Svalbard Islands

One is not likely to ever venture farther north than Norway's Svalbard Islands unless as a member of an expedition to the North Pole itself. Sitting at just above 78 degrees north latitude, Longyearbyen is the most northern airport on earth with commercial airline service. One quickly gets used to such superlatives here: most northern church, most northern sushi shop, most northern ATM machine. The list is endless. There are more polar bears than people here, and there is a constant battle to both stay warm and experience as much of the outdoors as possible in this strikingly beautiful landscape without succumbing to the cold. Though the islands are officially part of Norway they are remote enough to be considered an international destination, even from Oslo itself. There is passport control leaving Norway on flights to Longyearbyen but no immigration or customs controls on arrival in Svalbard; it's as if you have arrived in a place so off the beaten track that no one is there to care if you are coming or going. The passport stamp above is an unofficial stamp from the Longyearbyen post office commemorating the total solar eclipse that was visible in Svalbard in March 2015.

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You don't even leave the airport in Longyearbyen without seeing your first (stuffed) polar bear in baggage claim.

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We stayed at Mary-Ann's Polarrigg, an old converted miners barracks building that has been reinvented as a hotel. The place is unusual, to say the least. Our little cubicle of a room featured a couple old cots pushed against a wall underneath a picture of a bloodied polar bear ripping into a meal on reddened pack ice. Could there be a more blissful scene than this to doze under?

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The view out the window and over the fjords from the end of our hallway at Mary-Ann's Polarrigg.

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I found it hilariously fascinating that Longyearbyen had city limits signs posted at either end of the settlement; the couple of miles of roads here do not connect this "city" to anything in the outside world, so the exercise in labeling the location seemed to me to be rather pointless.

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With good reason, snowmobiles seemed to be the most convenient form of transport in this part of the world.

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Longyearbyen is a tiny compact place, easy enough to stroll around and take pictures of the gorgeous mountains that provide a nice backdrop in almost every direction.

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The literal end of the line. This is the road out of town, beyond which lies nothing but snow, mountains, and glaciers.

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Local laws prescribe that you always carry a firearm when leaving the town for protection against polar bears.

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Dinners at Mary-Ann's Polarrigg consisted of some very hearty arctic fare. One meal started off with seal carpaccio, essentially raw seal sashimi with a zesty sauce. It was a little hard to tackle at first given the meat's unusual purple/black color and the resultant pools of blood that would remain on the plate after each bite.

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Whale steak entree. Whale meat has a consistency like that of blended beef and liver.

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One of the more popular excursions for Svalbard tourists are dog mushing trips. You learn how to hook your dogs to the ropes, which is easier said than done because these animals get very excited when they know they are about ready to be given the chance to run wild! After the dog team is assembled, it's a race across the ice in search of adventure. Dogs will naturally run toward anything that stands out on an otherwise featureless landscape, including polar bears. Thankfully the only wildlife encountered on our trip was a pair of reindeer.

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Having traveled to the Arctic from Hawaii, I was both fascinated and horrified to watch the effects of cold weather on myself and those around me. Of particular interest was how quickly frost would develop around face coverings with each exhalation. Breath vapor would instantly freeze, creating a layer of frost around my face. Each time I would exhale, the brief warmth would melt some of the frost into tiny droplets, which would then almost immediately freeze again. Moisture even started collecting on my eyelashes and eventually made it harder and harder to blink!

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A true surprise in the middle of nowhere at the ends of the earth is the Svalbard Museum, an expertly-presented history of human life in this harsh climate and the wildlife that calls these islands home.

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The most northern church in the world, Norway flag fluttering in the stiff arctic breeze.

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When the time comes to leave these spectacular islands, those seated on the left side of the aircraft on a rare sunny day will be treated to jaw-dropping views unmatched anywhere else on the planet. I felt like the luckiest person on earth getting to watch this landscape unfold below me in person.