Arctic Ocean 2023 – prelude
This article is part of the series “2023-06: Arctic Ocean cruise KPH”.
When it looks like this on my table …
… then I’m going to travel. I love packing lists and I need them so that I do not forget too much.
At 9 o’clock everything is packed (ca. 50 kilos!). At 10 o’clock the taxi fetches me and takes me to the airport in Tromsø. Two and a half hours we are in the air heading north.
It’s very cloudy but shortly before landing I finally can see something different than sky and clouds: Svalbard’s main island Spitsbergen.
Soon we will land in Longyearbyen, where I landed three month before. But there are some differences.
Last time I travelled with Annika and we went on vacation before I worked in Longyearbyen for a week. Now I’m travelling with some colleagues from the Norwegian Polar Institute. Shortly before we land on the airport I take a snapshot:
There it is: the vessel Kronprins Haakon which is more or less the reason why some colleagues of mine and I travelled north: Tomorrow we will go on board on this ice breaker and start an expedition way up north into the sea ice. For three weeks we will live and work on Kronprins Haakon and I’m so excited that I may be part of this.
Today I had some hours in Longyearbyen. I was quite curious how it would look like in late spring. According to a researcher there is a lot of snow for the season this year. But on sea level the snow has melted away and everything looks soaking wet and muddy. While Svalbard reindeer are probably happy I definitely prefer winter.
If everything goes according plan we will leave Longyearbyen tomorrow at lunch time. I guess it won’t be long until we do not have any regular internet. So probably I will not blog anything about this scientific cruise before I’m back in civilisation.
Bye bye – ha det bra!
P.S.: On Facebook a friend wrote to me: “You must have the best job in the world!”. My answer – short but genuine: “Yes!”
3 comments to “Arctic Ocean 2023 – prelude”
Johanna 2023-06-01 10:53
Viel Erfolg und gute Reise !!
Ricarda 2023-06-02 21:29
Du bist zu beneiden ! Geniesse die Zeit !
way-up-north 2023-06-03 09:50
Vielen Dank, Johanna und Ricarda!