Hallo Northern Europe! My, You're Well Dressed...

My flight from Seattle was 10 hours and I had high hopes from my last international flight.

Warm towelettes, hot meals, ICE CREAM!…But about 4 hours into the flight I realized, once my neighbor pulled out his pre packed snacks and the drink cart had already gone by, that Icelandic Air was not about the free food. No peanuts, pretzels or cookies. Nada. 

I was supperless…Sure they had some plane food for sale but that seemed like a whole new low. Plane meals are pretty bad, but they’re free, which makes them taste so much better. Buying plane food, actually paying money for a microwaved slab of bread and lunch meat, the kind of sandwich that gives you a sneaking suspicion that it was pre packed decades before and if you don't buy it, will remain perky and eatable for years to come…Nah, not for me. 

There comes a point when you travel for a long period, where you go from quaint traveler to greasy, crumpled, baggy eyed troll. It comes on slow and then suddenly poof! Troll. And you smell bad and people seem to be scared of you… It’s a real thing.

But of course theres also the moment of redemption, when you finally fall asleep or you know you’re almost there or someone brings you coffee. 

I woke up somewhere between Iceland and Norway. The busty stewardess was passing by, “You vunt kaffe?”, She poured me a little cup of dark, chocolately coffee. I opened my window and the sun had risen, veil painting the sky. I snuggle under my blanket and knew I’d survived the worst of it. 

The plane’s TV screens flashed with endearing Icelandic facts like “One of the best things about Iceland? There are more sheep than people.” 

or

“One in 10 Icelanders will publish a book in their lifetime.” 

or 

“Did you know there are over 126 swimming pools in Iceland? That’s one pool to ever 2,500 people.” 

We touched down on a snowy runway and we walked through the airport doors right into a large shopping center that the look and feel of… well, IKEA. Most of the people grabbed blue shopping baskets and scattered into the isles, emerging on the other side with bottles of boos, candy and cases of cigarettes. 

I grabbed my backpack, bought a roast beef baguette, that was about as long as my whole person, and hopped the train to city center.

The train was so quite as we whizzed passed the snowy country side the every bite of sandwich I took seemed like a notable, auditory event.

My first few hours in Oslo were spent getting lost, eating the sandwich, getting a little closer to my hostel, getting more lost, rotating the map, eating more sandwich and sliding across frozen sidewalks all in a state of dazed wonder. 

The first time I finally find a hostel in a new country, it’s a beacon in the fucking night! 

The Ancher Apartment is a classy joint (apart from the scary, huge Polish woman who farts in the night and opens all our windows and shuts the dorm lights off when SHE is ready for bed! Don't even think about turning them back on to finish packing, we tried that and it did not end humanely.). Everything is white and gray and spotless but it’s still somehow cosy and well lived in. 

I’ve been cooking my own meals since the city is expensive and the hostel has a beautiful kitchen. There has been a small learning curve buying things based off the picture on the front. I bought what I thought was a cube of butter that when I opened it was brown and stinky…after tasting it and knowing it was NOT yummy, I went to the google and found out it was actually a square of baking yeast…Oopsy daisy! 

Then I bought a cup of yogurt that turned out to be rice pudding with berry sauce, a delicious breakfast either way!

But mostly I’ve been keeping my meals very simple and just drinking tons of coffee out. 

Lunch: apple, feta and eggs. 

I’ve been exploring museums, malls, book stores, riding the bus and walking down every street that calls my name. The street art is lovely, the people are tall and really lovely, the cars are the littlest, the macaroons are to die for, the weather is freezing, but I hear happiness generates heat, so i've been fine. Tomorrow I leave Oslo and head for the coast, but for now, I believe… we siesta.

The littlest!