ing son m
travelweekly.co.uk
y son Ripley and I are standing deep inside a fjord in east Greenland – one of the remotest
places on Earth – watching a musk ox lumber down the mountainside towards a vast, deserted beach glimmering gold in the Arctic sunshine. It’s like a cross between a scene from prehistory and something from a futuristic movie. With a sense of awe that’s all too rare in daily life, both of us hold our breath, barely speaking as we take turns to view the creature through our binoculars and the powerful lens of one of the HX photographers accompanying us. Ripley, 21, has just graduated from university and this trip is, in part, a reward for him for doing so well. But he knows it’s much more to me than that. I’ve sorely missed him and though he’s back for a while, he’ll be moving again soon to begin his career, so we probably won’t live
21 MAY 2026
DESTINATIONS GREENLAND | NORDICS
A mother-and-son adventure to the wild, ice-filled fjords of Greenland offers a chance for reflection and connection, writes Rhonda Carrier
together again. We’re here to spend time together in a place that’s new for both of us – and I can’t wait to see what we’ll discover.
GROWING GAINS I travelled a lot with my three sons as they were growing up. But I always thought I was going to save the bigger, more expensive, more distant trips till they were in their mid-teens, so they’d appreciate and remember them better. When the time came, it proved too expensive, but I also asked myself: why would I spend thousands taking three surly teens to Japan, only to spend my days bellowing at them to get out of bed or being pestered for the Wi-Fi code? Late teens and young adulthood are different.
My children are all men now, with their own lives. Suddenly, they are companions rather than little people to steward and entertain.²
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