A visit to Longyearbyen and Pyramiden, Svalbard

Svalbard, near the top of the world, near the arctic, is an exotic place to visit. A territory of Norway, I believe it is self-governing.

There are not many residents, much less tourists, which makes for a more conducive place to visit.

The lonely roads of Longyearbyen. Outside the small town centre, the roads are often deserted with the occasional vehicles and tourists wandering about.

Land of polar bears. It is said that there are more polar bears than people here. Fortunately, the polar bears didn't wander into town looking for food :)

Longyearbyen, and Svalbard in general, is surrounded by beautiful, snow-capped mountains in all directions.

I allowed myself one and a half days in Svalbard. By the time I landed in Longyearbyen, it was about 2pm. I spent the rest of that day wandering around Longyearbyen town centre and souvenir shopping.

On the second day, I have pre-booked a tour by ferry to visit the glacier and Pyramiden. The full day tour is expensive but well worth it. 

A guide picks up all the tourists in a bus in various Longyearbyen accommodations for transfer to the waiting ferry.

Endless views of snow-capped mountains on the ferry.

Glacier ! This ferry also serves as an ice-breaker, breaking through the sheets of ice on the sea to get close to the glacier.

A delicious barbeque lunch is served on board the ferry. Second and more helpings are very much encouraged. The whale meat is especially unique to me! 

Soon, the ferry reached Pyramiden. I alighted from the ferry and transferred onto a waiting bus to get into 'town'. Pyramiden is actually an abandoned Russian mining town. There are not many residents and there is a hotel though.

There is another Russian guide who explains the various structures in Pyramiden.

The mostly walking tour in Pyramiden took up about 2 hours, ending at the hotel with a bar and a souvenir shop, where I had a short rest.

After that, it is straight onto the waiting bus right outside the hotel back to the ferry, then back to Longyearbyen, then onto another bus to the accommodation.

I booked myself a night at the Guesthouse 102, located toward the end of the Longyearbyen, as it has the lowest rates for the day I'm there. It turns out to be a great accommodation. I shall do a separate review of this guesthouse in a subsequent post.

Svalbard is an exotic place that is really worth a visit at least once in a lifetime. June is a good time to go as it's "summer". The weather is still close to freezing, due to the icy winds. But the longer daylight hours allows me to enjoy the scenery for a longer time !

Postponing my China trip and my next upcoming trip

Looks like I won't be going to Hainan Island, China soon. I have earlier booked my Scoot flights to Sanya on Hainan Island and Nanchang which coincides with Scoot's inaugural flight. Due to depart tomorrow.

Due to work commitments, I have no choice but to postpone my upcoming China trip. The fares that I booked are lowest fares and therefore non-refundable, so I won't get back a cent if I'm not able to make the trip for whatever reason.

This is one reason why I usually hesitate to book outside of my usual June and December travel periods.

Fortunately, I have yet to book any other plans in China. So my loss is limited to the flight cost of S$190, a sum that I'm willing to forgo in favour of work.

Now, my next upcoming trip will be in September, which is the return portion of my SQ business class flights New York -> Frankfurt -> Singapore -> Ahmedabad. At this point, I have yet to make any other plans for this trip. This is too much of $ and kf miles to forgo. Fingers crossed that I will be able to make it.

Right now I have random thoughts of doing the Canadian train across from Toronto to Vancouver. This is considered one of the world's scenic train trips. This will take up four days and I'm not sure I have that amount of time for leisure travel. September is usually a busy working month for me. But still, I will do my best to work out an ideal travel plan for myself in September 😀

Thoughts on my most recent trip

It's been a week since I returned from my long haul trip. This post is not on a review, but more generally about my thoughts on travelling.

To me, travelling is an eye-opener. Sometimes, staying in one's own country may limit our vision. By venturing beyond our borders, it exposes us to a broader world and the people out there. There is always something to learn on every trip.

On this particular trip, I have learnt about the goodness in people, as in strangers in a faraway land. There are always good- and bad-natured people around us, whether in my own country or in foreign land. 

While on a ferry from Longyearbyen to Pyramiden, the weather turns cold and windy. My windbreaker, though good, is not exactly sufficient for that kind of weather. After coming ashore in Pyramiden, two tourists on the same ferry ride, unknown to me, lent me a scarf and another windbreaker. Seems like they have brought additional along.

Do they have to lend me? Definitely not. But a kind gesture suggests there are indeed good-natured people around. Even as far away at the top of the world. Probably being the only asian tourist onboard does help. Haha! At the end of the Pyramiden tour, I returned the scarf and the windbreaker. We boarded the same ferry back to Longyearbyen and went our separate ways, probably never to meet again.

This kind act has further encouraged me to venture beyond Singapore, to meet new people in a new environment. As long as I'm able to, I would continue to travel to another new country, where I know I will meet and interact with good-natured people and new experiences to explore.

SAS Oslo to Longyearbyen flight review

After a pleasant overnight stay at the Oslo airport arrivals area, I checked in early for my SAS flight. At this airport, SAS has many self check-in kiosks, but there are manned check-in counters as well. I used the counter to check in and drop my baggage. SAS does allow all its passengers to check in one piece of baggage free.

Though its considered a domestic flight, it still departs from the international terminal.

In the past, SAS used to provide free breakfast to all its passengers on all flights departing before 9am, but seems like this has been abolished. Now, its only a coffee/tea service. Food becomes buy-on-board.

On this short return flight from Oslo to Longyearbyen, what's interesting is the scenery outside, and not the service.

Somewhere over Scandinavia

The extent of service on the short 3 hr flight

A smooth flight over the Barents Sea

Reaching Svalbard, the world's northernmost big city

De-icing the wing

There is no jetbridges at this small airport, which only receives a few flights a day. So all passengers deplane by stairs made the short walk in the cold into the terminal building.

A polar bear greets me at the baggage claim. Haha !

Nope, there's no Singapore. Nearest is Bangkok or Hong Kong.

Svalbard airport operates an airport bus service that meets all flights. After claiming my baggage, I proceeded to board the waiting bus parked beside the terminal building. After seated on the bus, the driver then came around to collect the ticket money one by one. There is a discount for purchase of return tickets.

Yup, its a pleasant morning flight on the way to Longyearbyen and an even early morning 2am flight back to Oslo. Though it was delayed to 2:45am. For a short haul flight, SAS is as good as it gets. The complimentary coffee/tea service is a welcome. Sadly no free breakfast. On the SAS B737 aircraft which services this route, there is no usb port. However, on the SAS A320 aircraft which services the Copenhagen to Faroe Island, there is actually a usb port. Legroom is similar to any other narrowbody aircraft. I didn't try the recline, though I guess it will be similar as well.

I forgot whether I booked or was assigned window seats. But the scenery is fantastic on this exotic route. In June, the sun never really sets in Svalbard, so there is great window view on the return journey as well.

Overnighting at Oslo Gardermoen Airport

Here I am in the Lufthansa business class lounge at Frankfurt airport, after a refreshing shower, enjoying the food, the comfortable sofa seating with leg rest and the views over the tarmac.

This lounge fortunately opens at 5:00am in the morning, in time for me as I woke up ~10 minutes later. I overnighted at the airport departure area, right across the entrance to the lounge.

I can't believe that I actually slept soundly for ~ 7 hours. At the airport. I must have been really tired. I woke up only after feeling my phone alarm vibration. Haha!

Being Lufthansa's home airport lounge, there are plenty of comfortable seating, clean showers, though hot food is limited. 

I have used this lounge several times now, as this is the second time I'm flying with SQ from Singapore, via Frankfurt, to New York City. 

Previously, I took SQ26, an A380 overnight flight from Singapore, with only 1.5 hours transit in Frankfurt, in both directions, before leaving for New York. So there is only time for me to take a shower in the lounge.

This time round, I took the SQ326 daytime flight from Singapore, arriving at Frankfurt at night, before continuing with SQ26 the next morning to New York. This gives me more time to enjoy the lounge proper.

This lounge has perfect tarmac views. I even saw the SQ A380 flight taxiing on the runway and subsequently on the taxiway to the gate area. What a magnificent aircraft !

At this moment, I saw a thai airways B77W aircraft being towed from the gate to the parking bay for its return flight later in the day.

When I first started accessing the airport lounge, I used to fill myself up with the buffet food. Ends up, I can't finish the airplane food. So now, I don't fill up at the buffet anymore. Like now, I only have the scrambled eggs (the only hot dish on offer right now), fruits, a piece of cheese bread (offered by a staff walking around) and drinks. So now I leave space for the SQ business class cuisine, which is always a delight!

Anyway, in this post, I wanted to briefly review my overnight experience in Oslo airport landside. I arrived at Oslo with Ryanair and was scheduled to depart with SAS the next day. As I didn't check in online, I had to go through immigration to landside and check in again the next day. On hindsight, I should have check in online and simply stay at airside. 

Anyway, at the Oslo arrivals level, there is a pizza restaurant with long sofa seating. At night, after the restaurant closes, the seating area remains accessible. When I reach the area, fortunately there is a sofa available. Making it a comfortable night for sleeping. Oslo airport is quiet in the middle of the night, on the arrivals level, and feels safe. So definitely I will not hesitate to overnight there again if the need arises.

Ryanair London Stansted to Oslo Gardermoen flight review

Now, I'm overnighting in Frankfurt airport for my tomorrow's flight to New York City. Sadly, I could not enter the lounge as my flight is only tomorrow. 

Till now, I have basically completed my European tour this June. These few days, I'm flying some SQ business class flights which I booked at a promotion. These include AMD-SIN-FRA-JFK and SIN-OSAKA.

These 4 sectors will be on 4 different aircraft types: A330, B77W, A380 and B787-10. So I will get to experience 4 different business class configurations. Between these 4 types, I expect the B77W and A380 to feature similar seats, with the A380 having a wider seat due to a larger width of the aircraft.

From London Bridge, getting to London Stansted airport requires a simple  connection from the metro to the airport train.

This is my first time taking a Ryanair flight and I'm satisfied with the flight, knowing it is a budget carrier. However, one thing that I must remember is to print the boarding pass after checking in online. Though Ryanair has in place mobile boarding passes, there are mixed reviews online as to whether non-EU, or Singaporean like me are able to use the mobile boarding pass. Otherwise, a hefty fee is payable at the airport check-in counter to print the boarding pass.

Anyway, there is a short queue for the boarding pass or visa check, following which I proceeded to security. In my case, as I do not need a visa to visit Oslo, I can proceed to security directly with my printed boarding pass. The queue here is very long so do set aside sufficient time here.

After security is the mandatory walk through a curvy duty-free shop. Having flown to various European airports this June, I noticed that several airports here also has a similar curvy layout for the duty-free shop.

London Stansted airport has limited waiting area with power sockets. Fortunately, I manage to get a seat in the open area with power sockets and proceeded to charge my devices while the flight departs late.

Saw this unique giraffe restaurant !

Ryanair is a budget carrier. So everything is buy on board.

There are no seat pockets at all

This flight went on smoothly. Though there are many mixed online reviews, I'm satified with the flight itself. I didn't purchase any extras or any food on board.

First capsule hostel in London and a re-visit to London !

I'm now waiting at the boarding gate in Copenhagen for my SAS flight to Faroe Islands. It is an exotic place to visit for many and also one of the last frontiers for travellers like me. Haha!

Talking about last frontiers, this reminded me of the Air Greenland A330 aircraft that I spotted at Copenhagen airport. It is also departing at the same time as my flight. Hopefully, I'm able to visit Greenland one day.

Currently, I do not have any more bucket list, having fulfilled mine a couple of years back. Nowadays, I travel mostly based on cheap air ticket prices. Nevertheless, there are some countries I still hope to visit if I manage to book cheap tickets, such as Greenland, Ireland, South Africa, Chile and Argentina. No regrets if I don't get to visit them 😀

Back to the subject of this post. This is my third time visiting the city of London. The attractions are still the same, yet I find it refreshing to spend time wandering in the city.

For my one night in London, I decided to book the St Christopher's Hostel. Specifically to try out its capsule, the first in London.

Yup, I'm continuing this post from the comfort of Hotel Streym on Faroe Island. I highly recommend this hotel for the budget traveller and yet it offers many frills such as free coffee and tea 24/7 and the usual hotel amenities. Again, I shall leave this review to another post.

Back to my London tour..

I seek out this capsule hostel, London's first, near London bridge. It was an easy 10 minutes walk from the metro station which direct train connection from London Gatwick airport.

The iconic telephone box in London

First impression of the capsule. Similar size to my prior experiences. 

Shower facilities are kept clean. One thing to note, they do not provide bath amenities. In fact, no amenities are provided at all, much like a hostel.

For the price I paid, I got better value in my previous capsule stays. But then again, this is London, accommodation stays is definitely more expensive than in other countries or cities. Anyway, one night in this capsule is sufficient experience for me. I'm certainly not coming back for more!

The iconic revamped London city bus

This is the old school London city bus from the yesteryear. Seems to service exclusively on route 15.

Tower bridge

London is still an attractive destination for me, despite retaining the same attractions for years! 

Norwegian Air Singapore to London gatwick flight review

I'm writing this post while waiting for my flight at Zagreb airport. Fortunately, my travels this round has been pretty smooth thus far, including my experience with the Croatian ferry and train trips. I shall leave them to a subsequent post.

On this trip, I have gained valuable experiences and insights. So instead of waiting for my travels to complete then I start reviewing the trip, I decided to start reviewing on the go, so that I can still remember the experiences. Haha!

My Europe adventures started with my Norwegian Air long haul flight from Singapore to London Gatwick, one of their longest flights to date. I believe they only started this route for about a year. I booked this flight at a time when they were having promotions. Costing only S$215 one way for a ~13 hours direct flight, it is considered a bargain to me. Other carriers were available at least double this price.

Norwegian Air is a budget airline, so the cheapest fare comes with only the seat. I booked this fare without any extras, no food, seat selection, etc.

This is my first time travelling with Norwegian long haul on their B787 dreamliner.

As a budget carrier, Norwegian Air, I believe is one of the few, if not the only budget carriere, to install PTV for free entertainment for all its passengers, including the lowest paying fares.

It even comes with a usb port at every seat free for use. Unlike Scoot which actually charges for the power socket.

The large dreamliner window and automatic shades is always a pleasing feature.

After take-off, fly past Singapore's south. On a clear day like this, it is possible to spot the Singapore flyer and the MBS. Of course, the high rise flats in the background and the many ships in the foreground is always a distinctive feature when flying to or from Singapore changi airport. 

This flight experiences light to moderate turbulence over the bay of bengal, a turbulence hot spot for flights. See the uneven flight path as the plane skirts around the thunderstorms in that area. Definitely one of the bumpier flights I have been on in recent memory. Just not sure whether is it light or moderate turbulence. There wasn't any spillage of drinks though.

On this long flight, I alternated between movies, tv shows and a shut-eye. I hardly sleep on planes, even in business or first class (on those rare occasions). I actually survived this long, daytime flight without ordering any food or drinks.

Economy class was in a standard 3-3-3 layout, similar to other full service airlines on the dreamliner. Fortunately, this flight wasn't full at all. I had the window seat while another passenger occupy the aisle seat, leaving the middle seat empty. In fact, I believe he moves one row back, otherwise, I could have the whole row to myself. Oh well, I can't have my cake and eat it too!

China Airlines actually serves London gatwick. Most premium airlines usually serve London Heathrow. Some serve both.

While walking towards arrival, I spotted this rare Aurigny turboprop flying the London Gatwick to Guernsey route. Guernsey is on an island in the English Channel, between England and Europe. I probably won't visit this island.

Yup, in conclusion, Norwegian Air is definitely a budget carrier I will fly with long haul. It's free PTVs and usb port is clearly an advantage compared to other LCCs. Scoot is also starting a route to Berlin soon, but without any free entertainment or power socket. For now, I will stick with Norwegian when heading to the UK and Europe.

Oslo airports connection: my experience

Right now, I'm sitting at the Skopje Airport cafe waiting to check in for my flight. Fortunately, there are power sockets in the cafe by the long tables available to charge my phone. Macedonia, in particular, Skopje is an interesting country and city to visit.

In my short tour of Skopje, I'm the only Chinese, and possibly Asian tourist around. So when touring tourist attractions where I stand out significantly, I sometimes become one of the attractions. Haha!

Luckily, I have gotten used to it, having been to coutries such as the Baltic states and Chile, where Asian tourists are far and few between. I will talk about my Skopje tour in a separate post. 

I wanted to talk about my flight connections in Oslo yesterday. Originally, I booked my SAS flight from Longyearbyen to Oslo Gardermoen, scheduled to land at 0525. 

Then I booked another separate ticket from Oslo Torp to Skopje, Macedonia, scheduled to depart at 0945 same day.

Now, on paper, I have about 4 hours 20 minutes between the flights. Looks comfortable to me. However, in reality, things always turn out differently, due to murphy's law.

My SAS flight from Longyearbyen to Oslo was delayed by ~40 minutes due to late inbound aircraft. As time wasn't made up in the air, I only landed at ~0605. 

Now, there is a R11 train connection between the two airports, departing at 0613 from Oslo Gardermoen airport. In the end, the baggage claim took about ~20 minutes and I missed that train. The next train was due to depart at 0713, arriving at Oslo Torp station at 0912. Now, my wizzair flight to Skopje is schedule to depart at 0945. Reaching the airport ~30 minutes before the flight is never a good idea.

Nevertheless, I still took up the challenge and took the 0713 train. In my mind, I had already prepared for my missed connection, possibly my first missed connection ever since I started travelling. Haha !

The train arrived on time at Torp station, where the shuttle bus was already waiting at the platform to whisk passengers to the airport in 5 minutes. By the time I reached Torp airport, it was ~0917. Check-in counters for the wizzair flight had already closed. 

Fortunately, I had checked in online and had the mobile boarding pass in the wizzair app. So, I hurried to security with hardly any queues. Oslo Torp airport is a fairly small airport and easy to navigate. Though the passage through the duty free shop took up some time. Soon I reached the passport control again with hardly any queue. Then I proceeded to reach the gate counter.

The gate agent was not familiar with the Singaporean passport and so had to check for my visa requirement (if any) to Skopje. 

Fortunately, the Singaporean passport is ranked the top passport in the world in terms of visa free entry to many countries. That includes Macedonia.

With that, and with no baggage weigh, I proceeded to board the wizzair plane by walking out of the terminal building, on the tarmac, and onto the plane.

Yup, I made it. A blessing in disguise. I'm very thankful for the circumstances that made it possible. The punctuality of the Oslo train, the shuttle bus to Torp airport, short queues at Torp airport.😀

Probably, in future, I will certainly leave more time for my connecting flights.

Singapore Airlines B787-10 business class review

After overnighting at the pleasant Oslo airport, I checked in early and am now waiting for my SAS flight to Longyearbyen. After the centralized security screening, there are many comfortable airside seating places for plane spotting, so I decided to savour my review of my Singapore Airlines B787-10 business class flight review from Osaka to Singapore.

The Singapore Airlines B787-10 features the latest regional business class seats in a 1-2-1 fully flat seating configuration. The previous generation of seats on the A330 is in a 2-2-2 seating with almost flat seating, so this is a definite product upgrade.

Indeed, after trying out the seats, I felt that it can even be used for long haul flights too!

Advertising the latest Singapore Airlines B787-10 aircraft economy and business class

After checking in at the counter, where the very pleasant lady wished me a happy birthday, I was presented with a lounge pass and invited to use the JAL sakura lounge.

I was even surprised to see 'Happy Birthday' printed on my boarding pass! And the lady even drew some birthday wishes on my boarding pass ! 😀

JAL Sakura lounge. Close to the SQ flight gate. Once again, after presenting my lounge pass and boarding pass to the lounge receptionist, I was wished a happy birthday and invited inside.

When in Japan, the must eats include beef curry and miso soup. They were very flavourful.

The lounge is on the small side. At one point, there seemed to be insufficient seating places. Soon, people cleared and there are empty seats available. While the lounge was kept clean at all times, there seemed to be a limited variety of food and the lack of shower facilities. 

 Soon it was time to board the SQ flight. The business class on that day appears full. SQ seems to be doing well on this route.

This is an exact copy of the menu taken from the flight report website. On the Osaka-Singapore sector, SQ does not provide book the cook for its premium passengers. So all had to book from the in flight menu after take-off. Of all the choices, the most popular is the Japanese meal titled Hanakoireki.

I was seated in row 15, by the time the flight attendant reached me, she had to check whether there is still availability. The first time she came back with the news that they had the main course, but the appetizer was out. Fortunately, she came back a second time with good news. The appetizer was present ! Not sure if it is due to my birthday though. Haha !

The business seats is in a forward facing, staggered position, with alternate rows closer and further from the window. Row 15 is closer to the window and further from the aisle, hence giving more privacy.  

Now we can sleep in a forward facing direction, compared to the long haul version where people had to sleep at a an angle.

The tv screen, as usual, is almost as big as the one I have at home!

Champagne as a welcome drink

For all the window seats, I'm not sure why they designed such that the privacy cover needs to cover more than half of the window.

SQ branded headphones are provided. Not really bose quality.

SQ 787-10 wings

Tray table is pulled out from under the tv screen and can be folded to give double the tray space.

Meal service started with the ever delicious satay. Next time I must try the ones on Malaysia Airlines. Haha ! As per the norm, the satay is served without the table cloth.

Handset

The Singapore Sling. Only available on Singapore Airlines.

Hanakoireki appetizer. Beautifully presented!

Hanakoireki main course. Even more beautifully presented. It comes with miso soup.

Meal service started only about midway in the flight. Upon conclusion of the meal service and after being given a bottle of water, 2 flight attendants came out and wished me happy birthday ! On the tray was a chocolate cake, with deco (to give the smoke effect) and a hand-drawn birthday card.

I asked for a picture with the Singapore Girl on this special occasion !

My thoughts on this flight? The best flight of my life. There is no question why Singapore Airlines is rated a 5-star airline. It provides an excellent hard product with sincere in-flight service, rarely matched with any other airline.

I booked this flight as a Osaka-Singapore return. Now I'm eagerly looking forward to the Singapore-Osaka sector on the B787-10 wonderful business class again, as well as the Ahmedabad-Singapore sector on the A330 business class and the A380 and B77w long haul return Singapore-Frankfurt-New York.