Wonderful Greenland
Written: Nov 28 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fresh air, nice people, beautiful nature
Cons: High price level
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| gliderrider's Full Review: Greenland |
In 1982 I went to Greenland. I was going to work for the Royal Greenland Trade Company, now "KNI" and they sent me to Qaanaaq/Thule. The journey there was quite an experience in itself. First from Copenhagen to Sondrestrom (now Kangerlussuaq) and from there to Thule Air Base in the belly of a USAF C-141. From Thule Air Base to Qaanaaq was a 45 minute helicopter ride. The pilot liked to follow the contours of the landscape so it was a bit like riding in a bus at 100 mtrs. above ground.
I was going to spend the next 3 years there. I arrived in September so I got to stay the first winter all through the dark period. There are 4 months without the sun - but it doesn´t get as dark as people think. The first month or so is like one long dawn with amazing colours in the south. Only the time around Christmas gets really dark since the sun is then far below the horizon. A couple of weeks into the new year one suddenly notices that the "days" are getting longer and in mid-January you can suddenly begin to see the colours of the houses again.
Around the 17. of February the sun shows itself again for a few moments. This annual event is celebrated by everybody, of course.
The days then get longer by 40 minutes a day, and suddenly in March it is bright all around the clock. For almost six months.
For me it was a time of excitement, new experiences, adventure. I had my own dog-sled and a team of around 11 dogs so almost every weekend was spent somewhere in the great outdoors. And after the first year I even moved my summer holidays to the winter, so I wouldn´t have to leave during summer. There are something like 7 months of good ice for traveling by dog-sled, then there are about 2 months when it´s difficult to use sled or boat, and during the three months of July, August and September there is open water. (This is Thule district, of course. The further south you get, the longer is the sailing season).
Well, I met a nice girl there, she is from Herberth Island - and we´re still married.
After Thule we lived in Denmark for a year and then we found jobs in Qasigiannguit/Christianshåb in the south-east corner of Disco Bay. This area also has beautiful nature. We didn´t have dogs there since we only counted on staying for 2 years, but we had a boat. Sailing in this area is magnificent, and there are lots of little bays and beaches where one can camp.
The best trip was sailing north along the glacier at Ilulissat/Jakobshavn. If you sail close enough, you can feel the coldness on your skin. We then proceeded to the north coast of Disco Island for a summer camp at the abandoned town of Qullissat. The town once had something like 2000 inhabitants but the economy was based on the local coalmine. When coal prices dropped, the whole town was closed down, so a visitor now gets the feeling that he is in a ghost town.
Well, I love the arctic, and the people are great there, so I cuold write more than anybody would care to read.
I can only say that nowadays when travel and tourism are well-organized: Go there! Don´t wait too long!
A few tips: Its an arctic country which means that it is always rather cold, so bring warm clothing and good walking-boots with room for thick socks.
The sun is very powerful due to reflection from ice, snow or water, so use a good sun-block lotion.
In some areas there a millions of hungry mosquitoes in the summer.
In the grocerystores, prices are high due to the transport cost.
Be patient. The weather can change from good to bad to worse in notime, so lots of people have tried to spend days and weeks just waiting for the weather to improve so the planes can fly. The problems are not so bad now with all the modern equipment the airlines have, but there is still a chance to get stuck somewhere.
If you like travel, Greenland is for all ages. The time from April to June can be superb, especially if you want to try the trips on dogsled. If you are more into boat rides, June, July, August, September are good - although September marks the beginning of winter with frost, snow etc. But the whole year is fascinating so don´t be afraid to go in the winter. Just think about the cold again, in winter it gets down to about 40 dgr. C.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
gliderrider
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Member: Kaj
Location: Denmark
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
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