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.
Nestled in Tromsø, Norway, the world's northernmost McDonald's offers a familiar menu and atmosphere, despite imaginative expectations of unique Arctic cuisine.