[GREENLAND] The Greenland Fly-By

I know what you’re thinking: “Oh great, he was in Greenland too.” Calm your tits, sarcastic hater. I HAVEN’T BEEN TO GREENLAND. It just so happened that Wow Air flew over the territory yesterday en route to New York. There’s really nothing much I could do about it, you know. The goddamn island was on the way. It was a six-hour flight and I was seated by the window when I suddenly saw white thingies that looked like clouds at first, but were definitely not. What could those be? Ice?

I must admit it’s kind of weird seeing white clouds at your window and then sheets of ice seemingly not so far away. This is not my first awesome and scary fly-by, though. Flying to Nepal from Bhutan, I did experience some paranoia witnessing the Himalayas almost scraping the bottom of our plane. You don’t really get info in advance regarding the geographical wonders you’d be flying over while onboard an aircraft, which makes such sights even more amazing.

Google Maps did confirm that we were flying over Greenland’s southeastern coast. Googling the country later, it appears that the area we flew over is uninhabited. The capital is on the western side of the island and the human population is not that many. Back to the white thingies, I thought at first that they were ships but it eventually became clear that they were just ice. They weren’t really big enough to be considered as glaciers, though.

I don’t know if the pilot intentionally flew lower for a better view, but what followed next was, as described by the plane’s winglets, “WOW.” White. White everywhere. And then you get to see that they are actually mountains. They look like yummy cakes, choco brown ones with white icing on top. I wanted to eat them, except that it suddenly reeked of fish, and it wasn’t any of the guys sitting next to me. Otherwise, it would have smelled like that from the get go. So this is what the Arctic smells like.

The Polish guy on the aisle seat asked me to take photos for him. I also let him take a peek, and eventually told him that the view is astonishing and scary at the same time, because if we crashed there I’d probably die in three seconds. You know me, I don’t cope well with extremely cold climes. He then said that we weren’t having that conversation and that he won’t talk to me anymore. HAHAHA. He wasn’t mad or anything. I’m just the kind of guy who tends to scare people with what-if scenarios, poker face and all.

Another weird thing I noticed is how everything seemed to be frozen, even the water. There was a part of the landscape which featured water in a deep shade of blue, but it wasn’t moving. On the surface you can see sheets of ice that are not moving either. Either the water is totally frozen or it’s super still. The layout makes them look like rivers attempting to flow out to the ocean but didn’t quite make it there. Winter came and they all froze like that. Tough luck. Now you know how life is like north of the wall.

Oh wow, I just made a 500-word article on something as random as flying over Greenland. In any case it makes me want to visit the country. I think you need a special Schengen visa for that from the Danish embassy. I began searching for flights online but they all cost an arm and a leg. Perhaps in the near future when I go back to Iceland I can include a side trip. Perhaps the experience intrigued me that much that now I want to get to know the island better!

[GREENLAND] The Greenland Fly-By