Monday, June 29, 2015
We didn’t set an alarm and it turns out we didn’t need to.
Clay was up very early and went back to bed. I woke up next and it was 7:05am.
Perfect!
We took our time and got dressed and packed up for the
flight. We both thought we were being careful. I left all my gels and liquids
in my purse! It did not cause any problems at the airport, so it was fine. Clay
thought his tablet was gone. Then he found he had packed it. But as he searched
and re-searched the room, he never noticed that he had left his plug adapter in
the wall socket. He didn’t realize it was gone until we unpacked at the
Spitsbergen Hotel.
We went down to a very busy buffet breakfast today. We
filled up since we knew we were flying between noon and 2pm and would either
miss lunch or have to buy something somewhere. We had a taxi to the airport
included in our Kensington Tours package and he showed up as we waited in the
lobby shortly before 10am. It was only a 5 to 10 minute ride to the airport. He
went into one of the many tunnels we had seen or seen on the map. The tunnel
had intersections and turns and even a roundabout. I wasn’t expecting all that!
We went to the self-check in kiosk and got new boarding
passes and luggage tags for our checked bags. We carried them over to the bag
drop and she asked for our passports. That was a first here. In all our travels
since we left Marina in Stockholm no one else ever asked to see our passports!
We were amazed that we could fly out of Stockholm without anyone ever checking
that we were who the tickets were issued to. She took our bags and we set off
for security.
There was a short line at security and it was very slow
moving. We still didn’t need 2 hours! We got through security without any
issues and went to look for gate 20. It was downstairs and Clay is gun shy
about going to the gate in Europe as in some places like England you can only
spend a few minutes there after they call for your flight to board. In others,
like France, you can get there but you can’t go back to shops or restaurants or
bathrooms. So, we sat down for a while. We used the restrooms, you know, just
in case. We went and bought a blt for Clay and a yogurt for me for our lunch
onboard. Finally, we went downstairs. It was completely empty down there, but
nothing to keep you from going back upstairs. It was gates 16-29 or something.
All the gates were open and empty except gate 20. Our gate 20 was closed off
with a passport control booth. We were mystified because Svalbard is an island of
Norway. Anyway, we sat outside because it was pretty clear that there was no
backtracking from inside there and probably no restroom. We saw some people
(most!) turned away and some quickly sent through the buzzed open door and
others took longer. Eventually, we got up and went to the passport control
entry to gate 20. Since both agents were available, we split up and each took
one. Mine spoke first. When and where did you enter Europe? I couldn’t tell
her. Clay couldn’t tell her. We both knew it was in May and in Ireland. They
both found entry stamps from Belfast and Dublin. When did we enter Schengen? No
idea. We’ve heard of it, but couldn’t tell you which countries are in or out of
it. We told them we had come to Europe on a cruise ship and our first stops in
Europe where in Ireland. Neither Ireland is in Schengen. OK. We told them we
got off the cruise ship in Stockholm and flew to Oslo and we’d been in Norway
for the last almost 2 weeks. They were exchanging looks and talking about us.
Finally, the woman stamped my passport and returned it with a stern warning. It
is your responsibility to obtain a Schengen stamp. How am I going to do that?
If no one was anywhere I traveled stamping passports, then how am I going to
get a stamp. Clay asked if we were leaving Norway. The answer was no that we
were leaving Schengen and that to leave Schengen you had to have been permitted
to enter and have a stamp. Well here we are and no one stamped us in, so what do
we do now? They stamped us as leaving with the warning and sent us on. Someone
somewhere in Stockholm dropped the ball as far as we can tell. Since everyone who
got off the Marina in Stockholm was leaving Schengen from there eventually that
was where we should have been stamped in in order to depart. Clay later studied
the Internet and the itinerary and blamed Belgium as the first Schengen country
that admitted us. Anyway. We carried on like a couple of International
criminals. We had already discussed how lax they were about ID and travel here!
The flight was called
for boarding early and shortly after we got into the gate area. There did not
appear to be a plane there though. We got up and followed the others. Our
boarding passes were scanned and we walked out on to the tarmac. There was a
SAS jet parked about 6 gates away and attached to a jetway from the upstairs
gates. There was an elevator from the tarmac or the stairs. We followed
everyone up the stairs and really hoped we were getting on the right plane! The
plane was soon nearly full and they shut the door. The announcements were being
made but not in English, just like inside the airport. Finally we heard the pilot
say in English that we were going to Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Thank God! All we
needed was to have boarded the wrong plane because of lax Schengen rules!
The flight was uneventful and a bit under 2 hours. We ate
our snacks and drank our water. SAS only serves complimentary hot tea and coffee.
We haven’t tried to order a cup of tap water. They sell bottled water along
with sodas, so we just fill my travel bottle in the airport after security. We walked
across the tarmac on arrival and through the small airport to baggage claim.
There was a woman there with a Nordstjernen sign. I asked her about the bus.
She told me that she wasn’t here for me. I asked her where I find the bus to
Spitsbergen Hotel. She told me to go out to the bus I could see and give the driver
my Hurtigruten voucher. I didn’t get a voucher. She told me then you don’t get
a ride. I told her my invoice said I paid for transfers. She asked to see it. I
got it out and showed her. She said to just show the driver that. I understand
this is a new itinerary for Hurtigruten but this is the 3rd
departure of the season, so you’d think they’d all be a little more familiar by
now. We were not the first passengers on the bus that the driver said was going
to Spitsbergen Hotel that showed him the final itinerary email printout. He was
expecting to collect vouchers and had an argument with a couple 2 seats in
front of us about being able to keep their itinerary. He didn’t. He didn’t try
to keep ours. The ride into town was much more industrial looking than I expected. Evidently, coal mining was the last boom time here. When we checked in to the hotel, Clay asked if Hurtigruten had
left a packet or any information for us. NO. We are supposed to have breakfast and
a tour tomorrow morning but don’t know when or where. There was a line behind
us so we just went to our room 106.
We learned that the whole indoor/outdoor shoes had already
begun. They should have had a less subtle sign at the door or a greeter for the
airport bus of new arrivals. We had read about the indoor shoes/outdoor shoes
onboard the Nordstjernen which was complicated by the last minute request for
waterproof boots and the inter-Europe small luggage allowances. Anyway. We
managed to bring waterproof boots, outdoor shoes and indoor shoes for each of
us and remain within our luggage allowances.
We waited for a while for the bus load to clear out and went
back upstairs to reception to find out more. The woman there showed us an email
she had printed out because she wasn’t sure what it was. It was for our cruise
itinerary. Monday departures and our date was the 3rd departure. I
don’t know when she had gotten the email. We asked about meals. Dinner tonight
is not included. The map at the desk isn’t clear that the road from the top of the
hill at the hotel down to town is a polar bear-free zone. She didn’t answer
that but told us we could easily walk it. That isn’t the same as should walk
it, but Clay said we’d go. She also offered to make us reservations for dinner.
We had read in the room that it was a 7-course French meal restaurant. No way!
She tried to show us the menu that you only had to order any 3 courses. NO. I
had been around the corner and found a copy of the bar menu and had seen small
meals and sandwiches. I told Clay that and she agreed we could do that without
a reservation. She volunteered that we could help ourselves to complimentary
waffles from 4 to 6pm. In the meantime, we had to go into town to buy Clay a
new outlet adapter. We had a map and a store name, Coop. We had been going to
these grocery stores and calling them Co-op. Now we know. This was more of a
general store. Clay wanted to get a t-shirt with 78 degrees North on it anyway.
He had seen one with Svalbard, a polar bear and 78 degrees N onboard Marina.
When we got down to the store, he found the exact t-shirt, but not in his size.
He found a different one but in his size that he could live with and the plug
adapter and $30 or so later we were on our way back uphill.
We had a waffle each to save room for a bar menu dinner
later. I am typing this during the time between. We will go to dinner soon.
Sandwiches started at about 120NOK and a steak was 166NOK or so. I will assume
it will be fine and uneventful.
According to the information we received from the email
printout at the front desk, tomorrow breakfast starts at 7am and we have to be
checked out by 8:30am and luggage loaded on the bus for 9am departure. We get a
3 hour bus tour that ends at the pier. Check in MS Nordstjernen. 12:30pm is
lunch on board. Sail away is 1pm. Cabins will not be ready until after 4pm. We
should have an Expedition Team welcome and information given after all
passengers have had a safety briefing.
Spitsbergen Hotel is a converted historic building. It was once the headquarters of a coal-mining company. It is locally called the Funken which is a shortened form of the Norwegian word for something like functionary building. It dates from the 1940s I think which doesn't sound right, since they have up b&w photos in the halls of the local Nazi invasion and occupation during WW2. Clay points out that it was probably built after the war was over and the Nazis were gone.
Spitsbergen Hotel is a converted historic building. It was once the headquarters of a coal-mining company. It is locally called the Funken which is a shortened form of the Norwegian word for something like functionary building. It dates from the 1940s I think which doesn't sound right, since they have up b&w photos in the halls of the local Nazi invasion and occupation during WW2. Clay points out that it was probably built after the war was over and the Nazis were gone.
Clay also says I should say that we may or may not have reliable Internet or any Internet onboard Nordstjernen. We may not be able to publish posts here for a while. He also says that he couldn't get photos uploaded from Nordkapp sailing along the coast so he has no plans to upload photos from this ship up here. I will still be typing up notes each day and if I can I will publish them and he will add photos when he gets to it. We should be back here at Spitsbergen Hotel on Friday. We'll get back to Stockholm on July 4 and between then and July 7 we will definitely get caught up.
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