What to pack for Svalbard, what to leave at home, and what I would do differently on an Arctic expedition ship.

"I meet the person I will become." —Olaf Storø

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“Forever is composed of Nows." — Emily Dickinsona

"In nature nothing exists alone." — Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

“You must have gazed on the deadness of all things to grasp their livingness” — Christiane Ritter, A Woman in the Polar Night

“How varied are the experiences one lives through in the Arctic” . – Christiane Ritter, A Woman in the Polar Night

“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious.” — Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

“We are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence ” — Paul Auster

But 'tis strange. And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's. In deepest consequence. – Shakespeare. Macbeth

"The Arctic does not yield its secret for the price of a ship's ticket." – Christiane Ritter, A Woman in the Polar Night

"The least we can do is try to be there." — Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

"Have you seen the snow leopard? No! Isn't that wonderful?" — Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." – John Muir

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." – Jacques Cousteau

“How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean." – Arthur C. Clarke

"One learns from the sea how little one needs, not how much." – Robin Lee Graham, Dove

Entry 036: Day Zero, The Bear on the Belt, Svalbard, The Arctic Circle

“The world is as full of brutality as the sea is full of motion. And some men are made sick by the one, and some by the other.”

YouTube video by Eurovision Song Contest