Longyearbyen

After arriving in Longyearbyen, the first thing everyone did was rest and catch up. But after a few hours, it started to become obvious who might be coming on the trip - I would pass others, usually alone, carrying their camera, already excited to take photos of this strange town in the High Arctic. Later on, it would turn out most of these people were guests on the ship! With the amount of time to kill, and the town really only having one main road, it was also not unusual to run in to the same person multiple times.

As everyone quickly found out, it was pretty easy to exhaust things to do in the town. There were two small museums, a grocery store, a few clothing/souvenir stores, and a few restaurants and cafes (all very good!). There is even a “Husky Cafe” where you can drink a coffee with Huskies. At the museum, I learned a few interesting things about living in Longyearbyen talking to the staff:

1. You can order things online and they typically come as air freight in just a few days, but it’s usually better to bulk order with friends. Larger orders come by ship.

2. Most people are not native Svalbard residents. Many just like to spend a few years on Svalbard because they like how it is a quiet and low-stress life. As a result, household goods and cars are traded frequently on vibrant community WhatsApp groups as people move to and from the island. People also ship their cars from the mainland to Svalbard.

3. VAT and income taxes are much lower than the mainland, so groceries, eating out, and goods are not as expensive as you might expect. To me, Longyearbyen felt cheaper than New York, which is saying something considering the cost of living in mainland Norway.

4. Employment, however, is limited so don’t expect to make your millions employed on Svalbard, unless you work remotely, which is allowed visa-free. Svalbard is an unincorporated area of Norway, which is why you are passport stamped out of the European Economic Area when traveling to Svalbard, and why you can get away with working there without a visa.

5. Housing is also difficult to find as the employers on the island (the university and the companies surrounding the port) reserve the houses for their employees. When I was there, however, there was some new housing being built but I am pretty sure it was for student dorms.

6. Hunting cabins that are found around the island are for the exclusive use of Svalbard residents, so don’t expect to find your dream off-the-grid AirBnB here.

7. If you leave the main town, you are required to carry warning flares and a rifle in the case you encounter a polar bear. At the same time, shooting a polar bear is a grave offense and there will be an intensive investigation to make sure you took all the precautions before shooting the bear.

8. There used to be camping allowed just outside the airport at a campground, which you can still see when you exit the airport. It was the only free accommodation in Longyearbyen proper. However, a few years ago a guide was attacked by a polar bear and killed. So now it is closed.

9. It is illegal to die or be born on Svalbard. There are very limited medical facilities on Svalbard, so as a tourist, you had best carry travel insurance that will pay for a private medical evacuation flight.

10. The only other civilian settlement on Svalbard is Barentsburg. Barentsburg is a Russian mining town with about 400 inhabitants. In fact, there were many Russians on our flight to Longyearbyen. Barentsburg even has a Russian consulate. There are not many tours to the island right now, and none are advertised publicly as the tours are seen as indirectly supporting the Russian economy. Locals will joke that the Russians will always be doing “mining” even though the town is effectively non-productive, just to maintain the Russian presence on the island. If you go to Barentsburg, your phone will connect to Russian cellular networks, so be sure to leave your corporate cell phone back in Longyearbyen!

In our day-and-a-half on Longyearbyen, I managed to capture a few photos that capture the essence of the town. We also got our first taste of the landscapes that awaited us on the expedition.