Our flight made excellent time and, even though we had left Iceland a little behind schedule, we landed in Seattle early. We were almost the last people off the plane, putting us essentially last in the line to go through customs. Since David obviously doesn't have an American passport, I waited with him in the 'everybody else' line. Things went pretty quickly and soon it was our turn.
We each went to our own custom's agent. Both of us answered the question, 'Are you travelling with anyone?' in the affirmative. Both of us then got the question, 'Are you thinking of getting married?' I wasn't prepared for that one! We got two reasonably similar lectures about making sure we followed all the rules if we were going to get married. Finally, we got past the first hurdle and headed down to pick up our bags.
After collecting our luggage, we headed through the gauntlet of various US Government Officials. The first guy also wanted to know if we were getting married. I thought he was the one that usually has the drug sniffing dog, so I was again surprised by this sudden interest in our relationship status. He made some marks on our papers and sent us on to the next line.
In that line there were two stops. First one guy looks at the papers, ask some of the questions on it (perhaps to check if our answers match), marks up the papers, and gives them back. The next guy basically just looks at all of the marks on the papers and sends us on our way. That last guy is also the one that can send you to the 'open all your suitcases and waste a bunch of time' security station, as I learned on my last trip. Fortunately, that didn't happen again.
One clearing all of customs and security, we delivered our luggage back to airport staff. I have never really understood this particular step in the process. Why can't we just take our bags with us on the shuttle train? Especially when there are so few people waiting in line to ride it. At least they don't seem to lose luggage in that step.
Once in the main terminal, we headed to pick up our luggage and meet the welcome party. Due to a misunderstanding (thanks Dad), there was no welcome party. Our bags arrived and I reluctantly used my Norwegian phone to call the family and organize getting picked up. Dad was waiting nearby and we were finally out of the airport!
Mom, Sonya, and Tyler were waiting for us at an Italian restaurant in West Seattle. There we engaged in sorely missed family conversational antics, including hilarious stories and imitating Dad. Somewhere in there we managed to order way too much food and had to pass on dessert. Mom was loaning us her car and had to catch a ferry, so we raced off to meet the boat.
Since Dad didn't want to shock us on the first night of our visit with the state of our house, he had decided to put us up in bed and breakfast. The bed there was a welcome sight and we were very appreciative that Dad made the effort for us. We crashed early, and woke up around 4am to watch a little cable TV (we found a Swedish cooking show, of all things). We got up again around 9:30 and enjoyed a pretty excellent breakfast.
Since Dad was still not quite ready for us after breakfast, we ditched our luggage at the house and headed for Southcenter. While we should have been studying, we wandered around the mall for several hours, drinking coffee, buying pants and a new computer, and acquiring a US cell phone for David. We got back to Dad's with just enough time to shower and head off to a much anticipated Hanukah dinner with Vicki and family. The following couple of days were filled with studying and avoiding studying for our mid-term test.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Destination: Seattle! Getting There
David had driven the suitcases down to school and then returned with the car. I was madly trying to get the dishes done, so we didn't have to come back to them. We washed and hung up our sheets and blankets, we turned down the heat, we gave our landlords the poinsettia and the car key, we locked the door and hurried to the school.
We arrived at school in plenty of time (at least 10 minutes before the bus) and dragged all of our stuff out to the side of the road where the bus comes. Everything went smoothly from there. We piled into the first bus, transferred to the second in Åmot, and arrived with everything in the Oslo bus station five hours later. After a quick meal at a rather good (especially for mall food) Italian restaurant, we trudged down to the subway and headed out toward Alix Cordray's.
Alix met us at the subway station and we filled her car with what we considered to be packing light. She showed us around her cool old house and whipped up a little apple cobbler. We helped her finish off one of those pesky boxes of ice cream that seem to keep cropping up. After dessert, we tried playing some tunes together. Whether it was due to exhaustion or unfamiliarity, we didn't manage to come up with a very large common repertoire. By then it was late enough for us to go to sleep and Alix to get back to work. In the morning, she very kindly drove us to the bus stop where we boarded the airport bus and successfully arrived at Gardermoen with plenty of time to spare.
We checked in our luggage and went through security. David bought a few books for the trip. We found our gate and set up camp (fiddles, backpacks, and coats). As it was lunchtime, we treated ourselves to hot dogs and soda. I also purchased a couple of sandwiches for the flight. Finally, we got to board the plane.
Flying IcelandAir was a very pleasant experience. The seats were hard and we had to buy our own meals, but the in-flight entertainment included plenty of watchable movies and I had packed some serious snack food (the aforementioned sandwiches were supplemented with bread and roastbeef, boiled eggs, plus chips and a small meal we purchased in the air). The layover in Iceland was pleasant and short. There was some drama when the guy boarding the plane right before us fell on the escalator, but fortunately that was the most drama we had on the whole flight.
I have to say, I highly recommend IcelandAir. They fly direct to Seattle from Iceland. They cost less than pretty much any other carrier, at least the single stop carriers. Best of all, the total travel time is the shortest! Of course, they offer the possibility to spend a few days in Iceland at no extra ticket cost, which seems like an excellent deal and something to do in the future.
We arrived at school in plenty of time (at least 10 minutes before the bus) and dragged all of our stuff out to the side of the road where the bus comes. Everything went smoothly from there. We piled into the first bus, transferred to the second in Åmot, and arrived with everything in the Oslo bus station five hours later. After a quick meal at a rather good (especially for mall food) Italian restaurant, we trudged down to the subway and headed out toward Alix Cordray's.
Alix met us at the subway station and we filled her car with what we considered to be packing light. She showed us around her cool old house and whipped up a little apple cobbler. We helped her finish off one of those pesky boxes of ice cream that seem to keep cropping up. After dessert, we tried playing some tunes together. Whether it was due to exhaustion or unfamiliarity, we didn't manage to come up with a very large common repertoire. By then it was late enough for us to go to sleep and Alix to get back to work. In the morning, she very kindly drove us to the bus stop where we boarded the airport bus and successfully arrived at Gardermoen with plenty of time to spare.
We checked in our luggage and went through security. David bought a few books for the trip. We found our gate and set up camp (fiddles, backpacks, and coats). As it was lunchtime, we treated ourselves to hot dogs and soda. I also purchased a couple of sandwiches for the flight. Finally, we got to board the plane.
Flying IcelandAir was a very pleasant experience. The seats were hard and we had to buy our own meals, but the in-flight entertainment included plenty of watchable movies and I had packed some serious snack food (the aforementioned sandwiches were supplemented with bread and roastbeef, boiled eggs, plus chips and a small meal we purchased in the air). The layover in Iceland was pleasant and short. There was some drama when the guy boarding the plane right before us fell on the escalator, but fortunately that was the most drama we had on the whole flight.
I have to say, I highly recommend IcelandAir. They fly direct to Seattle from Iceland. They cost less than pretty much any other carrier, at least the single stop carriers. Best of all, the total travel time is the shortest! Of course, they offer the possibility to spend a few days in Iceland at no extra ticket cost, which seems like an excellent deal and something to do in the future.
Destination: Seattle! Pre-Departure
In mid-December, David and I packed our suitcases, cleaned as much of the apartment as we could, and raced to the bus stop. We were on our way to Seattle and I was really excited. Life is great in Rauland, but nothing beats Seattle!
The week before we were scheduled to leave we'd been on a class trip to Oslo to visit a variety of folk music organizations and archives. While it was a very interesting trip, the most memorable part for me is the phone call I received when we were almost home. A very nice sounding man had found my wallet, passport included, in the parking lot where we had stopped on the way home.
He said he'd mail it up here and that was a great relief. When it hadn't arrived several days later, I started to get nervous. I was grumpy, having trouble sleeping, and stressed about all the things we needed to get done before we left, plus I was really starting to worry that the passport wouldn't arrive in time. I went to the effort of checking online what I would need to do to get an emergency passport in Oslo (a fairly straightforward process, however, I was looking at needing to get the emergency passport the same day President Obama was visiting Oslo).
I tried a few times calling the number that the guy had called from - no answer and no response to voice messages. Then, I sent him a message explaining that I needed the passport before Friday and that we would happily drive to Kongsberg (a two hour drive) to pick it up if he still had it. He replied that he and his friend had been in his friend's car, and if we hadn't received it, it was probably still there. I got in touch with the friend, who had completely forgotten about the wallet and was very agreeable to meeting us whenever we could get to Kongsberg. We took off directly after school and successfully retrieved the wallet and the passport.
On the way back we drove through the beginning of the snow that would form the foundation for this year's winter sports. We had been in Fall mode since October with lots of ice and snow that melted into ice followed by rain that froze into ice. Everyone welcomed the arrival of real cold weather and a solid snowfall. In the three days left before we took off roughly 12 to 18 inches had fallen!
The week before we were scheduled to leave we'd been on a class trip to Oslo to visit a variety of folk music organizations and archives. While it was a very interesting trip, the most memorable part for me is the phone call I received when we were almost home. A very nice sounding man had found my wallet, passport included, in the parking lot where we had stopped on the way home.
He said he'd mail it up here and that was a great relief. When it hadn't arrived several days later, I started to get nervous. I was grumpy, having trouble sleeping, and stressed about all the things we needed to get done before we left, plus I was really starting to worry that the passport wouldn't arrive in time. I went to the effort of checking online what I would need to do to get an emergency passport in Oslo (a fairly straightforward process, however, I was looking at needing to get the emergency passport the same day President Obama was visiting Oslo).
I tried a few times calling the number that the guy had called from - no answer and no response to voice messages. Then, I sent him a message explaining that I needed the passport before Friday and that we would happily drive to Kongsberg (a two hour drive) to pick it up if he still had it. He replied that he and his friend had been in his friend's car, and if we hadn't received it, it was probably still there. I got in touch with the friend, who had completely forgotten about the wallet and was very agreeable to meeting us whenever we could get to Kongsberg. We took off directly after school and successfully retrieved the wallet and the passport.
On the way back we drove through the beginning of the snow that would form the foundation for this year's winter sports. We had been in Fall mode since October with lots of ice and snow that melted into ice followed by rain that froze into ice. Everyone welcomed the arrival of real cold weather and a solid snowfall. In the three days left before we took off roughly 12 to 18 inches had fallen!
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