Well, I'd left off in Nybyen, with approximately 2 hours of sleep ahead of us—and, no doubt, the noisy American college kids next door didn't really help. But, at least for me, didn't matter much either, considering how tired I was. Oh well, around 02:25am we woke up and got ready for the 3:00am departure to LYR via the public airport bus... Again, no credit cards accepted—this despite the sign in the guesthouse saying they'd take CC's since June 15th... This was crossed out by marker in the bus, so a no-go anyway.
Well, the oldish bus came and we got on. After picking up all the passengers it stopped in a courtyard and the driver collected payment. A few minutes later we arrived in LYR and got off the bus and checked-in, even though we'd chosen our seats the night before. Afterwards we stepped outside and took a few more pics of the islands. Well, soon we decided to go back inside and through security. This went pretty fast, even though there was only one lane. No hurry, and soon we were inside LYR's airside, where they had a shop and a restroom. Well, good enough for 2 or maybe 3 flights a day, right? Yeah. I proceeded to the window in order to catch a glimpse of our B737—LN-TUF it would be tonight. Um, this morning... Uh, today? Anyway, the scheduled 737-700 indeed, although the safety cards said 736, which got me excited for a couple of seconds until a multiplied ~24 times 6 yielding a 73G seat count, not a 736 one. Damn. Oh, and we had seats 22A/B, with no one sitting in 22C. Good for us.
Flight: SK4497
STD/STA: 0445-0740
ATD/ATA: 10 minutes later
Boeing 737-700
Reg: LN-TUF
Well, everyone boarded, but we weren't moving. Soon, the pilot told us: “I bet you're wondering why we're not moving” (something like that, anyway). “Well, Oslo told us that our slot would be in 10 minutes due to overcrowding at OSL” (due to lack of staffing, I wonder?). SA Czech Airlines">OK, well, 10 minutes later we headed out to the runway and took off soon afterwards. Nice takeoff but too soon we were in the clouds... No more views of Svalbard. Damn
Being a morning flight, SAS would offer a breakfast onboard, free of charge. Well, that's nice, even though the breakfast wasn't all that. Just a sandwich, some orange juice and a cup of SAS tea. Fair enough...
Legroom was decent, but not that good, in all honesty.
Well, after we ate and drank the tea I pretty much immediately fell asleep until 20 minutes out from Oslo... Which means, I can't really say much else about the flight. It seemed very much SA Czech Airlines">OK, nothing special, nothing bad. Oh, and the cabin crew was the same as the flight to Svalbard the previous day!
LYR's hall:
High tech check-in desks:
Careful, polar bears!
Kinda self-explanatory, yeah?
Nor any drop to drink:
More airport:
Close-up; kinda far away from the South Pole. Maybe Ushuaia's jealous. Or Puerto Williams...
Oh, Svalbard, how we love thee:
Don't just stand there, all mountain-y:
Past security:
Our beast of burden, LN-TUF:
SAS albino:
Tail-view:
Outside, while boarding:
LN-TUF:
Ikke ga under vingen:
SA(S):
Svalbard:
Not too much room:
Douglas classics, with a turbo spin:
Hello, runway:
Interior view:
Beautiful take-off:
Food and OJ:
Soon we were approaching OSL. This is where I woke up, really, so still a bit uncertain of exactly what was going on. We were approaching OSL, that's for certain.
Approach pics:
Disembarking:
Kvalitet er en sport:
Permanent fixture at OSL:
Star Alliance:
Well, here we were, OSL... We parked at a parking stand and got off the plane and on the bus (ikke ga under vingen, dude). After an airport tour, taking us on the other side of the terminal, we had the pleaure of going upstairs for passport control. Well, ID control I suppose. After going through immigration (Svalbard not being in Schengen, this is necessary), we found the SAS bus outside arrivals and got on for 80 NOK/person (150 if not a student, or 250 return). Credit/Debit cards accepted, ah, there we go! The voyage back into town took about 45 minutes or so and we arrived at the bus terminal. Not my favorite part of OSL. Afterwards, we proceeded back to Comfort Hotel Xpress, covered in the first or second part of the report. This was not before buying a 24-hr Oslo pass for 270 NOK, granting us free public transportation as well as free access to multiple sites around Oslo. A good deal if you like to make the most out of your destination.With the card we went to a few places, including Akershus fortress, the folk museum, the viking ship museum, the Munch museum and the ski-jump complex. Pictures below:
Green Oslo:
Entrance to Akershus:
Castle:
Chapel:
Interior shots:
View of the city:
Buildings:
Village Museum (well, Folk Museum, I guess):
Ancient building:
Grass on houses:
Stave church... Not very fire-proof, I must say:
Viking Ship Museum:
Skrik:
Munch Museum:
Holmenkollen:
It's a looong way down:
Central Oslo:
Fornebu:
Nice little neighborhood:
Tram/Metro Station... going up to 300m AMSL. Impressive really:
Cathy Droll:
Oslo really proved to be a nice place. It much improved my opinion compared to the first time a week before... central Oslo isn't anything awesome, with all the beggars, junkies and gypsies around the bus/train station and the National Theatre, but the outskirts are much, much better. This includes everything I detailed above and Vigeland Park, with its, shall we say, interesting [used here in its American sense]... sculptures. My personal favorite was the “Kick the baby!... don't kick the baby” sculpture at the northwestern corner of the bridge IIRC. It's a city that needs some exploration; some central areas are quite bad/depressing, but most others are very nice in my experience.
With regards to food... After returning from Holmenkollen and crashing in the hotel room (and unsuccessfully attempting to check-in for our flights the next day), we decided to go to an Arabic or Turkish cuisine restaurant, called... Cafe Sara. Hardly sounds Turkish. In effect, I had Beef Skewers for 160 NOK, which really exceeded my expectations. Very good. Then again, as I said before, the food in Norway always seemed to be really good, albeit looking at some prices you could almost feel a kick in the groin! The atmosphere was a bit strange (maybe it was just me after 2 hours of sleep the previous night), but the service was really good, alongside the food. They also had Mexican sounding dishes, which seems like a very weird combination to me.
Well, afterwards we headed basically straight back to our hotel room due to a lack of sleep and a late hour (it was almost 11... and it was sort of, but not really, getting dark-ish).
The next morning we headed out to Vigeland Park, and then back to the bus station to catch the shuttle to OSL. Everything worked well and soon we got back to OSL, and managed to check-in for our separate flights—M via AMS and I via VIE.
Return to OTP, via OS
Oslo Check-in Hall:
After checking-in and dropping off our bags we headed through security as there wasn't much to do land-side. Not slow, not fast, it took a few minutes to get through—definitely much better than in the USA with regards to efficiency, though!
Well, OSL was an airport in Norway, which is enough to give a heart attack to some people as far as prices go. Luckily for me, I wasn't hungry—although M got some sort of raw fish, I think. Well, my flight was leaving first so I headed to gate... 36, was it? Anyway, the “waiting area” had 12 seats... The F100 could hold in excess of 100 people. Bad job, OSL. Trying to make people spend money in your overpriced shops/restaurants. Tisk tisk. Anyway, after a long and drawn-out process, OS336 was ready to board. I was already queueing up for a while... because there was no place to sit. The boarding process and online check-in, both outsourced to SAS, were basically shit. Bad start to my Austrian experience. On board, things started slowly getting better... The green interior of the F100 sure is unconventional. The F/As were reasonably friendly... Well, after boarding was completed and we pushed back... they brought us up to speed with the “international safety regulations”, which took about 100 seconds if that. Very quick and not much information there. If we'd be talking strictly about length of presentation being proportional to safety, then OS/Tyrolean would be the least safe airline I've flown. But of course, that's not how it necessarily goes.
Flight: OS336
Reg: OE-LVJ
Aircraft: Fokker 100
STD/STA: 1400-1640
284th flight, 1st on a Fokker 100
Service on board: quick and not very substantial; while better than Alitalia's biscotti or salatini, the sandwich can best be described as a red (from Oslo) or yellow (to Bucharest) cream between two miniature pieces of bread. Again, a mouse-sized offering. Not that that state of events is surprising anymore--“thank you, Ryanair!”
20 or so minutes later, I also got a drink. Some apple juice or something, it was very late, anyway, unlike most airlines, who serve drinks first...
Approach into Vienna was really bumpy. At first, I had the impression that we wouldn't be able to land due to crosswinds, but luckily that wasn't a problem—I had a short connection and wanted to see a bit of VIE's much-improved terminal Austrian was using. Well, we arrived, no missed approach, and soon we were released into VIE's terminal... I expected some security screening, but that wasn't necessary... Or was there a security breach? I don't know, but sure enough, I was not screened in VIE. Nice, I like.
My camera doesn't think OSL is bright enough:
OSL domestic pier activity:
Finnair E-190:
Norwegian:
Orbest? The hell is that, anyway?
12 seats for 100 people. Well done, OSL!
Hello, my precioussss:
KLM B737:
Safety card:
737 heaven:
OSL:
Wideroe:
Take-off; bye-bye yellow runway markings:
Nice view:
Austrian snack:
Swedish coastline:
German/Polish coastline:
F100 interior:
Regnbue:
Landing after a very windy approach:
Austrians:
VIE's new terminal (Star only, please):
So, I arrived in VIE, which is indeed light-years ahead of their old terminals that I used in 2000 and then later in 2003. No more downstairs bus gates for Eastern Europe. Now, this part was on the third floor. We still used a bus, but that's SA Czech Airlines">OK. It wasn't crowded anymore. Just 2 or 3 flights to non-Schengen destinations at that time...
Some interesting aircraft, but not that much action around VIE at this time... Or that's how it seemed where I was waiting. Soon enough, boarding for OTP was called and I headed towards the self-service gate. Well, some machine beeping and a handing my BP to the agent later I was through and headed towards the bus. Everything SA Czech Airlines">OK? Yeah, and soon enough we were in front of the F100, ready to board. Of course, it was picture taking time, seeing as VIE seems quite friendly to this sort of activity. Indeed, no one gave a damn. I remained last in my bus, after the Montenegrin Under-17 (something like that anyway) basketball team got on the plane... I made way way back to 20A, all good, perfect view of the engine. Hey, even a RO aircraft was present. A shitload of Bucharest flights from VIE, that's for sure. Later, the second bus arrived and all was ready for departure. Same short safety demonstration, and off to the active... Which was basically a few meters away, anyway.
Take-off soon, drink and snack service a bit later... Pretty much the same as on the OSL-VIE flight, but different filling for the sandwich. By the time everything was finished we were over Romanian territory... Yes, the meal was very Hungary. The whole of Hungary, that is. Anyway, we arrived in OTP after a traditional route: Deva-Petrosani-Ramnicu Valcea-Pitesti, all on my side (the left-hand side is better when arriving in Bucharest... you can see the mountains is the coast is clear).
Well, OS787 landed on runway 08L and after using the high-speed exit at a not very high speed, we ended up at gate 2 (aka parking position 15), and used the jetway. Being just a few meters from passport control didn't hurt, and 5 minutes later I exited the secure area. I then walked downstairs and followed the signs for the 780/783 buses, just outside domestic arrivals (and departures). There is a guy there selling electronic supports and tickets—and you now officially need one, as there's now someone to check that you validated your ticket on these lines. There were no controls beforehand as far as I could tell. Anyway, 32 minutes later I was in Universitate square, a few minutes away from my apartment... Well, that's it for this journey. Hope it's the right length for a nice read without being too boring. I promised some pictures from the Bucharest International Air Show...
FIDS:
Rossiya:
General view:
Arrows:
Engine:
Tirana:
Bye bye, little one:
And you too, slightly bigger one:
Boarding:
Well, hallo there:
Austrian snack—no wonder Austrians are so skinny, with all those mountains and mouse-sized snacks
I like this kind of picture—wing and ground/sea/city. Deva pictured.
Petrosani:
Mountains:
Transalpina:
All important legroom shot:
Landing:
Landing video:
OTP parking:
DHL:
YR-ATC, the RO Skyteam Colors ATR:
Hey, I know you!
Air Show pictures:
737 acrobatics:
Turkish Stars:
Live ATC radar exhibit:
Baneasa's old, retired terminal:
Red Bull Lockheed:
RoAF aircraft, the Spartan:
1906 (?) aircraft:
There were a few more interesting aircraft in the back, but no good places from which to take photos—they're behind this 146...
Anyway, that's it. Hope you enjoyed. Comments and questions are always appreciated!
abrelosojos From Venezuela, joined May 2005, 4917 posts, RR: 55 Reply 3, posted (9 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 3183 times:
Quoting dc9northwest (Thread starter): Ok, so, after a bit of a long absence due to some other travels, I'm back with Part V of my Norwegian report. This contains the following flights:
= Aaa ... was wondering when you'd put it all up. Now time to catch up on them.
Funny you took a flight to Svalbard because on my other Chrome tab was a route map of Widerøe as I plan a trip there next year .
Thanks for writing up the report. I am actually impressed SK serves meals - and, I forever remain confused to their service delivery approach!
Also, I never quite got the whole "Austrian Arrows" name. Oh well.
Great report, amazing and stunning pics.
I really like the LYR departure pics.
Hi there Marc!
Thanks for your appreciation. LYR is truly scenic.
Quoting lychemsa (Reply 2): Those OS sandwiches are tiny. A bit of a joke.
It's definitely a bit below average...
Quoting abrelosojos (Reply 3): = Aaa ... was wondering when you'd put it all up. Now time to catch up on them.
Hah, yes, well, a bit of countryside and my other European trip interfered. Still have to write those reports up!
Quoting abrelosojos (Reply 3): Funny you took a flight to Svalbard because on my other Chrome tab was a route map of Widerøe as I plan a trip there next year .
Northernmost (commercial) airport in the world! Indeed, a good destination.
Next year... I'm probably completing my Northern European nation collection if everything goes according to plan!
Quoting abrelosojos (Reply 3): Thanks for writing up the report. I am actually impressed SK serves meals - and, I forever remain confused to their service delivery approach!
Yes, they offer breakfast.... on Scandinavian flights only, I think. That's what I think they had written down in their magazine. Indeed, their service delivery is extra-confusing.
Quoting abrelosojos (Reply 3): Also, I never quite got the whole "Austrian Arrows" name. Oh well.
Sounds like they got inspired by trains... At least in Italy and Romania they're partial to naming them "arrows" with different colors added to the name...
I can see that. I find Norway extremely relaxing, especially coming in from the mayhem of Southern Europe... Oslo's not my favorite place in Norway, though.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 4): It seems you had some nice flights again with okay service. How long was the flight LYR-OSL ? Good you got some sleep on that.
Flights were indeed OK. Nothing bad. OS could be better handled in OSL, though.
LYR-OSL was about 2h 45'. That's a pretty long domestic flight for Europe
Quoting The777Man (Reply 4): Always great to see the TG 777 at OSL!
Definitely a nice-looking machine. Any thought on MH's 772? I'm flying on one in January if all goes according to plan.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 4): Great that the new terminal in VIE seems to be working out much better than the old one.
Oh, yes, it's quite a modern terminal. Minimalistic design. It works very efficiently in my experience.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 4): Nice pictures from the Airshow. The Turkish team seems to be using F-104s ?
Thank you! According to their website they're using NF-5 aircraft... But, they do look a lot like F-104s! I'm not the biggest connoisseur of military aircraft, however
Quoting The777Man (Reply 4): Looking forward to your next report !
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 6, posted (9 months 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 3002 times:
Hi Alex!
Nice ending to you're Norway report series!
Glad to see that SAS didn't dissapoint and that you got two flights on the F100, I should try to log a F70 or F100 before they are gone!
Quoting dc9northwest (Thread starter): Anyway, the “waiting area” had 12 seats... The F100 could hold in excess of 100 people. Bad job, OSL. Trying to make people spend money in your overpriced shops/restaurants. Tisk tisk.
I seem to recall reading that when the built OSL they needed to do a budget cut, they decided to reduce the amount of waiting areas...
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6083 posts, RR: 56 Reply 7, posted (9 months 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 2966 times:
Hi Alex !
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 5): Any thought on MH's 772? I'm flying on one in January if all goes according to plan.
MH as a carrier is really nice. Their 777s have a nice IFE system but it's getting a bit outdated. I don't want to get your expectations too high and want you to get positively surprised instead.
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 5): I'm not the biggest connoisseur of military aircraft,
Me neither
Thanks!
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
Knightsofmalta From Malta, joined Nov 2005, 1415 posts, RR: 17 Reply 8, posted (9 months 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 2863 times:
Hi Alex
Another excellent installment of this series of your journey up north. I've been following every part of your journey with great interest. Thanks for writing it all up.
Spitzbergen has always been a place I've wanted to visit. I always used to wonder what it must be like up there and what there is to do. It looks quite bare from the pictures you posted in the last section.
I also greatly enjoyed the pictures of Oslo. It really is such a nice city.
That check-in area looks kind of drab. The whole airport looks very sterile. Then again, in a place that Longyearbyen function probably always comes before form.
roberts87 From Netherlands, joined Dec 2011, 660 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (9 months 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 2859 times:
Nice report again! Seems like an okay conclusion to your trip. OS service is indeed so-so, it has gone down over the years, I believe. The new terminal in VIE looks nice though.
dc9northwest From Romania, joined Feb 2007, 1735 posts, RR: 4 Reply 10, posted (9 months 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 2854 times:
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 6): Nice ending to you're Norway report series!
Glad to see that SAS didn't dissapoint and that you got two flights on the F100, I should try to log a F70 or F100 before they are gone!
Thanks Martin!
Yeah, SAS was OK, definitely performed well for me on these flights.
Indeed, the little Fokkers are good targets in themselves!
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 6): I seem to recall reading that when the built OSL they needed to do a budget cut, they decided to reduce the amount of waiting areas...
Hmmm... Well, they couldn't reduce the number of stores, could they? That would be against budget cut reasoning considering how much money they could make
Quoting The777Man (Reply 7): MH as a carrier is really nice. Their 777s have a nice IFE system but it's getting a bit outdated. I don't want to get your expectations too high and want you to get positively surprised instead.
Thanks for your answer The777Man! OK, good to know. You know, it's my favorite 777 config, the 2-5-2... Reminds me of my childhood, haha. I hear good things about Malaysian. I'll have to see how they deliver
Another excellent installment of this series of your journey up north. I've been following every part of your journey with great interest. Thanks for writing it all up.
Spitzbergen has always been a place I've wanted to visit. I always used to wonder what it must be like up there and what there is to do. It looks quite bare from the pictures you posted in the last section.
Hi William!
Thank you for reading it all!
Indeed, it seems to be basically tundra vegetation, which means... almost no plants, just very tiny ones. No shrubs or trees, giving it a very barren aspect indeed!
Quoting Knightsofmalta (Reply 8): That check-in area looks kind of drab. The whole airport looks very sterile. Then again, in a place that Longyearbyen function probably always comes before form.
Well, it is a town of just above 2000 people. Not sure they really need anything more, really
Well, their approach to meals is confusing to no end... So we can't be certain what happened to the breakfast box.
Quoting roberts87 (Reply 9): Nice report again! Seems like an okay conclusion to your trip. OS service is indeed so-so, it has gone down over the years, I believe. The new terminal in VIE looks nice though.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for reading. Yes, I can't really complain, OS was alright... But nothing more. Very average indeed. I guess above Alitalia all things considered, though
New terminal in VIE makes life for passengers much, much easier. The old terminal was IME pretty crowded.
Thanks for reading and for your comments, everyone!
Quoting dc9northwest (Thread starter): Service on board: quick and not very substantial; while better than Alitalia's biscotti or salatini, the sandwich can best be described as a red (from Oslo) or yellow (to Bucharest) cream between two miniature pieces of bread. Again, a mouse-sized offering. Not that that state of events is surprising anymore--“thank you, Ryanair!”
At least the sandwiches are still produced by DO&CO - how did they taste? The size is ridiculous, though. OS used to have a very impressive catering.
sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1188 posts, RR: 29 Reply 12, posted (9 months 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 2741 times:
Hello Alex,
Good conclusive part in your Norway series. Too bad you had to leave Norway’s beauty behind and get back to the daily hustle and bustle of Bucharest.
Nice pics throughout and I’m a fan of that OS F100 cabin!
nice last part of your series with many good pictures! Oslo is a beautiful city.
Hi PH,
thanks for reading!
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 11): Absolutely. But I fear they will be gone soon.
Indeed, that seems to be the case...
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 11): At least the sandwiches are still produced by DO&CO - how did they taste? The size is ridiculous, though. OS used to have a very impressive catering.
The taste was fine... Well, I hear they're starting to sell meals... My mother wants to go to Vienna again soon, so maybe I'll try that instead even if the flight is just 1h 30'...
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 11): It's not exclusive to Star carriers, btw. Emirates and some others use it, too.
I see. Do they have a codeshare agreement? I know there were quite a few planes going to the old side, and I think just OS at the gates here... Maybe a LH flight too.
Quoting sultanils (Reply 12): Good conclusive part in your Norway series. Too bad you had to leave Norway’s beauty behind and get back to the daily hustle and bustle of Bucharest.
Nice pics throughout and I’m a fan of that OS F100 cabin!
Yeah, I like its unconventional nature myself! Leaving Norway was hard--we didn't want to leave.
Quoting sultanils (Reply 12): Ha, that seems a classical Svalbard pic!
It must be! Not sure where the "gjelder hele Svalbard" sign is, though!
Great pics and nice to see OS and the new terminal .
Hey Philip!
Thanks for your comments!
Quoting OA260 (Reply 14):
Love all the pics from Norway . I love it and as you say is so relaxing and scenic. Tromso is my favourite place and would love to visit in Summer.
Love the RO retro jet looks classic .
Can't fault Norway for anything... Life there seems expensive, but easy. Hey, if I had the money I wouldn't hesitate moving there. Not sure about the winters, though... They might be depressing.
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 18, posted (9 months 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 2268 times:
Hi dcniner,
This comments stands for the whole of your Norwegian series - I've read them all but for the life of me cannot summon the energy to comment on all of them separately, sorry for that! But terrific reading, all of them. You certainly managed to cram the essential "Norway in a Nutshell" tour into your time there. Sure, Norway has a lot more to offer (stay tuned for a report on one such experience), but his is a good starting point - you got the essence of most of the many different faces of the country.
Very nice for you to manage a visit up to Svalbard, it is such an alien place that everyone should visit it once in their lifetime. Not much going on there, but the stunning scenery, the barren nature and just plain difference to anything else you've seen on this planet is a reason enough to visit it!
Quoting dc9northwest (Thread starter): Well, everyone boarded, but we weren't moving. Soon, the pilot told us: “I bet you're wondering why we're not moving” (something like that, anyway). “Well, Oslo told us that our slot would be in 10 minutes due to overcrowding at OSL” (due to lack of staffing, I wonder?). SA Czech Airlines">OK, well, 10 minutes later we headed out to the runway and took off soon afterwards. Nice takeoff but too soon we were in the clouds... No more views of Svalbard. Damn
Haha. Could very well be - this happened also on my flight to OSL last Sunday, although it wasn't too bad this time.
Quoting dc9northwest (Thread starter): Being a morning flight, SAS would offer a breakfast onboard, free of charge. Well, that's nice, even though the breakfast wasn't all that. Just a sandwich, some orange juice and a cup of SAS tea. Fair enough...
Hmm this is quite weird, I wouldn't classify a flight leaving just after 4AM a "morning flight", more like a "middle of the night" flight and thus no breakfast service needed, or if one is provided then close to landing instead of right after take off. But very nice for them to disagree with me .
What on earth is that second SAS bird doing there?! They are not supposed to have an overnighting bird there, the other daily flight comes in from OSL via TOS early afternoon and then turns back.
Hey, that reminds me of the one they have in Bucharest, in Herestrau Park. Initially I thought it was very nice, but then after touring the place for an hour I realized it just went on and on, man that place is *huge*. Oh and the bloody stray dogs were there as well! But at least the HRC is in the same park, not a long way from the museum .
But looks like I should maybe go to that museum if I ever dare (well more like afford) to leave Gardermoen in the future...
Quoting dc9northwest (Thread starter): Not slow, not fast, it took a few minutes to get through—definitely much better than in the USA with regards to efficiency, though!
Yes, just a week ago I was quite impressed by the efficiency of the OSL security. Sure, the queues were huge but they were *moving*. And moving fast at that. Me like.
Quoting dc9northwest (Thread starter): Well, my flight was leaving first so I headed to gate... 36, was it? Anyway, the “waiting area” had 12 seats... The F100 could hold in excess of 100 people. Bad job, OSL
Haha, after reading your description I knew exactly what gate area you meant and after seeing your photo below I knew I was right! Yes, I've been through OSL far too many times (with more to come).
Nice to have it finally open! Maybe I'll get to use it in November. Man the old terminal is such a dump, especially the depressing downstairs B bus gate area.
This comments stands for the whole of your Norwegian series - I've read them all but for the life of me cannot summon the energy to comment on all of them separately, sorry for that! But terrific reading, all of them. You certainly managed to cram the essential "Norway in a Nutshell" tour into your time there. Sure, Norway has a lot more to offer (stay tuned for a report on one such experience), but his is a good starting point - you got the essence of most of the many different faces of the country.
Very nice for you to manage a visit up to Svalbard, it is such an alien place that everyone should visit it once in their lifetime. Not much going on there, but the stunning scenery, the barren nature and just plain difference to anything else you've seen on this planet is a reason enough to visit it!
Don't worry--I appreciate the fact that you read them and are commenting here
Oh, definitely, there's much more to it, but the wallet has suffered enough for now. I'll be back eventually/
Svalbard, Svalbard. Don't know anywhere else like it... But I think a trip to Ushuaia might be in order, to compare. Or Puerto Williams, even better! That would be the exact opposite of LYR. Same size, different latitude.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): Haha. Could very well be - this happened also on my flight to OSL last Sunday, although it wasn't too bad this time.
Yeah, for some reason Oslo ATC seems to be prone to delays--for whatever reason.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): Hmm this is quite weird, I wouldn't classify a flight leaving just after 4AM a "morning flight", more like a "middle of the night" flight and thus no breakfast service needed, or if one is provided then close to landing instead of right after take off. But very nice for them to disagree with me .
Well, 4:40 is morning enough, but where do they draw the line?.. They only say flights before... 9, I think. But if you leave at 2:00, that's really not a breakfast time!
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): What on earth is that second SAS bird doing there?! They are not supposed to have an overnighting bird there, the other daily flight comes in from OSL via TOS early afternoon and then turns back.
SK4493 to TOS, leaving at 04:05! They had a whopping 3 flights leaving on that day, 2 to TOS (and onwards to OSL I assume), 1 to OSL. High season and all that, I suppose!
Departures at 04:05, 04:40 and 13:55 I believe.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): Hey, that reminds me of the one they have in Bucharest, in Herestrau Park. Initially I thought it was very nice, but then after touring the place for an hour I realized it just went on and on, man that place is *huge*. Oh and the bloody stray dogs were there as well!
Yeah, the Northern part of the city is supposed to be the nicest part. Herestrau is pretty huge, indeed, and at least the main part looks quite well for Romanian standards... Unfortunately, the dogs are everywhere--but particularly where they can easily find food. Although it's not as bad as in previous years. The current suspended president wanted to euthanize the stray dogs while he was mayor of Bucharest but then Brigitte Bardot came in and stopped it, with her animal rights group...
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): But looks like I should maybe go to that museum if I ever dare (well more like afford) to leave Gardermoen in the future...
Haha. It's a nice place. They have pigs, too. And live traditional music if you're lucky.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): Yes, just a week ago I was quite impressed by the efficiency of the OSL security. Sure, the queues were huge but they were *moving*. And moving fast at that. Me like.
Yes, indeed. It was moving very, very quickly. Certainly much better than at ORD for example. I think it has something to do with not staring at your ID for 10-15 seconds...
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): Haha, after reading your description I knew exactly what gate area you meant and after seeing your photo below I knew I was right! Yes, I've been through OSL far too many times (with more to come).
Yeah, I found that one really bad, really... under-seated, but not understandable.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): Nice to have it finally open! Maybe I'll get to use it in November. Man the old terminal is such a dump, especially the depressing downstairs B bus gate area.
Yeah, the old terminal is/was really bad. I can remember how crowded it was in 2000... Can't imagine how it would've been today.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): Quite weird for them to paint a small regional turboprop in the alliance colors instead of one of their larger and nicer jets.
They also have a 73G in alliance colors! I guess they wanted an ATR for the close by destinations that wouldn't get the 737.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 18): Nice livery! And good to see someone still flying the F5 Tiger II.
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