SVALBARD! (+Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Athens, Istanbul, Oslo)

[high end hobo]

First time writing a TR
Svalbard has been a dream/dare of mine ever since i first heard of the Place, I like pushing the limits and going where no one else (whom i know) has gone before.
I also thought it would complement my other big trip i took this year forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=52483.0;topicseen
What i found most interesting about the place is how far north it is, yet how mild the climate is, thanks to the gulf-stream.
Additionally i was really excited to see the midnight sun.  I asked a Rov re zmanim, the issues are much smaller in the summer (when the sun never sets, then in the winter, when it never rises) he told me when the sun is in its lowest point in the sky, about 2AM, (the sun is about where it is during the midmorning in a regular city) it is simultaneously shkia, tzais, chatzos halailoh, and alos! Therefore I should rely on shitas Rabenu Tam, and daven marriv from ‘plag’ meaning one and a quarter halachic hours before this point. Since the sun never set, a halachic hour is 2 regular hours

I'm currently studying in London and i had a week free in the summer, so i started looking into it. There are only two airlines that fly there, Norwegian and SAS, however it’s a pretty pricey destination, and I wasn't sure I’d be able to do it. Then i read on wikitravel that it's considered a domestic location for SAS and therefore only 5k euro bonus points each way, i was thinking of doing that. I didn't want to burn 30k Ua miles. However in February united had a partner sale 25K intra Europe, and given their liberal open-jaw and stopover rules, i decided to go for it.
I only had Monday through Friday off, and there was only availability on the Oslo-LYR flight on Wednesday and back down on Friday morning, so i had to do other destinations first, I’ve already toured the cities of nearly all *alliance European hubs, with the exception of ATH, so in the end my itinerary looked like this
Monday London city-Edinburgh (free trailing flight from an earlier avios booking), i planned to take a scenic train up to Aberdeen that evening and fly to CPH, spend the night in CPH, fly out Tuesday morning to Athens, spend the day and night in Athens, then fly Wednesday morning to Istanbul, tour there, before flying that afternoon to OSL and then LYR. I'd spend Wednesday night in Svalbard, tour on Thursday, and leave LYR 4:40 Friday morning, spend the day in OSL, before flying back to London just before Shabbos.
So all in all 25K UA + ~$160 in taxes.

LODGING.
as a single student, I’m probably the whole guy on here who would stay at a hostel or use couch-surfer, when you’re travelling by yourself, and just need a place to crash, it really doesn't matter, i like meeting the locals and it makes for a more 'interesting' trip. Yes BH i Have SPG, MR and UR, but I prefer to save those for when I’m married or otherwise sell them.
So, Monday night, i wanted to try the New Generator hostel in Copenhagen, for Tuesday in Athens, i used a Promo that gave me 5K avios for making any hotel booking, i chose a cheap 4* hotel on the water called hotel tropical. I paid like $80 for it and i earned 5200 avios. Wednesday night i would be landing at 11:50PM (high noon in LYR, i looked into lodging there, everything was crazy expensive for crap facilities (~100 a night for what could pass for a bed in a military camp) if you do want to spend money on a hotel, i recommend basecamp hotel. That is when i started looking into couch surfer (which i had a great experience with last summer in Geneva) turns out that in Longyearbyen the people are very friendly, and are usually single workers or scientists; therefore they're happy to host tourists. I had no issues finding a friendly host. Thursday night my flight was 4:40 Am so i figured I’d just basically spend it in the local bar!
I tried finding someone to join me, even posting on the DDF adventure board, eventually everyone fell through and i could only find a partner to accompany me for the first day to Scotland

MONDAY. EDINBURGH/ABERDEEN/COPENHAGEN
I was up really late the night before preparing, I told my travel buddy to set an alarm but it was a miscommunication, and he didn't. Our flight was from London city airport ~40 minute drive from me, i planned on taking the train to the airport. However i when my alarm went off, i shut it off, and my buddy woke me up at 7:05 (our flight was at 8:35), keeping a cool head a called a few car services but none of them had cars available due to the fact its rush hour in London. I finally got through to a buddy who rushed over; we got to the airport at 7:50 for an 8:35 flight, and were fine (LCY is one of my favourite airports in the world for that reason). Only issue is, i needed to carry on my bag, so i lost my Tuna and some canned foods at security. Landed in EDI, the tram to the city is £5 from the airport, but only £1.5 from the next (non-airport) stop, my friend and i hiked over to the next stop (I’m called the hobo for a reason), i Only had a couple hours in Edinburgh, due to me getting mixed up with the 24 time and booking my train to ABZ airport 2 hours too early. We walked along the Royal mile; saw the two palaces, and many shops and other attractions. I took the train up to Aberdeen, which was beautiful, and arrived at the small airport with plenty of time to my flight to CPH. I Landed in CPH which is a nice modern airport, typical of Scandinavia, and took the convenient tram to the city, i walked to the Hostel, which was very large, cozy and hip, see their site for more details. I wrote I’m a male, thinking they'd put me in a male room, but they assigned me to a mixed room, so watch out for that. It was very late when I got there and the roommates wanted to sleep so i had to unpack quietly, after looking through all my things i realized I’d somehow lost my charger and had to go out the nearest kiosk to buy a charger for $22 which broke in 2 days (i filed a dispute with chase and they still haven't settled it).

Tuesday: ATHENS.
I took the tram back to CPH for my Aegean flight to ATH, however when I proceeded to check-in, they told me there was a 65 euro checked bag fee (I was living out of a 60 litre backpack), I proceeded to show them the booking confirmation from United which said I’m allowed one free checked Bag, but to no avail. Seeing no other choice, I said I’d pay, the woman checked in my bag, and told me to head to the baggage desk to Pay, being a smartalek however, I just went straight to the gate, thinking I’d get away with it. However as the boarding process started, I was called to the counter and told to pay 500 DKK, I didn’t have any DKK, and they didn’t accept CC. getting desperate I tried just asking them to let it slide, but they said they’d get in trouble. They finally directed me to an ATM, where I pulled out the cash. I later complained to United and they sent me a $75 voucher. On my Aegean flight, I was served a stogel meal (yuck). I landed in ATH at about 3Pm and it was HOT, plus it was in middle of their banking crisis. The best way to get to the city is the Metro, but I was staying near the beach so I needed to take the Bus. Now I have an odd policy that that I almost never bring local cash when I travel in civilized countries, if I’m going to be there for a short amount of time, idk exactly how much I’ll need, so I might end up with extra. In Athens however, you cannot buy bus tickets from a CC, so I needed to withdraw cash (luckily the airport ATMs still had cash) from my bank.  After an hour stuff hot bus ride, I arrived at Hotel Tropical, it was a nice but small hotel, the whole area however (read the entire Athens! Was rundown and seedy however), I saw loads of unfinished/abandoned commercial real estate, some of which had people camped out in. there was a lot of litter, but the beach itself was nice. After a quick shower I took the tram to the city, heading for the acropolis, which being a student of Greek Philosophy and society, was of great interest to me, I wasn’t sure of the Halacha of going into the actual Parthenon though, so I stayed out. Still the whole complex was fascinating. I took a little tour train around Athens for 5 euro, mostly because I was worn out by the heat and didn’t want to walk. Beware of all sorts of tourist traps, the Greeks are pretty desperate.  After that I headed to the Chabad restaurant, which I’ve heard good reviews about, beware however that the locality of the restaurant is very ‘Intense’ at night. The restaurant was very nice and the staff friendly, I wasn’t so hungry so I just had a gyro. After that I headed back to my hotel.
WEDNESDAY ISTANBUL-OSLO-LONGYEARBYREN
Aegean changed my flight time and united didn’t notify me, I woke up early to catch the bus to the airport, which was supposed to come every hour, and take over an hour to get there, however the bus was over half hour late, and ended up taking much shorter time to get there. During the course of the journey the rear doors refused to stay closed, so the passengers forced them closed and barricaded them with people’s luggage so that they wouldn’t open…
On my short flight to IST I again received a stogel meal. Upon arriving in IST, I bought a visa for $20 (IIRC) and then went into the immigration line, which was pretty much every man fends for himself. I didn’t have time to see much, I wanted to see the Blue mosque though, I headed to the airport train station and met a guy selling train tickets to tourists, he accepted Euro/dollars/pounds etc. and was very friendly, and he showed me how to navigate the Istanbul transit system, which isn’t so simple. Upon arriving at the Blue Mosque I checked out the Egyptian obelisks that Constantine had moved there from Rome, they were about 2500 years old and quite impressive.  I wore my tzitsis out in Istanbul and have a small beard, no Issue, I took some photos by the mosque and in its courtyard, it is a very stunning complex.
At the airport for my outbound flight, the officer issuing exit visas seemed to find an issue with my boarding pass and took it with my passport to another clerk, I think he was just checking what KSML meant, but not sure. I Put on Tefillin in the airport, no issues.  My Turkish flight from IST to OSL was the best, brand new A321; I was able to select the exit row in advance with no extra charge, good IFE, and a great Turkish kosher meal with the OK on it. I had a 3 hour stopover in OSL, I was a bit confused if LYR was a domestic destination, in which case I’d have to manually recheck my luggage, turns out for luggage you don’t need to manually transfer. Luckily there was free Wi-Fi in the beautiful airport (so typical of Scandinavian countries).  When it came time to board to LYR I could hardly contain my excitement, everyone on the flight was wearing hiking gear and backpacks, the view from the plane was superb. I just want to note that SAS intra-Europe flights offer no free meals or drinks. Only coffee/tea is free. We landed around midnight, it was bright out, was very confusing to get orientated to. There was no passport control at the airport. I borrowed a local’s cell phone, and called my host who was picking me up. He was a contractor for NASA who furbished scientists living quarters and so helpful and insightful about Longyearbyen.
THURSDAY-HIKING and touring SVALBARD
To be continued (if there’s demand;)

[Marco Polo]

Very interesting.

[TimT]

What a whirlwind vacation so far. Please do continue

[yochiek93]

Wow sounds great

[Yaalili]

Demand is there.

[Moshe123]

I hope you rested...

[yakrot]

Great report. Waiting for the rest

[Chapshnell]

Interesting, any pictures? Polar bears on the prowl?

[Yehoshua]

Wow, very interesting TR so far. I'd definitely like to read the rest. Do you have any pics you can post? Those would be even better.

[high end hobo]

Continuation.
So we drive to my host's apartment, he gives me a little tour of town on the way, he's Norwegian but has been working up in Svalbard for a while, as a history/geography/nature buff i just asked him a million questions about everything, i can't write even 5% of what i learnt there, so if you have any specific questions, just comment. Anyways the town is bigger and more civilized then people think is it. i read it has 2.5K residents, but it really has more like 3200. There are something like 9 hotels/hostels/guesthouses. the last mine in town has closed so now the entire economy of the town is exclusively tourism orientated, (with the exception of some researchers) there is good cell reception, an elementary school, a graduate school, hospital, supermarket (I’ll talk about kosher food later) mini mall, a few restaurants, and two bars, sadly there is no draft beer on the island the number of snowmobiles out number people 2-1, although those are used in the winter.
It finally hit me when he said good night to me and the sun was shining brightly in my eyes...
Thursday Morning i woke up, my host had already gone to work, so i davened and ate in privacy. I had booked a mountain climbing tour with http://www.spitsbergentravel.com/Start/Adventures/Summer-Excursions/trekking-glacier-trip/, they were very good, i originally wanted to do a kayaking/climbing tour, but it was unavailable. As the tour company picks you up from your choice of hotels, i just wrote on the form that I’m staying at basecamp hotel and waited there to be picked up. My very friendly guide picked me up, and i was introduced to the rest of our group, surprisingly everyone was Scandinavian except for me! They explained that most North Americans come in February, hoping to see the northern lights. For my benefit they mostly conversed in English, which i appreciated. For better or worse, the day i was there was record hot, nearly 40F. The guide gave out banquettes and water, i declined the baguettes but took the water, however the .5L of water they give isn't enough, it feels all snowy and cool, but you need water, bring water on all hikes! Anyways we left town and headed to the mountain, the guide carrying a gun as the law requires. The entire hike the guide spoke about the flora and fauna, history, sociology, laws, geology (amongst other things) of Svalbard, i found it all very interesting. for example in the US we dread 'black ice' which isn't visible and is particularly slippery, in Svalbard however, since the climate is so dry, all the ice is 'blue' and consequentially has traction, so we were able to hike over semi frozen glaciers. Right out of town is the rushing water from all the snow melting; we needed to balance across a 2x4 to cross this. On the particular hike i took, there were three very steep parts, with one being at the beginning, after the crossing. I'm young and in shape thank g-d and didn't find this particularly challenging, others did though, the guide was very good at keeping the correct pace, he took frequent breaks to talk and let people catch up. as we ascended higher, we saw old mine shafts etc. the views just got more and more breath-taking and exhilarating, seeing the whole town and its fjord nestled at the foot of the mountain, with the ships anchored in the beautiful sea, the snow-capped mountains, raw fresh air, etc. in the afternoon we reached the top and I climbed atop the rocky atoll. Following this we took a lunch break and climbed down, on the way back into town the glacier melt was much more forceful and difficult to cross.
On my arrival back into town I had a lot of time to kill, so I figured I’d check out main street, here you pretty much have the nice hotels, (basecamp and Radisson blu) a couple camping supply/ souvenirs shops, the main supermarket, town hall, two restaurants and two bars (Svalbar in the Radisson blu and the more economical carlsberger).  I entered the supermarket curious what kosher food I could obtain here, keep in mind, I’m full-fledged Chabad, tuna must be Bishul Yisrael, dairy Cholov yisrael etc. As my tuna had been confiscated at LCY security, I was kinda low on protein, especially after a full day hike, I was looking forward to finding some avocados, however to my surprise, the ones they had were from Israel, and being that it’s a smeitah year, they’re forbidden. In the end I found American peanut butter with an OU. The best part of the supermarket is the alcohol section, which is cordoned off from the rest of the store, due to purchasing limits. In contrast to everything else is Svalbard, liquor is really cheap given the lack of taxes, however residents are only allowed a certain amount per month, in order to purchase alcohol, and you must prove you’re a tourist. As I didn’t have my flight itinerary on me, they showed me to a computer where I logged into my email and printed my booking, they stamped it to be shown to the cashier that I’m a certified tourist. I immediately wanted to buy a 3 litre bottle of Russian standard platinum, but then I realized I would have to lug it in my backpack back to London, so I settled on a litre bottle of a first edition Swedish single malt whiskey! In need of Wi-Fi and something to fill my stomach, I headed to Svalbar, and ordered a very rich and creamy Oatmeal stout, that’s one of my secrets to keeping full whilst travelling, brewed barley soup (aka beer) is always readily accessible, cheap and kosher. When I logged into my email I saw my host had offered to go out to dinner, I said I had a special diet and declined, however I knew that at some point I’d have to tell him straight out I’m jewish. I headed back to my bed and crashed, all doors are always left unlocked (in fact I accidentally walked into the neighbour’s apartment) however the custom is to leave your shoes by the door. When my host got back he wanted to make dinner and again asked what I’m allowed to eat, at that point I just told him I’m jewish (he had never met a Jew in his life) I played it real cool, his knowledge about  Jews was from TV shows like ‘an idiot abroad’. Anyways we started drinking and talking, turns out he spends about 4 months a year travelling and doing extreme sports, so we discussed all sorts of travel tips and turned to YouTube to watch related videos. At about midnight (its bright like a sunny day) he says he needs to sleep, so I pick up my stuff and head to the bar, where I was planning on staying until my flight. I went to Carlsberger, which is a nice old style bar; thankfully there were no windows so it was kinda dark inside. I found a quiet corner, ordered a beer, (36NOK for a half litre of carlsberg) and proceeded to spend the next two hours on my smartphone, catching up with what i missed over the past week, whilst ordered refills (I needed to keep warm because the temp drops at ‘night’)
At 2Am, the bar closed, I stumbled outside and was immediately blinded by the sun!! My flight was at 4:40AM and I planned to hike the 3 miles on the coastal road to the airport, however the two hours of knocking back beer had an effect, and I wobbled along with my heavy backpack in tow. I heard the residents there were friendly so I stuck out my thumb at every car that passed (which was like every 10 minutes) but to no avail; I passed Santa’s giant north pole mailbox, and the local port etc. finally after about a mile, a cab (with passengers inside) stopped for me. I arrived at the airport just as a chartered air berlin flight was leaving, and had security take away my peanut butter. I Davened shachris there and made use of the airport Wi-Fi.  My flight to OSL was uneventful, other than the fact I was asleep before we took off and woke up at the gate. I had a 7 hour stopover in OSL, to get to the city I paid for the very high class tram, and got half off because I’m a student, no one ever asked for proof that I’m a student BTW, the tram was still like $22, so that means a regular adult would have to pay $44 to get to/from the airport!. As it was still early in the morning, I decided to nap in the airport, and woke up like 4 hours later :/ I took the tram to town, and walked along the waterway, climbing the roof of the opera house. For my final flight to London, there seemed to be an enormous line to get an exit visa, so bear that in mind if you fly out of OSL, all in all the airport was very hospitable though. I had already finished all the books I had brought with me, so I was forced to pay a lot (Oslo is one of the most expensive cities on earth) for a Steven hawking’s book. I landed in the brand new *alliance terminal two at LHR, and was greeted by an immigration line over an hour long! On the way out I grabbed a glatt kosher salt beef sandwich at café Nero.  Luckily I made it back to my place for shabbos…

[high end hobo]

Interesting, any pictures? Polar bears on the prowl?

pics to come, sorry my phone seems to have some sort of virus/glitch where the pics don't process properly, i can view them on the phone but if i try copying them off, the files are corrupted.

Polar bears, not a chance in that summer, it was really warm, the truth is all tourists who come want to see polar bears, and very few get lucky. you need to be with a guide out of town, and to the bears you're food, not a friend, by law you need to carry a gun to protect yourself.

[high end hobo]

just a few more points.
i heard finnair is gonna start flying to LYR (not sure what they'll do about passport facilities)

the entire time i was there, i didn't see one law enforcement officer (including at the airport), its one of the most safest places on earth.

If i had another day there, i would look into the boat trip to barentsburg, 

[Moshe123]

NOK!
Good memories!

[Yaalili]

Wow great report, looking forward for some pics.

[Marco Polo]

Very cool. Sounds like a fun trip.

[Yehoshua]

My desire to go is stronger thanks to your TR! Great stuff, looking forward to the pics!

[MosheD]

Now that's a trip done like a high end hobo! Makes me want to make this HI thing work

[Fan of Dan]

What a great TR! I had a lot of fun reading it... what an adventure! It's good you went somewhere with so much readily available alcohol after our trip to the Middle east  I can't wait to see the pictures from the far north.

[Emkay]

so I was forced to pay a lot (Oslo is one of the most expensive cities on earth) for a Steven hawking’s book.

Which book was it? Do you feel less intelligent after reading it?

[AharonInIsrael]

Wow! Really interesting and can't wait to see the pics!