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I Am A Polar Bear

Travel, adventure & wellness with plenty of snow

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Backpacking Denmark: 48 Hours in Aalborg | iamapolarbear.com

Backpacking Denmark: 48 hours in Aalborg

September 24, 2020

And so to the conclusion! Having left Odense in the last post, I was now on my way to Aalborg, one of, if not the, northernmost cities in Denmark. I’ll spare you the woes of engineering works and rail replacement buses and unexpected extra changes. I won’t spare you spending the last hour watching Mission … More Backpacking Denmark: 48 hours in Aalborg

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Backpacking Denmark: 24 Hours in Odense | iamapolarbear.com

Backpacking Denmark: 24 hours in Odense

September 21, 2020

When I left this story, I was just getting on a train bound for Odense, my second Danish backpacking destination. It runs anywhere between 1 hour 11 minutes and 1 hour, depending on whether it’s the express or a stopping service. Eight years on, I have no idea which one I jumped on. What I … More Backpacking Denmark: 24 hours in Odense

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Night Glow: A balloon evening at Longleat | iamapolarbear.com

Longleat’s Drive-In Night Glow

September 17, 2020

Two years I went to Longleat’s Sky Safari, a day of hot air balloon delight culminating in a night glow, where pilots fired their burners to illuminate the balloons coordinated to music. Actually, I went to the Sky Safari at the weekend but did the Thursday night passholders-only night glow. And it was so great … More Longleat’s Drive-In Night Glow

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Dorset Staycation: a day on Brownsea Island | iamapolarbear.com

Dorset Staycation: a day on Brownsea Island

September 14, 2020

In front of me, right in the middle of the path was a stag, in full antler, just staring at me. I stopped and stared back. So it was true, the animals had taken Brownsea Island back. I’d gone across for a strictly timed morning of wildness and peace and walking. At the height of … More Dorset Staycation: a day on Brownsea Island

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Backpacking Denmark: 48 hours in Copenhagen | iamapolarbear.com

Backpacking Denmark: 48 hours in Copenhagen

September 10, 2020

I’ve tried writing about my mini backpacking trip to Copenhagen, Odense & Aalborg before and somehow it just won’t come out right. So I’m going to have another go. Consider this part one of a trilogy covering my 6 day epic adventure. Welcome to Copenhagen. It was 2012 and Her Majesty was having an extra … More Backpacking Denmark: 48 hours in Copenhagen

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The day I fell in love with the Arctic | iamapolarbear.com

The day I fell in love with the Arctic

September 7, 2020

I’ll never forget my first visit to the Arctic. I’d spent a couple of days in Trondheim and then I was going to fly north and spend a couple of days in Tromsø. Tromsø is now an old friend. I’ve considered moving there for a few months, maybe even a year. But back in 2011, … More The day I fell in love with the Arctic

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Dorset Staycation: Fossil hunting at Charmouth | iamapolarbear.com

Dorset Staycation: Fossil hunting at Charmouth

September 3, 2020

A few weeks ago, at the height of the first heatwave, I had the bright idea to go to the beach. That’s not such a bright idea in this part of the world – everyone was at the beach and as a local, I should know that. I mentioned my plans to my mum and she … More Dorset Staycation: Fossil hunting at Charmouth

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The Icelandic Guidebook: The Golden Circle | iamapolarbear.com

The Icelandic Guidebook: The Golden Circle

August 31, 2020

And for the second part of my new Icelandic Guidebook series, I’m going to introduce you to the south west’s most popular day trip: the Golden Circle. The Golden Circle is really the tourist tag for a route that takes in Þingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss. There are plenty of other stops according to the whim … More The Icelandic Guidebook: The Golden Circle

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The Icelandic Guidebook: The Blue Lagoon | iamapolarbear.com

The Icelandic Guidebook: The Blue Lagoon

August 27, 2020

Part one of a new series: I know a bit about Iceland and it’s time to turn that into something useful. I’m going to start with the Blue Lagoon, since it’s Iceland’s biggest tourist attraction. First, whether you consider yourself a tourist, a traveller or something in between, and regardless of your feelings around “tourist … More The Icelandic Guidebook: The Blue Lagoon

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7 Ways to Travel More While Working | iamapolarbear.com

7 ways to travel more while working

August 24, 2020

This isn’t a post about remote working or working holidays or being a digital nomad. This is a post about being a normal everyday person with a normal everyday job and still finding time to travel. I’ve been travelling while also working full time since 2008. Well, I went to four days a week in … More 7 ways to travel more while working

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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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This time tomorrow, I’ll either be in a passport control queue or searching for a bus stop and then first thing on Tuesday, I’ll be getting on a train and going off on an adventure! My itinerary says six trains in six days, which isn’t so bad and the bits in between should be nice. 🇳🇴 I just finished my Norwegian course and I won’t be sad to get my Wednesday evenings back! I’ve been learning Norwegian on and off, by myself, for the best part of a decade so I wasn’t sure if beginners module 1 was the best place to start. But a real human native-speaker teacher is invaluable and I’ve acquired a very unexpected vocabulary from it. Postcards from London the weekend before last. I am an onion: last weekend I was swimming a mile in the Olympic pool and then climbing Tower Bridge, then I spent Wednesday teaching my Rangers to break codes, Wednesday having a Norwegian lesson, Thursday doing Brownie Promises and on Saturday I was at the opera (when I say that out loud, I over-emphasise every syllable: op-air-AAAAAH!). 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!

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 (one on a winter adventure across the Arctic Circle and one on exploring volcanoes during a warm summer road trip around Iceland) plus a little book of Icelandic pools and I have a fourth book in progress right now.

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