This covers the rest of my Europe trip I took back in November/December 2018. I had initially started posting a series of long multipart posts, there were to be 6 parts in total. I got as far as part Part 3 before I lost motivation. Now that Covid has curtailed the bulk of my travel plans for the foreseeable future. I decided to finish what I started and release the rest of the series for this particular trip. Parts 4 and 5 were already mostly finished, but rereading them I wasn’t fussed about the format so I’ve started from scratch from where I left off. This new format will focus mainly on pictures with brief summaries on aspects of the trips. This report picks up from Iceland and covers the Norway section of the Trip. I’ve decided to leave the return flights back to Australia as a dedicated trip report.
Previous parts can be found here
Part 1 - viewtopic.php?t=1415173
Part 2 - viewtopic.php?t=1416355
Part 3 - viewtopic.php?t=1443041
Map sourced from Google Earth
REYKJAVIK - OSLO - BERGEN
Icelandair FI318
Keflavik, IS (KEF) – Oslo Gardermoen, NO (OSL)
Depart 0750 Arrive 1130
Boeing 757-208 TF-FIV ”Katla” (MSN 30424/LN 956) First flight February 2001
Economy
Flight time 2 Hours 27 Minutes
Boarding Pass and Tag
Boarding my first Boeing 757
TF-FIR in special colours
Leaving Iceland
Sunrise
Snack
Over Norway
Final approach into Oslo
Leaving TF-FIV behind
Oslo Gardermoen terminal
I enjoyed my flight on Icelandair. I was happy to eventually log a Boeing 757, after my flight from Paris to Keflavik was upgauged to a Boeing 767.
Norwegian DY612
Oslo Gardermoen, NO (OSL) – Bergen, NO (BGO)
Depart 1320 Arrive 1415
Boeing 737-8JP LN-DYC “Max Manus” (MSN 39164/LN 3196) First flight February 2010
Economy
Flight time 36 Minutes
Boarding Pass
BERGEN
I had limited time and wanted to incorporate Bergen into my trip, I decided the best way to do this was to do a daytrip immediately after I arrived in Oslo. I booked a self connection on Norwegian giving myself 1 hour 50 minutes connection. I figured if I didn’t make the connection I would just scrap the Bergen side trip and I already had accommodation booked in Oslo that night. It almost didn’t make it by the time I went to deposit my main bag in a locker and reclear security. I arrived at the gate about five minutes before boarding started. In hindsight I wished I had spent an extra day in Bergen at the expense of a day in Oslo. Bergen is a very beautiful city built around several hills.
AND BACK TO OSLO
Norwegian DY645
Bergen, NO (BGO) – Oslo Gardermoen, NO (OSL)
Depart 1940 Arrive 2035
Boeing 737-8JP LN-DYU “Jørn Utzon” (MSN 39008/LN 3725) First flight July 2011
Economy
Flight time 39 Minutes
Widerøe Embraer 190E2
I was pleased with my two flights on Norwegian. The flights were extremely cheap and their product exceeded my expectations for a LCC.
OSLO
The highlight for me in Oslo was definitely the museums on Bygdøy peninsular. I had learnt about Amundsen and Scott’s race to the south pole, when I was in primary school, so it was fascinating to visit the Fram museum and see the ship preserved in a fantastic condition. I also visited the kon tiki museum. I wasn’t aware of Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 expedition in a raft from Peru to French Polynesia to prove it was possible for Polynesian’s to make the journey in ancient times.
In Oslo I stayed at a hostel in the Grünerløkka neighbourhood. It wasn’t particularly flash but it was adequate for my needs. The weather wasn’t that great, there was a fair amount of drizzle the last couple of days, although there was a brief snow shower early one morning.
Vigelandsparken
Vigelandsparken
Vigelandsparken
Trying Brunost (Brown cheese)
Holmenkollbakken
Holmenkollbakken
Holmenkollbakken
View of Oslo from Holmenkollbakken
Vikingskipshuset
Vikingskipshuset
Vikingskipshuset
Fram at Fram museum
Fram at Fram museum
Onboard the Fram
Creepy mannequins onboard Fram
I remember these knots from scouts, let's see how good my memory is 20 years later…
Well enough it appears
Target practice …
But not if Windows has anything to say about it!
That’s a bit gross.
Gjøa at Fram museum
Kon tiki Museum
Operahuset
GOING NORTH: OSLO TO TROMSØ[b]
[B] Scandinavian Airlines SK362
Oslo Gardermoen, NO (OSL) – Trondheim, NO (TRD)
Depart 1540 Arrive 1635
Boeing 737-76N SE-RET “Katarina Viking” (MSN 32734/LN 1090) First flight February 2002
Premium Economy
Flight time 39 Minutes
As I was flying in SAS Plus I had access to the SAS Lounge. The lounge was very congested, it was almost impossible to get a seat, But I was quite impressed with the food options. There aren’t that many photos onboard of this flight, through a series of equipment swaps I lost my pre selected window seat, and had an aisle seat. The aircraft ended up being an ex- Virgin Blue/Virgin Australia frame VH-VBM. Checking my flight log I was impressed to find I had previously flown on that particular aircraft back in October 2007 on a Melbourne - Brisbane sector. The flight itself was quite uneventful, until the final approach into Trondheim where we hit what felt like the worst turbulence I had experienced. It was quite unnerving knowing you’re getting thrown around close to the ground, made worse by not having a visual reference of how close to the ground you actually are. I was actually surprised we landed first attempt. I thought we were almost certain to go around. After we disembarked I checked the metar which was reporting a crosswind of 24 knots, gusting to 40 knots.
Leaving a wet Oslo
Gardermoen departures hall
SAS Lounge
Not enough room to swing a cat
Checking in with my cat at home. It’s been three weeks at this point.
My ride - A former Aussie 737-700 now registered in Sweden.
Cabin
Scandinavian Airlines SK4572
Trondheim, NO (TRD) – Tromsø, NO (TOS), via Bodø, NO (BOO)
Depart 1705 Arrive 1915
Boeing 737-683 LN-RRY “Signe Viking” (MSN 28297/LN 30) First flight March 1998
Premium Economy
Flight time 45 Minutes TRD-BOO, 39 Minutes BOO-TOS
This flight consisted of two short hops. There was a brief stop in Bodø, everyone continuing to Tromsø remained on board while Bodø passengers disembarked and embarked. As a SAS Plus passenger I was offered a menu item complimentary. I opted for an apple cinnamon muffin. This flight was on a relatively rare 737-600, now retired from the SAS fleet I opted for the indirect routing via Trondheim and Bodø specifically to fly on the 737-600. Considering it’s age SAS did a good job maintaining the cabin.
Refueling in Bodø
Departing Bodø
Onboard snack
Cabin
Leaving the baby 737 behind
Getting more blustery back in Trondheim
TROMSØ
During my stay in Tromsø I decided to try my luck again in seeing the northern lights, after being unsuccessful in Iceland the previous week. Initially I was looking at a tour on a charter Widerøe Dash 8, but came to the conclusion that an aircraft window assuming I even got a window seat wasn’t the best vantage point. I took a tour where we went a little out of town. This time we were successful. The following day I went on a dog sledding tour. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos, after the tour the owner of the property took us to feed his reindeer, before we were treated to reindeer stew for dinner (We were assured it was commercially prepared and we weren’t eating his reindeer! Although the cynic in me wonders if that was bullshit or not.) On the way back to Tromsø we were treated with another northern lights display even more spectacular than the previous evening. I was mesmerised watching them the whole hour ride back to Tromsø. One thing I noticed in Tromsø was there was an abundance of hairdressing salons, one evening for shits and giggles I decided to count how many I passed on a stroll through town. On a 800 metre walk (½ mile) I counted 23.
Scenes from Tromsø
Northern Lights
Reindeer
Storsteinen Mountain (Translates to “The big rock”)
Getting dark at 1350
A hairdressing salon - A very competitive business in Tromsø it seems.
Widerøe WF920
Tromsø, NO (TOS) – Alta, NO (ALF)
Depart 0815 Arrive 0855
De Havilland Canada Dash 8-311 LN-WFS “Telemark” (MSN 535) First flight May 1999
Economy
Flight time About 30-35 Minutes
A quick hop to Alta my final port of call in Norway. Widerøe has free seating and there were only about 15 passengers so plenty of room to spread out.
Tromsø AIrport
A quick duo lesson waiting to board
Boarding the Dash 8 for the quick hop over to Finnmark
Complimentary chocolate
Approaching Alta
On the ground
ALTA
During my short stay I visited the Alta museum, and enjoyed my first decent snow a bit of a novelty for me having lived in the Australian tropics all my life. IIn Alta I stayed at the Scandic Alta which was nice after having spent most of the previous three weeks in hostel dorm accommodation. Directly outside the hotel was the Northern lights cathedral. As I’m not particularly religious I was content with taking a few exterior shots, but when my mother looked up Alta on google I suddenly got a request from my mother to go inside and take some interior photos. I’m glad she did because I found out once inside I found out they had a northern lights museum built under the cathedral that you could access for a small donation. I was blown away with how well featured it was with interactive displays that covered the science behind the phenomenon and how it was interpreted through various points in human history.
Alta
Scandic Alta - My accommodation
My first private room in three and a half weeks
Northern lights cathedral
What does one find in the basement of a cathedral? A museum!
Thank you for viewing this trip report. The final installment of this trip report covers the flights from Alta to London, a few days in London before taking The Qantas Dreamliner back home to Brisbane via Perth.
