For all the kvetching about travel, long hours, buses and food you hear from the reporters covering the leaders' tours, it really is a privilege to cover an election up close and personal.

In fact, the travel is part of the privilege.

James Cudmore

Friday, for instance, Jack Layton went to Iqaluit.

Not many reporters on Layton's tour had been there before and it was really an interesting town to see, if only for a few hours. The North, as some literary folks suggest, occupies a special place in the collective Canadian soul.

Seeing the wild North first-hand was quite special.

For instance, I met a man who barely spoke English. Just Inuktitut. He was 74 and he'd grown up on Baffin Island on the land. But he nevertheless mustered together enough small gracious words to welcome Jack Layton.

"Have a good luck," he said.

But Friday also offered those on the NDP tour a special northern treat, one that caused a flurry of excitement.

As the plane carrying the tour flew south to Halifax, the northern lights danced in the sky.

There were shimmering green curtains of light, that seemed to almost pulse with electricity as they grew brighter, then dimmer, then bright again.

It was magical.

— James Cudmore