Day 1 - Disaster strikes

After successfully arriving in Heathrow and meeting up with Becky we spent a night at the Hilton in Terminal 2.   The trouble started the following morning when we headed to T3 to check in for our flight to Oslo.   First of all the automated bag drop didn't work properly.   It claimed to have checked in my suitcase and even printed out a receipt for  the "checked-in" suitcase.  But the conveyer never moved - the bag just sat there.  After 5 minutes it said there was an error and told me to go and see a member of staff.  With this issue eventually sorted out we went through security nearly 3 hours early and sat in the terminal reading for a while.

Heathrow being Heathrow, they never manage to call the gate for a flight until about 40 minutes before it's due to take off.  In keeping with this, the gate for our Oslo flight was not called until 6.50m, for a flight that took off at 7.30 - and it was a 10 minute walk to the gate.   When we eventually got to the gate at about 7am, I couldn't find my UK passport!  I rushed back to security - but they said it hadn't been handed in, and after another 10-15 minutes of rushing around every shop/restaurant I'd been in I had to head back to the gate or I wasn't going to make it before the flight took off.   Never have I ever been so happy to be a dual citizen - as they allowed me to re-check-in using my Canadian passport and I was able to board the flight to Oslo.   

I'll still need to sort out an ETA for our cruise stops in the UK now that I'm traveling as a Canadian citizen and I'll need to sort out getting a new UK passport when I get home.  But at least I'm not having to give up and go home without being able to fly out to Norway and board the ship. 

So we made it to Oslo about 10.40 and met the Viking rep at the airport who arranged our transfer to our central Oslo hotel.   The rooms weren't available yet,  so we walked into the centre of town and did a bit of souvenir shopping and sightseeing.   

After that it was back to the hotel to pick up our room key and unpack - only to find that they'd made a mistake with the room and we'd ended up with a double bed instead of 2 singles.   It's a good thing we're sisters and spent most of our childhood sharing a room and/or a bed.   They claim the hotel is full and there's nothing they can do about it.  

We went out about 5pm to the Norda restaurant and had reindeer lasagne and brown cheesecake (made with that Nordski caramelized cheese) and a LOT of alcohol to help us relax after such a stressful day.   

Hopefully tomorrow will go more smoothly.