Glorious Greenland

I wish I could bottle the air in Greenland. Stepping off the tiny Air Greenland prop plane was like stepping into the cleanest and purest feeling – the absence of all contamination, smog, city crowds. Our guide told us the first day or two we may get a headache from the excess of oxygen.
 
For almost four years now (since traveling to Iceland for a tourism conference in Feb 2015 and meeting the incredible Visit Greenland marketing mind, Sarah Woodall) I have been plotting how to find a way to get to explore this unknown destination. When the opportunity arose to participate in the Vestnorden Travel Mart, I jumped at the chance.  I signed up for a pre-tour focusing on Northern Greenland so that I could further understand the destination before meeting with tourism providers at the conference, and started planning out the logistics.
 
When I told friends that my next #wheretonext adventure was Greenland, I was met with mostly puzzled questions.
 
“Isn’t Greenland only ice?” “Wait, where is that?” “Do people live there?” “What do you do there?”

1. No Greenland isn’t only ice. There is a LOT of ice...this is pretty much emblematic of an arctic environment. However, the summer and early fall is some of the most alive in terms of natural resources – spongey, beautifully colored autumnal moss…streams, rivers, lakes with the clearest and freshest water I have ever tasted…
2. Greenland is actually very close geographically to the East Coast of the USA…VERY northeast from Washington, DC - almost in the same equatorial area as Northern Canada. If there was a nonstop flight from New York City, it would be about 4 hours. The biggest problem for US tourism right now is the airlift into the Greenland. The most seamless way to get there is to fly OVER Greenland to Reykjavik or Copenhagen and then fly BACK to Greenland. This is one of the limitations for travel to the country, and keeps it remote and untouched by many would-be tourists.
3. One of the least densely populated places in the world, Greenland boasts a hugely uncontaminated landscape and vast spaces for adventurous explorers. The total population in the capital of Nuuk is 17,000...in comparison, the total population of Washington, DC is about 700,000 just in the small area of the city itself - about 40 times the population in Nuuk and the entire surrounding city area. As 
4. In the eight days I spent in country, the most remarkable experiences I had all related to the relationship between the pioneering inhabitants and their personal dialogue with the environment. Our first day in Nuuk involved a boat tour sailing by icebergs and deep-sea fishing in the Nuuk fjord... we then brought our freshly caught redfish and cod to an isolated restaurant on the edge of the fjord to be cooked immediately for a lunch feast. Working for our sustenance and appreciating where  food is coming from is a remarkable thing. Our second day we hiked around Little Malene (or Quassussuaq in Greenlandic for those interested) and walked right by the lake where all of the drinking water is sourced from for the capital (SO clear you can see all the rocks straight through to the bottom of the lake!). Again, appreciating firsthand where resources come from. On one of our last nights we walked to the large statue of Hans Egede on an elevated hill and watched the Northern Lights dancing over the water...a goosebumps-enducing memory that I will remember forever.  These are just small tidbits of the activities available, but the ones the stuck with me.

This isolation from densely populated humanity and connection with the natural world instills a sense of peace and wellbeing that is indescribable. The hours we spent sailing through the Illulissat Icefjord in Disko Bay, a Unesco World Heritage site as of 2004, were some of the most peaceful of my life so far...to see the magnitude of such majestic glaciers and icebergs was spectacular and I felt my perspective shift to know I am such a small part of our beautiful world - the feeling felt akin to being up in the Alps skiing as a tiny speck within the huge mountains.

I could write pages on this trip - the cities of Nuuk, Illulissat, Illuminaq, and Kangerslussaq were each remarkable and big thanks to Air Greenland for sponsoring our pre-tour and helping us travel around the incredible country of Greenland! For any questions or more information, email hannah@mccabeworld.com - feedback or comments are always welcome as well!