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Information for foreign citizens in Longyearbyen [pdf]
- djha-skin 4y agoThey don't skimp on raising children even up in Svalbard. Clubs for kids and pool open every day and strict anti-abuse laws were what popped out to me as I read it.
- cletus 4y agoI find these extreme enviroments fascinating, in this case polar days and nights (months long each). May I introduce you to Cecilia Blomdahl [1] who documents her life on Svalbard. [1]: https://www.tiktok.com/@sejsejlija?lang=en https://www.tiktok.com/@sejsejlija?lang=en
- kiratp 4y agoSame person, but on YouTube for those staying away from Tiktok https://youtube.com/c/CeciliaBlomdahl https://youtube.com/c/CeciliaBlomdahl
- TheSpiceIsLife 4y agoThanks for posting this, hadn't heard about the channel before. Always wanted to experience life above the artic circle, but watching these videos will do instead.
- vallanceroad 4y agoJust adding another recommendation for those at all interested to check out the above YouTube channel. You can choose a video at random, they're not very serial, but they are fascinating if you're interested remote places.
- ncfausti 4y agoInteresting – I was just looking into visiting/living in Svalbard for a couple of months for the unique experience of it. Unfortunately, I could only find one apartment building [1] and the price for an apartment was $6,000 USD. I've read that most of the apartments are owned by companies, and you have to work for the company to have access to the apartment. Does anyone know of any other alternatives for a short stay there? [1] https://en.visitsvalbard.com/where-to-stay/svalbard-hotell-lodge-p2520763 https://en.visitsvalbard.com/where-to-stay/svalbard-hotell-l...
- throwaway290 4y agoHave you looked up hotels/hostels e.g. on Booking.com? Last time I checked this fall there were enough reasonably priced options. As an aside, IME the expectation that you can show up and rent an actual apartment for a month or two is just not met (locals don't like that and/or law explicitly forbids) in many places around the world, not just Svalbard. Being able to do it for $6000 or at all is seems fair. In Seoul, for example, you'd need to have substantially more than $6000, possibly two or three times that will be required as a deposit even if you are able to find someone who rents you, a tourist, an actual flat in a residential building for two months (which I doubt; note that on Airbnb most rentals listed as "flats" mean you get a private room with shared space).
- cdibona 4y agoWe stayed at the Radisson blue and it was pretty terrific, could walk to the main drag, etc... I mean , it was -35, but it was great.
- throwaway290 4y agoDidn't know there was a Radisson there, and considering the location not crazy expensive either. When researching a possible trip I saw more budget-friendly hotels for longer stay too.
- alister 4y agoSo an isolated, remote, thinly populated location like Longyearbyen with almost zero tourism doesn't have many short-term apartment rentals. Fine, that makes sense. But what's the story with Seoul? It's among the densest and most connected cities in the world with plenty of tourism and business visitors. Why is finding a real short-term apartment so difficult? Can you explain more about the legal or cultural problem there?
- blamazon 4y agoOne thing I didn't see in here that is absolutely relevant to life (but perhaps considered a foregone conclusion by the Norwegian government) is the concept of midnight sun and polar night, where the sun is periodically either above or below the horizon for 24 hours a day for months on end. It's a real mind-bender and can be very tough on the spirit in the winter. Quoting the 'time in Svalbard' Wikipedia article: > As Svalbard is located north of the Arctic Circle, it experiences midnight sun during summer and polar night during winter. At the 74° parallel north, the midnight sun lasts 99 days and polar night 84 days, while the respective figures at the 81° parallel north are 141 and 128 days.[11] In Longyearbyen, midnight sun lasts from 20 April until 23 August, and polar night lasts from 26 October until 15 February. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Svalbard#Geography_and_solar_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Svalbard#Geography_and... If you desire to experience such polar wackiness in a less isolated location, one place I can definitely recommend is the mainland Norwegian city of Tromsø.
- sorenjan 4y ago> It is cold in Svalbard. The average temperature in summer is 5 degrees Celsius. During winter, the temperature can drop below minus 30 degrees Celsius. The polar night lasts from October to February.
- blamazon 4y agoAh, so it is in there, I missed it. (I'm not cut out for life in Svalbard, for this and many other reasons) I love how condensed that statement is.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Nullabillity 4y agoPeople always talk about the winters, but the thing that really messes with you is the summers, if you're light-sensitive then that's a really long period of not getting any proper sleep.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoIt looks like an interesting place to visit (in the summer), but I don't think I'd want to live there. I watched a pretty terrible horror movie that was filmed there. Don't remember the name.
- disposedtrolley 4y agoI can recommend a podcast set there if you’re after more Svalbard-themed entertainment! https://thewhitevault.com https://thewhitevault.com
- docandrew 4y agoNot sure about a movie but I think the horror-ish show Fortitude was filmed there. First season was good, then downhill from there.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoYeah, that was an interesting show. This is the movie I was thinking of: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9183978/?ref_=adv_li_tt https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9183978/?ref_=adv_li_tt A somewhat forgettable indie flick.
- dang 4y agoRelated: Svalbard – where the sun don’t shine (for 5 months) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33577717 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33577717 - Nov 2022 (1 comment) Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago that anyone can call home - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29865861 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29865861 - Jan 2022 (5 comments) Bearing Witness to Svalbard’s Fragile Splendor - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29463405 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29463405 - Dec 2021 (3 comments) Editor of world's northernmost English-language newspaper expelled from Svalbard - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28154838 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28154838 - Aug 2021 (1 comment) Svalbard's Alcohol Quotas - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26670465 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26670465 - April 2021 (158 comments) Svalbard is as close as you can get to a place with open borders - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20642156 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20642156 - Aug 2019 (253 comments) Running the Arctic’s Alt-Weekly Newspaper - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20626734 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20626734 - Aug 2019 (5 comments) Pretty sure there are other threads - anyone? (I left out the ones about the seed vault and other topics that mention Svalbard but aren't related to residency)
- morsch 4y agoRelated: Newcomer's Welcome Package: Thule Air Base, Greenland - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30408226 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30408226
- zh3 4y agoArticle from Cambridge University journal "Polar Record" [0] (I came across this while looking up the film "The Age of Stupid" [1], which IIRC had the Svalbard Seed Bank as more-or-less the last place standing after severe climate change). "The trouble with local community in Longyearbyen, Svalbard: How big politics and lack of fellesskap hinder a not-yet-decided future" [0] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article/trouble-with-local-community-in-longyearbyen-svalbard-how-big-politics-and-lack-of-fellesskap-hinder-a-notyetdecided-future/22F2A72B1F3EF4D33A7DA812B81D22EC# https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Stupid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Stupid
- slater 4y agoMebbe add a [PDF] to the link title?
- dang 4y agoAh yes. Thanks!
- rippercushions 4y agoBasically the same info in a more digestible format: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Svalbard https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Svalbard I find the ex-Soviet colonies particularly fascinating. One, Barentsburg, is still operating, and living there as a coal miner sounds absolutely hellish. Soviet era tech and safety standards, extreme climate, nearly entirely male population, living off cabbage and canned food -- it's like the gulag, only at least you get paid for it.
- gnull 4y ago> The Barentsburg Pomor Museum presents Pomor culture, Arctic flora and fauna, and archaeological objects preserved in the permafrost. Wow, this is hardcore. Wikipedia says that Russian Pomors reached there around the same time vikings did. (Pomors are Russians who historically lived far North.)
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- elamje 4y agoHah! I was just there. It’s very fascinating, I found where GitHubs Arctic Code Vault is, and saw the Soviet mines! https://twitter.com/elamje/status/1575524944506605573?s=20&t=UvlaTcKzdntMNvDzlkE19w https://twitter.com/elamje/status/1575524944506605573?s=20&t...
- zh3 4y agoAnd the Svalbard Seed bank [0] - arguably more important than a github backup :) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
- staplung 4y agoThe show Fortitude is basically set in Svalbard. Technically, the island is called Fortitude but basically just for artistic freedom; it's basically Svalbard. Even though the show is fiction I learned from it that you're essentially required to carry firearms whenever you leave town so that you don't get eaten by polar bears.
- Rebelgecko 4y agoIIRC the legal requirement is to carry an "anti-polar bear device". Rifles are the most common but flare guns are also allowed since they can scare the bears off.
- kimburgess 4y ago“Due to the polar bear threat on Svalbard, anyone travelling outside the settlements must be equipped with suitable means of scaring off polar bears. The office of the Governor of Svalbard also recommends carrying firearms with you.” https://www.sysselmesteren.no/en/weapon/ https://www.sysselmesteren.no/en/weapon/
- dylan604 4y agoWhat's the typical cloud coverage in Svalbard? Is it typically cloudy? I've always been interested in the polar night strictly from an astronomy viewing perspective. Does the convenience of 24 hour night sky become moot from near constant cloud cover?
- blamazon 4y agoHaven't been to Svalbard but sadly my experience on the mainland in Norway and other nearby places with polar night is that cloud cover is near constant. Perhaps 75% of the time. But, the sky is jaw dropping the rest of the time.
- cromulent 4y agoThe observatory there has some sky-pointed cameras to check for the aurora borealis etc. When I was there in January there was quite a lot of clear sky. http://kho.unis.no http://kho.unis.no https://virmalised.ee/aurora-live-cameras/#svalbard https://virmalised.ee/aurora-live-cameras/#svalbard
- dylan604 4y agoWhat constitutes "quite a lot" in your terms?
- tempodox 4y ago> The use of all violence is prohibited in Norway. You are not allowed to abuse children or use any other kind of corporeal punishment when bringing up children. Severe penalties may be applied to anyone who has physically abused a child. Never saw that before. This should be standard everywhere.
- simongray 4y agoIt is standard in a lot of places: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Map_of_domestic_corporal_punishment_abolition.svg/1280px-Map_of_domestic_corporal_punishment_abolition.svg.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Ma... I can't vouch for how seriously those different countries look at the issue, though, despite what they have legislated, e.g. I once had a relationship with a Korean who had been physically abused by both parents and teachers. Here in Denmark it was outlawed in the 90s and isn't very common.
- refurb 4y agoPretty sure it’s the law everywhere
- notch656a 4y agoAll violence sounds pretty extreme to me by most standards. For instance, boxing would be illegal, and toddlers would be in jail if seen hitting their parents/siblings. In practice I imagine it means something like "no violence from someone larger to someone smaller." Most places no one really gives a shit if it goes the other way around, like young kid hitting parent or wife hitting husband.
- elygre 4y agoThings being forbidden does not necessarily mean that jail time is the response. Many societies (and oh how I want to write “most civilized societies”, so I do) also apply different standards to kids than to adults.
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- bergenbergen 4y ago“if you are willing to shovel shit in this part of our country it does not entitle you or your family to the rights of the mainland”
- notch656a 4y agoHey they could send European refugees there so they wouldn't have to risk them gaining residency/citizenship in Norway proper. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norwegian-politicians-propose-putting-refugees-on-svalbard-remote-arctic-islands-with-more-polar-bears-than-people-10498859.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norwegian-po...
- kimburgess 4y agoAs well as being a stunningly surreal environment, there’s a really, really good whisky bar there too: https://www.karlsbergerpub.no/ https://www.karlsbergerpub.no/. The walk there in -30C is worth it.
- axelfontaine 4y agoWhen I was there in the winter, the locals still brought their children to kindergarten by bicycle with -30C! So much for weather as an excuse not to cycle!
- Broken_Hippo 4y agoThe tell folks, "There isn't bad weather, only bad clothes" - in no small part because folks walk in the winter as well. I had winter in Indiana, but I had to change the way I dealt with it when I moved to Norway. And those bikes probably have studs in the tires, but admittedly, those folks riding are braver than I am.
- dsign 4y agoLong winter-night and extreme cold accounted for, I bet that living there is far more enjoyable than living in certain "tropical paradises," like Cuba. In that regard, the Governor of Svalbard has more power than planetary weather.
- TazeTSchnitzel 4y agoThe notion of being covered by the social insurance system for only four weeks after unemployment is quite fascinating. I guess it's a compromise between having to completely exempt Svalbard from Norway's social insurance system (and thus having to find some replacement for it) and completely including it (and thus having to raise taxes). This might seem almost libertarian in design, but it's important to remember that Svalbard is not meant to be a self-sufficient place where people can live their entire lives. You literally are not allowed to die there, and I assume the solution to unemployment is to simply return where you came from. No normal place has this luxury.
- sva_ 4y ago> You literally are not allowed to die there Tell that the polar bears https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Svalbard_polar_bear_attack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Svalbard_polar_bear_att...
- alister 4y agoAmazingly, streetview is available for Longyearbyen in Google Maps. You can see from the silhouette that it was done by a guy on a bicycle with some sort of backpack mounted camera -- the results look just as good as regular Google streetview. I assume it was some sort of volunteer effort rather than a Google employee or contractor. EDIT: It looks like it's a German company that's doing it: https://www.mapyourtown.com/ https://www.mapyourtown.com/
- xenocratus 4y agoFor those interested in experiencing Svalbard quite thoroughly in the summer, I'll vouch for this [1] expedition. It will probably remain one of the highlights of my life (though we ended up monitoring a polar bear via binoculars for ~24h to make sure it doesn't come our way...) [1] https://www.wildlife.no/activities/summer-activities/wilderness-camp/wilderness-camp-4-days-with-hiking-glacier-walk-and-kayaking/ https://www.wildlife.no/activities/summer-activities/wildern...
- lizardactivist 4y ago8% income tax? Wow.