I want to visit Svalbard (1 Viewer)

[Scientician 0.8]

http://wikitravel.org/en/Svalbard

It's owned by the Norwegians but has a sizeable Russian settlement too. It's a group of island up north above the Arctic circle. Sounds fuckin' mental. To quote:

"The biggest threat on Svalbard is polar bears (isbjørn), some 500 of which inhabit the main islands at any one time. Five people have been killed by polar bears since 1973, and if travelling outside settlements you are required to carry a rifle at all times to protect yourself. They can be rented for 100 kr and up per day, no license needed, although experience in using it is very strongly advised (or, better yet, stick to guided tours). Do not underestimate the speed of polar bears (you can not outrun it). Polar bears can be extremely unpredictable and are far more dangerous than european brown bears."

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

dont they have a university there? perhaps you could enroll.

polar bears can fuck off. i saw this documentary once about this guy living alone on an island in the sea north of russia, a scientist or nature dude. ithe place was frozen over most of the year, but cleared in summer. anyway, there were fuck loads of polar bears around but he insisted on having no gun and when the polar bears would come sniffing around his hut (loads of them, like) he'd run out and shout and chase them way. polar bears = scaredy cats, no bother.

 

[shitepipe]

a guy from work went there in november. spent two weeks up sround northern norway, travelled over toward the russian border, then flew up to svalbard for a few days. mad old spot by all accounts...

 

[Lili Marlene]

haven't you read northern lights??

you don't want to go there

 

[frona]

haven't you read northern lights??

you don't want to go there

Exactly dude.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Nah, I haven't read Northern Lights. Is Svalbard evil or sumthin?

 

[frona]

Nah, I haven't read Northern Lights. Is Svalbard evil or sumthin?

Bad, scary shit happens there. The place itself probably isn't evil, more an out of the way place to get evil done! This might be applicable to real life!

 

[hugh]

Fuck yeah .. I'd love to check that place out. Went to Tromso (up the top of Norway) for a few days once. It was cool ... I mean cold.

 

[flashback]

my ex was up there a while back.

she sent me a few photos of her doing her thing out there. One thing I noticed was, well you know those emergancy survival suits that you get on boats?
The oragne ones, that the trawler men have stored away for when shit goes very badly wrong and then they all leggit in and pull it on as the boat sinks, like a big dry suit you step into, and then when the water hits a sensor on it, it inflates, and you float about in the ocean waiting for a chopper to see your beacon and scoop you up?


Well, in Svalbard they don't bother waiting for the shit to hit the fan before you put on those mad suits.
They assume that the shit's default position is sufficiently close to the fan to merit wairing them bascally all the time when you are anywhere near water.

I thought that summed the place up pretty well.

I'd love to go there.