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Experiences and upgrades during GemTube development

Arctica (Svalbard)

Our trip to Antarctica was fantastic and the very special occasion we went there for repeated once again in the summer as well, so a thought of visiting both polar regions just a few months apart really intrigued us. This time only for a few days though, because 99 % of Arctic tours are “just” around Svalbard anyway and it's quite pricy there.

To our surprise my wife found a 6 day trip with 4 day expedition cruise, similar to the Antarctic one (yay!), costing as much as just accommodation in Longyearbyen with guided day trips for the same duration. It was no brainer, we booked it matter of hours.

Fixed dates made airfare booking much simpler. I found 4-leg itinerary, via Brussels, Oslo and Tromsø, with Business Class for just €20 extra! But  the flight home wasn't ideal, so we went for the much cheaper 2-leg option, with almost a full day in Oslo.

Home-smoked seal, reindeer and whale.

It felt kinda weird to just hop on a plane and go way past the Arctic Circle – no all day flight, no Drake Passage... Per usual, we didn't hesitate to taste the local fauna, even though some items on the menu can be controversial.

To my glee the expedition cruise was really similar to the Antarctic one, the weather and scenery as well, although “low-grade” – smaller icebergs, fewer animals (oops, did we ate them all?), but more colorful surroundings.

Because, to my very surprise, I didn't mind the polar plunge in the Southern Ocean, I was ready to repeat it. But this time as a polar swim – going to the icy water from a shore. Yikes!

I confirmed my previous experience, that I need to endure first ~20 seconds of big discomfort, but after that I can stay in the water for minutes. The only downside was we both injured our feet from stomping on stones while rushing into the 6 °C / 43 °F water.

Smeerenburg Glacier over Bjørnfjorden

There was a Wi-Fi on the ship and I was curious to try their mobile app, that works only while connected to the on-board Wi-Fi, but it's apparently only for the bigger ships, because it didn't work on this particular expedition ship.

GSM signal kms from Longyearbyen, EU roaming, radio silence in Ny Alesund

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