Spitsbergen Guesthouse

... belt. We got our bags and went out to the airport bus, which took us all the way to our hotel, Spitsbergen guesthouse in nybyen. The guest house is former accomodation for miners, and consists of separate buildings around a central building containing ...

... around the island and decided to spend a couple of nights in Longyearbyen before boarding the ship.  I stayed at the Spitsbergen Guesthouse which was formerly used as housing for miners.  Longyearbyen was a mining settlement but it has recently ...

... yet. Contrast that with some of the mountains further north that are more eroded and have a spiky appearance. The name "Spitsbergen" means something like "spike mountain". The guide also told us the reason for the law about carrying a rifle outside ...

... and I are talking in fake Russian accents to amuse ourselves. You can see icebergs in the sea as we approach the island of Spitsbergen. When we landed it looked really bleak. There were low hanging clouds, no sun, windy, and it was about 40 C. ...

... was slightly sparser than what we had on the main land. It consisted of the same stuff, though. It was quite busy. I guess Guesthouse 102 is a popular place. I should say a little bit about Guesthouse 102. I'm staying in a room about the size of a ...

I was fairly sore in the morning from the hike the previous day. After breakfast we checked out of Guesthouse 102 and stuffed our luggage in the storage area under the building. The weather had turned for the worst and it was blowing and rainy. ...

... covering the mountain peaks. I tried to stay positive though, and eventually nodded off to sleep in my triple room at the Spitsbergen Guesthouse (that only had me in it), hoping I'd wake up to clearer skies... I actually slept through my alarm but ...

... off the cruise ship. I've nothing against cruises of this kind, but some of the comments I heard were ridiculous. "Are we in Spitsbergen now?" asked one old woman. "Where is Svalbard?" asked another, as she browsed through the postcards. I think a bit of ...