Greenland

[davidI]

Anyone been to Greenland or know anything about it? I'm thinking about going hiking / backpacking there for 10-14 days in August. I'm not sure if there are any famous trails but I'm looking at doing some sort of backpacking trip. Right now I'm flying solo but I'm hoping to find someone interested in joining up with me. Any info or good links are appreciated. Thx.

[ashee]

Wow, that would be so neat, because it's a country no one really knows much about and it's def off the beaten path.

I'd probably try getting some books, Indigo has a wicked selection of travel books and they're usually pretty helpful.

[davidI]

Yea, I'm in Vietnam right now so it's not too easy to find English books on Greenland. Unfortunately, there isn't too much information on the net either. Oh well, it wouldn't be an adventure if it was easy...

[icecreamvan]

Too bad they don't have internet in Vietnam.

[SikAssR1]

Originally posted by icecreamvan
Too bad they don't have internet in Vietnam.

sure they do

[ashee]

Originally posted by davidI
Yea, I'm in Vietnam right now so it's not too easy to find English books on Greenland. Unfortunately, there isn't too much information on the net either. Oh well, it wouldn't be an adventure if it was easy...

Ahh ya I guess that would be difficult.
Order online?

[pints]

Lonelyplanet.com has a forum with tons of users, try posting and searching through there. They also have a pretty basic country guide up on their website, not as good as a guidebook but it's a start.

[HaganDazs]

http://wikitravel.org/en/Greenland

[davidI]

Thanks guys. I've read the basic stuff - wikitravel, lonelyplanet & the greenland tourism site is quite good. Unfortunately, if I'm going on a 10 day hiking expedition I want a little more info. I found a few books on Amazon that I'm going to try and have shipped to me in Yemen and hopefully they'll answer some q's. It's always better to hear some first-hand accounts from people though...

[npham]

I've actually been there, its been a few years, so I don't really now how much the area has changed though. I flew into Nuuk from another smaller city, but I believe Nuuk was one of the larger cities/towns there. I visited there during the winter, so it was covered in snow. There really wasn't a lot to look at, it was either snow or rocks. But there are a couple things that might be useful to you.

Bank machines accept debit cards and so you can take out whatever the currency is, and there are enough places that serve "western" food, that you won't feel so out of place. Although their local cusine is something else. I tried fresh raw seal fat/meat, still covered in blood as it is a delicacy. It melts in your mouth like sushi does, but the blood is what turned me off and I barely swallowed it.

I really can't help you more than that because I was there during winter and there isn't much to Greenland in the winter, however, in the "summer" months I suspect it to be quite beautiful.

[Ice712]

IF you want a cheap and easy sneek&peek you can come camp out in my back yard this week.

[01RedDX]

.

[davidI]

Well, I found the trail I want to do but no one to do it with! It's the Kangerlussuaq - Sisiumit Trek. 180 km, 6-10 days. Sounds wicked. Unfortunately, it's way to sketchy to attempt on my.

Odds are that I'll end up just flying to 2 or 3 different towns and doing mini 2-3 days camping trips on my own....perhaps with a night at a hostel ever few days just to have a shower and dry out my gear.

The latest plan is to spend 2.5 weeks traveling continental Scandinavia, 4 days in Iceland and 8-10 days in Greenland. Should be one hell of a trip!

[black13]

Holy crap dude, you really like traveling/hiking don't you?
Within a month you went from Vietnam to Yemen and now you plan on going to Greenland and SE Europe!
Man that must be some crazy lifestyle you got going there or is this just a temporary thing.

[davidI]

Haha, it's a crazy lifestyle thing. I work 5 weeks of straight 12 hour days in Yemen and then get 5 weeks off...so I go tear up the world as best I can. It will all come grinding to a halt in October though as my tour of duty in Yemen will be complete. I'm coming home to Calgary for the first time in a year in March, headed to Egypt / Jordan and maybe Qatar in April, either NZ & Oz or Southeatern Europe in June and then the above referenced Scandinavia tour in August. That will round out 2 years of travel to close to 40 countries in 6 continents. I'm still itching to see a lot more though...

[Graham_A_M]

^ "Tour of Duty", can you elaborate?
It sure has afforded you a very interesting lifestyle it seems. 40 countries in 6 continents? wow... If I did all that before I died I'd consider myself quite a traveller.

[davidI]

Originally posted by Graham_A_M
^ "Tour of Duty", can you elaborate?
It sure has afforded you a very interesting lifestyle it seems. 40 countries in 6 continents? wow... If I did all that before I died I'd consider myself quite a traveller.

It's not military related...I actually work for a Calgary based oil company over here. Sana'a, where I live, was recently ranked as the 7th worst city in the world for quality of life so that is why I call it a 'tour of duty'. It's really tough here. I'm only 23 so it has been a great opportunity to make some cash and travel before I have any committments back home. It all comes to an end in October as I've been training a Yemeni to take over my job. It's a love / hate thing...love the travel, hate the job and it will be 2 years at that point which is enough!

[black13]

Sounds like a real interesting lifestyle. But I like your thinking, might as well do it young before you have to take on responsibilities that would never allow such freedom.
Wouldn't mind trying this kind of lifestyle myself either.