By: Samie

Travel Date: June 1st, 2023

Total Honeymoon Travel Days: 4

Day 1

(Leaving Reykjavik, Airports and Flight, Train into Oslo, Airbnb, Downtown Oslo Exploration)

This was probably our earliest morning of our entire trip. We were up at 4:30am so that we could finish getting all packed up, checked out of our Airbnb, and over to the bus terminal for our 6:00am ride to the airport. We booked our bus ride through a different company than our previous bus excursions (Blue Lagoon, into Reykjavik, and South Shore Adventure) because we booked this bus ride during our stay in Iceland instead of pre-booking before our trip like we had with everything else. It was also a different bus terminal, and this one was a little further away, so we wanted to give ourselves some extra time to get there.

We were out of our Airbnb and on our way by 5:25am. We had been pleasantly surprised by the walkability of everything in Reykjavik, but the walk to the meeting point for this bus pick up was surprisingly strenuous with lots of stairs and street crossing. A bit winded and sweaty, we reached the Reykjavik Terminal (we had used the BSÍ Bus Terminal before, which is the one we recommend because it’s easier to get to from the city). We went inside the building because we assumed we needed to check in like we had for all our other booked transportation. The person working the desk couldn’t find our names in the computer. After some confusion, they realized we were just here for the bus, and the check-in was only for the attached hostel, so we took a seat as we waited for the bus to arrive. More people with luggage showed up to wait for the bus as well. The bus to Keflavik pulled in and got us all loaded in right away, and it was a full bus by the time we were ready to depart. Fortunately, we did leave right at 6:00am, so we knew we would get to the airport and have time to get checked in and through security without being rushed for our flight.

There was a middle-aged couple that ended up sitting directly in front of us. The lady was sitting in front of me, and the bus seat was leaned so far back that it touched my knees when she sat in it, and she didn’t realize how far it was back until about halfway to the airport. However, the man in front of Luke was having a much harder time. We aren’t sure if he was fighting something before getting on the bus or if he was suffering from motion sickness, but it was obvious he wasn’t feeling well. He was lolling his head around, all the color had drained from his face, and he was sweating heavily. His wife was trying to help and tend to him as best she could while being trapped on a moving bus. Unfortunately, his ailment got the better of him, and he ended up getting sick before we arrived. There weren’t barf bags provided like on flights, so instead, his wife grabbed one of their drawstring bags for him to use. Since Luke was sitting directly behind him, he didn’t catch most of the sickening show. I, however, was not so lucky. I get very queasy watching or smelling other people get sick, so it was not a particularly pleasant trip for me. We have never exited a travel vehicle of transit so quickly upon arrival at the airport.

Going through security at the airport was easy enough, but still managed to be a little flustering for someone with high-functioning anxiety. The items we were expected to separate and put in the bins were different than the expectations at the Minneapolis airport. I had to very quickly unlock my suitcase and pull out my toiletry bag with my liquids, and because I didn’t want to hold up the line, I pushed things around to trap and grab what I needed quickly and made a mess of my suitcase contents.

After my suitcase went through the CT scanner, it was “randomly” picked to be opened and checked. Luckily, it only took maybe a minute as the TSA agent used a cloth to swab the outside and took a quick peak inside before saying I was good to go. I very quickly gathered my things and moved off to the side so that I could get everything reorganized and packed up in my suitcase before locking it up again.

We had already arrived at the airport early and security went quickly, so by the time we were through and making our way through the airport, it was only about 7:00am. Gate numbers didn’t arrive on the board until an hour before the flight, so our gate number wouldn’t even show up until 7:35. While waiting, we decided to grab some coffees at one of the cafes within the airport and found a comfortable place to sit and relax until our gate number appeared.

As soon as our gate number popped up, we decided to make our way to it. We ended up being the first people in line, excluding people who had purchased priority boarding and were lining up in a separate line to the right of us. Although this did mean we spent a good amount of time standing around, we ended up being very grateful to be at the front. They were much looser with baggage sizing expectations and didn’t size or weigh them at all, which was a stark contrast with our experience in Minneapolis. Once boarding began, they very quickly ran out of overhead bin storage space, but because we were on the plane right away, we were easily able to find places for our bags and got to avoid the baggage storage shortage chaos the ensued.

Our plane ended up departing 20-30 minutes late, which I’m assuming was caused by us boarding a little behind schedule and then the flight attendants trying to frantically find enough space for everyone’s luggage, some of which I think should’ve been checked and shouldn’t have been considered carry-ons.

On the flight, we were two for two with unwell passengers in our vicinity. A man directly behind us fell sick, and the flight attendants helped move a member of his family to a nearby seat so that he had room to lay down for the duration of the flight. They were also very attentive and came over to check on him frequently. While I do not doubt that he wasn’t feeling well, it really did seem that he was being a bit over-dramatic and milking things a little bit.

Upon arrival, a few expectations were a little unclear which caused a little uncertainty and stressed. There wasn’t a clear line or signs to lead us to what we assumed would be another immigrations checkpoint to get our passports stamped. We instead ended up right in the exit area of the airport. We were concerned about being in the country illegally, so we backtracked to see if we had missed something. After some anxious pacing and wandering, we finally found an employee to ask. They informed as that because our passports had already been checked in Iceland, they wouldn’t need to be checked again here since we were simply traveling between two Scandinavian countries.

Our very first experience in Norway was the shift in public transportation. In Iceland, all our distance traveling was done by bus, but in Norway, you travel everywhere by train! We purchased our tickets at a kiosk and made our way into Oslo Central Station where we met up with our Airbnb host at a Burger King inside the mall that connects to the train station to get the key to the apartment we would be staying in. She also kindly offered to walk us through the surprisingly complicated and confusingly laid out mall and even graciously stepped out on the street with us pointed out directions on how to get there.

We were able to effortlessly get to the correct street based off her directions but then struggled to find the gate to the building where our flat was. While still connected to the train station’s WiFi, I had plugged the address into my phone to have the walking directions available after we left. However, when we attempted to click “Go” to take us there, it refused to load and ended up clearing the address. Since we were no longer connected to WiFi, we weren’t able to put the address back in to pull up the directions.

After spending a good amount of time walking up and down the street we knew was correct and checking out a few side streets that branched off from it, we were finally able to see the numbers on top of buildings that helped us find our building number and took us right to the gate to get us into the flat. Despite very obviously looking like lost tourists while carrying around all our luggage, there was not one moment we felt unsafe, which provided some levity in an otherwise chaotic and stressful situation.

We were very sweaty and stressed as we entered our extremely cozy apartment, and we immediately shed all our extra layers that were a welcome addition in Iceland but much less necessary in Norway. There was a fan that we hastily turned on and laid down to let the cool air rush over our clammy and sticky skin and allow us a chance to recuperate and calm down after being on the move nonstop for the last couple of hours.

Once we felt more like ourselves again, it was time to head out for our first food excursion in Norway. We got dressed in more weather-appropriate clothes and now that we were once again connected to internet, were able to search some nearby food and drink options to choose from. We quickly realized that we were in a very central location in downtown Oslo and for many of places and resources we would be utilizing during our stay. We were only a one minute walk from Oslo Street Food, an indoor food court with food stalls from all around the world (there will definitely be more on this later). It was also only about a 10 minute walk from the train station. A slightly longer but still extremely manageable stroll away was the Oslo Opera House and Munch Museum (again, more on these to come).

We decided to stop for some familiar Starbucks coffee first to give us and extra boost of energy while also enjoying the views and bustling life of downtown Oslo and giving us a moment to check in with our families and let them know we had arrived safely in Oslo and were comfortably settled into our Airbnb.

Once refueled, we simply crossed the street to eat at our first pick of Oslo eatery options, Los Tacos. Luke ordered the Cheesy Crunchy Chicken Bowl, and I filled up on the Crunchy Quesadilla. We also of course couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to try Norway’s well-known orange drink since we had taste-tested Iceland’s. Norway’s orange drink is called Solo, and it was also quite delicious.

Pleasantly full and content, we made our way over to the local grocery store called Kiwi, right down the block from our Airbnb. We picked out a few items that were add to our must-try list while researching Norway before our trip. Among these were brunost (Norway’s brown cheese), fresh bread that we got to place into a bread slicer ourselves which was a new experience for us, jam, some more Solo drinks, and Kvikk Lunsj bars, which is like Norway’s version of a KitKat bar.

Then we made our way back to our Airbnb and spent the rest of our evening watching Back to the Future while planning and purchasing tickets for our trip to Lillehammer the next day. It took us a good amount of time figuring out how and where to purchase tickets for the correct train and times that would take us there and back, but we were successful in the end, and that’s all that matters. There will be more on what we got to see and do in Lillehammer in the next Norway post!

For now, I’ll end with saying, after three years of waiting to get to the motherland of Luke’s family and ancestors, it felt really good to be on Norwegian soil, and things would only get better from here!