20th - Home

Wakeup call at 0630 which not only was earlier than usual, it felt very early after only 4 hours of sleep (I blame it on good company in the bar). At 0645 bags were to be placed outside the cabins to be brought to shore. I put mine out, returned to the cabin to get something and came back out – less than a minute later and the bag was already gone. Service was swift (or they were looking forward to getting rid of us). Breakfast was at 0700 and at 0745 we started disembarkment for the last time.

There isn’t much to see and do in Longyearbyen, fortunately we were holed up at the hotel where there was free wifi. I visited the Svalbard museum which showed a bit of history, wildlife etc., to pass the time and an hour or so later I exited again. A quick lunch was had before the bus came to pick us up and bring us to the airport.

The flight had a few surprises; I had tickets for SAS Plus which meant that despite the short distances flown I was served food (well, snack at best) and drinks that the plebs (those in the cheap seats) would have to pay for. We had a layover in Tromsø and despite all of us were going to Oslo we all had to exit the plane. We were also told by the purser that if we were continuing to Oslo we would have to retrieve our bags and check it in again. Weirdos. So we all grabbed our stuff and exited and went to the baggage claim. A lot of bags arrived, but not ours. After waiting 10-ish minutes (with app. 40 minutes between arrival and departure) someone found out that what we had been told was not entirely correct; if you were going to Oslo but not further you would have to grab your bags, but if Oslo only was a layover you didn’t need to do anything. So with time getting critical we rushed through customs and went back through security (which suddenly got clogged by all the passengers that arrived at once) and returned to the plane.

On the flight towards Oslo we were told that an error had been made and no fresh water had been loaded onto the plane so coffee and tea could not be served (in SAS Plus we still had access to bottled water). Also, the toilets would only work for a limited time. Half way to Oslo they locked off the toilets as they had run out of water. Luckily it was a one our flight and not a long intercontinental one…

Arriving in Oslo and continuing on the last stretch to Copenhagen went without a hitch. My bag even made it all the way!

Big thanks to the staff members Sarah Auffret (Expedition Leader), Dr. Julia Lindow (Ass. Expedition Leader), Thomas G. Smith (Firearms Master), Guy Esparon (Naturalist), John Kernan (Biologist), Diego Punta Fernandez (Staff Assistant/Naturalist), Jacqueline Deely (Photographer), Kevin Closs (Musician), Terence "Scobie" Pye (Zodiac Technician), Jonathan R. Green (Geologist), Truls Kuhle (Staff Assistant/Naturalist), Wayne Brown (Staff Assistant/Naturalist), Carol Francis (Historian), Phil Hunter (Staff Assistant/Naturalist) and Dr. Susie Newton (Ship's Doctor) for being such great guides. Big thanks to the crew members Andriy Domanin (Captain), Josi Silva (Hotel Manager), Margaret Krzyzelewski (Deck Cadet) and the remaining 48 crew members I don’t know/remember the name of (bartenders, waiters, housekeeping etc.). Big thanks to Danni, Alison, Trevor, Nicolle, Jana, Carina, Christel and everybody else I don’t (but probably should) remember the name of. Thanks for the company, thanks for a great tour, and hope I’ll get to see you again some time.

And for some that will happen; being the same ship I’m joining in Antarctica some of the crew and staff will be the same. And after this tour, now knowing what I can expect, I am even more excited about Antarctica than before.

We even received a diploma for going that far north!

A map of the route.