Getting there | Aberle Photo

The world’s largest island, two Czech brothers and ten summer days travelling down the west coast from Ilulissat to Nuuk. A journey full of icebergs, mosquitoes, beer and people we had absolutely not arranged to meet.

Before Greenland came a brief one-day visit to Copenhagen, whose international airport is the main hub connecting the island with Europe. In one afternoon we managed the principal sights and a quick rummage around the hippie district of Christiania. There was no time to waste time. Copenhagen can be visited whenever; the main item on the menu was the world’s largest island.

At 09:15 on 4 July 2018, the journey to Greenland officially began. Flight GL0779 takes roughly four and a half hours and covers 3,500 kilometres. Thanks to the three-hour time difference, it lands at Kangerlussuaq International Airport at 09:50 local time. The moment you step outside, you can meet the native fauna in the form of Arctic mosquitoes. They remain loyal travelling companions for the rest of the stay. Our scientific conclusion: more annoying than Czech mosquitoes, but slightly less determined to eat you.

Red Air Greenland Airbus A330 parked at Copenhagen Airport — Air Greenland in Copenhagen

In-flight map showing the route across the North Atlantic to Greenland — Greenland, this way

Greenland ice sheet seen through the aircraft window on approach to Kangerlussuaq — First look at the ice sheet

Rocky landscape around Kangerlussuaq during the airport approach — Approaching Kangerlussuaq

Passengers leaving an Air Greenland Airbus at Kangerlussuaq Airport — Kangerlussuaq International Airport

Dash 8 landing gear above the icebergs of Disko Bay — Domestic flight above the icebergs

Red Air Greenland Dash 8 parked at Ilulissat Airport — Arrival in Ilulissat

At Kangerlussuaq we had to collect our backpacks fairly briskly and board another aircraft heading north to Ilulissat. A small amount of airport chaos meant that our names appeared twice over the public-address system, leaving little time for international-border theatre or conventional baggage handling. We found a member of the ground staff and explained that yes, those names were ours, but no, our bags had not been checked through because her colleagues at the counter were somewhat occupied. She said something into a radio and gave us the green light. We simply carried our own backpacks across the apron to the aircraft and climbed aboard—still without any passport control. Where there is a will, there is apparently a runway.

At an intermediate stop, half the passengers—mostly local Inuit—left the aircraft, leaving about twenty of us for the second leg. One of them was Vojta, until then an entirely unknown fellow passenger who turned out to be Czech. So yes: Czechs are everywhere. We landed together in Ilulissat after flying over water covered with approximately one billion icebergs from the nearby glacier. It is, one must admit, a magnificent approach.

Our chosen accommodation in Ilulissat was a single room with bunk beds at IceCap Hostel. At the time it was among the cheapest places still available. Beds—especially cheap ones—vanish quickly because Ilulissat is extremely popular. Vojta took a more expeditionary approach and pitched his tent behind a rock outside town, hidden from curious tourists and saving a substantial pile of money. One night at the hostel cost about CZK 3,500 for a two-person room with a shared toilet and bathroom. He later cheerfully admitted that an orange tent under the midnight sun produces a very colourful night’s sleep. On the other hand, it also produced some excellent photographs.

Small shared kitchen at IceCap Hostel in Ilulissat — The hostel kitchenette

Bunk room with expedition backpacks at IceCap Hostel — Our Ilulissat quarters

Bottles of Tuborg on a terrace overlooking Ilulissat and its icebergs — Beer with a view

Traveller sitting beside a line of beer bottles on an Ilulissat hostel terrace — An evening tasting under the midnight sun

Unpacked and installed, what else was there to do but visit the nearby supermarket for supplies and a little beer? We spent the rest of the day warming ourselves on the hostel veranda, drinking unfiltered Tuborg and staring at the ice theatre outside. Day one in Greenland: successfully completed.