Retro: A Trip To Greenland

One day I decided that I must go to Greenland. If Mrs. Travels wants to go too, that's great, but I will go alone if I have to. This is land that I must see and explore.

It's actually not that easy to get to Greenland. Looking up flights, I found there was a somewhat costly flight from Copenhagen to a city called Kangerlussuaq (as I would find out, this is an easy Greenlandish word). It's an old US airforce base that since has been abandoned by the military (so they say) and made more friendly for the Danish tourism industry. With a population of 499, it's sure to be a thrill!

It's only about 4hrs from Denmark to Kangerlussuaq, but landing was the best part. We had to do some turns to get in the right direction of the air strip, in a valley with mountain cliffs close enough to feel more like we might hit them rather than one wanting to reach out and touch them.

Once we landed and I deplaned, look around, it felt like a different world. The "airport" itself was a building the size of a hotel, and also I would find out later, the most happening joint to be at in the city.

Once I arrived, I finally found the people who were to greet me and show me to my hostel (I found not find a hotel there unsurprisingly). I explicitly paid extra to book the "nicest" hostel which had availability. But I was soon told that they were very sorry, they overbooked that one, and I'd be staying at another, much less convenient one, farther from the airport. That really helped tone down my customer service expectations I took with me from Copenhagen.

A good 30 minute, very silent and lonely walk or bus ride if you're lucky to catch them / they are actually running on time, from the place where basically everything is: food, transport and some tour pickups.

I'm lucky I didn't have to share the room :-)

Internet was also super expensive! 90 Kroner (~$14 USD) per 2 hours of low-speed WiFi.

Not much to this place. Cold, dry, bare but ripe for adventure!

That cliff is at least 10x taller than I could possibly capture in this photo. #valleylife

Here's the local food/drug store. There was about... one, in the entire city.

Going out hiking to and from the airport gave me some glimpses of simple beauty.

Sporting such delicateses such as whale blubber and other things which I have already forgotten (likely fermented not-too-tasty's).

One really cool thing I got to do was meet some interesting people from all over while I was there. Had dinner with a woman from Australia and two men, one from Switzerland and another named Wolfgang (of course) from Germany. Wolfgang really made my time in Greenland much better as good company typically does. He was writing a book on Greenland, so Kanger was one of his stops across the mainland. Sweet guy.

So I head out hiking one morning on my own just to explore. After about an 45 minutes outside the city, it was even more quiet and barren. Wow, I didn't imagine I'd spook myself just being out there. Some cool sights along the way, though. Going further out I encountered random things that look like they were left there by the sea and outposts seemingly way back on the mountain above. I could also see the ship in the distance which would be taking the AU lady and Swiss man to cruise the Northwest Passage later on as they told me.

Back in town, the streets were all named stuff like this.

Did I mention the airport was the hangout place? Reindeer burger... mmmmmm.

Another view of the backside of my camp where my hostel was. I think they just dropped a bunch of old school buses there one day and were like, "Good luck with the tourism industry!". I also ran into a couple Austrian ladies standing outside my hostel. I asked them if they were staying there and they said no. I was confused on why anyone would still be outside without being fully covered up with gear, but I went on. I spoke to Wolfgang and he told me they said they were hiking all over Greenland. That's why there were fine just standing around outside doing nothing, they were taking a break and did not fear the cold at all. Impossible to run into these people very often in life, quite a treat.

Next up, the exciting ice cap tour. Lots of interesting things to see and learn about along the way there.

A plane crashed here once back when.

Yeah, these people certainly know global warming is a thing. That should be snow, not dirt!

Starting to get a glimpse of the ice.

So much melting....

Onwards we go!

Snow and ice as far as the eye can see.

Headed back to camp before dark, so let's enjoy some reindeer soup (they like reindeer)!

I believe this map was in the museum (or maybe the airport).

Time to go home! It was quite an adventure. From watching "Mandela" on the TV in the community room of the hostel because I had had enough of being outside and wandering around, to buying some seal fur purse for Mrs. Travels, to the food and general experience of being on such a unique place in the world, this trip was one I hope to never forget.

So long, Greenland. I recommend next time you're going to be in Copenhagen for a while and feel like some adventure, make arrangements to visit this special land that, as I now know for sure, it's so green.