ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 22, 1996 TAG: 9612230113
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LIAM PLEVEN\NEWSDAY
Even more than most vacations, a trip to Greenland will benefit from advance planning. This is especially true if you design your own itinerary rather than rely on a tour operator to make arrangements for you.
Getting to Greenland is complicated and can be expensive, in part because there are no direct flights from the United States. There are only three ways by air: From Reykjavik, Iceland, to Narsarsuaq or Ammassalik in eastern Greenland, on Icelandair; from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Narsarsuaq or Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland, on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS); or from Baffin Island in northeastern Canada, to Nuuk, on First Air. Count on spending well over $1,000 round trip from New York.
Once you're in Greenland, getting around is easy on Greenlandair (also known as Gronlandsfly), which operates both planes and helicopters. But expect the weather to play havoc with your schedule; Greenlanders use the word ``immaqa'' - ``maybe'' - when discussing flight plans.
Also, don't count on it being cheap. A half-hour flight from Narsarsuaq to Qaqortoq, for instance, will cost about $100 and to fly from southern Greenland to Disko Bay on the west coast will set you back $700. It's cheaper to explore one region.
Wherever you decide to go, it also pays to find accommodations ahead of time. Most communities have only one or two hotels, and many either have only a youth hostel or enough open space to pitch a tent. We stayed at the Hotel Narsarsauq (011-299-35253), where double rooms cost about $140 a night; at the Hotel Perlen in Narsaq (011-299-31713), where double rooms cost about $140 a night; and at the Hotel Qaqortoq (011-299-38282), where double rooms cost about $175 a night. The hotels in Narsarsauq and Qaqortoq both have restaurants.
Travelers also need to bring the proper gear. If you go in winter, carry clothing appropriate to arctic conditions. If you go in the summer, bring waterproof hiking boots and a waterproof jacket, and plan to wear several layers that can be added or discarded as the temperature fluctuates.
There are very few books of any kind about Greenland available in English, and the only tour book we could find was the Lonely Planet guide for Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which proved invaluable.
If you do decide you want to organize your own trip, contact Greenland Travel, by mail at Gammel Mont 12, P.O. Box 130, DK-1004, Copenhagen, Denmark, by telephone at 011-45-33-13-10-11 or by fax at 011-33-13-85-92, or call the Danish tourism office in New York City, (212) 949-2333. If you're going on shorter notice, or prefer to have a company make arrangements for you, contact Arctic Adventure in Copenhagen at 011-45-33-25-32-21 or arrange a tour through an agent in the United States that deals with Greenland, such as Borton Overseas in St. Paul, Minn., (612) 883-0704.
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