Left the campervan at home and had to take to the air for our next adventure! Lots of research led us to air travel being the only option for us to join the Art Safari sketching trip aboard ‘SV Noorderlicht’ in Svalbard.
After a rather wet, long drive to the airport, with several holdups, spent the night at the Holiday Inn where the car will await our return. Early rise at 0630 to catch an Uber to Terminal 2 to save on waiting for a shuttle bus, then spent a couple of hours meeting fellow travellers before boarding SAS flight to Oslo. Arrived on time in drizzly weather but it brightened up as we checked in at the very colourful, friendly and comfortable, aptly named Comfort Hotel Runway. After some discussion, seemed a good idea to get x2 Ubers to take us to the city and we spent an enjoyable, if somewhat expensive couple of hours at the harbour. Turned in early ready for the next flight in the morning.
Early morning shuttle bus to board our flight to Longyearbyen with three-hour layover in Tromsø. The airport waiting areas weren’t nearly as bad as expected – quiet with no tannoys and not very crowded. Check-ins & immigration all went smoothly even the stamping out of Schengen before departing for Svalbard, governed by Norway but outside the Schengen Agreement.
Arriving at the tiny airport there were plenty of buses waiting to transport us the short distance to Mary-Ann’s Polar Rigg Hotel where we quickly settled in for an overnight at this eclectic collection of renovated accommodation originally built for the coal miners. The restaurant looked promising so we booked tables for everyone and went for a brief stroll around – the most northerly settlement on Earth.
