When we started our '5in5months' adventure in August 2015, there was an optimistic goal of writing a blog post every day of the trip. This meant that for 130+ consecutive days, we would need to think of something interesting to write than just food pics and comments about our hotel room. That initiative was soon abandoned and instead 'eventually' we will write more detailed recap posts with tips and stories that will be more useful to our readers. Kicking off the first blog post, we set the scene - a Thursday morning in August and we are off to Gatwick Airport. Sounds simple enough, except of all days, there was a Tube Strike.
Day 1: Leaving London
Tube strikes seem to be timed with the summer school break - perhaps based on the theory that the general public will be less impacted since people will be away on holiday, the weather is nicer for an above ground walk to work; instead of it occurring in February with the inevitable cold, misty rain. On the day we left London, we were stuck in a wide and long (but orderly in a very British way) queue trying to enter Clapham Junction station where the barriers had been locked down to prevent overcrowding. Luckily for us, the previous night we had stayed with Collin (Mei's Uncle) and we could take the National Rail to Gatwick Airport without needing to navigate through the non-functional Underground network.After about 30 minutes of nervous waiting as the clock ticked down to our flight departure time, we broke through a gap, made it onto the platform and were on our way to the terminals at Gatwick.
Flight to Trondheim, via Bergen
Norway was the first of twenty-five countries that we would visit over the next five-month period. It was also home to family members - Olie's sister Michelle, brother-in-law Marius and newborn baby Anton. This visit was our opportunity to see the northern city of Trondheim when it wasn't covered in snow, as our last visit had been during Christmas 2012. For convenience, we picked a flight that arrived in Trondheim at a civilised hour but that meant selecting an indirect route - with Norwegian Airlines we chose a layover in the southern Norwegian city of Bergen.
Recap - Delayed Baggage Experience
Our previous visit to Trondheim included a route via Amsterdam using KLM Airlines. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, our first flight leg was delayed and we experienced the slight inconvenience of our baggage not making onto the connecting flight. But KLM's internal processes were efficient for making a claim, locating our bags, delivering them to the house - making us think that sorting out delayed baggage was a common occurrence due to their flight model of routing everyone through the central hub at Schiphol Airport. Also, as we were staying with family with no time pressure or booked tours - it was perhaps the best time for us to have a delayed baggage experience.
Still Have Baggage Issues
Fast-forward to August 2015 and we faced a new set of baggage related dramas and 'lessons learnt' that we will package into a section called *TRAVEL TIP* - a repository of valuable pieces of travel related knowledge gained from our trip experiences that once day we will collate for a post onto TripAdvisor.
* TRAVEL TIP* - Avoid indirect flights to Norway that include a domestic layover
When we checked into our London-Bergen-Trondheim flight, we asked the friendly Norwegian Airline counter staff member as to whether our luggage would go straight through to Trondheim. 'Of course' was the reply. However, as the plane commenced landing, there was a message over the PA system advising international travellers with domestic connections to pick up and re-check in their luggage. Thinking that this message was not applicable to us as we had already asked the question and this was not the USA (where you do need to collect luggage and pass immigration at the first airport you land in); on landing we headed for the airport lounge for a lunch of hot-dogs and beer.
Day 1: Leaving London
Tube strikes seem to be timed with the summer school break - perhaps based on the theory that the general public will be less impacted since people will be away on holiday, the weather is nicer for an above ground walk to work; instead of it occurring in February with the inevitable cold, misty rain. On the day we left London, we were stuck in a wide and long (but orderly in a very British way) queue trying to enter Clapham Junction station where the barriers had been locked down to prevent overcrowding. Luckily for us, the previous night we had stayed with Collin (Mei's Uncle) and we could take the National Rail to Gatwick Airport without needing to navigate through the non-functional Underground network.After about 30 minutes of nervous waiting as the clock ticked down to our flight departure time, we broke through a gap, made it onto the platform and were on our way to the terminals at Gatwick.
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| Crowded entrance to the train platforms |
Flight to Trondheim, via Bergen
Norway was the first of twenty-five countries that we would visit over the next five-month period. It was also home to family members - Olie's sister Michelle, brother-in-law Marius and newborn baby Anton. This visit was our opportunity to see the northern city of Trondheim when it wasn't covered in snow, as our last visit had been during Christmas 2012. For convenience, we picked a flight that arrived in Trondheim at a civilised hour but that meant selecting an indirect route - with Norwegian Airlines we chose a layover in the southern Norwegian city of Bergen.
Recap - Delayed Baggage Experience
Our previous visit to Trondheim included a route via Amsterdam using KLM Airlines. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, our first flight leg was delayed and we experienced the slight inconvenience of our baggage not making onto the connecting flight. But KLM's internal processes were efficient for making a claim, locating our bags, delivering them to the house - making us think that sorting out delayed baggage was a common occurrence due to their flight model of routing everyone through the central hub at Schiphol Airport. Also, as we were staying with family with no time pressure or booked tours - it was perhaps the best time for us to have a delayed baggage experience.
Still Have Baggage Issues
Fast-forward to August 2015 and we faced a new set of baggage related dramas and 'lessons learnt' that we will package into a section called *TRAVEL TIP* - a repository of valuable pieces of travel related knowledge gained from our trip experiences that once day we will collate for a post onto TripAdvisor.
* TRAVEL TIP* - Avoid indirect flights to Norway that include a domestic layover
When we checked into our London-Bergen-Trondheim flight, we asked the friendly Norwegian Airline counter staff member as to whether our luggage would go straight through to Trondheim. 'Of course' was the reply. However, as the plane commenced landing, there was a message over the PA system advising international travellers with domestic connections to pick up and re-check in their luggage. Thinking that this message was not applicable to us as we had already asked the question and this was not the USA (where you do need to collect luggage and pass immigration at the first airport you land in); on landing we headed for the airport lounge for a lunch of hot-dogs and beer.
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| Perfect combo of beer and hotdogs |
After a couple of hours, we decided to search for the gate relevant to our Bergen to Trondheim flight. Walking down a flight of stairs, we noticed the luggage carousels and a sign above outlining the directive that international travellers with domestic connections must pick up their luggage and re-check it in. As this was our first flight of a five month journey, Mei became concerned about the location of our bags. Sure enough, our two backpacks had been neatly 'abandoned' in the middle of two conveyor belts just waiting for someone to pick them up. It was a reality check that we could have had another delayed baggage experience so early on in our trip.
* TRAVEL TIP* - Avoid using special/oversized baggage for items of sentimental value
Transporting cue sticks across country borders by air must not be a popular request (unless you are a professional snooker player). This time we had to consider the logistics on behalf of Marius who had just taken up snooker as a hobby. Norwegian Airlines has a range of categories for 'special baggage' that relate to sporting equipment (including firearms) but the nearest category we could find was 'fishing rod'.
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| The cue stick, not a fishing rod |
At Gatwick Airport, we checked in the 'fishing rod' into the Special Baggage counter where it waited with a large number of baby seats, strollers and oversized backpacks. Another tip: check-in backpacks as regular baggage by using bag transporter sacks available at outdoor retailers to protect straps and avoid them being caught in the conveyor belt.
Filing the Baggage Report
On arrival at Trondheim Airport, we confirmed that the 'fishing rod' had not shown up - a deja vu moment as memories of 3 years ago flooded back. Once again Marius provided assistance with completing the report in Norwegian and once we were back home, numerous calls were made to the provided number for updates but they all went unanswered. Frustrated, we even visited the Airport baggage desk in person on the way to Marius's parents place but left empty handed. It was only until the day before we were due to fly back to London, that an email arrived with a status update. As it turned out, the cue stick/fishing rod and other Special Baggage checked in that day had never made it out of Gatwick Airport and only arrived the day we were to leave - thankfully we didn't actually need the piece of equipment for our Norway travels.
Relaxation Time
After a frantic fortnight of packing up our London home and getting all the logistics sorted for the trip, it was nice to be with family and just relaxing, introducing ourselves to our nephew Anton, eating salmon gravlax and enjoying the Norwegian outdoors.
Fish Market and Exploring Town
On Day 2, we headed into town to visit the local fish market. On our last visit, many of the shops had been closed for the holiday break, so this was our first visit to see if we could pick up some local seafood. Mei bought a leg of spider crab (weight approximately 200grams) to grill at home. Afterwards we stopped by a gelati shop for an ice-cream and Anton had his first cheeky taste of chocolate gelati.
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| Spider crab for sale |
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| Helping to babysit |
Steinkjer
In the afternoon we drove to the nearby city of Steinkjer to visit Marius's parents. It was a two hour drive and we enjoyed the scenic views of the countryside and fjords.
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| Fjords next to the highway |
Dinner was a delicious traditional Norwegian summer spread of potatoes, gravlax, cured meats, salad and various mayonnaise like spreads.
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| Dinner Time |
The Big Chair (Oftenasen)
Day 3, we took a short walk to 'The Big Chair' - a sculpture on top of a lookout, giving us a further chance to appreciate the Norwegian countryside. Despite a short rain shower that was made interesting as we spotted some waterlogged bumblebees trying to dry off underneath a flower, we saw a very nice view from the top.
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| Hanging out at the Big Chair |
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| View from the top |
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| Bumblebees drying off under the thistle flower |
Next blog post:
Trondheim, Norway - Part 2
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