My Norway impressions

This month has just flown by. I feel awkward posting this so long after my return, but it really does warrant a posting on its own.

I went to Norway not long after the tragic attacks carried out by Anders Breivik, a 32 year old disillusioned Norwegian "right-winger." The attacks and resulting death toll dominated the media, with many outlets alluding to it as "Europe's 9/11." I'm not quite sure what I was expecting to see in Norway, but I can say I was expecting to see heightened security, tension levels, and nerves among the Norwegians themselves.

Instead what I found was the total opposite. I have to say, that out of the many Europeans that I have met throughout my life, the Norwegians rank right up there as some of the nicest people you can meet. Everyone was ready to greet you with a smile wherever you went, and despite my complete lack of any Norwegian everyone was more than willing to lend a hand.

My sister and I spent quite a while in one supermarket giggling ourselves silly as we tried to decipher different flavours of crisps. With our best Swedish chef imitations we were trying to accentuate and stress various syllables to see if we could will our minds into understanding. "Friske Urter" came up with all sorts of possible definitions, until we finally decided it must be fresh butter. (we were wrong, it's actually fresh herbs :p) I'm sure that we left one or two Norwegians walking away shaking their heads thinking "bloody tourists!!"

Another striking thing about Norway is how green everything is. I felt like I'd been uprooted from the desert and planted into the middle of a Sound of Music set. My oooohs and aaahhs with how green it was also set me aside as evident TOURIST. So nice to fill that role every once in a while :).

Yes, I flew this bad boy

Perhaps one of the coolest things I have done recently was fly in my Dad's Cesna plane, even managing to grab the controls myself. Apparently my attention span cannot handle trying to avoid a rain cloud and maintain level with the horizon at the same time. As I encroached upon Gardermoen airspace I reluctantly admitted defeat when it came to actually flying the plane. But still an amazing experience, and allowed me to get some fantastic shots of Oslo from the air. Being used to Cairo, I was astounded to find out that Oslo has a population of 600,000. Compare that to the 18 million population of Cairo!

Anyhow, overall impressions is that Norway is definitely a country I would recommend visiting (however watch your pocket book, one loaf of bread I saw on sale cost 20 Norwegian Krone - or 20 LE (just under 4 US $). We were very lucky and had glorious weather the whole time, minus one cracking thunderstorm which I wouldn't say no to, I certainly miss the rain living here. Norwegians are exceptionally friendly, everyone has something nice to say, and everything felt so fresh and clean! Oh, and for all the American's who think that your country leads the way in coffee consumption, you've got nothing on the Norwegians!!!

Here are some of the pictures I was able to grab of the gorgeous countryside and city of Oslo. Enjoy!

Oooooh

Ahhhh

The Royal Palace in Oslo 

Oslo is surrounded by fresh water and sea water

The rain cloud that I admitted defeat to! 

My sister the co-pilot :D

So much colour!

Diary of a Traveller, part 2

I should have updated this yesterday, but things have been a little hectic here!

So I arrived in Norway, albeit 12 hours later than I should have, but at least I made it. We've had two days of glorious sunshine for the Norwegians, and I'm watching now as the dark thunderheads are rolling in, hoping for a cracking storm!

My flight from Cairo went seamlessly, minus a delay. When I inquired as to what this delay was caused by, I was told that Greek air traffic control were striking (how unusual, Greeks on strike :p) and as a result the airplane had to be routed around Greek airspace on its way into Cairo.

A landscape of clouds

This re-routing caused an hours delay in the plane arriving in Cairo, subsequently delaying us for an hour. This 60 minute delay caused over 50 % of the passengers on my flight to be stranded in Amsterdam, me included among them. Seriously, I think I'm a cursed traveller! At first I dreaded that it was going to end up like the delays I had with Air France, and was expecting hours of waiting time in Amsterdam.

Thankfully however, KLM handled the delay flawlessly. Upon entering the Terminal, we were directed exactly where we needed to go to get our new boarding passes. KLM had already re-booked everyone who had missed their connections onto new flights. In addition, they had already arranged to put us up into hotels for the night. I had my new boarding pass, food vouchers, and directions on where to get my hotel reservation within ten minutes. Nothing like the nightmare I had with Air France last year!

Check-in desk at the hotel. I thought this was brilliant!

Once I got my hotel, I was given a welcome drink and one free hour of wi-fi usage. Unfortunately for me, my computer did not want to recognise the site they had given us, so the wi-fi was of no use to me. I was also given 5 minutes of free calling time, but being the genius that I am, I'd forgotten to jot down the number of my Dad who was meant to be picking me up. :-| Instead I was calling the US, and K back in Egypt, to try and get someone to get in touch with my sister to let her know about the delay. Once I arrived in Norway, I learned that they had both been at the airport the night before waiting for my plane. Ooops :-S

So unlike my previous delays in flying, and my recommendation to never fly Air France, I would eagerly recommend KLM for anyone, including the weary traveller.

More updates on my Norwegian adventures to follow!

Patchwork quilt that is Amsterdam from the air. This was
taken at 9 pm at night!