Getting home from the Arctic: A long and very winding road

We hear our flight is cancelled

On the final night of our stay on The Greg Mortimer, after the photo slideshow in the ship's lounge left me on a high, we received news that our flight back to Oslo from Longyearbyen at 2.30 pm the next day had been cancelled due to a pilot strike at SAS airlines.  We knew about the possibility because the strike had been brewing for some time but it was blow nevertheless.  Most of us on the ship were in the same ship, so there was plenty of group commiseration.  

Disembarkation and back to Longyearbyen

The next day, we disembarked early at 9am (it was a Sunday) and made our way to a nearby hotel in Longyearbyen to either figure out some other way home or wait out the strike.  We had a meal and coffee in town, and then went to watch Wimbledon in our hotel room.  

While watching, Gavin sat on his phone and continuously and almost obsessively refreshed the SAS web site in the tiny chance that a flight would suddenly become available. The reason we had even a small glimmer of hope is that there was rumours the striking SAS pilots might make an exception for isolated areas where people could not make alternative arrangement.  Longyearebyen at the top of the world surely belonged to that category!

After seemingly hours of refreshing, suddenly a flight magically appeared and with excitement, we started to fill in our personal details in order to book it. But half way through, it disappeared again.  Drat!  Then an hour later, after another thousand refreshes, a flight appeared yet again and this time we were able to book it. We celebrated by going into town and having a meal and several beers and went to bed with hope in our hearts.

The next day, we chilled in town.  I went to the hospital and pharmacy to get some meds as I was worried I'd run out if the flight was cancelled again and we were stuck in the Arctic for a long time. 

Leaving Longyearbyen

In the afternoon, we went to the airport and hallelujah, it was flying. We got on and left for Oslo.

Elation at getting our flight

We're in the air and on our way.

Our time in Oslo

In Oslo, we checked into the same hotel we stayed on our way to the Arctic, The Raddison.  It was pretty late and when we went into town, most restaurants were closing. We had a pub meal and went to sleep.  The next day, after a delicious buffet breakfast, we met up in the hotel lounge area and literally spent the next ten hours trying to work out the best and most economical way of flying home to Sydney. Our options were extremely limited as SAS, the major airline our of Oslo was still on strike and would be indefinitely.  It was like a complex puzzle we had to solve.  We all sat on Skyskanner and tried a million different permutations and offers.

Eventually, we found a way.  But what a long and winding way!  A 50 hour way.

• Oslo to Bucharest.  With Whizz Airlines.
• Bucharest to Doha.  With Quatar Airlines.
• Doha to the Maldives. With Quatar Airlines.
• Maldives to Singapore. With Saudi Airlines.
• Singapore to Sydney.  With Scoot.

6 flights with stay-overs of at least 4 - 5 hours in every airport!

We went into town for a meal, and then to bed to get as much sleep as we could to muster energy for the ordeal ahead.

An Indian meal in Oslo after a day working out flight.

Leaving Oslo

We got an Uber to Torp Airport in Oslo (a fringe airport way out of town) and the bill came to $500!  We really should have taken the bus, but it would have added even greater complexity and time to our journey.

We got to Torp Airport very early but there was an absolutely crazy, chaotic queue to get through passport control. Norway doesn't do airports well which is surprising for such a highly functional country.  At one stage, we even wondered if we would miss our flight.  Very stressful because that would have been a killer blow!  

Anyway, we got on ok and we are off.

Getting onto the plane.  Our journey begins.

Arriving in Bucharest

Passport control at Bucharest was also pretty chaotic. A huge queue.  But some crafty manoeuvring gets us through a bit quicker.

Our next airline to get was Quatar so things were looking up.  Gavin has gold member status with Quatar and they are an amazing airline.  This means we are able to go through express checkin to get onto the next plane and can look forward to staying in the luxury lounge when we get to Doha.

Quatar Airlines also told us during checkin that they have an arrangement with Saudi Airlines and can have our luggage past onto them in the Maldives.  This means we don't need to worry about our bags at the next two airports or worry about going through customs. Great! But will our bags actually arrive in Singapore?  That is a bit of a worry!

We got onto the Quatar plane.  It's not a budget airline like the last one and there are movies and food.  And we have the Doha lounge to look forward to.  Ah, lovely! 

Chaos at Bucharest

Arriving in Doha

Ah, now this is the life!  We don't need to worry about our luggage or customs.  We get to go to the Gold Lounge and eat wonderful food. In the lounge, I have one of the best showers of my life.  This is how one should travel!  Doha is also a highly functional airport so everything is seamless.

Doha Gold Lounge for a bit of pampering and luxury

Arriving in The Maldives

We arrive in The Maldives very early in the morning so passenger transit is shut. We hang around.  We're getting tired now.  We are all highly sad that we are in The Maldives and can't get out of the airport.  Gavin connects to the airport wifi and tortures us by researching possible places we could be staying in at The Maldives.  All the other arrival passengers in the airport are excited families in holiday apparel or loved up couples.  

Maldives Airport: All we got to experience of The Maldives!

Gavin on the Wifi torturing us with descriptions of where we could be staying if we abandoned our journey and got out the airport.

Arriving in Singapore

Yay, our bags arrive!!  So relieved as this had been preying on my mind.  If our bags had gone missing it would really have been a nightmare with so many flights and airports.

Singapore is one of the most efficient airports in the world so passport control is a breaze.  We leave our bags at a bag storage place and get a taxi to The Banana Leaf, our favourite Indian restaurant in Singapore.  Delicious food as always, but we're starting to get very tired indeed.

We get back to the airport and sleep on the floor for a while.  All four of us set an alarm so when they all go off simultaneously, it causes quite a din!

Banana Leaf Restaurant in Singapore

Sleeping on the floor in Singapore Airport

 

Gavin trying to sleep on the flight to Sydney

Arriving in Sydney

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it!  After 50 hours, home at last.  In retrospect, the journey was long and tiring but we are very lucky.  Our bags have gone through two airports without being lost.  None of our planes were delayed.  We got to stay in The Doha Lounge.  Nothing went wrong.  Feeling grateful!

My wonderful friend Chris was at the airport to greet me.  Feeling exhausted but happy, we drive home so I can sleep like the dead for 17 hours.

Wow, what a trip it has been. The experience of a life-time.

Happy the journey is over and has gone well.

A friendly face at the airport.