Saturday, March 26: Flying Home
Our flight left Bergen at 6:15 am, so we left the apartment at 3:30. It’s a tiny airport, but we had to stand in line quite a while to pay to check our bag and get our tickets. We had our COVID-19 test documentation and our vaccine cards, but there were still some difficulties—a hassle about paying for the bag (the ticket agent had to get special dispensation to check it all the way back to the United States) and then another hassle about a COVID form we’d need to fill out. I’d never heard of it, so I felt a little panicky. They found us one, but when we got to Amsterdam, they passed them out to everyone. It always feels better once you’re finally on the plane!
Domestic airplane food might be a free bag of salty snacks and a drink, if you’re lucky, but the international food was delicious. That salad has pesto and fresh mozzarella balls! And the salted caramel ice cream was terrific.
The kids watched a ton of media on the plane, Benjamin in particular. Phoebe and I both watched Brave on one of the flights, and I watched a couple of interesting documentaries (images below). On the way from Detroit to Denver, I watched 9 to 5—not my favorite movie in the world.
The kids were eager to ride the train in Detroit; we hadn’t figured it out in time on the way to Norway. Because the airport is a long hallway, the train takes you from one end to the other. It’s located along the ceiling line of the airport, so you can look down on the gates as you go by. We rode it both directions.
The kids eschewed the airplane food, so they were hungry, and it turns out they love Qdoba. Bowls!
We happened to be traveling on Benjamin’s half birthday. It’s our tradition to give the kids a physically small (also monetarily small) gift on their half birthdays, so Benjamin is playing with the family of dolls and tiny food he opened while we waited to board our flight to Denver.
All in all, we had a wonderful trip. The best part was spending time with Dave after so many weeks apart. It’s also a joy to know that we can travel with the kids—they were capable and fun. I hope if I’m ever in Norway again, I’ll get to travel up to Tromsø and see a few more old buildings, but the world is big, and we’re just getting started!