By Corey Sandler
This winter, as it turned out, was a chance to catch our breath. We’ll go back out into the world in late April.
To get to our ship, it usually goes something like this:
An elevator to the lobby.
A taxi to the airport.
A seriously less-than-pleasant navigation to the check-in counter, from there to the always fun security checkpoint, and eventually a long walk to the gate.
Oh, and then an always tedious airplane flight, mostly devoid of sleep no matter where we are seated. Sometimes two flights, with a bus or train between connecting international terminals.
Arrival in an international airport at some ridiculous hour and immediately made to face the joy of immigration and customs. And then a taxi to our ship.
Don’t get me wrong: we love to go to unusual places. It’s just that usually getting there is not even close to half the fun.
But it got me thinking about planes, trains, automobiles, buses, and other conveyances we enjoy…once we are there.
Midnight Sun in the Arctic from An Aisle Seat
So our ship was stuck in a storm way up at the top of Norway and instead of her coming to us, we had to fly to meet her at a frigid port with a tiny airport.
I stopped grousing about the delay once we were airborne and I started enjoying the perpetual daylight of winter within the Arctic Circle from my window seat.
Railway to the Roof of New England
The Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire opened in 1869 and still creaks its way up a three-mile track to near the peak of the highest rock in New England.
It uses specially geared steam and diesel locomotives, with a safety cog or rack and pinion mechanism that connects a gear wheel (the pinion) on the train to a toothed rail (the rack) between the running rails.
The railroad climbs an incline that averages more than 25 percent with a maximum near 37 percent.
We left the base of the mountain in autumn and arrived at the top in a howling winter storm.
Rocket Scientists
At the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg, Russia we stumbled upon an exhibit of early Soviet space rocketry. Most of the equipment apparently worked, although we don’t truly know the full story of the Soviet space program.
Many years ago when I was a reporter in Ohio, I traveled with American astronaut turned politician John Glenn as he campaigned for the U.S. Senate. He used to recount a bit of his history by recalling his feelings as he sat in a space capsule waiting for blastoff:
“I was acutely aware that the spacecraft was sitting on top of a rocket filled with liquid oxygen and kerosene, and built by the lowest bidder.”
Shiny Window
On a crystal clear and very cold January morning, I saw this bus waiting to begin its route from Boston’s Public Market.
My compliments to the cleaning crew; I never had a windshield that clean on any of my cars.
After I took the shot the driver opened the door and asked me what I was photographing. He was impressed, too. “I’ve never seen my bus from the other side of the windshield,” he told me.
Building Up Steam
The handsome horseshoe harbor of Bergen, Norway is a regular gathering place for antique vessels, including this old coal-fired vessel.
A few hours after I took this photo, our cruise ship followed the old steamer as she worked her way out of the fjord toward the North Sea.
All photos and text Copyright 2026 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved. See more photos on my website at http://www.coreysandler.com
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