Hi Laura,
We have had one of the best holidays ever! If anyone is looking for an adventure that they will remember for many years to come, Svalbard is the place.
If it's of interest - some feedback - please feel free to skip.
SAS flight changes were a bit alarming, but we have never been so thankful we left our holiday arrangements to the professionals rather than booking independently. To know that Nikola was battling on our behalf at 10pm on a Saturday evening was invaluable. She could not have been more helpful or reassuring - please recommend her for a medal!
Longyearbyen in a Nutshell - the best introduction to the town and to get a general layout. Ideal first activity, helped by the driver's dry sense of humour.
Camp Barentz - was also ideal for the start of the holiday as it was a very social event and we chatted to a lot of fellow travelers. It was nice to keep bumping into people we met that evening throughout the week.
Ice Cave - the outstanding activity of the week. Just brilliant! From talking to other groups, we seem to have had either the best individual guide or the best company as other groups did not have such an enjoyable time as us. It seems other groups were not even supplied with snow shoes which would have made the hike a real slog.
Northern Lights Snowmobile - no northern lights, but we really weren't worried. The young guide was so thoughtful and enthusiastic it was still a really good evening. He was still chatting to us nearly an hour over the finish time, he was so passionate about the island.
(The Ice Cave hike was pretty full-on. If time allowed, it would be better if this was the only activity of the day.)
Coal Mine - so interesting. We were stressing about which clothes we could afford to get dirty, but in the event it was not necessary to don overalls and crawl to get the most from the tour. Normal clothes were fine.
Champagne tasting - We know nothing about wine, but chatting to the French Restaurant Manager was such fun and the hotel meal was great.
Snowcat - The guide was the same person as the snowmobile tour and he suggested we did not do this tour as the commentary would be exactly the same. Might be an idea to suggest this tour for maybe older people who were not keen on snowmobiles? We were very impressed with both his honesty and the efficiency of the refund process.
The reflective straps you recommended before we left turned out to be really useful. (If anyone forgets the tourist information centre will lend out high-visibility jackets)
Thank you Baltic Travel. We have had a wonderful week that we will never forget and will book with you again in the future. Happy Christmas to you all!
Kind regards
David