Mike Poppe

My original obsession with travel started when I would travel with family as a child. It really ramped up in university, having studied Mayan archaeology, which led me to doing some field work in the Belizean jungle. After realizing I loved exploring new destinations on the weekends more than being knee deep in mud, I hit the road backpacking after graduating and ended up in the travel industry.

Twenty years later, and my work has taken me to all seven continents and more than 70 countries. I have worked in many different spaces in the travel industry (adventure, education, ultra luxury and now Polar). Antarctica had always been my number one destination, but it was only in the last few years that I made that dream a reality. Working in the Polar Expedition space, I have been able to travel to Antarctica twice (so far!) and to the Arctic three times (Greenland and Spitsbergen).

I have always been drawn to barren landscapes. Windswept desert, icy glaciers, and I am in heaven If you drop me in the middle of an abandoned whaling station or historic hut.

Some of my favourite highlight trips outside of the above have been the Galapagos Islands, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, New Zealand, Patagonia and Japan, though it is hard to choose a favourite.

I can say there isn’t anything more special than spotting your first penguin or polar bear, or how the light hits the ice JUST right in the shoulder seasons of Antarctica. Add in a glass of good whisky and you won’t find me anywhere else.