Ad | There are days that earn a place in the memory before they are even over. This was one of them.
The morning began gently. We left the Hotel Bristol in Oslo after a lovely three night pre cruise stay, the kind of stay that lets you arrive at an expedition rested rather than frazzled. A coach had been assigned to us, and we were taken across the city to the airport with everything already running smoothly. At the airport we checked in for our flight north to Longyearbyen, and then there was that small, particular thrill of realising the next time the wheels touched the ground, we would be in the High Arctic.

The flight felt quick, around three hours, although the scenery did a great deal of the work in making the time disappear. We flew over some of the most beautiful Norwegian landscape I have seen from the air, including the Lofoten Islands, that astonishing scatter of jagged peaks rising straight out of the sea.

A light lunch was served on board, and before it felt reasonable to expect it, we were coming in to land. As we descended, we spotted the National Geographic Resolution waiting below. There is something about seeing your ship for the first time from the sky that makes the whole adventure feel suddenly, brilliantly real.

We headed straight off the plane and out to a waiting coach, while our luggage was taken directly from the aircraft to the ship. No carousel, no waiting, no hauling cases. For someone who usually travels hand luggage by habit, I will admit this level of seamlessness was a joy.

En route, our local guide began to bring Svalbard to life. She pointed out the Global Seed Vault, and it is every bit as remarkable as it sounds. Built into the side of a mountain near Longyearbyen, it is a secure backup for the world’s crop diversity, holding well over a million seed samples from almost every country on earth. The idea is simple and sobering: if a national or regional seed bank is lost to war, disaster, equipment failure or simple mismanagement, duplicates are kept safe here in the Arctic permafrost. Svalbard was chosen because it is geologically stable, naturally cold, low in humidity and remote, the last place on earth you would expect to find an insurance policy for the future of food, and somehow exactly the right one.

From there, our guide took us to the Svalbard Museum for a guided tour. It is a wonderful introduction to this place, walking you through the archipelago’s history, its wildlife, the mining heritage that built these settlements, and the very visible effects of a warming climate on this fragile part of the world. It is the sort of grounding that makes everything you see afterwards mean more.

Then came the moment I will be telling people about for a long time. We were driven to the harbour, where a choir of local men was waiting to sing to us. Standing there near the top of the world, being welcomed by voices rather than announcements, was genuinely moving. We were fitted with life jackets and boarded Zodiacs to take us out to the ship.
Embarking by Zodiac, with the cold air on your face and the Resolution growing larger ahead of you, is an extraordinary way to begin a voyage. The adrenaline was absolutely flowing.

On board, we were checked in swiftly and shown to our cabins, where our rather fetching new expedition coats were waiting for us.

There is something about putting that coat on for the first time that makes you feel ready for whatever the Arctic decides to show you. Next came the emergency drill, this one including our expedition life jackets and a walk out to our lifeboat, followed by a warm welcome on board from the Hotel Director and the Expedition Leader. Dinner was buffet style tonight and thoroughly delicious.

We spent some time afterwards exploring the outer decks. We checked in at the bridge to say hello, as there is an open bridge policy here, which I love, and then settled by the fire pit to watch the Arctic scenery slide past. The wake views from the back of the ship were superb.

It is such a strange and wonderful thing to be this far north and have it not get dark at all.
The light simply stays, and time slips away with it. We have headed back to the cabin, unpacked our cases and are now ready for bed, although the sky has not got the memo.

The plan for tomorrow, apparently, is breakfast in front of a glacier. I can not wait!

Thank you for reading.

#Svalbard #ExpeditionCruise #ArcticTravel #Longyearbyen #lindbladexpeditions