Polar night and polar bear island - a Norwegian winter adventure

[Justinf]

I planned this one very early.
Early March to be exact. Well that was when I booked the flight.
I have always wanted to see the polar night and given my wife’s birthday is January 24 and our anniversary February 10, I only have a smallish window if I want to do a northern hemisphere winter trip.
I could pay heaps more and go earlier, but work requires me to be there in the first few weeks of the new year, so it is what it is.
My plan of attack was to get to Oslo and then go up to Svalbard., the island past the Arctic Circle where there are more of those white bears than people. In fact you can’t leave the town limits without an appropriate rifle and if you don’t know how to use one, someone has the be there with one, who does.
I know the chances of being mauled by a giant white bear are so remote, but still I’m the type that worries about these things.
Polar night officially ends on January 30, so I had a few days in which I could do it. I realise that it won’t be ‘true’ polar night and that there will be light, but still, beggars can’t be choosers.
Finnair seemed to be the best option. It was around AUD$8500 return in J.
Code-sharing with Qatar, the Melbourne to Doha leg was on QR metal and that means the 777 Q-suites, which I have never tried before. They also leave at 11.40pm, which meant I could spend the day with the wife for her birthday and then head off.
The Doha-Helsinki route is with Finnair on the A350 and then it’s a quick jaunt over to Oslo.
Returning on February 8, it’s the same, except for an 8-hour layover in Doha, arriving just before midnight and getting back home very early on the morning of February 10.
I also planned to head down to Tromso from Longyearbyen and then down to Bergen, from where I would catch the scenic train to Oslo.
There is a private ‘midnight’ tour of Doha that I can do on the way home and although it’s pricey, I think I will.
I’ll post some more before I go, including the itinerary and things I will be doing and accommodation, but for now, we are about 48 hours from take-off.
Please join me. I’d love to have you along for the ride.

 

[Justinf]

The next thing to do was organise internal flights.
I arrive at Oslo at 4.15pm and flights up to Svalbard are scarce, so I decided to stay at an airport hotel.
In this case it was the Radisson Blu, pricey at AUD$288, but convenient.
Thankfully there was a flight the next morning up to Longyearbyen at 11am and arriving at 2.20pm with SAS on SK4490, which was €180, which equates to about AUD$310 for a roughly 3-hour flight.
Four nights on Svalbard and the Longyearbyen-Tromso flight was hideously expensive at around $485, but there was little choice.
I’m leaving at 2.25pm on Norwegian flight DY397 and arrive in Tromso, still above the Arctic Circle at 4pm.
Three nights in Tromso and I booked a Wideroe flight down to Bergen.
This leaves at 11.05am and arrives at 1.10pm on WF623 on an Embraer 190, although it could end up being. Dash-8. This was $200.
Three nights in Bergen and then the Vy train to Oslo. This couldn’t be booked until a couple of months out, but I got a seat on the 8.08am departure, arriving in Oslo at 3.05pm for $210.
Three nights in Oslo and then the long journey home.
Next up, accommodation. It is proving to be quite the expensive trip, which I expected anyway, and what I plan to see and do, which I always leave until I get there depending on the mood.
Hope I don’t get sick like last year.