Remembrance Of Hikes Past:-Arctic Circle-Norway

Norway Field Notes · The Elixir

Arrive Where We Started

A voyage through Norway, psychological distance, and the strange clarity that returns whenever the ship leaves land behind.

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Norwegian mountain landscape seen during the voyage
Norway is Alaska with Balls!

These are words that at 20 years, the Old Age of Youth, I could only accept on blind faith, having no travel or life experience yet to prove them true.

Home, in fact, was and is a place you want to leave ASAP, and set out on a new course.

There is something innately human about exploring. The need to break free and sail away is, in fact, ancient, enduring and incessant.

Voyages trigger a concept called psychological distance: something about the experience of leaving your place creates a shock and awe, a pathway into a new perspective that floods the brain with ideas.

Neurons that wire together fire together. Now that I have my dreamer-pilot's license, I am sure I will be “flying” again.

Field Transmission 01

The Shift Begins at Sea

For me, this shift in perspective starts as soon as I am on a cruise ship. Ships are weirdly the most lucid part of my life. Every cruise I take somehow changes my life in some way. Norway has done it again.

Field Transmission 02

Salt Water Is the Cure

“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.” — Karen Blixen

Companion Stories

Continue Through Norway

Stavanger

Stavanger: I’m Not All There

A return to Norway through memory, perspective and the strange clarity of arriving somewhere familiar with different eyes.

Read Stavanger

Norway Field Notes

Red, White and Yellow Houses

A visual chapter of Norwegian colour, coastal architecture and the houses that turn the landscape into a story.

Read the Chapter

The Elixir

Exploration does not merely reveal another place. It returns you to your own life with different eyes.

The ship creates distance. Distance creates perspective. Perspective makes the familiar visible again.

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