After a good sleep we were on our way again.
Got the bus to the airport and checked in. We are getting good with the automatic check-in procedures and got ourselves a window seat for the flight to Longyearbyen. Unknown at the time but the flights to the Svalbard Islands, of which Longyearbyen is the settlement (population 2,000), are classed as international flights. Our reasoning is that there is a treaty between Russia and Norway and whilst Norway technically has sovereignty, there is also a Russian town and Russians can come and go. Anyway, there was a huge queue at the departure gate and sure enough passport control was in operation. Not sure what the holdup had been but the flight was showing "Gate Closing". Anyway we made it.
The SAS B737 800 series taxied out then abruptly stopped. The captain advised that they had Rhime Ice on the wings which had built up and ground crew were going to come out and hose it off. A worker arrived with a "cherry picker" and proceeded to spray the wings with a brown liquid to melt the ice. It took about 10 minutes of spraying and then we were off.
SAS is a budget airline and snacks are for sale, although tea and coffee is free.
It was a spectacular descent and arrival into Longyearbyen, over glaciers and howling seas. The airport is on an isthmus on the edge of the water with a mountain range on either side. The runway was covered in snow and ice, and it was snowing lightly; and a howling gale.
We were here, at the most northerly town in the world at 80 degrees North latitude - an awesome sight. The photo is of Aaron coming down the aircraft stairs.
We could have paid $550 per night at the Radison Polar Blue, but chose instead the more austere Guesthouse 102 - about a 20 minute walk from the main settlement. Total cost - $500 for 3 nights with breakfast included.
Aaron's tour to the ice cave had been cancelled because of dangerous conditions, however we have been assured that our snowmobiling for tomorrow is on.
We decided to walk into the settlement for dinner. It was a pleasant enough walk, with a howling wind whipping up snow flurries and a temperature of minus 1degree and a wind chill of minus 10 degrees.
We tried a restaurant/bar and had a beer each to celebrate being in this most remote place almost at the top of the world. We ate pizza- but tomorrow we think we will try minke whale steak!

All day snowmobiling tomorrow.
Good night from Longyearbyen.