Packing for the Arctic: Essentials for Your Expedition

In August of this yr, I traveled to the Arctic with National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions. We explored Iceland, Greenland, and the Canadian High Arctic, and it was the journey of a lifetime. The Arctic is an unimaginable place that may differ in each panorama and climate. As a outcome, you have to be ready for quite a lot of environments. For instance, throughout our journey, temperatures ranged from the mid-30s to mid-60s, and it was wet for 2 of the 14 days whereas the remainder of the time was sunny and delightful!

You will obtain a full packing checklist from Travel Beyond earlier than your journey, however beneath are a few of my must-have objects.

Clothing: Think Layers, Layers, Layers!

As I discussed earlier, the Arctic can differ in temperature, so you will need to have layers. It’s frequent for the ship to supply a water-resistant and windproof jacket in your voyage, and you may usually lease a pair of waterproof pants. On board, the ambiance is informal. Some might select to decorate up a bit for dinner whereas others stay of their expedition clothes from the day.

Essential clothes objects embrace:

• Comfortable athletic shirts reminiscent of lengthy sleeves and t-shirts
  
• Pants reminiscent of joggers, mountain climbing pants, and leggings
  
• Sweaters and fleeces for layering
• One or two nicer outfits for the welcome and captain’s dinners if you need to decorate up

Expedition Gear: Be Ready for Every Adventure

On an Arctic voyage, you spend your days mountain climbing, exploring native cities, kayaking, zodiac cruising, and extra. In addition to with the ability to lease waterproof pants, you may usually lease waterproof boots as properly, so that you don’t want to fret about them taking on room in your suitcase!

I like to recommend packing the next expedition gear:

• Hiking boots for longer hikes and walks
  
• Comfortable strolling footwear for simpler walks and dry landings in native cities
  
• Sunglasses with UV safety (and a backup pair if you’re susceptible to dropping or dropping sun shades)
  
• Binoculars to identify animals from the ship
  
• Warm hat and gloves
  
• Bug spray and a mosquito head internet
  • Although we lucked out and didn’t expertise many bugs throughout our journey, our guides mentioned there are often extra in the summertime months. We packed each a mosquito head internet and bug spray, and though we didn’t find yourself needing them, I might nonetheless advocate bringing each simply in case.
    
• Waterproof bag to retailer your digital camera, binoculars, and different gear for hikes and zodiac rides
  • I used this backpack, and it was good. It saved all of my gear dry, and it was snug to hold.

Technology and Accessories: Gadgets You’ll Be Glad You Packed

It’s simple to overpack, particularly whenever you need to be sure to have all the very best expertise to seize the fantastic thing about the Arctic. I saved it easy, solely bringing a number of crucial objects.

My suggestions are:

• Camera with a high-capacity reminiscence card, charger, and SD card reader
  
• Phone lanyards (one waterproof and one common)
  • There had been many cases after I was gripping my cellphone tightly to seize the proper photograph of whales or dolphins from the ship. I want I had introduced a lanyard like this one!
  • I did convey this waterproof phone pouch and lanyard which I used nearly daily. It was very helpful for taking images throughout zodiac rides, kayaking, and extra.
    
• E-reader
  • On an Arctic expedition, you usually have downtime throughout days at sea. In between shows and meals, there may be loads of time to discover the facilities on board and loosen up. I loved studying throughout this time, so my Kindle was nice to have with me.

Happy packing, and revel in your journey to the Arctic!