From the Caribbean to the northernmost human settlement in the World. From 100 degrees to 20 degrees.

My recent trip overseas for 7 weeks.

Included in this itinerary, with overnight stays:

• Turks and Caicos Islands
• Atlanta
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Viking cruise ship - Norway (Oslo, Bergen, Fjords), Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Longyearbyen in Svalbard
• Tallinn, Estonia
• Franfurt, Germany

Svalbard was the highlight - World's northernmost pub and hotel, 3,500 polar bears, 10,000 native reindeers, huskie dogs, snow everywhere, great scenery, and strange laws:

• Your are not allowed to die there
• Women cannot give birth
• Cats are forbidden
• If you leave the setllement, you must carry a rifle

#memories

http://www.malcolmteasdale.com

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Travel Addict Podcast.

(00:02):
Your host and fellow traveladdict, Malcolm Teesdale, is
here to take you into the heartof the world's most fascinating
destinations.
He talks with passionateglobetrotters and fearless
explorers who share their wildjourneys and cultural insights
from around the world.
Or sometimes he just chats byhimself, describing enriching
travel experiences.

(00:22):
So buckle up and let's hit theroad.
Because the world is calling andwe're answering.

SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Hello everybody, Malcolm Tisdale here, the Travel
Addict.
It's been a while since I'vedone a podcast and had a guest
on.
That's because I've been on theroad a lot.
And uh for the last month and ahalf, actually.
So I thought I'd give you a tripreport because I wanted to do
something probably a little bitstrange.
I didn't realise that until Iwas halfway through it, to be

(00:49):
honest with you.
It's going from one extreme tothe other from travel.
So let's get going here, and uhwe'll be back uh anyway soon
after this with uh some guestson the programme.
We've got some bookings to do,so look forward to that.
So this was a trip that I leftin August to do.
So basically, left home and wentdown to the Turks and Caicos

(01:13):
Islands.
There I stayed for two weeks,and it was just stinking hot.
And it's been a hot summeranyway, all over, you know,
especially Florida or NorthCarolina.
You know, it's too hot to playaround at golf.
But went to the Turks and CaicosIslands and it was just that hot
there as well.
Couldn't even walk too far.
So there were a couple of weeks,and I took a flight out on a bit

(01:38):
later on in August and took aflight down to uh Atlanta, and
from there I took atransatlantic flight to London
Heathrow.
Virgin Airlines flies directfrom Atlanta to London Heathrow.
And then from there I took aBritish Airways flight over to
Amsterdam.
So a bit of jet lag obviouslywas going to affect me.

(02:01):
So what I did, I stayed inAmsterdam for three nights at a
hotel called the Now, N-H-O-W.
Sort of a weird place it was,artwork, sort of strange, um,
sort of picture of a Vikingabove my bed, but uh question
whether I was gonna sleep wellthat night.
But anyway, I was in Amsterdamfor one reason.

(02:24):
I was getting on a cruise ship,uh Viking cruise ship, because I
was a designated speaker onboard uh with a couple of other
gentlemen, other Brits, and uhso I was doing my thing from
August the 31st to uh Septemberthe 21st.
So it's a long time, but we leftAmsterdam and we went to Oslo,

(02:46):
Norway, Christiansand, Norway,Skagen, Denmark, Stavinger,
Norway, and Flam, which is abeautiful place inland, and
Bergen, where we stoppedovernight.
And then we took off forIgovjord, Stavinger, Oslo again,
then Alberg, Denmark,Copenhagen, and the Wannamundi,

(03:07):
which is a port area if you wantto get to Berlin.
I've been to Berlin before, so Ididn't need to do it again.
We had a bit of uh sort ofweather-related stuff, so we had
to overnight in Gdansk, Poland,uh, for a couple of nights, uh,
which there are to see theStutthof concentration camp,
which the Germans created duringWorld War II.

(03:27):
Sort of an eye-openingexperience.
That was indeed a bit like uhAuschwitz, which I've seen a few
years ago.
And we stopped off at Tallinn,Estonia for a day, and while we
were in Stockholm, basicallythat was the end of it.
So I got off the ship there,stayed overnight in Stockholm,
went over to the old towngambler stand, had a night on

(03:49):
the town, went to a couple ofpubs, and uh that was pretty
decent.
Overnight in Stockholm, thenhere's where the adventure sort
of started.
Now the temperature wasn't ashot in Scandinavia, so I've
always wanted to do this nextthing.
So from Stockholm I took aflight on SAS, which is a

(04:11):
Scandinavian Air Service, andflew over to Oslo.
There I took a connecting flightto a place called Longyearbien
in the island of Svalbard.
And you're probably thinking,where the hell is that?
Well, Longyearbien is actuallythe northernmost human

(04:34):
settlement in the world.
Makes you think about that.
There's about two thousandpeople live there, and I
thought, well, I've got to go upthere and see how these people
live.
So look at the map, look at aglobe, and find Norway, and move
your finger up north, you'llcome to the island of Svalbard,

(04:54):
also called Switzbergen.
So landed at the airport there,normal wink, there's one flight
a day, lands there, and I was onthat flight.
I know, strange, but there is aRadison hotel there, and I
stayed there.
Um I stayed about three nights,and there was snow on the
ground.
Scenery is unbelievable.

(05:16):
So the main thing here is I lefta hundred degrees in the
Caribbean, and now it was twentydegrees in Svalbard.
Snow on the ground everywhere,but I obviously I took the right
clothing because I knew what toexpect.
Now the thing about Svalbard isit's um sort of made famous by
an American guy who was a miner,John John Long here, and uh he

(05:39):
went over there to to uh put hisskills to work, land developed
there and uh started mining,which uh coal deposits there, I
guess.
But Smallbad is what it istoday, and there are certain
rules and regulations becauseone of the citizens there, if
you wish, the residents, arepolar bears, and there's a lot

(06:01):
more polar bears than humanbeings.
And if you venture out of thesettlement, there's a few
settlements there, Long YearBien is the biggest one, only
about 2,000 people, but if youleave the settlement, by law you
have to carry a rifle.
Right?
Law.
Because they don't want to cleanup the mess if you confront a
polar bear because it's gonnaend badly.

(06:24):
All right.
They do have a hospital there,but they're not set up for stuff
like that.
What are the other rules andregulations there?
You're not allowed to die there.
Which obviously, if you get uhbeaten up by a polar bear,
you're gonna be dead anyway.
But what it means is if you'vegot terminal illness, you've got
to get out of there.
Ladies are not allowed to givebirth there, right?

(06:47):
So based on the facilities thatexist.
Another weird rule is cats areforbidden yeah, that lo those
lovely cats, they're not allowedthere because they have a
tendency to prey on birds, andthere's some endangered species
of birds there.
So that's why.
It's a weird and wonderful rulethere, but I thoroughly enjoyed
it.
There's a few British pups thereas well.

(07:09):
So I had some great food, theaccommodation was pretty decent,
but just walking around in thismagic, magical scenery,
unbelievable.
And people live there.
Um but people live there not alltheir lives, but they live there
for several years and leave, butit's safe.
I spoke to a couple of peoplewho live there.

(07:30):
They said, yeah, we live herebecause it's safe.
Obviously, it is because of thelocation.
So eventually I left Savalbardand headed back south.
I had to overnight in Stockholm,I just stayed by the airport, in
Stockholm Airport, that's a bitchaotic actually, but no
problem.
The next day, I got on a flightto uh Tallinn, Estonia.

(07:56):
I decided to stay there forthree nights.
Tallinn, downtown areas,medieval, basically, is
fantastic.
So if you get a chance to go tothe Baltics, fortunately for me,
I've been to all threecountries: Latvia, Lithuania,
and Estonia.
And I stayed in Estonia, orTallinn, Estonia, the capital,

(08:17):
for three nights there and justenjoy the ambience there,
walking around, enjoying it, andyeah, there are British bobs
there.
Anyway, but that's that's it.
But all the cobblestone streetsthere, it dates back many, many
years.
Lovely place, and again, it'ssafe.
You walk around at night, it'sperfectly safe.

(08:37):
So, anyway, when I left umTatlin, well, actually, before I
left Tatlin, I stayed at a neathotel there, the Schlossel
Hotel.
It's it's a five-star hotel inregard, it's a boutique.
There's only 27 rooms there, butuh it's one of the the best
boutique hotels in the world.

(08:58):
Even the Queen Elizabeth wentthere, uh, King Charles when he
was prince went there.
A few musicians there, the bandWhite Snake, and you know, uh
Rainbow stayed there, I believe.
The different bands stayedthere, musicians, and uh there's
a whole plaque on the wall thereof listening, all these people,
I heard of most of them, whohave actually stayed there.

(09:19):
And no wonder it's I wouldn'tsay it's the best hotel I've
ever stayed in, but um is itworth five stars?
Well, probably because it'squaint and the food's good and
it's it's it's it's cute, Iwould say.
Anyway, three days in Tulinn,Estonia, then I had to make my
way home.
So I took a flight from Tulinnand I had to overnight in

(09:42):
Frankfurt, Germany, FrankfurtAirport.
Frankfurt Airport is not one ofmy favorite airports in the
world.
Every time I fly throughFrankfurt, I always have to get
off the plane and get on a busto be taken into the main
terminal.
For some reason, they have alack of gates there, but I'm an
international flight.

(10:03):
I had to get off the plane, downthe steps, into a bus and into
the building.
Every time I've flown through uhFrankfurt.
Anyway, I navigated thatsuccessfully and took the nine
and a half hour flight back toUnited States Raleigh Durham
Airport.
That was about it.
So basically, I saw the very hotweather, I experienced the uh

(10:28):
very cold weather, and I sort ofexperienced the Caribbean,
Scandinavia, the Arctic, andthen made my way home.
So what an experience.
Yes, I got jet lagged the lastcouple of days after I woke up
in the morning.
I mean, again, about threeo'clock in the morning because

(10:50):
my brain thinks it's six hoursahead from the time zone I came
from.
Anyway, great experience, butobviously the highlight for me
was uh obviously uh being on thecruise ship was exciting.
I did about eight or ninelectures on board, but uh nearly
lost my voice.
But that was fabulous.
But also going to Savalbard, andthat was a really enjoyable
experience.

(11:10):
It's that adventure side in mecoming through again.
I need to visit these places andsee how these people live their
lives.
It's a great experience andeducational.
That's my trip report, folks,and until then, take care
everybody.
Safe travels if you're goinganywhere.
We'll talk later.
Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00 (11:29):
That's it for this episode of the Travel Addict
Podcast, where we chase sunsets,flirt with danger, and
occasionally make questionablechoices in foreign lands.
Until next time, may yourflights be on time.
And your travel story is justscandalous enough to leave a few
details out.
Check out Malcolm's websites atmalcolmteesdale.com and

(11:50):
travelingenglishman.com.
Safe travels and enjoy life,everyone.