Northern Norway-bound

This, our little country is so big! I’m currently in the airport in Tromsø, waiting for a late night plane to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Judging by the mumbling couples around me, I will be flying with a lot of German tourists. It is 10 pm a Sunday in August, and the sun is still shining brightly on the perky snowspotted mountains outside the window. This is so beautiful! I called Min and excitedly told him I was buying ice cream because it’s sunny out.


Most of my previous travelling has taken place in the south of Norway, between West and East; flights with less than an hour duration. I have been to Tromsø once, celebrating New Year’s with a friend whose family lives here. That time there was no sun, just a few hours of daylight from noon till 2pm. One day we overslept the light, and most of our time we walked from café to café in a Christmas decorated downtown.

I have another 2 hour flight ahead of me. Looking at a map, it seems Iceland lies very south compared to Svalbard. Is Iceland really south of the Arctic Circle? I talked to a woman from Alta on the plane; she had been to a blues festival outside of Oslo. It amazes me how big this country is. “Mitt lille land” (my little country) is a phrase people have tattooed to their skin after the massacre July 22^nd. Our country is bigger than I’ve thought, and though the population up north is sparse, we’re all Norwegian.

I think this flight is going to be as full as the other two I’ve been on tonight. More Germans with lots of handluggage. I am going to eavesdrop and perhaps take part in the conversations.