Our Trip To Spitsbergen
Four days were spent on land, trying out everything Spitsbergen had to offer. Dad went on an ATV excursion—children were not allowed even as passengers, so the rest of us spent the time exploring the town. Together, we visited the Svalbard Museum, enjoyed coffee at Café Huskies with its beautiful and friendly huskies, and took a boat trip to observe whales and seabirds. But the greatest experience was still ahead of us: dog sledding.
We arrived at the kennel feeling confident that we knew what to expect. We had ridden on dog sleds before. Then the guide announced, “You will be driving your own team.” She divided us into pairs and began explaining how to assemble our own sled teams. Each team consisted of six dogs. We picked them out from among dozens of barking, excited animals, unclipped them from their chains, and harnessed them. The dogs leaped into the air with excitement while the others encouraged them with enthusiastic barking—noise, energy, and chaos everywhere. Suddenly, we were standing behind our own dog teams, waiting for the signal to go… Read more about our trip to Spitsbergen - A Jewel in the Heart of the Arctic