Here Comes the Sun
Previously, on The Blog:
- And on your right, you can see the beautiful colors of the Arctic—
- Miss, I’ve got frostbite!
- Oh no, dear! Here, some hot chocolate to warm you up.
- But miss, never mind all that. I’ve lost my phone!
- What do you mean, you’ve lost your phone?
- I mean, my phone jumped out of my pocket and dove straight into this meter-thick pile of snow and is now practically impossible to find.
- Excellent, then let’s search for it for twenty minutes in pitch darkness by walking directly on the said snow to ensure we bury it even further down.
- But miss, won’t the people on the bus complain that we’re wasting our time and theirs?
- Bah, humbug. They can go back to Michigan or wherever they came from. Real people help each other out!
Needless to say, we never found the phone. And so, the ride back from the Finnish border was somber and quiet, as cold and lifeless as the air outside. Upon arrival, Larissa and I argued about what to do, and spoke to our tour guide Elisabeth on the best way to tackle the situation at 3am. We settled on the following:
Go to bed at 4am
Wake up at 6am
Walk to the Radisson hotel where a shuttle would take us to the airport
Rent a car at 7am
Drive 3 hours in the dark in a storm back to the Finnish border, where we would attempt to find the phone.
Spend 2 hours looking for the phone through the snow, which at this point, was likely covered in an extra 20cm of fresh powder.
Drive 3 hours back, drop off the car, and catch our 16:50 flight.
Kinda, risky, but hey! Carpe diem!
…Nah just kidding. We didn’t do any of that. We woke up at 6am, calmed down from our rush of adrenaline, and decided the dice were cast and that phone was as good as dead. When the summer thaws would occur, we might get a call from a zombified phone cursing us for not having searched harder, but whatever, not worth risking our lives.
We went back to bed, and woke up sedated, but confident that everything would be alright. Larissa managed to log into all of her accounts and contact her friends and family, so the only real loss was the value of the phone. Onwards!
In the evening, we reached Oslo where we met up with a friend of mine from Geneva, and ate some traditional Norwegian Christmas food! No photos sadly - but imagine yourself unable to move after a Christmas meal, and you’ll get a much more vivid picture. A meal is worth a thousand pictures.
The next day (our final day in Norway), we walked around town, relieved to feel the sun on our face and see more people than reindeer for a change. Passing through the old town, the Christmas market, and the marina, we saw some beautiful sights that showed us a glimpse of Oslo’s dynamism:
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in my living room, trying to think back at the memories I’ve made during this trip. Was it stressful and gloomy at times? Sure. But it was equally magical, fun, and social. A warm thanks to all of the amazing people we’ve met during our voyage (couldn’t have faced the darkness without you!) and to Larissa for being a steadfast and resilient companion.
Tudor, signing off! Until next time!