Svalbard

Far away between Norway and the North Pole, there lies the Svalbard archipelago.
I’ve made a commitment to visit there someday.

I really love snowy days. They feel like a white canvas, and look so clean from a distance. I’ve often imagined days where the snow is knee-deep, making it difficult to walk, but I haven’t experienced such days yet. That’s probably because I haven’t been to such a place.

Perhaps that’s why I’ve had a longing for such places.

Around the end of my military service, when I was a senior sergeant and squad leader…
On weekend mornings after roll call, everyone would still be asleep. The curtains were drawn, the room was dark, and I, having returned from roll call, couldn’t sleep and would watch EBS World Theme Travel alone. I think I saw an episode about Svalbard around that time.

There was no significant reason, but from that moment, I developed a yearning for Svalbard.
About 6 years have passed since then. Coincidentally, 2024 marks my 3rd year at Remember, when I’ll receive a refresh vacation. I thought I might be able to visit.

I don’t know when it will be, but I’m writing this for the day I eventually go there.

When is the best time to visit?

This is a video by a Svalbard influencer(?) that I found while researching Longyearbyen, the capital of Svalbard.
The video captures a year in Svalbard, which will be helpful in deciding which time of year I want to experience. I’m not particularly interested in tundra, so October seems like the best time based on the vibe. A quick search showed that flight tickets are also cheaper than in summer.

How to get there?

The standard route is to fly from Oslo to Tromsø (a city in northern Norway), then take a flight to Longyearbyen.
When I looked for flights in June, there were direct flights available. I assume they operate direct flights during the vacation season. The price was around 500-600 pounds (I’m not sure why SkyScanner showed prices in pounds).
In October, flights via Tromsø were about 200 pounds.

Of course, there are no direct flights from Incheon to Oslo either, so one must transit through the Netherlands or Qatar.
That makes the route something like Incheon->Qatar->Oslo->Tromsø->Longyearbyen…

Where to stay?

My energy for today is all spent. I’ll continue writing this someday. With that commitment, I’ll title this “svalbard_1” and conclude.