We Broke Anthony Bourdain's Travel Rule While in the Arctic.
Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable and loving every second of it.
We took a train for 24 hours straight up North to cross over to the Arctic Circle.
I was listening to a podcast with Andrew Huberman recently. He shared a new study, it goes something like this:
There’s a part of your brain that is responsible for your will – your will power, your will to survive, your will to live. This part of your brain increases in size when you do things you don’t want to. Things that might make this list for me are as follows: an evening cold plunge in a frozen lake, a midnight photography class outdoors in -40 degree, sleeping in an igloo on ice beds. The more you do things you don’t want to do, the larger this part of your brain gets, therefore increasing your will to live.
I had booked a trip to the Ice Hotel. This was ‘bucket-list’ kind-of-a-trip and somehow, I got my act together last summer to book it for us to experience in the dead of winter.
As the date started to creep up, I started to dread it. The idea sounded great at the time of booking (the past) and I knew we would treasure the memories after the experience (the future), but it was ‘the getting through it’ (the present) that I just didn’t want to do. Why you ask? Well, for starters I’m not a big winter person. I don’t mind a snow flutter here and there in a city where it melts within seconds but hanging out in the Arctic Circle in -40 degree weather is on a different scale. Maybe, just maybe, I could handle it if the only item on the itinerary was lounging in the cabin alternating between hot chocolates and beer (the only hot and cold combo my body ever knew). But to go outside and engage in outdoor activities all day only to return to an ice room to relax on an ice couch before sleeping on an ice bed? Not really my idea of relaxing vacation with the kids. I accepted that the experience in the moment would be miserable, but the investment in the memories would undoubtedly payback into perpetuity.
Turns out, I was wrong.
It was magical. Not afterwards, but during. The entire experience made me feel so alive and so at peace. I didn’t want it to end.
Here’s a breakdown of all our adventures and the notes I made to myself with each experience.
NOTE TO SELF: Surrender to the adventure.
Did I mention it took us 24 hours via train to get there? We flew into Copenhagen to spend a few days to discover a new city. Then took a train to Stockholm and from there it was straight to the northern tip of Sweden.
We had three transfers, with little time between each to get to our next train – and when I say ‘little’ I am talking five minutes. So, unless the train is literally across the way, there’s no way we’re making this timing.
Our first train was delayed forty-five minutes, which obviously has a domino effect on the rest of our plans. Immediately, my mind goes into overdrive and starts to optimize for infinite outcomes. This exercise seems easier in a main city such as Stockholm, but the smaller stations, with no airport options, limited train schedules, zero alternative ground transportations, no hotels within walking vicinity, the options are limited, yet the panic seems endless.
This moment, right here, feels lonely. It’s not a warm body I’m craving. It’s the safety, that I so desperately need. Someone to help think through the options, someone to turn to for validation that everything will be ok. We are seated in four-person area, but it’s just the three of us. Suddenly, the lack of an adult partner is magnified 10x in this picture.
Desperate for help, I turn to the guy behind the food cashier – the only ‘train worker’ in sight. I tell him our destination and share with him my concerns.
He replies, “are you American?”
I’m thinking, wtf does that have anything to do with it. I reply with an annoyed, “yes.”
He says, “that explains the panicked look on your face. Relax, you’ll get to your destination. I promise.” He hands me a small bottle of red wine with a glass, and says “this one’s on the train.” And sends me back to my seat.
That’s it? That’s all the comfort I get? The concessions cart guy promising me that we will get to our destination? Yep, that’s it!
Turns out, this dude was the head conductor. He linked our tickets to the final destination, alerted all the following trains to wait for ‘The Americans.’
NOTE TO SELF: Sometimes you need help to see the beauty that lies directly in front of you.
We checked in our hotel around 4pm. We were exhausted, cold, uncomfortable. But arriving at this magical place gave us our second wind. We ran over to grab our Arctic gear, quickly changed, scarfed down our ‘linner’ (lunch + dinner) and made it to our meeting spot for our first activity: Outdoor Photography Classes.
We drove 45 minute further north in hopes of seeing the famous Northern Lights. We set up our cameras on tripods on top of the massive frozen lake and waited for 10 minutes in the brutal cold. And then, there it was! A brush stroke of dust swept across the clear black sky. I didn’t think anything of it, maybe thought it was a thin layer of cloud. It was subtle. But then the instructor asked us to look through the lens, aim at the ‘cloud of dust’ and take a picture.
BOOM. The picture caught it in all it’s beauty. I won’t jump the gun and call myself Juergen Teller just yet, but my photo was a replica of what you would discover on the cover of the National Geographic. The classic wave of vibrant colors, painted like intentional brush stokes across the starry sky.
I didn’t know much about the Northern Lights, but apparently, they are only visible to the naked eye at certain levels. To see them otherwise, you need a lens – so a photography class, in this case, makes for a perfect occasion to capture its full essence. The lens translates the scattered dust into a beautiful, vibrant, colorful ribbons across the black canvas.
Our instructor showed us so many different techniques and tricks to experiment with photography to unveil the magic show that was taking place right in front of us. It was unlike anything we had seen or experienced.
NOTE TO SELF: Connect with nature, it will give you the peace you crave.
We went dogsledding.
You couldn’t miss the dogs. They were so loud. We followed their bark until we met up with them. So a few fun facts I learned about the dogs from a world-champion dogsledder (uh, not me, our instructor).
All the dogs were huskies, but not the fluffy-blue-eyed kind, the non-fluffy kind.
They live to run. Their entire existence is based on running. That’s all they ever want to do. They run for miles, they stop for food only. They rest only when their owner forces them. They poop and pee while they are running.
The leader of the pack is usually a female – both from a physical and a mental standpoint. Females tend to be leaner, smaller, and therefore faster. They are confident, but not overly confident to start fights with others and derail, they are nurturing and understand the safety of the pack.
All twelve of them were the guide’s dogs. He’s had all of them since they were puppies. The dogs train each other. He doesn’t train them. He said, the best way to learn is when the older ones teach the younger ones.
Leaders are born. The leadership traits show up when they are puppies and they are clear as day. “You can always tell who will rise up.”
The dogsledding itself, is so peaceful (even if the dogs bark). There’s a serenity to it. Not sure if it’s the synchronized sound of their paws hitting the snow with each stride, the deafening silence of the winter forest, the unbelievably smooth ride that would calm any anxious soul to take a beat. Maybe it was all of it. But for those 2 hours we were in peace.
NOTE TO SELF: Get comfortable with discomfort, what awaits on the other side will surprise you.
Sauna Ritual. Known to the Americans as Hot and Cold Contrast Therapy.
This is actually something I really wanted to try, doesn’t mean I didn’t dread it when the time came.
I remember when I made this reservation Emma cried for hours. She was terrified, because it had a cold plunge – a circular hole literally cut out in the frozen lake. Her continued plea to me was that we were already uncomfortable with all the cold surrounding us, why would we intentionally create more discomfort? Now, I don’t disagree with that logic, but I had heard about the benefits of cold plunge and don’t necessarily have it readily available to me in Paris. So, I thought why not try it?
The ritual had ten steps. Each stage pushing the extreme of one where your body and mind is craving the exact opposite. We stayed in the sauna until we couldn’t breathe, we ran outside to catch our breath and the cool off using the snow. We ran over to the hot tub and soaked in the warmth until the body completely rejected it to the point where you voluntarily ran to the ice hole to jump in to cool off. I ended up voluntary doing the plunge three times, even though the program only called for one. But that’s how much I enjoyed it. Even when I was about 10 seconds away from losing all function in my toes, I didn’t want to leave the water. I wanted to dive deeper into the silence, the darkness, the cold – it was a feeling I wanted to hold on to every second that I could. Because for that minute and few seconds that I could bear, I experienced what I’ve never felt before: my body, my breath, my soul, my heart AND, most importantly, my mind were all on the same beat, we were on the same team, we were all in this same exact moment. We were in pure, absolute bliss.
At dinner Emma asked me, “how did you control your brain to allow you to stay in the ice water for so long?” I told her, it wasn’t up for negotiation. My body and my soul had committed to it, the mind was coming along for the ride whether it wanted to or not. There wasn’t a thought, or a discussion, just a ‘do.’ And it did!
NOTE TO SELF: “Never eat a hamburger when you are traveling in a different country,” Anthony Bourdain. Except, of course, it’s a the local fare.
It was our last night at the Ice Hotel. We went to dinner. True to our Anthony Bourdain rule, we opted for the local fare. XJ, a kid who used to rotate between cheese pizza, chicken nuggets and hamburger chose the moose burger, Emma had the goat cheese and lingonberry pizza, and yours truly had the moose steak. We all shared the moose and reindeer charcuterie with local cheese to start. The food was incredible. The company even better. We talked. We reminisced, We laughed out loud.
3 Things This Week In My Mind and On My Heart
(1) Take notes. Here’s how I would plan the Ice Hotel trip, if I were to go again.
I would book for 3 nights.
I would book an Art Suite (not one of their ice rooms). If you’re going with kids, I would opt for the Train Room, the Chameleon Room, The Toy Room or the Sauna Room (it’s not really a sauna, just carved into one). I would book it for your last night, so you kinda get your bearings there and it’s not so overwhelming.
I would do the following activities: Northern Lights Photography Class, Sauna Ritual, Ice Sculptor Classes, Dog Sledding Experience or maybe the Dog Sledding Outdoor Lunch. I would not book the reindeer petting, I would just go to the museum instead.
I would plan to have dinner in both their locations and I would book one dinner outdoors.
(2) I discovered a new store in Paris called Ogata. It’s in the Marais. It’s a Japanese tea shop, sweet shop and an incense shop. And it’s the most perfect store. I could have spent an entire afternoon here.
(3) This weekend, I did one of my favorite things in Paris. I met up with friends on a rainy Sunday, we had oysters, had wine – just that, oysters and wine. We talked, we laughed. It was simple, and oh so nice.