Anne & Kelli celebrate Anne’s birthday and talk all about their month away in Norway and The Arctic!

Join Anne & Kelli for their 272nd NEW episode of #ilovemywife podcast recorded from HOME!!! They start the show by shouting out Anne’s Birthday!! Hear how they plan to celebrate on the 15th (actually the whole week because Anne LOVES a birthday!)

They begin by talking about their packing insanity for their next trip to Norway and The Arctic that would last 3 weeks and range from temperatures from the upper 70s down to freezing! Plus, because the last flight was a charter flight their max checked baggage must be 50 lbs! Also, hear that while packing Anne’s crown fell off! Thank goodness for their Dentist Dr Barclay coming in on a Saturday to fix it!

Next, they begin the path to join Source Journeys, a gay charter company, on board an Atlas Ocean Voyages cruise from Copenhagen to Trondheim, Norway. They flew SAS Airlines from Newark Airport and landed very early in Copenhagen. After making it the hotel, Villa Copenhagen, they eventually went to lunch at the nearby Tivoli Park Food Hall and they highly recommend it for lots of food options. The next day the boarded the yacht to find their favorites Yacht Manager Jorge and Cruise Director Julie greeting them! The entire Source Team, led by owners Crag and Rafi, were fabulous in setting up the gay charter kicking off with a performance the first night by singer/pianist Victor Valdez. Anne had 2 shows and there were lots of fun theme dance parties like Ice Queens and Viking Kings, Heated Rivalry and finally a Pride Night all while they sailed through Norway and the Norwegian Fjords. Overall, it was a super fun week.

They actually continued after the Source group left to begin the Reunion Cruise all lead by the President/CEO of Atlas, James Rodriguez. This was an expedition cruise to the Arctic which means that they board a team of 13 specialists in different fields all about the local environment from Naturalists to Historians to Biologists, they are all incredibly knowledgeable and they take everyone out into the waters in motorized zodiac rafts so that they can get up close to glaciers and wildlife. All of the passengers had to attend zodiac training and be fitted for parkas, boots and life vests before they could be cleared to sail out. During the first sea day they took their first zodiac trip into a fjord and later that day Anne had her first show. They also visited their first Ice Bar in Tromso, Norway, celebrated 4th of July with a big dance party and got to meet the Godmother of the Voyager, Preet Chandi @polarpreet, who is a polar explorer and was the first woman of color to complete a solo, unsupported expedition to the South Pole 3 times! She is incredibly impressive and they suggest you follow her to see her adventures to come!

Their second zodiac ride was to the Samarinbreen Glacier in Svalbard and it was a wet landing onto a very rocky beach. It was actually unseasonably warm and lots of people took off their parkas while hiking around the glacier! They could also hear the glacier calving 3 or 4 times while they were exploring the beach. They had a security team surrounding the perimeter just in case a polar bear would approach! The next morning, they woke up super early to watch the yacht start into the ice field and actually break the ice. They even got to cross the 80 degree north latitude, someone only 0.0018% (roughly 150,000) people have ever done! That night was a final cocktail party and a farewell dinner. They next day, they disembarked the yacht and headed to the charter flight at Svalbard Lufthavn Longyear Airport, the world’s northernmost airport. It was delayed so everyone started shopping at the gift store there and drinking beer. They overheard some hilarious quotes and laughed a lot.

When they landed in Oslo, it was a terrible experience in a very long immigration line. The bags were also an issue and the taxi line was out of control. Finally, they got to the hotel, The Thief, right on the waterfront in Oslo, and it was absolutely lovely. They then went for a final dinner with their friend Lori and had king crab, martinis and champagne on the water. They ended the night on the rooftop with cocktails watching The World Cup. The next day, Anne and Kelli headed to The Munch Museum and had an amazing lunch at the restaurant at the top overlooking the harbor and the Opera House. They then walked up the side of The Opera House to the top and watched all the Norwegians enjoying the beautiful weather at the beach on the fjord right in the harbor. They ended the night very early and crashed because they had a 3:30am wakeup for a 4am pickup to the airport. They again flew SAS to Copenhagen and then on to Newark where they found immigration extremely easy.

Once they were home, they knew they had to stay awake to help with the jetlag, so they went to Chili’s to watched the Norway v England World Cup match but they were super disappointed that Chili’s changed the nachos they always had to chicken bacon ranch stacked nachos. Kelli was devastated! They went home and crashed pretty quickly. The next day they unpacked, started laundry and watched the Wimbledon finals.

Lastly, they explain what is coming next. They are packing again to head to Rehoboth Beach, DE for Anne’s upcoming concert there at Blue Moon July 20th. They are staying with friends and podcast listeners Paul and Dennis! After that trip, they are hitting the road with their friends Jon and Steve in an RV to drive from Nyack, NY to Denver, CO because Jon & Steve are moving there. Stay tuned for content from the road which should be pretty epic in many ways!

Don’t forget their merch store at https://sniffapickle.printavo.com/merch/ilmw/  for lots of options! Plus check out their new Linktree on their IG BIO that lists all of the links to their podcast merch, shows, FB, website, etc!

Find all of Anne’s tour dates and info at www.annesteele.com 

If you want to join them on a gig trip, and all of her newly announced 2027 trips, write to Kelli at Kelli@Kelligreggtravel.com For more info on Kelli’s trips go to www.kelligreggtravel.com

As always you can stream on the DNR Studios app or you can listen anywhere you get your podcasts for free! Follow them on socials here:IG: @ilovemywifepodcast @theannesteele @kcarpenter123 @kelligreggtravel FB: ilovemywife  theRealAnneSteele  KelliGreggTravel