I’m at the library in Longyearbyen, Svalbard which sits at 78° North. It is currently -2C but feels like -9C, nothing compared to yesterday’s weather, when it was -11C but felt like -21C with the wind, which was 51 km/h. Kind of like Rexburg, haha. Actually, the day I proposed to Laleinia was colder than this although it wasn’t windy, with a low that day of -25C and a proposal time reading of around -11C!
It is completely dark and there has been cloud cover for pretty much all of the trip. I was hoping to see the northern lights, and was told right when I arrived at the hostel that they were on display a few hours before I got there! Last night one of the locals told me that although this is a good place to see them, we are almost too far north. He said Tromso was better.
Ah well. I’ve wanted to come here for a long time and it is great to finally be here. It is crazy, I feel like I’m at the end of the earth, which in some ways is true, this is the northernmost settlement in the world with over 1,000 permanent residents. The weather is nuts, so unpredictable, the wind comes and goes and changes direction like you wouldn’t believe. It blows up snow and it becomes difficult to see.
I wanted to go dog sledding, but I don’t want to spend the money if I don’t think that the northern lights will be visible. I’d rather come back and do it with someone else, or do it when it is light out so you can see the valley or whatever the route is. That being said, I’ve quite enjoyed being on my own, especially running and walking around.
My hostel is about 2.5km from the middle of the settlement and about 1km of that is without buildings, just an open area. That is where it gets the windiest, but also where I get the most scared. Here in Svalbard, there are significantly more polar bears than there are humans. I’ve read that there are around 2,000 humans and around 3,500 polar bears! That being said, they are very rarely seen in the settlement. There is a zone around the settlement where they say there is basically no risk, that you don’t need to carry a gun or anything. Leave the settlement and it is the law to have a gun and someone who knows how to use it. Either way, you can say it all you want, but as someone who isn’t here for long, I’ve been looking over my shoulder a lot for bears! Every time I’ve seen a shape in the distance, I’ve got a little nervous! I’ve been spooked by rocks, vans, and even a couple of reindeer! I know the chances of seeing one are so small, but as I’m being honest I’m still a little nervous!
There isn’t a lot to do here. I don’t mean that in a bad way because I kind of like that there isn’t much going on. I feel like I’ve been able to recharge, while at the same time I’m doing what I call my high arctic training camp! This is my third day and I’ve been on three runs already (not today yet). I’ve gone around 35km so far, hoping for another 20 or so before I leave in two days. It has felt pretty epic to run. I’ve had to compete with the snow and ice, I’ve been hammered by the harsh wind, struggled to get the clothing right to try and find a balance between being so hot with all the layers and freezing to death! You have to wear one of those yellow reflective vest things everywhere you go, which is kind of funny, especially because the one the hostel sold me is huge, but everyone does it so you don't feel like the only one following the law. It is pitch black too, so I’ve had to stay close to all the street lights. I went running yesterday with the Svalbard running club. I was one of three people, but it was a good time. Both the other guys work at the university center, and I chatted to one of them about life in Longyearbyen and things like that. Aside from running with my own friends, this was the first time I’ve run in a group and it was quite fun. I might have to do more of that. All in all, the running has felt great.
I met a guy earlier today at the hostel right as I was about to leave. I was layering up to walk into the middle of the settlement and we started chatting. I wasn’t too happy about it as I was starting to sweat in all my clothes and accessories, but the more we chatted the more I really enjoyed it. He was a little older, probably in his fifties, wearing a Dominican Republic cap and drinking from two beer cans. He didn’t smell great, to be honest. Anyways, we started with the “where are you from?” questioning, and he told me he was from the US, and when I asked him to be more specific he said that he lives in his truck, which is registered in Texas. We went back and forth for a bit about places where we’ve been and where we are planning to go, and I was shocked at how many places, and how many odd places, he has been to. I then asked him what he does for a living - truck driver. He said his only expenses are a mailbox and a phone bill, and he is addicted to traveling so that’s how he does it! I then asked him how many countries he has been to. All but one of the UN recognized countries! The only one he was missing was Yemen, and he was planning to go in the next year. Unbelievable. He showed me a book he has written and our little conversation got me excited to document the places I’ve seen and experiences I’ve had. It makes me really glad that Lain and I have been writing this blog to remember some of the things that we’ve done and the places we’ve seen.
My goal now is to get a picture of one of the polar bear road signs. I’ve been a little hesitant to go and get one because they are on the outskirts of the settlement, and I’m pretty sure they mark where the polar bear protection requirement begins, or they might even be after. Anyway, I asked about it yesterday to the people at the run club, hoping they’d take me out that way on the run. Not so. They told me that they would if it were light, but with the darkness, they don’t go out that way on their runs. Today I went into the tourist information place and asked about it. I asked where the signs were and if I could walk to them and the guy there showed me where they were and gave me the impression that I could walk out to them without any problem. I hope he is right because I think that’s my plan for later on today, I’ll get my running stuff on and head out later on. Fingers crossed I find it without any problems! I’m mostly worried about giving up right before the signs and not seeing them! But of course, in the back of my mind, there is a little polar bear fear haha!
Another thing I found out from my running club experience was that there is a letterbox for Santa here in Longyearbyen. Up high on one of the mountains, there are some lights from a building and I asked one of the guys what it is. He told me it used to be a mine which is now closed, but it is called Santa’s mine and at the bottom of the mountain (right on the walk between my hostel and the main settlement) is a letterbox where you can send your Christmas list to Santa. A week or two ago Emre and I wrote a letter to Santa and haven’t posted it yet, but luckily I scanned it on my phone and I’m now going to print it out and drop it off there! Exciting!
OK, I’m back. I dropped Emre’s letter to Santa off at the letterbox and then went for my run for the day. I made it to the Polar Bear sign!
There was about 1km of road without light which was quite intimidating and amazing all at the same time. It was intimidating because it was the first time I’ve not been under streetlights here, and it was a much more open space with no buildings around. Of course, I resorted to thinking a Polar Bear was going to be chasing me down, but no, I was fine. And it was amazing because my eyes adjusted very quickly to the dark. It was also really clear, very little wind so I could see very far.
I could see the mountain on the other side of the water, something that you can’t see in the dark from the settlement. It was really beautiful. Anyways, I got to the sign after passing the only structures for a while - sled dog enclosures. That was pretty cool to hear all the dogs and see a few. I got to the sign and took a bunch of pictures, eventually getting a little cold, and then heading back to the hostel.
All in all, it was a little over 9km tonight, not bad. Luckily the weather was great. As I mentioned, really clear, but also not that cold at all. I think it was just around freezing, which felt great when running without wind. Anyways, still no northern lights, even though it would have been a good time to see them on that long, unlit road. But what can you do!
My last full day (or should I say last dark 24 hours) was spent similarly to the rest of my time – a lot of relaxing and then running. I went out with the run club again, two people again, but different people. It was fun, we took the same route as the last time and we saw six or seven reindeer again! I also spent some time at the library preparing a workout tracker for the next year or so. I’m thinking of doing 100 push-ups a day again, and made something that should keep me accountable so that hopefully I don’t stop.
I didn’t end up going to sleep until about 5:30am, which isn’t great as I had to be up and on the bus by 10:45am to get to the airport. I was also planning on sleeping in the Oslo airport tonight to save some money, but we will see if that happens after not getting so much sleep! But the reason I stayed up was to take pictures of the mountain right outside my hostel window. I set the camera to long exposure and love how the camera can see so much. I lied in bed taking picture after picture with the window open. It felt really fresh, not too cold because I was right by the radiator. Every time I turned the camera off and lied down, I had another idea for a picture, or the clouds seemed to clear, etc., and I ended up doing it much longer than I had anticipated! I just wish the northern lights were visible too, could have been a great picture! Lain loved the ones I took though so that is good!
Well, all in all I loved my time in Svalbard. I leave wanting more, actually wanting most of the things that I initially hoped to see and do: northern lights, dog sledding, polar bears, snowmobiling, etc., but I really enjoyed feeling like I was so far away from the real world (although of course I missed my family). Longyearbyen is a strange yet great place, where even though there is a slight threat of polar bears, it is very cold, and the snow and wind can blast you at any time, people are still walking around, kids are still going to school, life still goes on. I really loved it.
I want to come back for sure, but I’ll probably do it when there is at least some daylight too. It was really cool to experience the polar night but if the northern lights aren’t on display some of the activities would be better with light, for example, I’d rather dogsled in the light so I can see the mountains and landscape better. I’ll aim to come when there is both light and dark, in the summer there’s no chance of seeing the northern lights as it is constantly light for months. I would also love to go on a kind of expedition on a ship sailing through the ice. That would be amazing, and hopefully you’d also see some polar bears and other wildlife. I’ll take Lain on that one for sure, a few days on a ship, that would be fantastic. One thing checked off the bucket list and replaced with another!
