It has been a little over a month since I have written anything; today, I will share with you tales of my very first solo trip across the pond through the Norwegian landscape and the unforgettable French country side!!
Let me tell you that I’m a 74 year old woman who had never ventured alone on a trip lasting more than 4 hours here in the continental U.S., much less an almost twelve and a half hour, one way flight to another continent.
All of these happenings started last year when one of my daughters took her eleven year old daughter and me to visit some of my late husband’s family in Norway. Since I had never been to Europe, I was very excited and unafraid because my very capable daughter was with me. When we took off from Houston and landed in Newark I thought that I would be afraid crossing such a long distance, but the excitement didn’t allowed it. Needless to say, I fell in love with the country and its people and thought that I would like to return for another visit but never imagining that only one year and nine days would pass for my next visit to take place.
This year’s voyage came about when at the beginning of the year, I travelled to my home country of Guatemala for the one year anniversary of my beloved mother’s passing. Upon my return, I was feeling sad and very depressed missing my mom that I went to a group were people talk and share the emotions and heart ache of losing a loved one. This was done during the times when my grandchildren were in school and I could attend the meetings. However, my attendance didn’t last long because some of the people were going just to socialize and see if they could meet someone; that wasn’t for me so I only attended two sessions.
The idea of going back to Norway started forming in my mind, and then a friend I have in France invited me to go visit her family and I was sold!! I started looking for flights and before I knew it I had booked my ticket for a 20 day trek to Norway and France, which by the way, said ticket was paid solely with airline miles! After the deed was done, I started feeling panicky and apprehensive as after suffering falls that had landed me on my knees, I’m no longer able to walk fast; so my thoughts were: will I be able to accomplish the plane transfers ok? How am I going to find my way in those huge airports? Then, a thought came to me and I hit upon the idea of asking for a wheel chair to avoid the long walks lugging my carry on and thus also avoiding an aching knee at the end of the day! Upon my arrival at the Houston airport, everything was going well until I got to the point where the passengers are placed on the wheel chair to be taken to their respective departure gates, there were people waiting already so I thought someone will come soon. It seemed the time was passing quickly and not one of the passengers was being picked up. As I looked at the time, I had only twenty minutes to make it to my flight, I complained and was assured that I would not miss my flight, well, I nearly did as I was the last person to board!!
The first leg of my journey took me to Miami International Airport where I boarded an Scandinavian plane and headed to Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, where upon debarking off the plane, there were two ladies with wheel chairs waiting; both had a tablet in their hands, one asked my name and told me that she would be taking me to my next departing gate; that transfer was a piece of cake. I boarded another Scandinavian airplane and headed to Oslo’s where upon landing I was met by a very courteous lady who took me to the very far gate from where the last leg of my long flight would depart. Landing in Trondheim, again I was met by a nice, nice lady who wheeled me to the carrousel to pick up my luggage and as I turned around, I saw the familiar, smiling and happy face of Kjetil (KJ) the relative who was picking me up and driving me the rest of the way to Folstad, about an hour’s drive, to the idyllic valley where the family lives. More of my adventure to come. Have a blessed and safe weekend!!