Skip to main content

Trek the Arctic Circle Like a WWII Soldier with Ex-U.K. Special Forces

arctic
Ariane Chan

For some, travel almost always involves a classic fly-and-flop style getaway with short flights, tropical islands, and neon fruity drinks. For others, it can mean a brutal, week-long ski trek along former World War II military insertion routes through some of the harshest terrain on the planet. For the latter — for the precious and crazy few who appreciate doing a hard thing for the sheer pride of knowing they did it — there’s Arctic Warrior 2020.

Trident Adventures has revealed little about its upcoming Arctic Warrior 2020 trip. We know one thing for sure though: It won’t be easy. In short, the journey is an eight-day, round-trip, hut-to-hut ski expedition from Sweden to Norway and back. The experience starts long before the actual trip with an intense training program in either Morocco or the Brecon Beacons mountains of Wales. The trip itself starts more than 100 miles into the Arctic Circle in some of the driest, coldest, harshest conditions in the world. Daily challenges are likely to involve shoveling snow holes, fording icy waters, ice-breaking drills, and lots and lots of hiking and cross-country skiing.

What truly sets this expedition apart from any other, however, is the team leadership. The group will be led by elite Arctic warfare experts who formerly served in the U.K. Special Forces. They’ll school members in extreme outdoor survival skills and also take the group on a tour of British Special Operations Executive (SOE) training bases used in World War II. Trident Adventures even promises that those who survive will be rewarded with cold beer and a sauna. With little light pollution and crystal clear skies year-round, the surrounding landscape also provides the perfect opportunity to catch the Northern Lights.

Pricing for Arctic Warrior 2020 has yet to be announced, though it’s expected to depart sometime next spring. The trip includes all necessary training, accommodations, and some food. Team safety gear, support, and patrol medics are also provided. But, team members will need to find transportation to and from the Arctic, their own ski equipment, and plenty of personal travel insurance. Hey, no one said this was easy.

If this once-in-a-lifetime trip isn’t disco enough, why not conquer the South Pole on the epic, 12-day Ski Last Degree journey?

Mike Richard
Mike Richard has traveled the world since 2008. He's kayaked in Antarctica, tracked endangered African wild dogs in South…
One-bag travel: 7 must-know tips to pack everything you need in a carry on
Travel tips for packing light so you can avoid airport stress
About to board a flight.

These days, searching for travel tips to help mitigate travel chaos is the norm (even more so than usual) thanks to a combination of factors that arose largely as a result of COVID. I experienced it firsthand in August when I arrived at the notoriously overwhelmed Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, where I found thousands of lost bags stacked all over the place. Then, while flying from there to Istanbul, my own backpack joined the league of lost luggage, though I was able to track it down.

I had a premonition (from the stacks of lost bags, perhaps?) that I should have trimmed my backpack down a bit better, thereby allowing myself to travel carry-on only, but I decided that I couldn’t live without a bunch of stuff that I definitely didn’t need. I’ve traveled for a decade solid, so I definitely should have known better. With that in mind, here are a few travel tips that will help with packing light and packing right so that you can achieve one-bag travel and limit the odds of your stuff going missing on your flight.

Read more
J.D. Power survey shows the airlines people like the most (and least)
If you're curious to see how other people rank the best airlines, J.D. Power did the survey for you
A plane taking off of the runway.

Do you fly with the same carrier every time? Do you ping back and forth between two different ones, depending on things like the ticket price or ones that don't have hidden fees? Was there one airline you had a horrible experience with and have never booked with again? J.D. Power did a survey about all of that and more, and we have the results for the best airlines to fly with. Have a peek if you're curious to see where your pick landed.
What it took to be a fan favorite
How do you make it to be one of the top airlines to fly with? It surveyed people from March 2022 to March 2023, so the data is pretty recent. And it only asked about main North American airlines, so you might not see all of your low-budget or other airlines in the rankings.
What the airline needed to be good at

The state of the plane itself
Baggage fees
Ease of boarding
Those fun fees and other costs
The flight attendants
The in-flight experience
The reservation process

Read more
Summer travel: Airbnb reveals the most popular hot spots
Will you travel to any one of these popular destinations this summer?
Airplane taking off

If you're itching for a summer vacation and want to know where the hot spots are, both internationally and domestic, travel site Airbnb has you covered. For summer travel this year, it is expecting over 300 million guest arrivals on its website, an indication that people are ready to get out of their own houses and into someone else's. "Since the beginning of Airbnb, there have been 1.4 billion all-time guest arrivals," said Airbnb in a recent report. "With more guests traveling last year than ever before," this year is likely to outpace even the first post-pandemic year.

"We ended last year with 900,000 more listings than we had at the beginning, excluding China," Airbnb continued. "Guests are opting for a more affordable stay, which is no surprise amid a rising cost-of-living crisis." If you want to know just where people are searching to see how it may drive summer prices, the company listed the most trending summer destinations, so you can get an idea of where you may want to go (or avoid if you don't like crowds).
Trending summer domestic destinations
Since we know summer airfare is skyrocketing for traveling internationally, staying domestic may just be the way to go for your wallet and your sanity. It's always spectacular to travel to faraway lands, but this country offers so many stunning places to visit.

Read more