Longyearbyen Hotel

Joel took me to Svalbard to celebrate my 30th birthday. We flew from Ålesund via Oslo and Trømso, and landed in Longyearbyen just after midnight. After 8 years in Ålesund I am very used to it being light all night in midsummer, but I was surprised that ...

... prior 3 days due to fog.  I was very glad when our flight was able to proceed.  On arrival at Longyearbyen, the usually sleepy little airport was packed solid with people trying to get a flight out that day.  You could hardly ...

Clear weather as we approached Svalbard meant we got some good pictures from the plane. Arrived in Longyearbyen a little late due to the extra passenger issue at Tromsø. We had to walk across the tarmac in Longyearbyen, -19C when we arrived so it was ...

... looking at what restaurants were about for dinner and stopped for a coffee and cake and then bought some more supplies from the supermarket. Returned to the hotel and ate dinner at the pub again. Early night again as we had an early start the next ...

We got up at 6.15am and breakfast at the hotel before being picked up by tour company at 8.15am and driven the their office to change into snow suits and have a very brief introduction into driving a snowmobile. We left at 9.45am for a 10 hour trip to ...

... 's not huge! It's definitely weird, the not getting dark thing. It's looked pretty much the same outside the whole time. And the hotel hasn't had the common sense to put thick or blackout curtains in the rooms so it's nice and bright when you get into bed ...

... of our luggage and given 2 hours to walk around town or visit the museum before boarding our ship. What a desolate place Longyearbyen is. On walking around the museum there were some enlarged black and white photos of the life and times in the 19th ...

... to walk to town...never did see a bear there but I did see an arctic fox!  Very cool! Despite the warm weather in Longyearbyen, I was nervous about whether I had enough clothes for on the ship - the wind chill on deck would be a factor.  I had ...

... me, I was expecting a much smaller plane, but it seems there are quite regular flights up there. I stayed the night in a hotel in Longyearbyen and had most of the day to explore before we boarded the ship in the afternoon.  It is a small place ...

... hotel at 10am.We had our bags packed ready to go and got dressed in our thermal socks,leggingd,tops,fleeces and woollen jumpers.The hotel and its staff are first class.So we meet Klaus our Danish ex military guide and we have 3 other travellers.Walter an ...

... bought some souvenirs and visited a skin shop that had bear, seal and fox furs and clothes made from them. We went back to hotel, had a coke and some chocolate and then boarded the bus to the airport. Ate lunch at the airport after checking in then ...

... but throw in the wind chill factor and its really about minus fifteen.No mucking about today we are heading staright for the Basecamp hotel.It is such a different place in thes conditions but stunning just the same.Wendy likens it to riding on top of the ...

Got up at 4am and grabbed a croissant and coffee in the hotel lobby before checking out and catching the FlyBus to the airport. We checked in and had our bags checked through to Longyearbyen. Flight to Oslo left on ...

... we have far too many bags) filled the van to absolute capacity. Bags were stacked in the aisles. Check in at the Longyearbyen airport went smoothly for once. Apparently Pat had saved our boarding passes from the flight in. These had some number that ...

... up to midnight to see the 'Midnight Sun' but by now we'd been awake for 22 hours and decided to call it a day. Tromso is very pretty. There is not much to 'see' but nice to wander around.  A flight to Svalbard and Longyearbyen beckons tomorrow! ...

... hotel we enter a room that feels like a Swedish sauna, open the windows and try to sleep to the sounds of the partying patrons of the districts bars that keep hopping well past 3:00 am. Our wakeup call is due at 5:30 am for our flight to Longyearbyen. ...