This travel update is part one of our week in Tromsø, Norway. It covers August 2. “Any text in quotes and Italics has been copied and pasted from some informational website like Wikipedia.”

August 2, 2023 – Odin’s Day: Flying to Tromsø

We woke up in Longyearbyen around 7:00 this morning. The airport bus leaves at 12:30 from the pickup point across the road from us so we had all morning to pack up for departure.

I’ve been seeing these school kids walking past our apartment in the mornings. I’ve read that Longyearbyen has a full complement of the Norwegian public education system. These kids looked like kindergartners.

We got to our pickup spot early and were able to use the kiosk inside the Tourist Information building to check in, get our boarding passes, and get our luggage tags. That was quite convenient. Here’s Patti at the bus stop.

It was a quick bus ride to the airport. Once there we dropped our bags at the automated conveyor and went through security. I got through with no issues this time, but they got Patti for a jar of honey that was just over the size limit. We flew Scandinavian Airlines today, here’s our selfie with the plane.

The plane took off to the west then turned south and we flew about 550 miles south to the mainland. I’m not sure if we were over the Barents Sea or the Norwegian Sea, they kind of blend together here.

There were some pretty views of Svalbard as we left.

The flight took a little less than an hour and a half and when we got near Tromsø there were nice views of the Norwegian coastline.

After the plane landed we got off pretty quickly and walked into the terminal building where we went through immigration. Svalbard is not in the Schengen Zone so we had to get a visa to enter back into Norway. I confirmed with the customs officer that our 7 days in Svalbard did not count towards our 90 allowable days in the Schengen Zone.

I did research in advance, so I knew what to do for transportation to our Airbnb. We walked a couple hundred yards to the airport bus stop and caught the 42 bus into town. Then we transferred to the 33 which dropped us off 50 yards from our Airbnb. Google Maps showed me the quickest bus connections to take. Cost for the bus was 82 NOK, about $8.20 USD and I was able to buy the tickets using the “Tromsø Billett” app on my phone. It was very easy.

This Airbnb is an apartment just a bit south of downtown Tromsø. Here’s Patti in the courtyard, our apartment is on the fifth floor behind her and to the left.

The living/dining/kitchen area is spacious and there’s a large Samsung TV and a Yamaha digital piano.

We have the typical Norwegian bed with the comforter enclosed in a sheet.

The bathroom is roomy, the shower doesn’t leak, and we have a washer/dryer pair.

We’re using the second bedroom to keep our suitcases opened up on the bed.

We have a decent view from the balcony where we can see some of the fjord and the surrounding hills.

The courtyard is pretty, and I see people down there watering the grass every day.

It’s a nice place and less than a mile from downtown.

We didn’t know where to take out the trash so I sent a message to our host. Outside the apartment building are these large metal tubes. We use our apartment key to open a tube then stuff a small bag of garbage into it. It is a vacuum conveyor system. The garbage is air-conveyed up to two kilometers to a collection point where a truck picks it up.

After we familiarized ourselves with our new Airbnb apartment, we walked over to the Eurospar grocery store and got provisions for tomorrow. Then we went back home and unpacked and settled in.