Greetings from the Arctic Circle, where an icebreaker ship drew polar bears' attention

Jackie Northam / NPR

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Growing up in Canada, I always considered the Arctic part of my backyard, a part of the country's identity and history. So I was overjoyed several years ago when I got what I considered a dream assignment: a week-long voyage through the fabled Northwest Passage , a series of waterways high above the Arctic Circle.

I was aboard the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, a hulking Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker affectionately known by the crew as simply the Louis.

Ahead of that excursion, I had been doing month-long reporting rotations into Afghanistan and Pakistan, and was feeling ground down. All that evaporated once I was aboard the Louis