Polar night and polar bear island - a Norwegian winter adventure

[Justinf]

The tour finished up and it was time to head back.
My verdict?
Much better than sitting around the hotel or wandering the very minimal streets of Longyearbyen.
Not sure I’d give it a rave review. It was good and I don’t regret doing it. It was just nothing mind blowing like the damn ice cave tour I will be missing out on.
anyway it was a good way to fill in the afternoon.
I couldn’t figure out how to use the damn shower this morning. I couldn’t convert from bath tap to shower head and as Ieft it late to get ready, I had to basically sponge bath myself.
I put in a call to reception when I got back and it turns out there is a very secretive thing underneath the tap that you have to not only pull down, but turn around. If I hadn’t asked, I would never have worked it out.
Really bizarre.
Tonight it is a few quiet pints at the hotel bar.
Tomorrow I’ll be at the brewery and my final night I’ll go somewhere different, although there’s not a huge amount of choice.
I am NOT someone who dines alone in public.
The weird thing here is the tap water is not safe to drink because of high levels of magnesium. It’s more a recommendation for prolonged consumption, but I really can’t be coughd getting all dressed for -15 just to go to the supermarket for bottled water. I’ll ask hotel reception for some or just drink magnesium laced water.

 

[Justinf]

Beer has water anyway

 

[VPS]

Interesting that you don't like dining out alone. I travelled so much for work that I hated room service and one restaurant in Paramatta they knew me really well and were so friendly it was great

 

[RooFlyer]

'Interesting' ground support there - don't think I've seen that type before. One thing they won't have is water ingress I guess .

There is also the Global Seed Vault thing up on the hill, but maybe not. You go there -you see it sticking out of the ground, you go back.

 

[Justinf]

Interesting that you don't like dining out alone. I travelled so much for work that I hated room service and one restaurant in Paramatta they knew me really well and were so friendly it was great

I’m not totally against it, but it’s just not something I would typically do.

 

[Justinf]

'Interesting' ground support there - don't think I've seen that type before. One thing they won't have is water ingress I guess .

There is also the Global Seed Vault thing up on the hill, but maybe not. You go there -you see it sticking out of the ground, you go back.

That tour is booked out until Saturday unfortunately.

 

[Justinf]

With all the tours either booked out or not running, today was a bit of a do it yourself day.
I went shopping and got some souvenirs and bought some pretty cool winter gear for back home at reasonable prices.
Took some snaps as well.

 

[Justinf]

Then it was off to the Svalbard Brewery tasting thing.
I won’t go into the history of the place as you can search for it if you really want to know, but the guy who founded the place is absolutely fascinating and well worth a look. His name is Robert Johansen and his entire story is quite inspirational.
There were only about a dozen of us tonight and Maria, our host, was great.
We tried five different beers and she also explained the history behind the brewery and the hurdles Robert had to jump over just to get the legislation passed to even start proceedings.

 

[Justinf]

Of course when booze is involved it makes people open up to each other and that’s what I enjoyed the most.
After everything was done, a few of us stayed around, paid for a beer and chatted.
Just as aside the return taxi trip for a 3km jaunt each way was $50.
Ouch.
I have saved the museum for tomorrow as I have nothing else to do.
Then on Friday it’s down to tromso.
No football on anywhere here, and I can’t even get my vpn to work to watch the Spurs game.

 

[Justinf]

Aurora forecast not looking good for Tromso with cloud cover spoiling the party.
I’ll keep an eye on it, but from previous experience, driving around for 8 hours to see nothing or just a glimmer of green is totally not worth it.

 

[Justinf]

Wondering if anyone can help
Booked the flight with Finnair and have been credited with points and SCs from both AY metal flights.
No go for the Qatar operated flight from Melbourne to Doha though.
How long would I need to wait? I did put my QF number on all flights.

 

[Justinf]

Last full day on Svalbard and the wind had picked up, which made it frigid.
I made the mistake of not wearing my thermal longjohns. It was actually ‘warmer’ today at around-10, but the wind chill was positively brutal.
Went to the museum and it was actually really good.
I’m not great with museums or galleries as I have a very poor attention span, but I did enjoy this one.
It was small, but told the history of the place brilliantly.
A few pics as most of what I took would be quite boring without context.

 

[Justinf]

I’m really going to miss this place.
Not because I have done a lot, but it is absolutely surreal walking around at 1pm and your mind thinks it’s nighttime.
Tonight I went to a bar that has more than 1000 whiskeys. Yes, one thousand.
It’s called Karlsberger Pub and I recommend it.
The two guys who were at my table at the beer tasting were there and we had a chat.
The tour guide Maria was also there and we also had a nice talk.





Got a takeaway burger from the hotel pub and headed to my room.
I enquired about a late check out as my flight to Tromso leaves at 2.30pm and checkout is 11am.
It was going to cost $60 just for another hour, so I declined. I’ll probably just go to a cafe and have some coffee and cake while I wait for the airport shuttle which picks up at 12.30pm.
Gotta say, the burger was delicious.

 

[Justinf]

11am checkout and the airport bus is at 12.30pm so I ventured to a cafe and had some coffee to kill time.

And then took some last pics.
Today is the official end of the polar night, but with the surrounding mountains, it will take a while to take effect.
It was much milder today. Around -7 and I could really tell the difference. You can also see how much lighter it is today in the below pics.

 

[Justinf]

The bus was about 20 minutes late, but we eventually made it and I checked in and then went through security, which I dread every single time.
And sure enough my bag was pulled aside, ransacked and then I was left to put everything back in.
The airport terminal airside is actually very impresssive. A wheel-stocked cafe and gift shop and takeaway drinks and food.
I had the obligatory beer, which was the Svalbard Brewery Pilsner, which is the closest thing I have ever come to Cascade Draught, my favourite beer.



The inbound flight was 30 minutes late, which meant I had time for another.
This flight was showing on the screen as bound for Oslo via Tromso.

 

[Justinf]

Norwegian is a budget airline, which is totally fine if everything goes to plan and thankfully it did.
I reckon the cabin was 60% full so I strategically plonked myself at the back when selecting a seat and sure enough I had the row to myself, and the row opposite was empty.
Legroom for a 6’1” chap like me wasn’t great, but with a flight time of one hour and 20 minutes and so seat neighbours, it would do just fine.

 

[Justinf]

The buy on board service came around natter take off and I imbibed with a Carlsberg.
Me being me, spilled the whole damn thing after taking just one sip. It’s just a normal clumsy thing for me.
The FA was good about it although there was no offer of a free replacement and nor did I expect it. My fault, my problem. So I paid for two beers and got one through my own stupidity.

 

[Justinf]

Landing into Tromso was spectacular.

 

[Justinf]

We had passport control to get through and then luggage and it was onto the airport bus to take us into town.

It took about 20 minutes and one of the stops was just a tiny walk from where I was staying, the Comfort Inn Xpress.
The room is tiny. There is no fridge, no coffee making facilities and no glassware or cutlery.
If I had a cat to swing, I would not be able to do it. Not that I would anyway. I’d just let it sleep next to me.

 

[Justinf]

Once sorted I headed out and came across a football shop that was the official store of TIL, Tromso’s team in the Norwegian Football League.
I can see myself going back to buy the away shirt that they play in. Upon walking around for a little while, it was obvious to me that Tromso is gorgeous.
Was about -3 temperature wise, but coming from Svalbard, it felt balmy.