My previous Arctic trips had covered Northern Canada, as well as most of Western Greenland (incl. a trip through Prince Christian Sound and on to Iceland); the Eastern side of Greenland with the big national park and its massive fjord system had still been open item on my bucket list. Another open item was a visit to the Svalbard archipelago – I had tried this one as a land-based winter trip some years back, but the tour got cancelled (as I was the only one interested).

Well – while Svalbard is a relatively easy to get to and an easy-to-book destination, trips to Eastern Greenland are more seldom – with many operators only going there once a season or every other season. Imagine my luck, when I – while crossing the equator on my Papua trip – realized there was a trip to actually combine the two … Svalbard and East Greenland – plus a glimpse into the Norwegian fjord experience. I was game immediately, got booked … well and now things got started.

A early-morning charter flight got us from Hannover to Tromsø (which was a lucky choice, as many other airports were under blocked by the last generation with whole airports closed temporarily, resulting in many flight cancellations and delays) as reliably and on time as a Switch watch – heading North, crossing over Denmark and Norway (incl. great views of mountain ranges, glaciers and fjords) – for an on-time mid-morning arrival in Tromsø … and the fun was now to start.