The trip to the Northernmost town in the World!
Well, this one is right out of my bucket list. I enjoyed it thoroughly, so I decided to document my itenerary for other's benefit. I decided to take this trip having worked day in and day out as the organising secretary of the annual Endocrine Soceity Of India Conference, which was a good success! (or so I hear!)
I took the late evening flight out of Hyderabad (2125), as only that connected well to Oslo. Had to spend seven hours in the Dubai Airport lounge. Although this was not ideal, I was too excited to care. Arrived in Oslo at 1230 afternoon. The excitement started before the flight landed. The first visualisation of the snow covered capital of Norway was a treat to the eyes! A shiver of excitement went down my spine when the Captain announced that temperature was -11 degree celsius! (I personally love cold weather, and I have been in Hyderabad for fifteen years, a city with the mildest of winters) I ABSOLUTELY recommend doing this tour in peak winter (Dec or Jan). I will explain why, as we go on.
Zoom this pic!
Day 1
1330. After immigration, etc, check into a hotel close to the airport. I stayed at the Radisson Red hotel, which is walking distance (10 mins) from the airport
1430. Walk to the railway station of the Oslo airport. The views are as above. It was sunny and the temperature was 10 degrees minus (unique!) There are two types of trains that ply to Oslo City Centre. The slower ones cost lesser (NorKr 120 ~ Rs 950), but I will recommend the Flytoget service, which is 170 Kr, but much faster). Sit near the window seats on the left side to experience the unique snow filled landscapes of suburban and urban Oslo. Get down at the National Theatre Station.
1530. From the National theatre, take a cab to the Fram and Kontiki Museums.
1600 .I personally got immersed in the Fram museum, but from what I heard Kontiki museum is also an awesome place! The Fram museum was a museum of the polar expeditions . With an amazing cinema show to kickstart; to the various photos; and finally a trip into the boats, to see how life was during the 2 year long exertions immersed me in much curiosity. I came out at 545 pm and it was pitch dark. The Kontiki museum would close in 15 mins , so I didn't enter. Remember there is no place to buy water here, so come with a water bottle
Dining place inside the boat
1800. Take a bus to the Vogeland sculptures and Frognerparken. Well, what you see on Google and what I saw was anti climax, as both were completely snowed over by a foot of snow 
. For me, it was a unique experience, nevertheless. I enjoyed how kids continued to practice football and how young parents were taking out their infants and toddlers out for a walk in the snow covered garden and dimly lit pathways in the dark!
. For me, it was a unique experience, nevertheless. I enjoyed how kids continued to practice football and how young parents were taking out their infants and toddlers out for a walk in the snow covered garden and dimly lit pathways in the dark!1845. Travel by tram to the Opera House, Have a hot chocolate break first. You may already be freezing by then!
1900. Opera House, It was quite a spectacle. I decided not to go in, already having visited the Sydney Opera House before. There are a few modern sculptures around as well.
1930. Walk to the Oslo Central station and travel by Flytoget to Oslo Airport station. Walk it to your hotel.
Day 1A
The reason I call this day 1A is that I actually didn't do this day. I skipped to day 2 directly. However I recommend to spend one extra day at Oslo
Take the train to the city centre, and do visit the
Akershus fortress
Norweigian Musuem of Cultural History ( heard that it is beautiful)
Viking Ship Museum
National Museum
Royal Palace
Oslo Cathedral
Day 2
0735. Walk to the Oslo airport and check in.
0935. Board the SAS flight to Longyearbyen. Prebook a seat on the right side window.
1200. Take a photo of the Sun at the Horizon. This pic will be a memorable one, as you won't see the sun for the next few days (special for December and Jan only!)
1215. Technical break at Tromso, It looks so beautiful while landing. The break at Tromso is for passport control. Although Svalbard is administratively in Norway, it requires no Visa to enter. Of course as an Indian, you will require a Schengen visa to enter Norway.
1230. Back on the same flight, and get amazed by how dark it is at Midday!
1300. Have some light lunch options on the flight itself. Surprisingly they were not expensive.
1400. Land at Longyearbyen airport. The time was 2 pm, but the airport was well lit. The temperature was minus 17 when I landed ! You can pick up a lot of informative material at the airport itself while you wait for your luggage.
1430. Please remember that there will be a bus waiting outside the airport (their are only 2 flights arriving per day in Winter!) For NKr 100, the bus will drop you to the hotel. Card is the preferred mode of payment all throughout Norway, but definitely so in Longyearbyen. There is no ATM or cash transactions there!
1445. Arrive in your hotel. I stayed at the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel. Most other hotels are in the vicinity.
1500. Laze around in your room and look out of the window. Just let the darkness soak in!
1530. Walk around town. Don't leave town, otherwise the polar bears will get you. I heard that the Svalbard museum and the polar expedition museum are really good, but they were shut down for renovation when I was there. Visit the northern most church in the world.
1630. Do your cold weather shopping in one of the many sports stores on Main Street Longyearbyen. Top it up by drinking hot chocolate somewhere!
1730. Have a drink at the Northernmost pub in the world.: The Barentz Gastropub!
1800. Go the front desk of your hotel and make your bookings for the next two days. Alternatively you can book it online at https://en.visitsvalbard.com
1900. Enjoy an early dinner at one of the many restaurants. I ate at the Barentz gastropub itself (Fish and chips)
2000. Back to base!
Day 3
1000. Get picked up by the Dog Sledding tour guys from the hotel (Prebook) . I used the Green Dog company, which was really nice.
1030. Reach the kennels. You will hear the reckless barking of 40 odd huskies near by. You will be asked to change into snow boots, mittens, snow suits, neck guards, and snow caps. Wear a jacket and a wool sweater and warm thermal innerwear.
1045. You will be instructed how to use the sled. You can then pet the huskies. Beleive me, they are super friendly. Then comes the most physical part of the trip . You are supposed to hold on to the lead dogs while the guides tie the other dogs to the sled. Those guys won't just stay in one place (Swen and Mishka in my case) as they will jump all over; restless to start the trip. Catch your breath on the sled. The tour guide will start the trip.
1100. As the trip starts,the dogs fall silent immediately! They love running and that's all! The guides allow you to drive the sled intermittently and that's fun. As we move ahead, we would be surrounded by total darkness as technically we are in a frigid desert. The only source of light will be from the lamps on our heads! It is surprising to see how the dogs know the exact way to run. What an experience!! Its just too good!
1300. Reach the glacier. Well we can't see much of the glacier ,as it is pitch dark. The dogs deserve a well earned rest as the trip was mainly uphill till now. They are given some snacks and tied on a line. You have to pet all of them and they readily accept your gratitude. We move to a tent nearby.
1310. We go down the ice caves. The ice caves are well preserved and the temperature was warmer at minus 5 degrees (outside was minus twenty!) But this can be a problem for really tall individuals like me (I am 6'3") as too much slouching was involved. I stopped going in beyond a certain limit, but instead chose to be seated and sat with one of our guides Olivia. Was updated a lot about local Svalbard life!
A rare place where no slouching was required!
1400. Lunch at the tents. We were served hot chocolate (coffee was an option) and Thai curry rice (ready to eat after pouring hot water). It was delicious !
1430. Preparation for the trip back. Again a very physical experience trying to hold on to the leader dogs (man, were they restless!)
1445. Trip back down. Here was the ultimate experience for everyone on this trip. The Northern Lights danced all throughout our return trip (although we did see some on our way up) But the major problem for us was the temperature. It was almost next to impossible to remove the mittens and gloves, reach out to your phone under layers and layers of clothing and take photos or record videos, as your hands would freeze almost instantaneously! It was mainly "for your eyes (covered with foggy specs 😎) only experience!"
1615. Back to the kennel. Again you need to pet all the dogs and thank them! Change back into your original clothes and then take the opportunity to pet the puppies, which is a great experience by itself!
1700. Dropped back at the hotel.
1715. Hot chocolate at the cafe in the mall!
1800. Another walk in Longyearbyen Main Street. Take photos at the Northenmost Post office and the Northern most Kindergarten in the world!
1930. Dinner. I had dinner at the Nansen restaurant. There are decent number of vegetarian options. Non veg eaters must taste the local cuisines which include Reindeer and Seal. What did I eat? Secret!
Day 4
0900. Pick up at the hotel for the coal mines tour. A Must do.
0920 to 1000: Briefing at the day cabin. A friendly guide shows a documentary of how it was/is working in the coal mines. The coal mines in Svalbard are part of the hills, so the mining is more horizontal here then deep underground. The coal seams here date close to 5 million years back and the coal is more than 90 percent pure coal. The guide will show some artefacts and also a model of the 4 million old fossil found there
1000. Wear helmets, suits and headlamps
1000 to 1130.
A walk through the coal mine. We walk for almost a kilometre into the hill. I was amazed to see the coal seams, the working conditions, the base for the miners, the lunch area, the tracks and finally course the conditions and the tunnels where the miners actually mined for the coal. The tunnels are never more than 3 feet high, so the miners at work almost always had to crawl and work for eight hour shifts! If you are wearing the suit, you can crawl into one such tunnel as see how harsh the working conditions can be.
You will also see the entries to the Global Seed vault (where seeds of almost all plants in the world are stored, in case a disaster strikes Earth) and also the Artic Bank, where many countries store secret documents that one cannot afford to lose, again should disaster strike elsewhere . For example I know that the McDonald's burger recipe is stored in there, and also the minute construction specifics of the Taj Mahal!
1200. Be dropped off at the Hotel
1200 to 1300. Lunch. I had lunch at the Karlsberger, and it was great
1300. Jacuzzi bath outdoors when the temperature is minus 20 and it is pitch dark at this time. Crazy experience at the Radisson Blu! You will be asked to wash your hair and body with soap before entering, but DO NOT FORGET to dry your hair before entering the Jacuzzi (I forgot), otherwise the water on the hair will freeze instantaneously and you will have a tough time post the Jacuzzi! Awesome experience!
1600. Either do the snow biking or the Snow Cat. Snow biking is great fun I heard, but I had enough of physical activity already, so I decided to take the Snow Cat. It is a special truck that takes you out on the snow to spot wildlife and northernlights. This is a easier trip for the elderly and children as well. I sat near the driver and had a huge height to climb in and out of, but the seats behind had a ramp. They will take you the city limits, beyond which you should not cross on your own without a guide with a gun as polar bears roam freely. This polar bear sign is a must for instagrammers
They then take you the wilderness, where another stop is done near a crashed German plane during the World war 2. Although it would have made a great place for photos, the temperature was freezing cold and it was snowing, so many of us quickly ran back to the truck!
The next stop was when we spotted reindeers at different places. Again enjoyable scenes, pitch dark, but it was awfully cold on that day (-24 degrees celsius). We had no luck with the Northern Lights due to the snow fall. We were taken to cabin and were offered hot Cranberry juice which was unique and tasted awesome! (coffee was an option). You will be dropped back at 1830.
1830. Premier League match (DeBruyne masterclass).
2030. Dinner at Barentz Gastropub, although there are many noteworthy places in Longyearbyen for dinner (Lavish to quick takeaways) Details will be on Google
Day 5.
1000. Bus to airport. Check in and soak in the last views of Longyearbyen.
1200. As I walked on the tarmac towards the flight, it was lowest temperature I was ever exposed to: -26 degrees Celsius! I was waiting for the flight doors to close as we were all shivering in the flight too! As the flight stopped at Tromso , experienced fresh snowfall, and the first visualization of the Sun after 74 hours!
1830. Reached Oslo. Back to airport Radisson. Some shopping may be considered on that day , otherwise you will be generally quite tired. Time to relax and try your last bits at Norwegian cuisine!
Day 6. Back to airport and back to India.
Will be back if an opportunity presents itself! I really enjoyed this winter sojourn!!
Cya.
