But there was no version of my life in which I wasn't getting my ass to Svalbard

A former mining town and gateway to the Arctic, this was the northernmost coal mine until 1929 and is the northernmost town in the world.

The town of Longyearbyen was originally on the opposite side of the bay; it was moved and ultimately renamed to Longyearbyen after John Munro Longyear, who’s Arctic Coal Company ran the town before it was taken over by the Norwegian company in 1916 and then the Norwegian Government 1st January 1993.