Norway 25th - 26th August

I am writing this as there wasn't a pad and it bothers me to let things go unannotated with my running commentary on things.

I was not enamoured with the idea of going to Norway which was not on my radar of places to visit at all. Skit raised it in 2019 as an option for 2020 and I was not all that interested. A lack of historical awe, cultural diversity and simply unexotic, I thought. But I was missing a lot in my assessment. I was missing the good health of the place. The existence of a region that can just inspire happiness through natural beauty and careful integration of human life.

2020 wasn't in the end the year for travelling abroad and so Norway didn't happen. Until 2023 when Lisa asked if I wanted to join her and Joe on a trip to the Norwegian island of Senja, latitude 69 degrees (dude) within the Arctic circle. It was good timing for me and the idea of meeting with friends I hadn't seen for a while was ideal- I was tiring a little of travelling by myself. But I still didn't get too excited over the location.

The flight out was complicated. Three legs with an overnight in Oslo between legs two and three. The plan was to change at Heathrow and get to Oslo early evening so there would be time to enjoy the city and have a nice meal before staying at a fairly swanky hotel. The first leg was okay, leaving from Baltimore, but Baltimore airport itself was a disappointment. I note it here as the memory of this was with me throughout the trip as I had been warned that food in Norway wasn't good... and I am certain that those that say that have not experienced typical US food. The airport offered fried chicken and burgers. And that was it. In general, I feel rather annoyed at any American that criticises food abroad- this is most certainly the country with the worst food that I have experienced. Sure, I've been in Japanese restaurants where the number of eyes staring at me makes me unable to eat a thing but that doesn't make it as bad as the grease of the US fast and convenient food industry. 

I never found an instance of bad food in Norway. Indeed, every single thing I ate exceeded quality of US food.

The flight was pretty bad (my trial of BA indicated that it was Not Great) and when I landed at Heathrow, I was in for a bad surprise. To my parents, I described the situation as "reminiscent of getting out of Berlin".

We landed at Terminal 3 even though the plane was meant to be at Terminal 5. So they bussed everyone over to Terminal 5. But my flight to Oslo left from Terminal 3. So I got back on the bus and did the reverse journey. Got to security at T3 and the security guy said that my boarding pass flagged an error. I went back to a service desk which had a long queue and learnt that my flight was cancelled... Eventually I got to the front of the queue and got rebooked onto a later flight but they only gave me a receipt and couldn't issue a boarding pass. I then had to hop on a bus to Terminal 2 and go through security at Terminal 2.... without a boarding pass. The woman stared at my receipt for a long time before letting me through. I wonder what would have happened if I had not had a British passport as I would doubt that letting a foreign national into the terminal without a boarding pass could have worked.

I killed time at T2 with a nice lunch of bangers and mash and fueled myself with a coffee from Pret. Eventually, when I was at my perkiest, Joe and Lisa arrived from CA and escorted me to the United lounge where we could hang out before the flight onwards. It was quite amusing that my rebooked flight was the same as theirs but I was slightly disappointed that my evening in Oslo had been lost.

It was nice to see them again and I felt that chat and banter flowed well. 

Arriving at Oslo was simple but it was with a touch of sadness as I was refused entry to the EU arrivals line. Sigh, Brexit. 

I stayed in Oslo that night and left Joe and Lisa at the airport hotel. Hopping down to Oslo's central station was simple with their trains. I later learnt through seat companions on my return leg to Oslo that there were cheaper trains that took just as long and only tourists were fooled into the expensive ones. But I was quite happy to have it all simply laid out for me without complication.

I was amused to see that there was a Boots at Oslo central. 

I walked ten minutes in the rain in Oslo and got to my hotel around 10pm like a drowned rat. I noted that there was a uniform approach to dress in Oslo for cagoules. Didn't keep me all that dry to be honest but I joined their fashion with an orange cagoule I bought specifically for this trip (and the choice of orange paid off in photos as much as I hoped it would).

Hotel was lovely. Except with a duvet on the bed rather than a sheet and a room temperature that really meant it was not appropriate. Still, I managed to sleep fairly well and woke with my alarm the next morning.