A woman who lives on an island near the North Pole has revealed the tremendously complicated process of receiving furniture in her remote town.
Swedish cameraman Cecilia Blomdahl, 34, first moved to the Norwegian island of Svalbard in 2016.
The place has a population of less than 3,000 and is located in the Arctic Ocean, about 650 miles from the North Pole.
The creator, who has amassed more than four million followers on TikTok and Instagram by documenting life in Svalbard, recently shared a video chronicling the process of shipping new furniture to the local port.
Swedish cameraman Cecilia Blomdahl, 34, first moved to the remote Norwegian island of Svalbard in 2016.
Cecilia wanted to spruce up her home office in the cabin she shares with her husband, but with no furniture stores on the island, the process of sourcing new pieces was complicated.
As a first step, Cecilia had to get IKEA to deliver the furniture to a port in Tromsø, in northern Norway, almost 570 miles from Svalbard.
Cecilia wanted to expand her home office in the cabin she shares with her husband, she explained in an Instagram caption.
‘As we don’t have a furniture store in Svalbard, every time you are furnishing a house or want to buy some new things, you have to send them on the transport ship.
‘This in itself is not the most difficult process to organize, but it is a bit expensive, which is why we don’t do it too often.
“We ordered it through the IKEA website and the delivery location was the Tromsø ship terminal in northern Norway,” he explained.
From there he had to prepare the furniture to transfer it to the ship that connects Tromsø and Svalbard, with about 570 miles between both ports.
Total shipping costs came to approximately $500.
“Which I still think isn’t bad considering where we are,” Cecilia admitted.
He added that they placed the order on January 30 and received it at the end of February.
But getting the furniture from the Svalbard port to their cabin involved yet another hurdle.
It is not legal to drive on the island’s “tundra” unless it is “snow covered,” in which case snowmobiles are fine.
Once delivered, the couple headed to the port to pick it up in their car.
Back near their cabin, there was still another obstacle and they had to load the furniture onto a snowmobile to transport it to the front door.
Cecilia and her husband finally got the furniture off the snowmobile and into their house, while enduring a snowstorm.
Because there is no driveway leading down to the cabin from the road, they had to load all the new furniture onto a snowmobile to get it to the front door.
Once there, they unloaded him from the snowmobile and took him home, while they endured a snowstorm.
In the past, DailyMail.com has covered how Cecilia withstands the intense winters in Svalbard.
Located so close to the North Pole, the island suffers four months of total darkness annually, in addition to the intense cold that lasts all year round.
In 2020, she talked about the incredibly complicated process of taking her dog for an afternoon walk, describing how the simple task becomes an “expedition” as a result of the dangerous environment in which she lives.
In addition to bundling up in multiple warm layers and using a headlamp to light her way in the total darkness, Cecilia revealed that she has to carry a gun with her every time she goes out because there is always the risk of running into a polar bear.
“When walking your dog is an expedition,” Cecilia said in the introduction of her video.
“It’s starting to get really cold here and it’s pitch black 24/7,” he continued, explaining that he needed to put on a lot of clothing, including thermals, expedition pants, and a down jacket, as well as a hat and a scarf. .
And, of course, that’s not enough. “We have polar bears here, so we have to carry a rifle every time we go out,” he said, showing himself adjusting his gun.
She has also previously detailed the complex process that pregnant women must go through to prepare for childbirth, something that cannot be done on the island itself due to its lack of medical resources.
Cecilia periodically documents her life on the remote island, revealing how complex it is to live in an area with such harsh climatic conditions.
Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago just south of the North Pole and is one of the northernmost inhabited areas in the world.
She previously revealed how complicated it is for pregnant women to plan their birth and detailed why they cannot give birth on the island.
The island only has one hospital which, according to Cecilia, is not suitable for births. Therefore, pregnant women have to collect their belongings and fly to another place before giving birth.
He noted that pregnant women have to travel to mainland Norway to receive their newborns, and often do so weeks in advance.
‘You can’t give birth here. If you are pregnant and have a baby, you have to leave the island a month before the expected date because you cannot give birth in this hospital,’ Cecilia explained in the clip.
‘They don’t have the right resources to be able to help you if something were to happen. Thus, pregnant women leave for the continent a month before their expected delivery date.
‘Where they go is up to them, but as a Svalbard resident you have to have an address on the mainland, so most people just go to their home country.
“If you’re from Norway, you go back to Norway and if you’re from Sweden, you probably go back to Sweden.”