“What are all these people doing here?” a guy asked his mate in the fourth row. “Beats me,” he replied, looking up at us as we walked past to find our seats on Air Iceland’s 37-seat Dash 8 bound for Ilulissat.

Home to 5,000 people and 7,000 dogs, Ilulissat in West Greenland is not exactly your typical holiday destination. After all, its only international connection is Reykjavík, which is already in the middle of the North Atlantic—at least five hours from the United States and three from mainland Europe.

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