Day 28 Oslo to London Heathrow to LAX for Joe and Oslo to Longyearbyen for Deb



Typically neither of us slept well, until about half an hour before the alarm went off, then were woken from a deep sleep.

I helped J schlepp his two “orange tag of shame” bags to the airport, and watched and waved until he was through security.  My flight was not until 9:55, so I went back to the hotel for a shower and some final packing/cramming, and then repeated the procedure for me.  The automated bag drop rejected my bag initially because it weighed 23.3 kg, and the limit is 23.  I had to wait for the kindly cute blonde chap in attendance to come and rescue me, and release my bag.

That done, I went through security and then passport control.  Svalbard is an International territory, so although technically it is a domestic flight, passport control is required.  I had plenty of time in hand and was one of the first few waiting at the departure gate.  This left me ideally placed to survey all newcomers and see if I could identify who is going to be my room-mate for the trip.  I know her name is Belinda and she is on the same flight as me.  I identified one possibility, let’s see if I’m right.



The fight to Longyearbyen is about three hours.  Tea and coffee is free but you have to buy food if you want something to eat.  There were lovely views of Norway below us for the first half of the trip, but the 2nd was completely covered in cloud.  

It started to clear as we approached the Svalbard archipelago, and we had a good view of mountains glaciers and sea as we came in to land.  



We hit the ground with a pretty big thump, so much so that the Aussie in the seat across from me asked the hostess if the pilot was a newbie.  Sigh.  She expressed surprise at his comment, and indicated that the landing was “normal” for here.  The plane emptied quickly and there was a bit of a wait for the luggage.  And a large polar bear on the luggage carousel, just in case we need reminding of what we are here for.



My bag turned up and I schlepped it the short distance to the Flybussen, which will take us to town for 75 krona ($13).  We are booked to stay tonight at the Base Camp hotel, we were encouraged to get here with a day to spare, to allow for flight delays and cancellations, as there are limited inbound flights to Longyearbyen and the boat will not wait for us.  So there were a bunch of us from Chris’s photo tour on the bus, and my guess proved to be correct, the Lowe camera backpack was a bit of a clue. 

Base Camp hotel has been styled to look a bit like what you would expect an artic explorers cabin to be, and it’s been done really well.  Our room has a double bed and a set of bunks, plus a small area for a table and two camp chairs.



Luggage was dumped and I set off to explore.  Longyearbyen is very small, really with just one main strip of shops.  



Downtown Longyearbyen.  Don't blink.

As expected, there are a LOT of polar bear related souvenirs available, and indeed, you can even buy an actual polar bear skin, complete with head, for 175,000 krona (that’s around 30 thousand NZ dollars).  Thanks, but I’ll pass on the dead animal skins.  I bought a couple of t-shirts and a scarf that has been custom-made for Svalbard and has a fleece lining.  There is a supermarket here, that is really well stocked and is more like a Warehouse, selling all kinds of household goods and tools etc.  There are a couple of restaurants, a couple of café’s a chemist and the rest are mainly tourist shops or art shops.  There is a museum covering the arctic explorations that I will try and squeeze in tomorrow.

The hotel has a nice area near reception with free tea coffee and cinnamon biscuits (which are  VERY good) and comfy chairs, which I am occupying at present to catch up on the blog.  


Genuine seal skin boots

Even the bathroom is polar themed

Belinda and I went for burger and fries at one of the local restaurants and I’m feeling as full as a tick.  She is an Osteopath from Ontario and has recently (April) been on a trek to the actual Base Camp at Everest.  Last year she trekked to Machu Picchu, so I like her already.

We have to check out at 11am tomorrow and we are leaving for the boat at 3pm, so we will store our luggage here until then while we go out and about.

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