Days on board National Geographic Sea Bird are busy. Staff, crew, and officers work for most of their waking hours and guests aim to maximize their time on holiday. When my head hits the pillow each night, there is little energy left for tossing and turning. I imagine most everyone on the boat feels the same way. But amidst the business are moments of blissful stillness. The most fulfilling part of my work is delivering people to these moments in the Alaskan wilderness. Many of those moments occurred today. I sat in a kayak with a woman who had declared this to be her latest in a line of “grand adventures” – we paddled until our arms tired then stopped to breathe the fresh air and listen to the screech of ravens. At the face of the glacier with our engines turned off, we listened to the thunder of glacier calving – a strangely soothing sound. The perpetually busy Arctic terns took rest in these moments, preening on icebergs. There is no doubt that today was exhausting, but it is only after such grand adventures that we travelers can truly rest.