October 13, 2025 • 52 mins
#183 - Jamie Edwards returns to Journey with Jake with tales from the top of the world, having ventured to the Arctic with her 21-year-old daughter and 82-year-old stepfather. Their expedition through the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard reveals a landscape where polar bears roam distant shores and massive glaciers calve with thunderous crashes that signal our changing climate.
Jamie vividly describes the unique challenges and thrills of Arctic exploration aboard the purpose-built Ultramarine ship. Unlike Antarctica (which Jamie visited previously), the Arctic's main attraction—and danger—is the magnificent polar bear. These apex predators can smell prey from up to 20 miles away and swim for days without stopping, facts that add a layer of respectful caution to every shore excursion. The expedition team constantly scans shorelines through powerful scopes before allowing passengers to disembark, ensuring both human safety and wildlife protection.
What makes this journey particularly special is the three-generation dynamic. For Jamie's environmentally-conscious daughter, seeing climate change impacts firsthand provided powerful context to her studies. For her adventurous 82-year-old stepfather, it was an opportunity he'd never have experienced otherwise. And for Jamie—someone who typically dislikes cold weather but couldn't resist the Arctic's allure—the expedition became another transformative travel experience, even culminating in the traditional "polar plunge" into frigid waters.
Beyond her Arctic adventures, Jamie shares updates on her expanding writing career, including contributions to National Geographic's upcoming "Traveler's Atlas" and her travel coaching services. Her website IamLostandFound.com continues to serve as both personal travel journal and professional portfolio, connecting her with opportunities to share her passion for thoughtful, transformative travel experiences.
Whether you're planning your own polar expedition or simply enjoy armchair adventures, this conversation offers both practical insights and philosophical reflections on how travel changes us—"you go into it one way, you come out of it another."
Be sure and check out Jamie's work on her website www.iamlostandfound.com.
Want to be a guest on Journey with Jake? Send me a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/journeywithjake
Visit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind. Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Last time Jamie Edwards joined me on Journey
with Jake, we explored heradventures in Antarctica.
In this episode, we'reventuring to the Arctic,
complete with polar bears on thehorizon and the chill of a
polar plunge.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
(00:22):
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will feature adifferent guest or guests, as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
their way.
To overcome the hardships thatcome their way.
(00:43):
My goal is to take each of uson a journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination as it is about
(01:07):
the journey.
Welcome back to Journey withJake.
Before we dive in, just a quickreminder to make sure you're
following me on Instagram atJourney with Jake Podcast, where
I share the personal side of myadventures, and don't forget to
subscribe on YouTube orwherever you listen to podcasts
so you never miss an episode.
And, of course, a shout out tothe Podmatch Podcast Network for
(01:29):
connecting me with so manyincredible guests.
Now today happens to be ColumbusDay.
On holidays, I usually like torelease a bonus episode, and
while it's tempting to call thisone a bonus episode, since
Jamie Edwards is back with us,I'm not going to do that.
This is episode 183, and it'sway too packed with stories and
experiences from Jamie's journeyto the Arctic to be considered
(01:52):
just a bonus.
If you remember, jamie joinedme back in episode 84, where we
talked quite a bit about hertime in Antarctica.
This time around, she shareswhat it was like exploring the
Arctic, an adventure she tookalongside her stepfather and
daughter three generationsexperiencing the far north
together, which makes this storyeven more special.
(02:13):
If you enjoyed thisconversation, definitely go back
and check out episode 84 formore of Jamie's incredible
adventures.
All right, let's get to myconversation with Jamie Edwards.
Well, I am thrilled todaybecause I have a former guest of
the show, jamie Edwards.
She's back on, jamie.
Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Thank you, thrilled to be back.
I'm so glad you had me back.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You did a lot for me.
I got connected to you throughSasha Leznev and then you
connected me to Colleen Avis,who then had me write in her
book and I mean it's just, it'scrazy where it's gone, and so
I'm so thankful for that.
I'm thankful for you forconnecting me with Colleen, and
that's what I love about this.
I feel like the connectionsthat I get from doing this
(02:55):
podcast have been just amazing.
It's been awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Exactly, and it's kind of shows how small a
network it really is connectingall these dots between all your
different guests and Colleenwith her sacred spaces and then
all the travel.
So it's all good connections.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Definitely all good connections.
I was looking it up, I waslooking up your episode, your
episode 84, for me, when we did,we spoke the first time and it
was released back in December of23.
So it's been pushing it.
I mean it's going on.
It'd be two years this December.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Wow, I can't believe it's been that long.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It's crazy.
It's gone by super fast and Iwas thinking about that.
I was like, okay, a lot'shappened.
I know at the time yourdaughter was taking a gap year
was about to take a gap year.
I think your son was a juniorin high school.
So catch us up.
Where is everybody?
What's going on in the world ofJamie Edwards?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, my daughter is at the University of Washington
she's a junior now and my sonjust finished a gap year of his
own.
He is now at college.
My husband and I are officiallywithout kids at home, which is
bittersweet, of course, but thesecret is it's more fun than
you'd imagine.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
All right, you got the secret.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It is.
I mean, it's sad on the onehand, but on the other it feels
good to know that they're bothhappy, at least for the moment,
and be able to do some thingsfor ourselves.
So far it's been nice.
It hasn't been very long, butso far it's been nice.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And I'm sure we're going to hear a little bit more
about your daughter, because Iknow she went on this Arctic
trip with you, so we'll talkabout that here in a little bit.
Before we dive into all that,though, I also want to talk
about Iamlostandfoundcom.
You still got that going, and Isaw another little thing on
there.
I saw a little said coaching,travel coaching.
So, yeah, what have you gotgoing on with?
I Am Lost and Found.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Right.
So I Am Lost and Found.
I think I've written my 109thpost, so that's been really
rewarding.
But what has happened with it,which has really been a nice
side bonus, is that I Am Lostand Found has essentially become
a writing portfolio, so it'senabled me to write for other
publications and outlets, whichhas been really fantastic.
I write for a travel advisorthat I work with called Sire
(05:16):
Travel, and I also write forEagle Creek Luggage, and I did
just complete an assignment forNational Geographic, which I
couldn't be happier about.
Sort of a dream to be able towrite for National Geographic.
It's a coffee table bookreleasing in November of this
year called the Traveler's Atlas, and I wrote four entries for
(05:40):
it.
So I wrote about Japan, uganda,bhutan and the Balkans.
That'll be the Christmas giftof the year for me.
Everybody I know is going toget that book when it releases
in November.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I want to get that book too.
That'll be awesome.
I love those coffee table typebooks too.
Those are a lot of fun, kind ofscroll through them and jump to
different spots.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, so that's been exciting.
And then the travel coachingthat you mentioned is something
that really just evolved fromyears and years of loving to
discuss travel, give advice,give recommendations.
I realize that there's a lot ofpeople out there who don't
really know where to start whenit comes to planning a trip.
(06:21):
When it comes to planning atrip, they maybe have a general
idea that they want to take aroad trip through Europe or
they'd like to go to SouthAmerica or the Caribbean, but
they either don't have the timeor even the inclination to start
doing the heavy researching.
I decided to package my researchas something that people would
(06:43):
come to me with, and it's beenreally fun.
It's in my sweet spot.
I don't personally want to bookany travel.
I don't want to get on thephone with airlines, be
responsible for anybody's budgetnecessarily like booking hotels
but I do work with people togive them ideas and research,
and most of my research comeswith all the information and
(07:06):
links that they need to go aheadand book it themselves.
So that's been really fun forme.
I've done it.
I have about 10 or 12 clientsso far.
They've all been very differentand I've enjoyed it immensely.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
What is it about that that you enjoy?
Is it the research part?
What is it that you?
Or just the differentpersonalities and seeing what
they like?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It's definitely the research.
I speak to people on the phonefirst and get all the
information about what theirgoals are, how they like to
travel, a general sense ofbudget based on all these wants
and likes and dislikes.
I piece together all the thingsas if it were me going, how I
(07:46):
would research it if it were mytrip, and I think that what
makes it different is anyone canGoogle adventure hotels in
Alaska and be given tons ofinformation, but what I do is I
go really deeper into a lot ofdifferent sources and my Google
searches and my keywords aredifferent than what you might
(08:06):
put in Jake.
So I really refine, fine tuneand cross-reference a lot of
sources, many of which arethings sources I have found just
throughout my years and yearsof travel.
So I feel like I'm able to givepeople ideas that they may
never have come up with or foundon their own.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I like that and I know just from reading some of
your blogs and articles on I AmLost and Found.
You do have a wealth ofexperience.
You have your own experiencesthat you've done, so I know
you're just putting that allinto play.
I think that's perfect, andthere's people out there who the
idea of having to research anddo that kind of thing is just
bogs them down and stresses themout.
That's where you come into playbecause you love it.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I love it and it's overwhelming.
I understand it.
It is overwhelming to put a bigtrip together, find the
restaurants, find the hotels.
So that's why it has been sucha great kind of niche for me to
do, because it's only the thingsI like to do.
Great kind of niche for me todo because it's only the things
I like to do.
(09:08):
And then many people don't mindbooking their own trips or
they're happy to do that part.
They just really need a lotmore direction.
So that's been great.
So I'm really continuing to dothat.
So my world has expanded a bitbeyond.
I Am Lost and Found.
I still have lots of downtime.
I kind of fit it in when I wantto, and now that my kids are
(09:30):
not at home, I'll have even moretime to devote to it.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I'm excited to talk to you today because we're going
to talk about your trip to theArctic.
And when we talked before ayear and a half ago plus we
talked about Uganda a little bitwe talked about a few things
like that.
The big one we talked about wasAntarctica.
You've hit both poles now.
You've hit North Pole, southPole.
When you look at the two kindof side by side, and you've been
(09:56):
to both, what's the glaringdifference between the two?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That's a great question, jake, and it's one
that, while I was on theexpedition in the Arctic, I
asked not only myself but a lotof the passengers on the ship we
went by ship.
I'd say at least half thepassengers had already been to
Antarctica on the very same ship.
There are some starkdifferences beyond the fact that
they're located at twodifferent ends of the earth.
(10:22):
One of the biggest differencesis the polar bears.
The polar bears are the biggestdraw of the North the Arctic,
because there are no polar bearsin Antarctica and there are no
penguins in the Arctic, so thosetwo creatures live at polar
(10:42):
opposite parts of the world.
I would say that the thrill andthe inherent sort of danger for
lack of a better word in theArctic is the polar bear, and
that has a lot of people goingthere.
The Arctic is also much moreaccessible to get to, just much
easier to get to, not that it'seasy, but it's just closer,
(11:05):
especially if you're coming fromEurope.
We flew from DC to London toHelsinki, and then from Helsinki
we flew on a charter four hoursnorth to the islands of
Svalbard, which are abouthalfway between the coast of
Norway and the North Pole, andthis group of islands is where
(11:26):
we started our trip.
We circumnavigated the islandsof Svalbard and along the way
saw walruses, polar bears, birdcolonies, whales.
The wildlife component is thesame.
You get wildlife on both polesis the same.
(11:48):
You get wildlife on both poles,but different wildlife of
course.
I think that Antarctica is soremote and so much harder to get
to, and for me at least, it wasthe equivalent of going to the
moon.
It just felt so far away and itreally is.
The danger and thrill for anAntarctic expedition is the
(12:08):
Drake Passage, which is this800-mile body of water that
notoriously can be either reallyhairy and have strong winds and
terrible storms, or it could bea really simple crossing.
It's a two-day crossing, sothat's sort of the.
Those are some big differencesbetween the two, and just
(12:31):
getting to the continent ofAntarctica takes a lot more time
to get there.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
You know, when you think of the Arctic and part of
my mind I'm thinking oh, I justgo straight north.
You know, I'm in Utah, I justgo straight North and some
people have done that.
I've seen some pictures ofpeople you know dipping their
feet in the Arctic.
You know, canada, that area, no, you went.
What's it?
How do you say it againSvalbard, svalbard, svalbard.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yes, these are hard words to say Believe me, I trip
over them.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Is that Norwegian owned?
Who owns?
Is that part of, or is it itsown thing?
It's part of Norway.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's part of Norway.
It's been part of Norway, Ibelieve, since 1920.
It's Norwegian territory.
When you go north of Svalbard,which is this group of I mean,
there's a hundred or moreislands, but there's four main
islands, that part of the world,you get four months of daylight
, four months of darkness andfour months where you're sort of
(13:27):
straddling the two.
And our expedition took placein June, so we had 24 hours of
daylight every day for the 10days on the ship and the days on
either side, which is unique itreally is.
It takes some getting used to,but what's wonderful about the
(13:48):
midnight sun is that there'sjust never not a time that you
can be looking, experiencing,observing out on deck all day
and all night long, seeing thelandscape, the glaciers, the ice
, the icebergs, and similarly inAntarctica.
You go to Antarctica during themidnight sun there, which is
(14:10):
January, february.
So both poles I went to, I wentduring the midnight sun, which
is very exciting and cool.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
How do you sleep at night?
I mean, hopefully they havesome blackout curtains or
something on the ship, becauseit'd be tough.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yes, they do have blackout curtains and I
recommend anybody bring a reallygood eye mask so you can sleep
at night.
But the blackout curtains helpand in the beginning, when I
first went to the Arctic, I madethe mistake in the middle of
the night of just sort ofpeering outside to see what was
going on and you get trickedinto thinking it's daylight and
(14:46):
it's two in the morning and it'svery hard to go back to sleep
after that.
So I learned the hard way notto do that.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, your body's like hey, let's go, let's get
going.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
It's true, and there's a part of me that feels
like I'm missing out thatthere's something out there in
the water or in the sky that Ishould be looking at.
Because I'm such a wildlifejunkie by nature, I just always
wanted to be out on the decks,so we did spend a lot of time
out on the decks.
One of the unique things aboutthe Arctic is because the polar
(15:18):
bears are a present danger, thatevery single time we got near
land to have a excursion, wherewe disembarked or got out on the
zodiac boats, which are thesebig inflatable boats that you
roam around the Arctic Ocean in,the expedition team have these
really highly powerful scopesand they are constantly scoping
(15:40):
the entire shoreline for polarbears.
And when I first arrived Ithought how they're just being
so overly cautious.
I mean, the polar bear is likethree or four miles away.
We were on sort of a slip ofland watching walruses, a huddle
of walrus, and we were toldthat we had to get right back
(16:02):
into the zodiacs because a polarbear had been sighted.
So I'm looking all around likewhere's the polar bear?
Where is it?
I don't see it.
We get back on the boat.
It's like two miles away, butapparently they can smell up to
20 miles, which is really hardto believe.
Their sense of smell is so keenand they're super fast.
(16:22):
They were being cautious, butnot overly cautious, because
they really are such ferociousanimals, and they could smell
the walrus from where he couldsmell it from where he was.
And then, on top of that, whatI didn't know about polar bears
is that they could swim for dayswithout stopping miles.
That gave a whole newperspective on the sea kayaking
(16:42):
program, where every day I'mthinking this doesn't feel like
the safest place to be whenthere could be a polar bear
swimming.
But I really felt confidentthat the Quark team knew exactly
what they were doing.
Quark is that the name of the,so that was the boat is called
the Ultramarine.
(17:03):
They have a fleet of boats thatgo to both.
Actually, they go to theCanadian Arctic, they go to
Greenland Antarctica and that'swho we chose.
It's almost like finding theright hotel for you, like.
Some people want to go to aFour Seasons, some want to go to
a different brand.
They all have their styles.
Some want to go to a differentbrand.
(17:23):
They all have their styles.
And what I liked about theQuark expeditions is that they
are very modern but not fancy,kind of simple, to the point,
very functional.
I mean, all the food was goodand the expedition team were so
knowledgeable, but it just feltlike the right fit.
So that's why, when it cametime to book the Arctic Circle,
(17:47):
we chose Quark again.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And I know you're hesitant to say you know, it's
not a cruise ship, right, it's aexpedition, isn't that what
we're supposed to call it?
Because, I mean, there'sdefinitely things about it
that's cruise-like.
I mean, you get good food, youhave those kinds of things, you
have your own cabin, you havethings like that, but you're on
a smaller boat and you're doingthings that are not like a big
old cruise ship, and I thinkthese boats correct me if I'm
(18:10):
wrong here, but they're kind ofmade for going into this kind of
environment.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yes, you're exactly right.
So I joke that don't call it acruise, although I mean
technically it is a cruise.
You're cruising through thewater.
I like expedition because Ifeel like, like you said, these
boats are purpose built.
They were not once a princessship that's been repurposed into
taking passengers to the Arcticor Antarctica.
(18:37):
They're built with all thetechnology needed to get through
certain ice.
I may be wrong, but I think theultramarine is a class two
icebreaker so that when we werereally far north and we were
going through pack ice, I meanwe weren't believe me, we
weren't like Shackleton oranything going through the water
, but there was quite a bit ofice.
There's also a lot of aspects ofthe ship that lended themselves
(19:00):
to polar travel the fact thatthe zodiac boats that we get
into for our excursions arealready almost at sea level so
that we can get in them reallyquickly, get right out on the
water.
The company takes a lot ofpains to make conservation
sustainability a huge part oftheir program.
So when we go out onto thecontinent or into the islands of
(19:22):
the Arctic, if we step on anyland and we come back, our boots
have to go through specificwashers that we don't bring
anything from land onto the shipand transport it somewhere.
So there's a lot of precautionsin place and safety measures
because, although it's notnecessarily in the summer likely
(19:42):
that you're going to hit a hugestorm, although it can happen
but I mean there you have to becareful because, as I say, in
the Arctic anything can happenon any day.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I'm getting kind of excited to go on a trip like
this.
This just sounds amazing.
How many people on this boatguess?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
So there were 150 passengers and I believe that
there's almost 200 crew betweencrew and expedition.
Wow, Okay.
I don't know exactly how big theboat is, but it's small enough
that you could walk around allthe decks in about five minutes,
take a loop.
It's just a very beautiful,elegant ship but, like I said,
(20:22):
not fancy.
You could go to dinner in yourColumbia Patagonia and no one's
going to blink an eye, unlikesome other ships that cater
towards people who really wantto get dolled up for dinner.
And not that we didn't drinkchampagne and have drinks.
We certainly did, but it wasnot a dressy, fancy cruise.
Another part that I think peoplemight assume that there's a lot
(20:45):
of downtime on these trips.
When you wake up in the morning, after you have breakfast,
you're right out on your firstZodiac trip or your first
excursion that lasts two tothree hours.
You come back ravenous, youhave lunch, maybe you have a
half hour to relax before you'reback out on the water for your
second excursion two to threehours there.
(21:05):
I kind of equate it to a polarsafari For anyone who's ever
been on a safari in Africa.
You take your two huge gamedrives and in between you're
eating.
After you eat and then you aredead to the world.
You're so tired.
I think it's a good analogy,even though analogies are
definitely not my strong point,because I really feel like you
(21:28):
don't have a lot of free time,you're not playing shuffleboard
or bingo, although there aresome really great talks and
presentations that theexpedition team gives when we
have a recap after sometimesbefore dinner, sometimes after
and they have experts who comeand they talk about photography,
or they talk about glaciers, orthey talk about polar bears and
(21:52):
or anthologists talk about thebirds, and it sounds like it
would be dry and boring.
But however they hire thesecrews, they are almost like
they're stand-up comics in aprevious life.
They just bring so much energyand passion and charisma to
their talks that they haveeverybody completely wrapped.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So I've got a question for you, because I know
just kind of your personality,who you are.
Cold weather, it doesn't seemto be like your thing, but yet
Antarctica, Arctic, what aboutthat?
Like what's going on with that?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I don't know.
It's a question I ask myselfall the time.
I wish I had a really goodanswer.
I think that this is just thatold adage if you're dressed
properly, you don't feel thecold.
I will also add that climatechange has made these cold
places not so cold, and if Ithink about Washington DC this
(22:49):
past winter, it was far colderthan it was in the Arctic.
For me this past summer, I wasbeing cold, but there's
(23:10):
something about the adventure ofthese trips that completely
outweighs my fear of cold andcold weather, and cold water For
that matter.
There's a tradition on a lot ofthese ships to do the polar
plunge, which is where youknowingly hurl yourself off the
boat into the frozen Arctic sea.
For what reason?
I mean it's, I guess, justbragging rights is bragging
(23:30):
rights.
I say in the shot of vodka thatthey give you after.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Warm me up.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I think what was fun about that and cold water is
actually one of.
I mean, I don't even.
I don't even go swimming in theocean, I don't go in a lake,
it's just too cold for me.
But I think I would haveregretted it had I not done it.
So it's just for fun.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, you got to say you did it, and I know you did
it in Antarctica as well, so Ilove that.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I did, and I think that it almost made it worse.
Knowing what I knew aboutAntarctica made it harder to
jump.
But my daughter I was on thistrip with my 21-year-old
daughter and my 82-year-oldstepfather.
He did not jump, she jumped,she dove, dove dive.
She went headfirst in as a21-year-old would, and I just
(24:19):
think that the experience of usall being there together made
the Arctic even more special,because we were three
generations experiencing thisremote, really fascinating part
of the planet.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Yeah, I want to talk about that a little bit because
I know Antarctica.
You went with your stepfatheras well to Antarctica, and how
many years ago was that Fourthree?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
It was two, 2022.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Okay, so he was 79 years old.
He's 82 now, and then yourdaughter as well.
You didn't have your daughterin antarctica yeah, what was
that?
Like having all three of youthere.
What was the dynamic like?
What was some of the funexperiences you had together?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
well, what was really great for me is that when I
went to antarctica with rick, mystepfather, the expedition team
there was, just as I wasmentioning, so knowledgeable, so
having the time of their lives.
These people range of ages, butI would say the average age
would have been in their 30s andwanting my daughter to see that
(25:20):
there's no one path to takeafter college.
There is a whole world outthere of unique and interesting
and fascinating jobs like this,like working on an expedition
ship.
My daughter's really intonature and environmental studies
and all that.
Who knew that these thingsexisted and that they were as
much fun as they are?
(25:40):
So that was really importantfor me to have her witness that,
beyond all the things that youexpect from an Arctic expedition
, like the wildlife and thereceding ice and climate change
and being really aware of all ofthat.
So I think, missionaccomplished on that.
The guides on the ship, theexpedition team, really make a
(26:02):
point of mingling with all thepassengers.
They sit with us at dinner.
They sit with us at the bar.
It's not to sound really corny,but very familial.
There's just something about it.
It's very warm.
It takes a certain type ofperson to really be able to
connect with people the way theydo Most of these ships.
(26:24):
Ella, my daughter, was probablyone of the youngest I'd say the
average age on the ship wasprobably 50s and Rick was
probably one of the oldest, so Iwas sort of in the sweet spot
there.
But she really connected with alot of the guides and I think
it was really incrediblyeye-opening for her.
And, as far as my stepfathergoes, he had such an amazing
(26:48):
time in Antarctica we both did.
My mother is not adventurous inthe same sort of way, so Rick
would never really have had theopportunity to do these trips
without us.
So I he was like a kid, I meanit's just so beautiful there and
he couldn't stop saying howbeautiful it is and it is.
(27:09):
You feel very lucky to be ableto be sitting at a kayak in the
middle of all this brash ice,watching a bearded seal just
hanging out on a iceberg andjust hearing the sounds of the
ice clashing and hearing thecacophony of the birds overhead.
(27:30):
It's just otherworldly and weall appreciated it.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So your daughter's there with you.
You, as a mom who's seen yourdaughter now who's what?
Is she 21,?
I think you said she's 21 yearsold, about ready to embark on
her own life's adventures.
She's already doing some ofthat already.
What does that do for you as amom, seeing your daughter
growing up?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Of course every parent would say how thrilled
and excited they are for theirkid, watching them grow and
change and evolve.
I wouldn't say I'm surprised,because my husband and I moved
to Tokyo when the kids werereally little and we traveled
extensively with them throughoutAsia when we lived there.
(28:16):
So they really were always usedto a lot of travel and they
were really portable.
I mean, for the most part theywere portable.
We had some really terribleflights with them.
Generally we had goodexperiences.
I think it's just in their DNAnow to get out and experience
(28:37):
and be adventurous.
So I feel that my husband and Ihave instilled some of that in
both of them.
So I would say, to answer yourquestion, I feel just really
proud and Ella has been doingsome travel writing.
She is, like I said, studyingenvironmental science, so for
(28:58):
her, a lot of what she saw andheard in the Arctic were things
that she had already beenstudying and learning and was
able to see it in real time.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Let's talk about the wildlife a little bit, because
that sounds like a huge part ofthe Arctic Polar bears.
That's the big draw, obviously.
And even though they're faraway, can you see them from the
boat?
Like where do you watch thepolar bears?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
So you could see them from the boat.
So the the experience I toldyou about where we were watching
the walruses and we'd only beenwatching them for a short time
before we had to head back tothe boat and we got back to the
boat and we you could see themthrough the scopes or you could
see them through your zoom lens,because there are strict
policies in place to, first andforemost, protect the bears,
(29:45):
that you have to be 300 metersaway from a bear that you spot
300 meters, like almost 900 feet.
That's really pretty far.
As I'm writing this article forthis about this trip for my, my
website, I curse myself for nothaving a strong enough zoom
lens.
I thought I had a great zoomand then you get there and my
zoom was just not strong enough.
(30:05):
But a few passengers had thesegreat zoom lenses and they got
really beautifully detailedpictures and I got really blurry
, fuzzy polar bear pictures.
But it did force me to take thethe lens away, at least from a
clicking point of view, and justfocus on watching the bear.
(30:27):
It's such a, it's such abeautiful.
I mean, we saw them and we sawtwo of them and they were both
solitary.
It's just a majestic animal andplayful, weirdly playful.
So at one point we watched thepolar bear along the ridge and
then he flung himself down asnowy hill, rolling like a
(30:49):
toddler all the way down thehill, and then got up and kept
walking and then he did it again, being able to witness that and
and watch him get into thewater.
And then we tracked himswimming for miles across a
channel and then got out on theother side and walked away and
just sort of this poignant,solitary life.
(31:10):
Also maybe a touch of sadness,knowing that from everything
we're hearing that the polarbears are going to have to adapt
in different ways because theydon't have the ice that they
used to have to travel and howit's affecting the polar bears.
So it's, it's poignant, I wouldsay.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yeah, speaking of that, we'll kind of go back to
wildlife here in a minute.
But kind of on that subject,you're there seeing these things
firsthand, things that, may youknow who knows how many years
down the road may not be aroundas much.
So I'm.
I think it's fortunate that youhad to.
May you know who knows how manyyears down the road may not be
around as much.
So I think it's fortunate thatyou had to have you had your
stepfather there.
I think it's fortunate thatyour daughter got to see it too,
because who knows in herlifetime what's going to happen
with all this?
(31:49):
Did you have a lot of time toreflect on that as well?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
We did and in fact it really brought it full circle
at the end, because when wedisembarked from the ship we had
about eight hours inLongyearbyen is the name of the
town in Svalbard the port.
We had eight hours there untilour flight and they had a museum
, the Svalbard, the polar museum, the Svalbard Museum, and there
(32:14):
they had documentation,photographs of, among other
things, of the receding glaciers, photographs of, among other
things, of the receding glaciers.
So they would have what theglaciers looked like 100 years
ago next to what they have nowand then superimposed.
And it really after having seenthem firsthand, a lot of these
glaciers and watching them calve, which I think used to be less
(32:34):
of a phenomenon, but now youhear calving glaciers and you
see the ice breaking off theglacier all the time.
But when I saw the photographsit does really drive home how
fast it's all changing and Ithink that being on an
expedition like this at leastfor me, I can say it really made
me think twice about thingsthat I might do at home, to be a
(32:59):
little bit more thoughtfulabout the planet than ever.
I know, especially for Ella'sgeneration too, that they're
even more on it and hopefullywill continue to be more on it,
but it did really drive it hometo go to the museum and to see
all that at the end, more sothan I think it would have had
(33:19):
doing it the opposite way.
I think that seeing it inperson and then watch seeing
really the the effects ofclimate change were hard hitting
.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, that's just something that you know.
I didn't think about that andit's like I mean people got to
take their chance now to go seethese things, cause who knows?
I mean it's just it's tough toknow and and like you said,
we're talking about the polarbears to know, and like you said
we're talking about the polarbears, they've got to adapt in
different ways.
I mean there's probably only somuch adaptation they can do.
There's a whole mess of things.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, it really is.
It's a big, long chain ofevents, but being able to
witness the, to go back to thepolar bears, to be able to
witness the polar bears in theirnatural habitat was humbling.
They are I didn't know this andthere's so many things I did
not know about polar bears, butas far as their sense of smell,
how far they can swim, thingslike this.
(34:08):
But even just the female we sawa female and a male at
different times.
The females they've collared.
They've been able to tag andcollar, but they can't collar
the males because their necksare so wide that if they were to
collar them it would slideright off.
The females have more of anindent in their neck like a
human would, so when they tagthem they can't come off.
(34:30):
So that was pretty interesting.
We didn't get to see any withtheir cubs, which I'm grateful.
I saw the two I did.
But I heard someone once say Imay have read that going to
places like the Arctic andAntarctic are addictive, and I
get it.
I want to go back to both.
(34:50):
I mean the chances are veryslim, but that's, I would love
to go back.
I think once isn't enough.
I really would love to see more.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
That's yeah, that's a good point.
I wanted to ask about thatbecause I know, like like
Antarctica, like you said, it'sso far out there.
You know you have to drinkpassage and it just takes a long
time to get there, whereas youknow it's a lot easier to get to
the Arctic.
I wondered about that.
If you were going to, anychance you might go back.
I mean, maybe Ella will take meone day.
(35:21):
That would be nice.
She can go with her daughterand take you.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I don't know.
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot ofoptions, a lot.
So, yes, and I understand it'snot for everybody, these types
of trips are not for everyone.
But we have been, as a family,lucky enough to go to a lot of
places and I've loved everybeach vacation I've taken with
my family.
(35:43):
But I think now we are as a, asa group, into things that are a
little bit more high adventureoverall, a little more a little
off the beaten path well, that'swhy I like doing this podcast.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I talk to people like you.
It gets me all excited.
I'm like Arctic is within range.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Well, where you live, you could go to the Canadian
Arctic.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Yeah, just go north right.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
I think that you should do that.
That's high on my bucket list,as is Alaska.
I haven't been to Alaska andGreenland, not as close for you,
but those are places.
Greenland has its fair share ofpolar bears, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
A couple other questions about wildlife,
because besides polar bears, yousaw walruses, seals, tons of
birds.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
There's reindeer too.
Right Is a reindeer up in thatarea.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Oh yeah, I always forget the reindeer yes, those
poor reindeer, because they getovershadowed by the walruses and
the polar bears.
The reindeer are great.
They're like kind of a littleloopy.
I think they subsist onmushrooms, so they're constantly
in a state of loopiness.
These particular we had been toFinland before and had seen
(36:55):
reindeer that are sort of whatyou imagine more traditional
reindeer to look like.
But these Arctic reindeerthey're white, they've kind of
got big black patches aroundtheir eyes.
They're sort of stunted looking, they're kind of squat.
We, as part of the Quarkexpedition, we had choices to
hike or to sea kayak and on oneof our hikes we hiked a mountain
(37:15):
and there were a bunch ofgrazing reindeer up there and
they really are pretty passiveand we kept our distance.
But they make great models forphotography and we could get
closer to them than the polarbears.
But the reindeer are exciting.
And then there's the Arctic fox,which is an elusive creature in
(37:36):
the winter, and there's, I'msure, tons of your viewers who
know this already the in thewinter they are fully white,
they blend in with all the snowand when we saw them in the
summer we saw a couple.
They were sort of half kind ofmore gray.
They were starting to losetheir white coat, become more
gray because the landscape getsa little rockier, so then that
(37:57):
they can blend into the rockylandscape because they prey on
kind of the weak birds andthings like that.
So we saw some Arctic fox,which was really a pretty cool
thing.
And then there are whales andthere was a minke whale which is
we kind of glimpsed really fastalong the side of the boat one
(38:17):
day.
Didn't see as many whales as Idid when I was in Antarctica,
but I did see lots of beautifulbirds and I'm a bird nerd, so
that was exciting for me.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Puffins right Are puffins in that area.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Oh, puffins are great , puffins are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
I had a guest on that's.
His favorite bird is a puffinand he talked about seeing
puffins.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Oh, it's a very cool bird.
I just love them.
I also geek out on collectivenouns for animals and puffins.
When you have more, a group ofpuffins is called a circus.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Oh, circus of puffins , I like that.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Don't get me started on collective nouns.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
I could really go on, go on and on and on.
Well, this adventure soundsawesome.
It sounds like you had a greattime.
Sounds like you enjoyed it.
I also heard that you had yourfair share of ice cream, if I'm
not mistaken.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Oh God, yeah Well, I mean going right along with
everything cold.
That I don't like.
I happen to not even normallyeat ice cream, but the food on
the boat first of all.
You're just so hungry fromthese because you're out in the
Arctic air for hours and hourson end, as most people know.
You just get hungry from that.
So the food on the ship wasgreat, but every single meal,
(39:38):
except for lunch and dinner, isalways ice cream.
I really ate more ice cream in10 days than I've probably had
in the past 10 years combined,but it was worth it because I
mean vacation calories, they say, don't count.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Those don't count at all.
That's what I've heard, so I'msticking with that for sure.
All right, I got a few kind ofI guess we'll call them rapid
fire some rapid fire type Arcticquestions for you, besides the
polar plunge other coldestmoment on the trip, besides the
plunge, which was obvious, theother coldest moment.
(40:13):
Yeah, the coldest momentbesides the plunge.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah, besides the plunge yeah, I will say so there
was a point about threequarters of the way into the
trip where we left kind of theedge of Svalbard and we went,
traveled north towards the NorthPole and we got as far as 81
degrees north, so not very farfrom the North Pole, and we were
going through all this pack iceand that was definitely the
(40:39):
coldest moment.
The air kicked up, it gotgrayer, a little bit more
blustery, and that was a verycold moment.
But it was so beautiful to lookover the edge of the ship and
just see all of the almost likeplate glass all breaking up.
It was so beautiful.
So that was a very cold moment.
But even despite how cold itwas, I stayed outside Because
(41:01):
you don't want to miss thesesmall opportunities that you
have, a window to this otherworld.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Oh, yeah, and that's.
It's a.
For a lot of people like I knowfor me probably, for example,
it's a once in a lifetimeopportunity.
It's like you want to be ableto, hey, yes, weather the cold
for a little bit, to see thatand be part of that.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
How about the scariest moment of the trip?
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Well, let's see the scariest moment of the trip.
I would say there was a ton,all right.
So I sea kayaked in a tandemkayak with Rick most of the time
, and then one day I decided Iwas going to and I'm not really
a kayaker by nature, and what'sgreat about the Quark
expeditions is that you can signup for sea kayaking but they
only have 10 spots.
(41:45):
So the three of us got three ofthose 10 spots, which meant
that we had this opportunity tosea kayak rather than just be in
the zodiac.
I took a single out one day, andthe day I took a single, it
just happened to be a very roughday and I was definitely a
little bit nervous abouttoppling over with the waves a
(42:06):
few times.
And then, of course, when Irealized the polar bears were
such good swimmers, it did giveme like a little bit of anxiety.
But I tried hard to say, god,just imagine the odds if I got
taken down by a polar bear inthe Arctic.
I mean, that would just be.
I guess when your time is up,it's up, but that would have
been.
My scariest moment was beingafraid that I was going to
(42:27):
topple over.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I read an article your daughter wrote about this
trip and she mentioned on thekayak a seal kind of playing
with her rudder or somethingover a kayak.
That'd make me a little nervous, like okay, don't knock me over
.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
You know it well, this, this particular seal I
think it was a Harbor seal wasso playful.
I mean, here we are and it'spopping its head up here, and
then we'd look at and he'd gounder, and he'd go under the
kayak and pop up the other side.
I mean they look like puppies,so they're really not menacing
at all.
So you wouldn't have beenscared, I promise Jake.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Okay, I would have loved it.
All right, I love that Funniestmoment on the trip.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Oh God, I mean, it's just not going to sound funny
unless you were there.
But one of the talks was givenby the client services person on
the expedition team who was incharge of client services.
His name was Gordo, he was fromArgentina, had this really
heavy Argentine accent and hegave a presentation about living
for a year in Longyearbyen,which is that town that has four
months of darkness, four monthsof light and just it was really
(43:36):
like a standup comedy routine.
It was really like a stand-upcomedy routine and everybody had
tears rolling down their facebecause they were just telling
wonderful stories, Because whenyou live in this town, polar
bears do wander into the town.
You could actually come acrossa polar bear.
Although it's not funny toanybody listening right now, I
will say that anyone who had theopportunity to hear Gordo on
(43:59):
that trip would agree.
I'm actually thinking of seeing.
I can find him on YouTubebecause somebody had to have
recorded that.
It was great.
Other funny moments were justbeing able to be there with my
daughter and Rick, meet peoplefrom all over the world who all
had something interesting to say.
But all this shared love ofadventure and travel, so over
(44:19):
drinks every night at the barthere's just all this kind of
camaraderie and laughter aboutthese shared experiences.
It just made the whole trip tohave all these really
interesting and uniquepersonalities around.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
The icebergs, you know, or the ice calving, as
they say.
What does that sound like?
Is there a way to?
Speaker 2 (44:42):
describe it?
I mean, it sounds like thunderdoes it okay sounds like thunder
.
But the unfortunate thing is isthat by the time you hear it
and you look towards it, it'salready done.
So it's unusual.
Some people were able tocapture it on film or video, but
it was more out of luck thattheir camera happened to be
(45:03):
facing that way first, becausewhen you hear it it's just
already almost done.
But it's a very humbling sound,thunderous.
But you also realize that partof the glacier is just receding
all the time.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
And is there a particular smell of the Arctic
or Svalbard or something like?
Is there a particular smellthat you remember?
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah well, I mean, anyone who has been around a lot
of birds before knows it's notreally the most pleasant smell,
guano, which is what I when Ireally first experienced it was
when we had visited all thepenguin colonies in Antarctica
but it's a it's a prettyunpleasant smell.
So I think maybe the sleep maskand maybe nose plugs are a good
(45:50):
addition to my packing list fornext time.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
I love it.
This has been awesome.
This is so fun.
What an adventure.
You've been to both poles now.
You've been to antarctica.
You've been to the arctic.
What's next?
But you have.
Where else do you want to go?
What's the future look like?
Speaker 2 (46:07):
yeah, that's um.
Well, the next trip we have onthe books is egypt, in christ,
at christmas time.
So I'm very excited for egypt,which will be very hot, very
opposite of the.
But as far as other adventuresI have on my list Greenland,
alaska, the Faroe Islands, allcold places, go figure, I can't
(46:31):
get away from it there you go.
Those are all places that I'mkeen to get to at some point,
but I'm willing to wait.
I'm in no rush.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
I know I think maybe it's even you who said that,
like maybe one of your articlesor something I read.
You talk about how travel'stransformative for you, for this
trip with your daughter, withyour stepfather.
How was it transformative foryou?
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Well, I mean, really that's a good question that has
so many levels.
Well, I mean, really that's aquestion that has so many levels
to it For this particular trip.
Why I find it transformative isbecause I get to learn in real
time things that I read about inthe newspaper and then get to
apply by seeing it, and what Iknew coming back from the trip
(47:17):
is so much different from what Iknew going into it.
And that's why I think everytrip is transformative that you
go into it one way, you come outof it another.
You take that information and,like this, I'm on a podcast, I
get to explain it or describe it, inspire someone else to take
this trip.
I am moved by it and hope thatI move other people to do
(47:42):
something like this or not, butI, for me, I think that I really
come through the other sidewith this different set of
knowledge and principles andthings to apply, moving forward.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
So tell everybody if they want to learn more about
you, maybe some about yourtravel coaching, maybe read some
of your articles.
Where do they do this?
How can they find you?
Speaker 2 (48:05):
Sure, well, my website is called
IamLostAndFoundcom and that'swhere I write about all of my
travels, and I also have a linkon there for my travel coaching.
I absolutely love talking abouttravel.
It's really what inspired thecoaching.
It's what inspired my website,so I really happy to talk travel
(48:29):
always, or answer questions.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
And I highly recommend Jamie.
Even just reading your articles, I feel like I'm there, I like,
I love it.
I'm like, oh, I'm walking downthe street with Jamie here.
You know it.
Just, you do such a great jobwriting, so she's a fantastic
writer.
In fact, I know you wrote theforeword for the book that I was
part of, Sacred Spaces Volume 3.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
We got talent right here.
This is awesome.
I got like so much talent onthis podcast.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Thank you, jake, that's so nice of you.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Jamie fun, I'm starting to like formulate a
plan in my mind now to go to theArctic, so I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Thank you so much for coming on Journey with Jake.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Again, I love it.
Thank you, Jake.
It's always fun to talk to you.
Big thanks to Jamie Edwards forjoining me once again and
sharing her Arctic adventure.
If you'd like to read moreabout Jamie's travels, or even
learn about her travel coaching,be sure to visit her website,
Iamlostandfoundcom.
Her blog is full of amazingstories and insights and, as
always, I want to thank each ofyou for tuning in to Journey
with Jake.
I truly appreciate your support.
(49:29):
If you're enjoying the show,I'd love it if you shared it
with a friend, posted about iton social media or simply help
spread the word so others cancome along for the journey.
Next time on the podcast, I'llbe talking with Colton Schuster
about his adventure competing onAmerican Ninja Warrior.
You won't want to miss it.
Just remember it's not alwaysabout the destination as it is
(49:51):
about the journey.
Take care everybody.
Thank you.
Last time Jamie Edwards joined me on Journey
with Jake, we explored heradventures in Antarctica.
In this episode, we'reventuring to the Arctic,
complete with polar bears on thehorizon and the chill of a
polar plunge.
Welcome to Journey with Jake.
This is a podcast aboutadventure and how, through our
adventures, we can overcome thechallenges of life that come our
way.
While I expect you will learnsome things about different
(00:22):
adventures, this show willentertain you.
Each episode will feature adifferent guest or guests, as
they share experiences andstories from the different
adventures they have been on.
Not only will you beentertained, but you will also
hear the failures and trialseach guest faces and what they
have done or are doing toovercome the hardships that come
their way.
To overcome the hardships thatcome their way.
(00:43):
My goal is to take each of uson a journey through the
experiences of my guests, withthe hope that you'll be
entertained and inspired toovercome your day-to-day
challenges.
After all, it's not all aboutthe destination as it is about
(01:07):
the journey.
Welcome back to Journey withJake.
Before we dive in, just a quickreminder to make sure you're
following me on Instagram atJourney with Jake Podcast, where
I share the personal side of myadventures, and don't forget to
subscribe on YouTube orwherever you listen to podcasts
so you never miss an episode.
And, of course, a shout out tothe Podmatch Podcast Network for
(01:29):
connecting me with so manyincredible guests.
Now today happens to be ColumbusDay.
On holidays, I usually like torelease a bonus episode, and
while it's tempting to call thisone a bonus episode, since
Jamie Edwards is back with us,I'm not going to do that.
This is episode 183, and it'sway too packed with stories and
experiences from Jamie's journeyto the Arctic to be considered
(01:52):
just a bonus.
If you remember, jamie joinedme back in episode 84, where we
talked quite a bit about hertime in Antarctica.
This time around, she shareswhat it was like exploring the
Arctic, an adventure she tookalongside her stepfather and
daughter three generationsexperiencing the far north
together, which makes this storyeven more special.
(02:13):
If you enjoyed thisconversation, definitely go back
and check out episode 84 formore of Jamie's incredible
adventures.
All right, let's get to myconversation with Jamie Edwards.
Well, I am thrilled todaybecause I have a former guest of
the show, jamie Edwards.
She's back on, jamie.
Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Thank you, thrilled to be back.
I'm so glad you had me back.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You did a lot for me.
I got connected to you throughSasha Leznev and then you
connected me to Colleen Avis,who then had me write in her
book and I mean it's just, it'scrazy where it's gone, and so
I'm so thankful for that.
I'm thankful for you forconnecting me with Colleen, and
that's what I love about this.
I feel like the connectionsthat I get from doing this
(02:55):
podcast have been just amazing.
It's been awesome.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Exactly, and it's kind of shows how small a
network it really is connectingall these dots between all your
different guests and Colleenwith her sacred spaces and then
all the travel.
So it's all good connections.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Definitely all good connections.
I was looking it up, I waslooking up your episode, your
episode 84, for me, when we did,we spoke the first time and it
was released back in December of23.
So it's been pushing it.
I mean it's going on.
It'd be two years this December.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Wow, I can't believe it's been that long.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
It's crazy.
It's gone by super fast and Iwas thinking about that.
I was like, okay, a lot'shappened.
I know at the time yourdaughter was taking a gap year
was about to take a gap year.
I think your son was a juniorin high school.
So catch us up.
Where is everybody?
What's going on in the world ofJamie Edwards?
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, my daughter is at the University of Washington
she's a junior now and my sonjust finished a gap year of his
own.
He is now at college.
My husband and I are officiallywithout kids at home, which is
bittersweet, of course, but thesecret is it's more fun than
you'd imagine.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
All right, you got the secret.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
It is.
I mean, it's sad on the onehand, but on the other it feels
good to know that they're bothhappy, at least for the moment,
and be able to do some thingsfor ourselves.
So far it's been nice.
It hasn't been very long, butso far it's been nice.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And I'm sure we're going to hear a little bit more
about your daughter, because Iknow she went on this Arctic
trip with you, so we'll talkabout that here in a little bit.
Before we dive into all that,though, I also want to talk
about Iamlostandfoundcom.
You still got that going, and Isaw another little thing on
there.
I saw a little said coaching,travel coaching.
So, yeah, what have you gotgoing on with?
I Am Lost and Found.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Right.
So I Am Lost and Found.
I think I've written my 109thpost, so that's been really
rewarding.
But what has happened with it,which has really been a nice
side bonus, is that I Am Lostand Found has essentially become
a writing portfolio, so it'senabled me to write for other
publications and outlets, whichhas been really fantastic.
I write for a travel advisorthat I work with called Sire
(05:16):
Travel, and I also write forEagle Creek Luggage, and I did
just complete an assignment forNational Geographic, which I
couldn't be happier about.
Sort of a dream to be able towrite for National Geographic.
It's a coffee table bookreleasing in November of this
year called the Traveler's Atlas, and I wrote four entries for
(05:40):
it.
So I wrote about Japan, uganda,bhutan and the Balkans.
That'll be the Christmas giftof the year for me.
Everybody I know is going toget that book when it releases
in November.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I want to get that book too.
That'll be awesome.
I love those coffee table typebooks too.
Those are a lot of fun, kind ofscroll through them and jump to
different spots.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, so that's been exciting.
And then the travel coachingthat you mentioned is something
that really just evolved fromyears and years of loving to
discuss travel, give advice,give recommendations.
I realize that there's a lot ofpeople out there who don't
really know where to start whenit comes to planning a trip.
(06:21):
When it comes to planning atrip, they maybe have a general
idea that they want to take aroad trip through Europe or
they'd like to go to SouthAmerica or the Caribbean, but
they either don't have the timeor even the inclination to start
doing the heavy researching.
I decided to package my researchas something that people would
(06:43):
come to me with, and it's beenreally fun.
It's in my sweet spot.
I don't personally want to bookany travel.
I don't want to get on thephone with airlines, be
responsible for anybody's budgetnecessarily like booking hotels
but I do work with people togive them ideas and research,
and most of my research comeswith all the information and
(07:06):
links that they need to go aheadand book it themselves.
So that's been really fun forme.
I've done it.
I have about 10 or 12 clientsso far.
They've all been very differentand I've enjoyed it immensely.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
What is it about that that you enjoy?
Is it the research part?
What is it that you?
Or just the differentpersonalities and seeing what
they like?
Speaker 2 (07:26):
It's definitely the research.
I speak to people on the phonefirst and get all the
information about what theirgoals are, how they like to
travel, a general sense ofbudget based on all these wants
and likes and dislikes.
I piece together all the thingsas if it were me going, how I
(07:46):
would research it if it were mytrip, and I think that what
makes it different is anyone canGoogle adventure hotels in
Alaska and be given tons ofinformation, but what I do is I
go really deeper into a lot ofdifferent sources and my Google
searches and my keywords aredifferent than what you might
(08:06):
put in Jake.
So I really refine, fine tuneand cross-reference a lot of
sources, many of which arethings sources I have found just
throughout my years and yearsof travel.
So I feel like I'm able to givepeople ideas that they may
never have come up with or foundon their own.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I like that and I know just from reading some of
your blogs and articles on I AmLost and Found.
You do have a wealth ofexperience.
You have your own experiencesthat you've done, so I know
you're just putting that allinto play.
I think that's perfect, andthere's people out there who the
idea of having to research anddo that kind of thing is just
bogs them down and stresses themout.
That's where you come into playbecause you love it.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I love it and it's overwhelming.
I understand it.
It is overwhelming to put a bigtrip together, find the
restaurants, find the hotels.
So that's why it has been sucha great kind of niche for me to
do, because it's only the thingsI like to do.
Great kind of niche for me todo because it's only the things
I like to do.
(09:08):
And then many people don't mindbooking their own trips or
they're happy to do that part.
They just really need a lotmore direction.
So that's been great.
So I'm really continuing to dothat.
So my world has expanded a bitbeyond.
I Am Lost and Found.
I still have lots of downtime.
I kind of fit it in when I wantto, and now that my kids are
(09:30):
not at home, I'll have even moretime to devote to it.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I'm excited to talk to you today because we're going
to talk about your trip to theArctic.
And when we talked before ayear and a half ago plus we
talked about Uganda a little bitwe talked about a few things
like that.
The big one we talked about wasAntarctica.
You've hit both poles now.
You've hit North Pole, southPole.
When you look at the two kindof side by side, and you've been
(09:56):
to both, what's the glaringdifference between the two?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That's a great question, jake, and it's one
that, while I was on theexpedition in the Arctic, I
asked not only myself but a lotof the passengers on the ship we
went by ship.
I'd say at least half thepassengers had already been to
Antarctica on the very same ship.
There are some starkdifferences beyond the fact that
they're located at twodifferent ends of the earth.
(10:22):
One of the biggest differencesis the polar bears.
The polar bears are the biggestdraw of the North the Arctic,
because there are no polar bearsin Antarctica and there are no
penguins in the Arctic, so thosetwo creatures live at polar
(10:42):
opposite parts of the world.
I would say that the thrill andthe inherent sort of danger for
lack of a better word in theArctic is the polar bear, and
that has a lot of people goingthere.
The Arctic is also much moreaccessible to get to, just much
easier to get to, not that it'seasy, but it's just closer,
(11:05):
especially if you're coming fromEurope.
We flew from DC to London toHelsinki, and then from Helsinki
we flew on a charter four hoursnorth to the islands of
Svalbard, which are abouthalfway between the coast of
Norway and the North Pole, andthis group of islands is where
(11:26):
we started our trip.
We circumnavigated the islandsof Svalbard and along the way
saw walruses, polar bears, birdcolonies, whales.
The wildlife component is thesame.
You get wildlife on both polesis the same.
(11:48):
You get wildlife on both poles,but different wildlife of
course.
I think that Antarctica is soremote and so much harder to get
to, and for me at least, it wasthe equivalent of going to the
moon.
It just felt so far away and itreally is.
The danger and thrill for anAntarctic expedition is the
(12:08):
Drake Passage, which is this800-mile body of water that
notoriously can be either reallyhairy and have strong winds and
terrible storms, or it could bea really simple crossing.
It's a two-day crossing, sothat's sort of the.
Those are some big differencesbetween the two, and just
(12:31):
getting to the continent ofAntarctica takes a lot more time
to get there.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
You know, when you think of the Arctic and part of
my mind I'm thinking oh, I justgo straight north.
You know, I'm in Utah, I justgo straight North and some
people have done that.
I've seen some pictures ofpeople you know dipping their
feet in the Arctic.
You know, canada, that area, no, you went.
What's it?
How do you say it againSvalbard, svalbard, svalbard.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yes, these are hard words to say Believe me, I trip
over them.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Is that Norwegian owned?
Who owns?
Is that part of, or is it itsown thing?
It's part of Norway.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It's part of Norway.
It's been part of Norway, Ibelieve, since 1920.
It's Norwegian territory.
When you go north of Svalbard,which is this group of I mean,
there's a hundred or moreislands, but there's four main
islands, that part of the world,you get four months of daylight
, four months of darkness andfour months where you're sort of
(13:27):
straddling the two.
And our expedition took placein June, so we had 24 hours of
daylight every day for the 10days on the ship and the days on
either side, which is unique itreally is.
It takes some getting used to,but what's wonderful about the
(13:48):
midnight sun is that there'sjust never not a time that you
can be looking, experiencing,observing out on deck all day
and all night long, seeing thelandscape, the glaciers, the ice
, the icebergs, and similarly inAntarctica.
You go to Antarctica during themidnight sun there, which is
(14:10):
January, february.
So both poles I went to, I wentduring the midnight sun, which
is very exciting and cool.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
How do you sleep at night?
I mean, hopefully they havesome blackout curtains or
something on the ship, becauseit'd be tough.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yes, they do have blackout curtains and I
recommend anybody bring a reallygood eye mask so you can sleep
at night.
But the blackout curtains helpand in the beginning, when I
first went to the Arctic, I madethe mistake in the middle of
the night of just sort ofpeering outside to see what was
going on and you get trickedinto thinking it's daylight and
(14:46):
it's two in the morning and it'svery hard to go back to sleep
after that.
So I learned the hard way notto do that.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, your body's like hey, let's go, let's get
going.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
It's true, and there's a part of me that feels
like I'm missing out thatthere's something out there in
the water or in the sky that Ishould be looking at.
Because I'm such a wildlifejunkie by nature, I just always
wanted to be out on the decks,so we did spend a lot of time
out on the decks.
One of the unique things aboutthe Arctic is because the polar
(15:18):
bears are a present danger, thatevery single time we got near
land to have a excursion, wherewe disembarked or got out on the
zodiac boats, which are thesebig inflatable boats that you
roam around the Arctic Ocean in,the expedition team have these
really highly powerful scopesand they are constantly scoping
(15:40):
the entire shoreline for polarbears.
And when I first arrived Ithought how they're just being
so overly cautious.
I mean, the polar bear is likethree or four miles away.
We were on sort of a slip ofland watching walruses, a huddle
of walrus, and we were toldthat we had to get right back
(16:02):
into the zodiacs because a polarbear had been sighted.
So I'm looking all around likewhere's the polar bear?
Where is it?
I don't see it.
We get back on the boat.
It's like two miles away, butapparently they can smell up to
20 miles, which is really hardto believe.
Their sense of smell is so keenand they're super fast.
(16:22):
They were being cautious, butnot overly cautious, because
they really are such ferociousanimals, and they could smell
the walrus from where he couldsmell it from where he was.
And then, on top of that, whatI didn't know about polar bears
is that they could swim for dayswithout stopping miles.
That gave a whole newperspective on the sea kayaking
(16:42):
program, where every day I'mthinking this doesn't feel like
the safest place to be whenthere could be a polar bear
swimming.
But I really felt confidentthat the Quark team knew exactly
what they were doing.
Quark is that the name of the,so that was the boat is called
the Ultramarine.
(17:03):
They have a fleet of boats thatgo to both.
Actually, they go to theCanadian Arctic, they go to
Greenland Antarctica and that'swho we chose.
It's almost like finding theright hotel for you, like.
Some people want to go to aFour Seasons, some want to go to
a different brand.
They all have their styles.
Some want to go to a differentbrand.
(17:23):
They all have their styles.
And what I liked about theQuark expeditions is that they
are very modern but not fancy,kind of simple, to the point,
very functional.
I mean, all the food was goodand the expedition team were so
knowledgeable, but it just feltlike the right fit.
So that's why, when it cametime to book the Arctic Circle,
(17:47):
we chose Quark again.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
And I know you're hesitant to say you know, it's
not a cruise ship, right, it's aexpedition, isn't that what
we're supposed to call it?
Because, I mean, there'sdefinitely things about it
that's cruise-like.
I mean, you get good food, youhave those kinds of things, you
have your own cabin, you havethings like that, but you're on
a smaller boat and you're doingthings that are not like a big
old cruise ship, and I thinkthese boats correct me if I'm
(18:10):
wrong here, but they're kind ofmade for going into this kind of
environment.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yes, you're exactly right.
So I joke that don't call it acruise, although I mean
technically it is a cruise.
You're cruising through thewater.
I like expedition because Ifeel like, like you said, these
boats are purpose built.
They were not once a princessship that's been repurposed into
taking passengers to the Arcticor Antarctica.
(18:37):
They're built with all thetechnology needed to get through
certain ice.
I may be wrong, but I think theultramarine is a class two
icebreaker so that when we werereally far north and we were
going through pack ice, I meanwe weren't believe me, we
weren't like Shackleton oranything going through the water
, but there was quite a bit ofice.
There's also a lot of aspects ofthe ship that lended themselves
(19:00):
to polar travel the fact thatthe zodiac boats that we get
into for our excursions arealready almost at sea level so
that we can get in them reallyquickly, get right out on the
water.
The company takes a lot ofpains to make conservation
sustainability a huge part oftheir program.
So when we go out onto thecontinent or into the islands of
(19:22):
the Arctic, if we step on anyland and we come back, our boots
have to go through specificwashers that we don't bring
anything from land onto the shipand transport it somewhere.
So there's a lot of precautionsin place and safety measures
because, although it's notnecessarily in the summer likely
(19:42):
that you're going to hit a hugestorm, although it can happen
but I mean there you have to becareful because, as I say, in
the Arctic anything can happenon any day.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I'm getting kind of excited to go on a trip like
this.
This just sounds amazing.
How many people on this boatguess?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
So there were 150 passengers and I believe that
there's almost 200 crew betweencrew and expedition.
Wow, Okay.
I don't know exactly how big theboat is, but it's small enough
that you could walk around allthe decks in about five minutes,
take a loop.
It's just a very beautiful,elegant ship but, like I said,
(20:22):
not fancy.
You could go to dinner in yourColumbia Patagonia and no one's
going to blink an eye, unlikesome other ships that cater
towards people who really wantto get dolled up for dinner.
And not that we didn't drinkchampagne and have drinks.
We certainly did, but it wasnot a dressy, fancy cruise.
Another part that I think peoplemight assume that there's a lot
(20:45):
of downtime on these trips.
When you wake up in the morning, after you have breakfast,
you're right out on your firstZodiac trip or your first
excursion that lasts two tothree hours.
You come back ravenous, youhave lunch, maybe you have a
half hour to relax before you'reback out on the water for your
second excursion two to threehours there.
(21:05):
I kind of equate it to a polarsafari For anyone who's ever
been on a safari in Africa.
You take your two huge gamedrives and in between you're
eating.
After you eat and then you aredead to the world.
You're so tired.
I think it's a good analogy,even though analogies are
definitely not my strong point,because I really feel like you
(21:28):
don't have a lot of free time,you're not playing shuffleboard
or bingo, although there aresome really great talks and
presentations that theexpedition team gives when we
have a recap after sometimesbefore dinner, sometimes after
and they have experts who comeand they talk about photography,
or they talk about glaciers, orthey talk about polar bears and
(21:52):
or anthologists talk about thebirds, and it sounds like it
would be dry and boring.
But however they hire thesecrews, they are almost like
they're stand-up comics in aprevious life.
They just bring so much energyand passion and charisma to
their talks that they haveeverybody completely wrapped.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So I've got a question for you, because I know
just kind of your personality,who you are.
Cold weather, it doesn't seemto be like your thing, but yet
Antarctica, Arctic, what aboutthat?
Like what's going on with that?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I don't know.
It's a question I ask myselfall the time.
I wish I had a really goodanswer.
I think that this is just thatold adage if you're dressed
properly, you don't feel thecold.
I will also add that climatechange has made these cold
places not so cold, and if Ithink about Washington DC this
(22:49):
past winter, it was far colderthan it was in the Arctic.
For me this past summer, I wasbeing cold, but there's
(23:10):
something about the adventure ofthese trips that completely
outweighs my fear of cold andcold weather, and cold water For
that matter.
There's a tradition on a lot ofthese ships to do the polar
plunge, which is where youknowingly hurl yourself off the
boat into the frozen Arctic sea.
For what reason?
I mean it's, I guess, justbragging rights is bragging
(23:30):
rights.
I say in the shot of vodka thatthey give you after.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Warm me up.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I think what was fun about that and cold water is
actually one of.
I mean, I don't even.
I don't even go swimming in theocean, I don't go in a lake,
it's just too cold for me.
But I think I would haveregretted it had I not done it.
So it's just for fun.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Yeah, you got to say you did it, and I know you did
it in Antarctica as well, so Ilove that.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I did, and I think that it almost made it worse.
Knowing what I knew aboutAntarctica made it harder to
jump.
But my daughter I was on thistrip with my 21-year-old
daughter and my 82-year-oldstepfather.
He did not jump, she jumped,she dove, dove dive.
She went headfirst in as a21-year-old would, and I just
(24:19):
think that the experience of usall being there together made
the Arctic even more special,because we were three
generations experiencing thisremote, really fascinating part
of the planet.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Yeah, I want to talk about that a little bit because
I know Antarctica.
You went with your stepfatheras well to Antarctica, and how
many years ago was that Fourthree?
Speaker 2 (24:40):
It was two, 2022.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Okay, so he was 79 years old.
He's 82 now, and then yourdaughter as well.
You didn't have your daughterin antarctica yeah, what was
that?
Like having all three of youthere.
What was the dynamic like?
What was some of the funexperiences you had together?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
well, what was really great for me is that when I
went to antarctica with rick, mystepfather, the expedition team
there was, just as I wasmentioning, so knowledgeable, so
having the time of their lives.
These people range of ages, butI would say the average age
would have been in their 30s andwanting my daughter to see that
(25:20):
there's no one path to takeafter college.
There is a whole world outthere of unique and interesting
and fascinating jobs like this,like working on an expedition
ship.
My daughter's really intonature and environmental studies
and all that.
Who knew that these thingsexisted and that they were as
much fun as they are?
(25:40):
So that was really importantfor me to have her witness that,
beyond all the things that youexpect from an Arctic expedition
, like the wildlife and thereceding ice and climate change
and being really aware of all ofthat.
So I think, missionaccomplished on that.
The guides on the ship, theexpedition team, really make a
(26:02):
point of mingling with all thepassengers.
They sit with us at dinner.
They sit with us at the bar.
It's not to sound really corny,but very familial.
There's just something about it.
It's very warm.
It takes a certain type ofperson to really be able to
connect with people the way theydo Most of these ships.
(26:24):
Ella, my daughter, was probablyone of the youngest I'd say the
average age on the ship wasprobably 50s and Rick was
probably one of the oldest, so Iwas sort of in the sweet spot
there.
But she really connected with alot of the guides and I think
it was really incrediblyeye-opening for her.
And, as far as my stepfathergoes, he had such an amazing
(26:48):
time in Antarctica we both did.
My mother is not adventurous inthe same sort of way, so Rick
would never really have had theopportunity to do these trips
without us.
So I he was like a kid, I meanit's just so beautiful there and
he couldn't stop saying howbeautiful it is and it is.
(27:09):
You feel very lucky to be ableto be sitting at a kayak in the
middle of all this brash ice,watching a bearded seal just
hanging out on a iceberg andjust hearing the sounds of the
ice clashing and hearing thecacophony of the birds overhead.
(27:30):
It's just otherworldly and weall appreciated it.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So your daughter's there with you.
You, as a mom who's seen yourdaughter now who's what?
Is she 21,?
I think you said she's 21 yearsold, about ready to embark on
her own life's adventures.
She's already doing some ofthat already.
What does that do for you as amom, seeing your daughter
growing up?
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Of course every parent would say how thrilled
and excited they are for theirkid, watching them grow and
change and evolve.
I wouldn't say I'm surprised,because my husband and I moved
to Tokyo when the kids werereally little and we traveled
extensively with them throughoutAsia when we lived there.
(28:16):
So they really were always usedto a lot of travel and they
were really portable.
I mean, for the most part theywere portable.
We had some really terribleflights with them.
Generally we had goodexperiences.
I think it's just in their DNAnow to get out and experience
(28:37):
and be adventurous.
So I feel that my husband and Ihave instilled some of that in
both of them.
So I would say, to answer yourquestion, I feel just really
proud and Ella has been doingsome travel writing.
She is, like I said, studyingenvironmental science, so for
(28:58):
her, a lot of what she saw andheard in the Arctic were things
that she had already beenstudying and learning and was
able to see it in real time.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Let's talk about the wildlife a little bit, because
that sounds like a huge part ofthe Arctic Polar bears.
That's the big draw, obviously.
And even though they're faraway, can you see them from the
boat?
Like where do you watch thepolar bears?
Speaker 2 (29:21):
So you could see them from the boat.
So the the experience I toldyou about where we were watching
the walruses and we'd only beenwatching them for a short time
before we had to head back tothe boat and we got back to the
boat and we you could see themthrough the scopes or you could
see them through your zoom lens,because there are strict
policies in place to, first andforemost, protect the bears,
(29:45):
that you have to be 300 metersaway from a bear that you spot
300 meters, like almost 900 feet.
That's really pretty far.
As I'm writing this article forthis about this trip for my, my
website, I curse myself for nothaving a strong enough zoom
lens.
I thought I had a great zoomand then you get there and my
zoom was just not strong enough.
(30:05):
But a few passengers had thesegreat zoom lenses and they got
really beautifully detailedpictures and I got really blurry
, fuzzy polar bear pictures.
But it did force me to take thethe lens away, at least from a
clicking point of view, and justfocus on watching the bear.
(30:27):
It's such a, it's such abeautiful.
I mean, we saw them and we sawtwo of them and they were both
solitary.
It's just a majestic animal andplayful, weirdly playful.
So at one point we watched thepolar bear along the ridge and
then he flung himself down asnowy hill, rolling like a
(30:49):
toddler all the way down thehill, and then got up and kept
walking and then he did it again, being able to witness that and
and watch him get into thewater.
And then we tracked himswimming for miles across a
channel and then got out on theother side and walked away and
just sort of this poignant,solitary life.
(31:10):
Also maybe a touch of sadness,knowing that from everything
we're hearing that the polarbears are going to have to adapt
in different ways because theydon't have the ice that they
used to have to travel and howit's affecting the polar bears.
So it's, it's poignant, I wouldsay.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Yeah, speaking of that, we'll kind of go back to
wildlife here in a minute.
But kind of on that subject,you're there seeing these things
firsthand, things that, may youknow who knows how many years
down the road may not be aroundas much.
So I'm.
I think it's fortunate that youhad to.
May you know who knows how manyyears down the road may not be
around as much.
So I think it's fortunate thatyou had to have you had your
stepfather there.
I think it's fortunate thatyour daughter got to see it too,
because who knows in herlifetime what's going to happen
with all this?
(31:49):
Did you have a lot of time toreflect on that as well?
Speaker 2 (31:51):
We did and in fact it really brought it full circle
at the end, because when wedisembarked from the ship we had
about eight hours inLongyearbyen is the name of the
town in Svalbard the port.
We had eight hours there untilour flight and they had a museum
, the Svalbard, the polar museum, the Svalbard Museum, and there
(32:14):
they had documentation,photographs of, among other
things, of the receding glaciers, photographs of, among other
things, of the receding glaciers.
So they would have what theglaciers looked like 100 years
ago next to what they have nowand then superimposed.
And it really after having seenthem firsthand, a lot of these
glaciers and watching them calve, which I think used to be less
(32:34):
of a phenomenon, but now youhear calving glaciers and you
see the ice breaking off theglacier all the time.
But when I saw the photographsit does really drive home how
fast it's all changing and Ithink that being on an
expedition like this at leastfor me, I can say it really made
me think twice about thingsthat I might do at home, to be a
(32:59):
little bit more thoughtfulabout the planet than ever.
I know, especially for Ella'sgeneration too, that they're
even more on it and hopefullywill continue to be more on it,
but it did really drive it hometo go to the museum and to see
all that at the end, more sothan I think it would have had
(33:19):
doing it the opposite way.
I think that seeing it inperson and then watch seeing
really the the effects ofclimate change were hard hitting
.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, that's just something that you know.
I didn't think about that andit's like I mean people got to
take their chance now to go seethese things, cause who knows?
I mean it's just it's tough toknow and and like you said,
we're talking about the polarbears to know, and like you said
we're talking about the polarbears, they've got to adapt in
different ways.
I mean there's probably only somuch adaptation they can do.
There's a whole mess of things.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, it really is.
It's a big, long chain ofevents, but being able to
witness the, to go back to thepolar bears, to be able to
witness the polar bears in theirnatural habitat was humbling.
They are I didn't know this andthere's so many things I did
not know about polar bears, butas far as their sense of smell,
how far they can swim, thingslike this.
(34:08):
But even just the female we sawa female and a male at
different times.
The females they've collared.
They've been able to tag andcollar, but they can't collar
the males because their necksare so wide that if they were to
collar them it would slideright off.
The females have more of anindent in their neck like a
human would, so when they tagthem they can't come off.
(34:30):
So that was pretty interesting.
We didn't get to see any withtheir cubs, which I'm grateful.
I saw the two I did.
But I heard someone once say Imay have read that going to
places like the Arctic andAntarctic are addictive, and I
get it.
I want to go back to both.
(34:50):
I mean the chances are veryslim, but that's, I would love
to go back.
I think once isn't enough.
I really would love to see more.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
That's yeah, that's a good point.
I wanted to ask about thatbecause I know, like like
Antarctica, like you said, it'sso far out there.
You know you have to drinkpassage and it just takes a long
time to get there, whereas youknow it's a lot easier to get to
the Arctic.
I wondered about that.
If you were going to, anychance you might go back.
I mean, maybe Ella will take meone day.
(35:21):
That would be nice.
She can go with her daughterand take you.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I don't know.
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot ofoptions, a lot.
So, yes, and I understand it'snot for everybody, these types
of trips are not for everyone.
But we have been, as a family,lucky enough to go to a lot of
places and I've loved everybeach vacation I've taken with
my family.
(35:43):
But I think now we are as a, asa group, into things that are a
little bit more high adventureoverall, a little more a little
off the beaten path well, that'swhy I like doing this podcast.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I talk to people like you.
It gets me all excited.
I'm like Arctic is within range.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Well, where you live, you could go to the Canadian
Arctic.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Yeah, just go north right.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
I think that you should do that.
That's high on my bucket list,as is Alaska.
I haven't been to Alaska andGreenland, not as close for you,
but those are places.
Greenland has its fair share ofpolar bears, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
A couple other questions about wildlife,
because besides polar bears, yousaw walruses, seals, tons of
birds.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
There's reindeer too.
Right Is a reindeer up in thatarea.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Oh yeah, I always forget the reindeer yes, those
poor reindeer, because they getovershadowed by the walruses and
the polar bears.
The reindeer are great.
They're like kind of a littleloopy.
I think they subsist onmushrooms, so they're constantly
in a state of loopiness.
These particular we had been toFinland before and had seen
(36:55):
reindeer that are sort of whatyou imagine more traditional
reindeer to look like.
But these Arctic reindeerthey're white, they've kind of
got big black patches aroundtheir eyes.
They're sort of stunted looking, they're kind of squat.
We, as part of the Quarkexpedition, we had choices to
hike or to sea kayak and on oneof our hikes we hiked a mountain
(37:15):
and there were a bunch ofgrazing reindeer up there and
they really are pretty passiveand we kept our distance.
But they make great models forphotography and we could get
closer to them than the polarbears.
But the reindeer are exciting.
And then there's the Arctic fox,which is an elusive creature in
(37:36):
the winter, and there's, I'msure, tons of your viewers who
know this already the in thewinter they are fully white,
they blend in with all the snowand when we saw them in the
summer we saw a couple.
They were sort of half kind ofmore gray.
They were starting to losetheir white coat, become more
gray because the landscape getsa little rockier, so then that
(37:57):
they can blend into the rockylandscape because they prey on
kind of the weak birds andthings like that.
So we saw some Arctic fox,which was really a pretty cool
thing.
And then there are whales andthere was a minke whale which is
we kind of glimpsed really fastalong the side of the boat one
(38:17):
day.
Didn't see as many whales as Idid when I was in Antarctica,
but I did see lots of beautifulbirds and I'm a bird nerd, so
that was exciting for me.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
Puffins right Are puffins in that area.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Oh, puffins are great , puffins are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
I had a guest on that's.
His favorite bird is a puffinand he talked about seeing
puffins.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Oh, it's a very cool bird.
I just love them.
I also geek out on collectivenouns for animals and puffins.
When you have more, a group ofpuffins is called a circus.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Oh, circus of puffins , I like that.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Don't get me started on collective nouns.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
I could really go on, go on and on and on.
Well, this adventure soundsawesome.
It sounds like you had a greattime.
Sounds like you enjoyed it.
I also heard that you had yourfair share of ice cream, if I'm
not mistaken.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Oh God, yeah Well, I mean going right along with
everything cold.
That I don't like.
I happen to not even normallyeat ice cream, but the food on
the boat first of all.
You're just so hungry fromthese because you're out in the
Arctic air for hours and hourson end, as most people know.
You just get hungry from that.
So the food on the ship wasgreat, but every single meal,
(39:38):
except for lunch and dinner, isalways ice cream.
I really ate more ice cream in10 days than I've probably had
in the past 10 years combined,but it was worth it because I
mean vacation calories, they say, don't count.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Those don't count at all.
That's what I've heard, so I'msticking with that for sure.
All right, I got a few kind ofI guess we'll call them rapid
fire some rapid fire type Arcticquestions for you, besides the
polar plunge other coldestmoment on the trip, besides the
plunge, which was obvious, theother coldest moment.
(40:13):
Yeah, the coldest momentbesides the plunge.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Yeah, besides the plunge yeah, I will say so there
was a point about threequarters of the way into the
trip where we left kind of theedge of Svalbard and we went,
traveled north towards the NorthPole and we got as far as 81
degrees north, so not very farfrom the North Pole, and we were
going through all this pack iceand that was definitely the
(40:39):
coldest moment.
The air kicked up, it gotgrayer, a little bit more
blustery, and that was a verycold moment.
But it was so beautiful to lookover the edge of the ship and
just see all of the almost likeplate glass all breaking up.
It was so beautiful.
So that was a very cold moment.
But even despite how cold itwas, I stayed outside Because
(41:01):
you don't want to miss thesesmall opportunities that you
have, a window to this otherworld.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Oh, yeah, and that's.
It's a.
For a lot of people like I knowfor me probably, for example,
it's a once in a lifetimeopportunity.
It's like you want to be ableto, hey, yes, weather the cold
for a little bit, to see thatand be part of that.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
How about the scariest moment of the trip?
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Well, let's see the scariest moment of the trip.
I would say there was a ton,all right.
So I sea kayaked in a tandemkayak with Rick most of the time
, and then one day I decided Iwas going to and I'm not really
a kayaker by nature, and what'sgreat about the Quark
expeditions is that you can signup for sea kayaking but they
only have 10 spots.
(41:45):
So the three of us got three ofthose 10 spots, which meant
that we had this opportunity tosea kayak rather than just be in
the zodiac.
I took a single out one day, andthe day I took a single, it
just happened to be a very roughday and I was definitely a
little bit nervous abouttoppling over with the waves a
(42:06):
few times.
And then, of course, when Irealized the polar bears were
such good swimmers, it did giveme like a little bit of anxiety.
But I tried hard to say, god,just imagine the odds if I got
taken down by a polar bear inthe Arctic.
I mean, that would just be.
I guess when your time is up,it's up, but that would have
been.
My scariest moment was beingafraid that I was going to
(42:27):
topple over.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
I read an article your daughter wrote about this
trip and she mentioned on thekayak a seal kind of playing
with her rudder or somethingover a kayak.
That'd make me a little nervous, like okay, don't knock me over
.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
You know it well, this, this particular seal I
think it was a Harbor seal wasso playful.
I mean, here we are and it'spopping its head up here, and
then we'd look at and he'd gounder, and he'd go under the
kayak and pop up the other side.
I mean they look like puppies,so they're really not menacing
at all.
So you wouldn't have beenscared, I promise Jake.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
Okay, I would have loved it.
All right, I love that Funniestmoment on the trip.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Oh God, I mean, it's just not going to sound funny
unless you were there.
But one of the talks was givenby the client services person on
the expedition team who was incharge of client services.
His name was Gordo, he was fromArgentina, had this really
heavy Argentine accent and hegave a presentation about living
for a year in Longyearbyen,which is that town that has four
months of darkness, four monthsof light and just it was really
(43:36):
like a standup comedy routine.
It was really like a stand-upcomedy routine and everybody had
tears rolling down their facebecause they were just telling
wonderful stories, Because whenyou live in this town, polar
bears do wander into the town.
You could actually come acrossa polar bear.
Although it's not funny toanybody listening right now, I
will say that anyone who had theopportunity to hear Gordo on
(43:59):
that trip would agree.
I'm actually thinking of seeing.
I can find him on YouTubebecause somebody had to have
recorded that.
It was great.
Other funny moments were justbeing able to be there with my
daughter and Rick, meet peoplefrom all over the world who all
had something interesting to say.
But all this shared love ofadventure and travel, so over
(44:19):
drinks every night at the barthere's just all this kind of
camaraderie and laughter aboutthese shared experiences.
It just made the whole trip tohave all these really
interesting and uniquepersonalities around.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
The icebergs, you know, or the ice calving, as
they say.
What does that sound like?
Is there a way to?
Speaker 2 (44:42):
describe it?
I mean, it sounds like thunderdoes it okay sounds like thunder
.
But the unfortunate thing is isthat by the time you hear it
and you look towards it, it'salready done.
So it's unusual.
Some people were able tocapture it on film or video, but
it was more out of luck thattheir camera happened to be
(45:03):
facing that way first, becausewhen you hear it it's just
already almost done.
But it's a very humbling sound,thunderous.
But you also realize that partof the glacier is just receding
all the time.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
And is there a particular smell of the Arctic
or Svalbard or something like?
Is there a particular smellthat you remember?
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah well, I mean, anyone who has been around a lot
of birds before knows it's notreally the most pleasant smell,
guano, which is what I when Ireally first experienced it was
when we had visited all thepenguin colonies in Antarctica
but it's a it's a prettyunpleasant smell.
So I think maybe the sleep maskand maybe nose plugs are a good
(45:50):
addition to my packing list fornext time.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
I love it.
This has been awesome.
This is so fun.
What an adventure.
You've been to both poles now.
You've been to antarctica.
You've been to the arctic.
What's next?
But you have.
Where else do you want to go?
What's the future look like?
Speaker 2 (46:07):
yeah, that's um.
Well, the next trip we have onthe books is egypt, in christ,
at christmas time.
So I'm very excited for egypt,which will be very hot, very
opposite of the.
But as far as other adventuresI have on my list Greenland,
alaska, the Faroe Islands, allcold places, go figure, I can't
(46:31):
get away from it there you go.
Those are all places that I'mkeen to get to at some point,
but I'm willing to wait.
I'm in no rush.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
I know I think maybe it's even you who said that,
like maybe one of your articlesor something I read.
You talk about how travel'stransformative for you, for this
trip with your daughter, withyour stepfather.
How was it transformative foryou?
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Well, I mean, really that's a good question that has
so many levels.
Well, I mean, really that's aquestion that has so many levels
to it For this particular trip.
Why I find it transformative isbecause I get to learn in real
time things that I read about inthe newspaper and then get to
apply by seeing it, and what Iknew coming back from the trip
(47:17):
is so much different from what Iknew going into it.
And that's why I think everytrip is transformative that you
go into it one way, you come outof it another.
You take that information and,like this, I'm on a podcast, I
get to explain it or describe it, inspire someone else to take
this trip.
I am moved by it and hope thatI move other people to do
(47:42):
something like this or not, butI, for me, I think that I really
come through the other sidewith this different set of
knowledge and principles andthings to apply, moving forward.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
So tell everybody if they want to learn more about
you, maybe some about yourtravel coaching, maybe read some
of your articles.
Where do they do this?
How can they find you?
Speaker 2 (48:05):
Sure, well, my website is called
IamLostAndFoundcom and that'swhere I write about all of my
travels, and I also have a linkon there for my travel coaching.
I absolutely love talking abouttravel.
It's really what inspired thecoaching.
It's what inspired my website,so I really happy to talk travel
(48:29):
always, or answer questions.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
And I highly recommend Jamie.
Even just reading your articles, I feel like I'm there, I like,
I love it.
I'm like, oh, I'm walking downthe street with Jamie here.
You know it.
Just, you do such a great jobwriting, so she's a fantastic
writer.
In fact, I know you wrote theforeword for the book that I was
part of, Sacred Spaces Volume 3.
Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
We got talent right here.
This is awesome.
I got like so much talent onthis podcast.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (48:52):
Thank you, jake, that's so nice of you.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Jamie fun, I'm starting to like formulate a
plan in my mind now to go to theArctic, so I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Thank you so much for coming on Journey with Jake.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
Again, I love it.
Thank you, Jake.
It's always fun to talk to you.
Big thanks to Jamie Edwards forjoining me once again and
sharing her Arctic adventure.
If you'd like to read moreabout Jamie's travels, or even
learn about her travel coaching,be sure to visit her website,
Iamlostandfoundcom.
Her blog is full of amazingstories and insights and, as
always, I want to thank each ofyou for tuning in to Journey
with Jake.
I truly appreciate your support.
(49:29):
If you're enjoying the show,I'd love it if you shared it
with a friend, posted about iton social media or simply help
spread the word so others cancome along for the journey.
Next time on the podcast, I'llbe talking with Colton Schuster
about his adventure competing onAmerican Ninja Warrior.
You won't want to miss it.
Just remember it's not alwaysabout the destination as it is
(49:51):
about the journey.
Take care everybody.
Thank you.
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