Saturday, March 19: Traveling to Norway
After our impromptu December trip to Iceland, I knew the kids could handle international travel, but flying to Bergen is a much longer trip. We flew from Denver to Detroit, had a 3-hour layover, flew from Detroit to Amsterdam, followed by another 3-hour layover, and finally flew from Amsterdam to Bergen. At one point, when we were telling Benjamin about how the trip would work, he asked if we’d see a lot of hamsters in Hamsterdam. It seems like you would!
Norway is no longer requiring COVID-19 testing or quarantine, so that piece of the trip was pretty easy. We left for DIA at 8 am to catch our 11:40 flight; we wanted to make sure we’d have time to stand in lines. And stand in lines we did! We waited to pay for and drop off our luggage—we all shared one roller bag—and collect our boarding passes. Then, instead of the usual cattle call in front of security, we waited in a long snaking line that stretched back to baggage claim. It moved fast, so it didn’t feel too bad.
The kids waited at the gate while I asked the agent to try to seat us all together. We bought the cheapest possible tickets, so we boarded at the very end of every flight with the handful of other people in the “basic” group.
I hardly ever watch the entertainment system on the plane, and I’d spent hours loading CDs from our collection onto my phone, but on the 7-hour flight to Amsterdam, I watched this wonderful Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy movie. I spent half the movie telling Phoebe “you would love this!” and watching her roll her eyes and snort.
I love food, so I was delighted to have a hot meal onboard the flight. It reminded me of our trips to Florida to see my grandparents when I was a kid. I didn’t get a wings pin, though.
