuesday so they don’t want to catch … More A few unexpected days in the garden

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24 hours in London | iamapolarbear.com

24 hours in London

June 20, 2022

This weekend I went to London for the first time in nearly two and a half years. It’s a bit busy for my tastes – I’ve become a lot more claustrophobic than I used to be and I really hate crowds nowadays. But I’d been hanging onto a ticket to see Queen + Adam Lambert … More 24 hours in London

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Who am I?
I'm Julie, a travel, adventure and wellness blogger. I love Iceland, I love jumping into hot water and I do love a bit of snow.

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Most popular posts

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  • Zedwell Capsule Hotel review: what's it like to sleep in a coffin?
I tell myself I’m an Elsa (I’m actually more of an Anna) but sometimes, like when it’s -15° and I didn’t bother to put the furry leggings on under my lined trousers and I have a 15-minute scurry back to the bus before hypothermia gets me, the cold does bother me anyway. It’s not that 2026 has been so bad but it seems to have been busy and harder than normal. One of my Brownies gave me the cold from hell and that dragged on for *thirty-five days*, culminating in pulled back muscles and such incredible pain for ten days that at one point I was stranded upside down like a turtle who can’t physically turn over. I’ve also done three weeks with someone else’s Brownies as well as my own and my Rangers and I’ve got one more week of a Norwegian course that’s taken out my Wednesday evenings since late January, which feels like just one too many nights on. And work hasn’t helped - certain bits of research have been either difficult or hellish in certain countries but my boss and I have agreed a timeline for the current stuff that seems realistic to me and acceptable to him! A few pictures from Suomenlinna on a very cold February day. Helsinki was very cold, averaging about -10°C during the day but it’s also very beautiful. Today’s blog post is about my icy trip over Helsinki’s harbour to Suomenlinna and meant I had to figure out whether or not the ferry is an icebreaker. I have learned a lot about ice classes and propulsion and protection along the way, realised that the answer depends on your definition of icebreaker, picked up @horatiowrites’s Icebreaker again for bath reading and even (accidentally! I didn’t ask!) learned the word in Norwegian during my lesson yesterday. Why, yes, jeg går på nurskkurs. More on that later in the month! I didn’t have a lot booked or planned for my trip to Helsinki but I did book a sunrise swim at Allas Sea Pool, a geothermal pool floating in the harbour. Or, as I discovered when I got there, frozen into eighteen or so inches of solid ice. Did getting up at 7am to walk 1.5km at minus several degrees feel offputting? Yes! Did the run from the showers to the pool in nothing but a thin towel feel offputting? Yes! Did I then discover that my lungs attempted to close up after swimming a few lengths in the relatively warm water? Yes! I’ve spent the last nearly a week in Helsinki, where it’s averaged about -10°C during the day. I’ve tried out four different saunas & pools, discovered aqua jogging, had cloudberry juice with my breakfast, had a successful train adventure to Finland’s old capital and right now I’m in the longest queue for passport control that I’ve ever seen (taking back control, yay! /s) with a bag of korvapuusti, Finnish cinnamon rolls, in my carry on. Blogs will be coming next week - I think I’ve got four or five planned at the moment. Time to talk about The Bath Book, which is the book I’m really struggling to write about hot water, baths, steam, bathing culture and all that good stuff (and the excuse for a few trips I’ve done over the last 18 months). It tends to slide down my priority list but if it’s here on Instagram every month, I have to have an update every month, so I have to sit down and write occasionally. I started this because so many people went skiing in January and now we’re finishing off with my attempts at snowboarding. I started far too old - if I can’t manage one plank, how am I meant to manage two? Luckily, there’s a whole world of other fun you can have in the snow.

About Julie

I’m a blogger, adventurer, lover of hot water, amateur paddler and polar bear who wilts in hot weather.

Time (by day, I’m a researcher) and funds keep me within Europe and I make regular trips up to the north, especially to Iceland. I like the occasional adventure across Europe by train and I’m starting to make use of my weekends for 48-hour adventures.

This isn’t my only creative outlet – I’ve written two travelogues with a third and fourth being (not to much) written simultaneously right now.

Blog at WordPress.com.
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