I can say that I am happy, and I also can say that this trip has been fantastic. But still, I am disappointed. It took us several days to go up to the Kennedy Channel while all of us had the illusion to reach Alert, the northernmost settlement in the world. But the universe didn’t want us to get to Alert. 

Temperatures here as so extreme that we have to be very careful while navigating. The boat sometimes has to go slow because the ice can broke the machine, and sometimes we have to go fast for the opposite reason. The sad part of the story is that we were only 50 away from Alert and couldn’t make it.

What else could we do there? We were a bunch of strangers in the middle of the North Pole. So Sebastian (the husband) suggested going back, Elsa (how convenient name), the wife, told to go to Grise Fiord for provisions, and Jessica that was really mad at destiny, asked if she could take a flight from the Grise Fiord airport to Nuuk, Greenland.

Maurice (the father) spat his coffee when she said this.

-I think the easier way to go to Greenland is if I took you there, child. There haven’t been any flights between Canada and Greenland in years.

-Why if we go to Greenland? -I said adventurously.

 

Everyone looked at each other as my idea wasn’t crazy enough and then looked at Maurice. He was also sad as he wanted to reach Alert with his “brave” grandson. Maurice said: 

 

-If everyone agrees with me, I won’t take you to Greenland once, but two times. We are just a few kilometres away from Hans Island, and if there is no border patrol around, we even can put our feet and my brave grandson on that Canadian island.

I later learned why he said “Canadian” with emphasis. Hans Island is just at the line border between the two countries, and it has been disputed between Denmark and Canada for decades.

 

That is how is put my feet on Hans Island

 

There was still sunlight when we arrived there, and we could admire the disputed rock located in the middle of nothing. Anyhow was amazing to be with the probably youngest man in history that has stepped a foot on the disputed island.

We were only 15 minutes as Maurice was afraid of the authorities could revoke his tourist license to be there without permission.

After that, we went a bit South on the big Ellesmere Island to rest and recharge provisions on Grise Fiord. Maurice will discuss with the border patrol permission to cross to Greenland. Jessica and I took advantage of going alongside Amaruq (the tourist guide of the Inuit race) to some historical places and learning a lot about the Inuit culture.

My original idea was simply to visit the Qausuittuq National Park, but things changed, and now I am exploring the North Pole with the craziest party.

 

I took a flight (with a bunch of layovers) from Ottawa to Resolute with the idea of finding a soul to guide me to the Qausuittuq National Park. I wanted to do this old-school style, so I didn’t make any bookings. My mom thought I was crazy, but I always am. So she is used to this.

 

I think I was lucky because I met Martin on the last plane (it was impossible to not talk with the other passenger. The aircraft was so small and we got delay). Martin was planning to meet his friends there, and he was going to the South Camp Inn, and I decided to follow.

 

Leaving the aircraft was difficult as the weather was freaking cold, even it was still summer. We took a shuttle Martin had booked in advance and headed to the hotel. 

 

I think I had survived without Martin. I mean, it wasn’t difficult. You just talk with people in the airport, and they will help you anyways (I don’t want to demerit Martin’s help), but there are less than 200 people in this frozen town. In less than one hour, its whole population would know I was stuck there, and I would have found any Canadian-friendly soul.

 

I met Martin’s friends the day after. We had lunch in the only restaurant town, while I got interviewed as if I was applying for a position in Google. They were eight in total, including Martin, 4 girls, 3 guys and one toddler.

 

-Benjamin -said one of the guys- would you like to continue travelling north? 

-Well, as I mentioned before, I came here because I wanted to visit the Qausuittuq National Park, but of course! I am open to anything. Anyhow, how north do you think we can travel? I believe this is the last inhabited town in the country.

 

-I mean really-really north, Benjamin. Are you sure?

-More than sure! Travelling with pals is the best!

-Would you be willing to drop your shitty Qausuittuq trip to explore the unknown north instead?

-I like adventures and I have a camera, and why not? (I was a bit disappointed with the “shitty” as an adjective, but later I understood).

-Ok, we are heading tomorrow to Alert. It might take us several days to get there. Be prepared. Martin will explain everything. We need you.

 

Traveling to Alert, Nunavut (Freaking North Pole)

 

My ears couldn’t believe what I just heard. I was going to embark on an expedition to Alert, Nunavut, out of the blue! I bet half of you don’t believe what you are reading right now.

 

One of the girls that I was still getting to know that night had a boat. A boat for touristic expeditions. The thing is that the company already had everything in order to launch their annual trips during the summer. After the vaccination race that happened worldwide, they believe that more tourists will come to Resolute and profit from the trips. But they were wrong; only one girl from the Bahamas signed in. They already had invested a lot. So the girl invited a couple of friends alongside Martin, the tourist guide, the father who was the captain, her husband and child, the Bahamian girl and I were the crew.

 

They need me because the boat owner was kind of macho, and he needed more guys in the free trip, just in case anything happened. I bet his daughter can go to Alert and back with the baby alone without any problem.

 

So here I am, travelling to Alert with a bunch of strangers. Would you do the same? I think it would be the best trip of my whole life.