After twenty hours of travelling we are in Oslo. Found Carol in Reykjavik airport and we travelled on together. the final approach into Iceland was stunning and I am really looking forward to exploring the country in three weeks time.
Reykjavik airport is interesting. If you go here is the drill. If you are changing planes and heading on to the UK you will stay in area one right where you deplane and pick up your next flight. If your destination is somewhere else you will have to go through passport control and on to your gate. Washrooms are available but generally are just one stall and the lines are long. Best to go before you leave the plane. There is one place to get coffee in the area we were and the line stretched back to passport control. An interesting touch was the lack of any boarding call at our gate. A blue light went on and people started to move – we moved right along with them. The flight to Oslo was about 3 1/2 hours. Customs was virtually non-existent in Oslo, first country I have been to that didn’t stamp my passport or require any documentation.
Our hotel – the Park Hotel was a three minutes easy walk from the airport. Turned to be a good thing as Carol’s bag didn’t make the offloading but ended up in the bowels of the airport baggage area due to a mis tag. After a light supper and some Syrah plus a nap at the hotel – 4 hours later back at the airport we had the bag and headed back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep. The weather is lovely and cool here, a welcome change after the heat and humidity of the last couple of weeks at home. Buffet breakfast at the hotel was like coming home in a way. Brunost (sweet goat cheese) pickling herring in sour cream, bread like Mom used to make, jams, other cheeses, sausages, eggs. All things my mother used to buy in European delicatessens while we were growing up. It is also nice not to look so different. Here we fit right in. In Vietnam/Cambodia , Africa and South America we definitely did not 😀
Longyearbyen here we come!
Travels with Anne 