I shot an enormous amount of footage in Svalbard,
more than I could ever use in regular videos, so I thought I would take some time to show you that footage,
and at the same time explain how to get there, what you can do there
and whether it's actually worth going on the adventure.
I'm actually away from there now, I'm in the old fortress in Oslo,
which is kind of the staging point on the way back.
Tim and Matt, the folks I went with, they're going off and doing their own things.
We've been together for three-four days and are sick of the sight of each other.
But, I thought I would do some frequently asked questions
and also show you some really nice footage of the Arctic.
Svalbard is not nearly as inaccessible as it was just a few years ago.
We expected to go, and to have to book all sorts of visas and permissions, no, none of that.
First of all, Svalbard, no one needs a visa for, but practically you do need to transit through Norway,
so if you have permission to go to Norway, you have permission to go to Svalbard.
And you just book a flight. This startled me, Matt and Tim, we actually booked this on our phones
while sitting in a restaurant. We thought you would need to get on some special tour
or have scientific permission. You don't, you go online, you book a flight to Svalbard,
which is Longyearbyen Airport. And it's a modern, normal airport like anywhere else.
You book your flight, you book your hotel, the hotel is on the normal booking sites.
There's a Scandic and a Radisson, we actually stayed in the Coal Miners' Cabins,
which have all sorts of history to themselves, it was the only hotel rooms available when we wanted to go.
I don't know, by international standards they're rough and ready, they're not en suite,
you walk down the hall to the shower, but in practice there's hot and cold running water,
there's fast Wi-Fi!
It's just like booking a holiday anywhere else.
It's slightly more expensive, because you're going up to the Arctic Circle,
but the flights aren't much worse than going to anywhere else that's a little bit remote.
They're about the same.
And the hotel was reasonably priced as well.
Svalbard is tax-free, so yes, it's expensive to buy stuff there, but it's only about as expensive as London,
because there's no tax on top of it.
For crying out loud, we came back on a budget airline, we came back on Norwegian Airlines,
and, they're the Jet Blue,
they're the EasyJet of the Scandic countries.
You just... go.
Svalbard is not that remote, I mean, physically it is,
yeah, you're at 78 degrees north. I think we were when we were at the airport,
one of the thousand, or perhaps the 500 most northernly people on the planet,
which is a hell of a claim to be able to make.
But at the same time, there's fast WiFi in all the hotels.
Oh, and absolutely everywhere takes credit cards, even the bus to transfer you from the airport
to your hotel, takes credit cards and debit cards on board.
If you have something that works in Europe, and has a chip and pin in it,
then yep, you are gonna be absolutely fine.
There is fast 3G and I think 4G. We were posting Instagrams, we were tweeting.
It just... it works.
They've got an undersea cable, it's not even satellite internet.
It is fast, it is just like being anywhere else in a city in Norway.
There are two types of people that are going to be watching this,
One is: "Oh, that's lovely but I never want to go there, I want something a lot more comfortable."
That is a perfectly valid choice. I respect that.
And then there are people like me, who saw photos of Longyearbyen
Mispronounced that, I think it's "Longyearbean", I can't get the vowels right, who saw photos of the place
And who thought, "Oh, I wanna go there, that is amazing"
What can you see?
If you are a tourist, and let's be honest, unless you are there as a part of a scientific expedition
or you are doing a degree in polar micro-biology
-- which is someone we met on a bus from the airport
Unless you do that, you are going to be a tourist.
There are tour companies
And they are just like tour companies anywhere else in the world
You do research on the internet, you google it, you look at the tour companies
"I want to go on that, I want to go on that"
So, we took a mini bus tour, around a local area which I would thoroughly recommend
Because first of all, you can't leave the settlements without a gun(!)
It is also quite a long walk
We got to see the Seed Vault
we got to at least look at the solar research station that is there
And we got to hear stories about the town and the people that used to live there
So I recommend doing that
We also went kayaking across a fjord
Which is very hard work, my muscles ache now.
But, if you want to do that, you are going to have to do that in summer.
If you go in winter or spring, then you can go snowmobiling, or "icemobiling", whatever you call it, across the fjord
Aside from the kayaking, we also went on a speedboat trip
I will recommend that, but be aware, it is anything up to five hours, on a slightly uncomfortable jockey seat,
You know those short speed boat trips, where you bounce over waves, it's that - but for several hours
If you want to do that, go for it, it's amazing. You get to see glaciers, you get to stand on something that looks it's the moon or Mars.
It is just... there are no trees in the arctic, it is geology and geography like nowhere else on the planet
And you get to go and do things you can't do anywhere else.
Other options: there is husky dogs, either on sled or on wheels, depending on the time of year
You can take a long slow boat trip to Pyramiden, which is the now-abandoned Russian mining town.
Which is now a ghost town with the northern-most statue of Lenin
Loads and loads of other options.
Do your research, check if the tour company is reputable, but to be honest...
The crime rate in Svalbard is low, because it is a settlement of only a couple of thousand people.
Most people know each other.
And there is not much... well, I imagine 'crimes against the person' still exist.
There are people who get drunk in bars and deck someone in the middle of the Arctic night
But, there is a pretty low crime rate there.
I think if there is a rip-off tour company, they 'd be run out of town very quickly.
You need to take appropriate weather gear for whenever you are going.
We actually went when it was as warm as it gets
Which is about six to eight Celsius, so low forties, mid forties Fahrenheit.
We were fine with big windproof, waterproof coats, gloves.
You don't really need much more than that, if you are going then.
If you are going in winter. I will assume that you know how to survive in the arctic.
Because you will need to. You need to take sunblock in summer.
Just because it is cold, doesn't mean you don't need sunblock. We were constantly slathering it on.
You absolutely must do that.
You should also take a set of shoes that you can just slip on and slip off
So you need, big outdoor shoes. Ideally that are easy to lace up and unlace.
And then you need some indoor shoes as well.
The reason is: It is a Svalbard custom that if you go into a hotel, a restaurant, anything like that.
You take your shoes off, your big muddy, icy outdoor shoes off, on entry and put on something more comfortable.
It is going to be significantly easier for you if you take something that's comfortable
rather than the disposable dodgy plastic ones they have for people who forget that
and it is going to be much easier for you if you are able to undo your shoelaces in your big stompy boots quickly.
I did not bring easy to lace shoes
and I had to leave my hotel room, get out of that building, put my shoes on,
walk about 10 steps where I was getting breakfast, and take my shoes off.
Take some comfortable shoes, and take some that are easy to lace.
Make sure you've got good gloves; for whatever you are doing, you'll need good gloves.
But other than that: sunblock, decent shoes, gloves, and a camera.
Pretty much everything is provided by the tour companies if you go with them.
There are shops there. I keep saying this, this is not a remote outpost, it 's just a city.
It just happens to be a long way from anything else.
If you are sensible, you do not need to avoid much in Svalbard. Don't leave the settlements, follow your guides' instructions.
You will be absolutely fine. There really isn't much to be concerned about.
I am removing any kudos that I would get for going to the Arctic here, but
it is just another tourist destination like any other.
It's an obscure one, it is a remote one, it sounds really impressive.
But it is much easier than it was ten, twenty years ago, you can just go.
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