LHR-OSL BA766 Boeing 757 Seats 5D&E
We were originally scheduled to fly BA from London to Oslo early in the morning and then Braathens Airways from Oslo to Kristiansand late in the afternoon. The OSL-KRS leg was on a ticket we had purchased separately from our award tickets and I hadn't been able to arrange for a good connection because of award seat availability. On the off chance that BA would be accommodating, I phoned them the day before we left London and asked if we could depart on the 1:30PM flight instead. No problem, the agent said, the change has been made. Wow! We arrived at Paddington Station for the Heathrow Express at 11:30. There was no line at the Club Europe counter, so we checked in immediately. The first bit of news was we had missed the 2-hour deadline for checking baggage at the station by less than 5 minutes. The agent couldn't be swayed, so we resigned to schlepping our bags out to LHR. I was really regretting my 3 pieces of luggage! Second bit of news was he couldn't check us in because of the flight change. We needed to go to the ticket desk around the corner and down the hall and have our tickets re-issued. So we did, and I had to laugh at what that entailed - a few taps on the keyboard, then a sticker was placed on our ticket coupons over the printed flight info and the new flight info was hand-written onto the sticker. And for this we had to walk all the way over here?! Back to the check-in counter, where we were told we were now too late to get our boarding passes. Okay, so we get the train, make it to Terminal 1 at LHR, and find the BA counters. Bags are checked, boarding passes are handed over, and I see they haven't seated us together. Seats were supposed to be pre-reserved, 4A&B. Sorry, they say, no record of that here. We can give you 5D&E. Business Class on this 757 is 2-3 seating, and I'm stuck in the middle seat. Not happy, but what can you do? I ask if they're holding any elite seating back and show my EXP card with the OneWorld Emerald logo, but they say no. I'm finding more and more that OneWorld means the whole alliance treats you badly rather than just your own airline... ;-)

Our friends in Norway have advised us that liquor there is incredibly expensive and we should buy our limit at duty-free before we come. Not that we're planning to drink that much, but liquor and wine are highly valued as gifts... ;-) So we make our way through duty-free and buy two bottles of booze and two bottles of wine, along with a few other tidbits for our friends. Now I'm really beginning to look like one of those once-a-decade travelers who wants to bring on board the kitchen sink - I'm a little embarrassed! At the gate, the woman taking boarding passes and checking passports stops us. I'm sure it's because of my backpack, laptop bag, and two duty-free bags. She tells us there's a problem with one of the suitcases we've checked and we need to wait over by a nearby door. I know immediately what it is. My wonderful partner has a history of packing his bag so full, I'm constantly warning him that the zipper will break sooner or later. But hey, he's an adult and I'm not one to nag, so this time I'd said nothing. But he knows it's finally happened and is looking quite annoyed; I'm not stupid, so I don't say a word! A few moments later a man comes through the door and tells us we need to go down to the plane with him. I'm a little astonished at this, as I can't imagine anyone at a US airline taking a passenger down on the tarmac. But this guy puts on an orange vest and earplugs (nothing for us, sorry) and off we go. Down the stairs, outside, and right underneath the airplane! I don't think of 757s as big planes, but after standing underneath one I've changed my mind… There is Scott's bag, sitting open next to the loading conveyor. The ramp guys make a few jokes about bringing two suitcases next time. Scott pulls a few sweaters out and zips the bag closed. We ask the guy loading the bags where to put it, and he says to throw it on the conveyor. I ask if we get a discount for loading our own bags, but he isn't amused... Actually I found the whole thing pretty fun!

Back up to the gate area we go and onto the plane, where we get a few strange looks from people who've been watching us out the windows. Business Class on intra-European flights, of course, is not what we're used to in the US. Pitch and seat widths are the same as in Coach, and I've got the dreaded middle seat. But off we go, pushing back on time and lifting off without much of a wait. Flying time to Oslo is about 2 hours and the trip passes uneventfully. We're served a nice meal, with a choice of beef or duck on a salad. The FAs have an interesting way of serving the cabin. They begin at Row 6 and go to the back, then move up to Row 1 and go back, finishing at Row 5. We're served last and there's only duck left, but it was quite tasty and we both enjoyed it. British desserts tend to leave me a little disappointed (no offense, anyone!), and this was some kind of solid meringue with a bit of chocolate sauce. Not my fave!

We arrived in Oslo right on time. The airport there is quite new and is really wonderful. The jetways have all-glass walls and ceilings, as does the terminal. Lots of wood, too, in the Scandinavian style. It's really quite a work of architecture. Because we were transferring to a domestic flight, we had to go through passport control and claim our bags. That took only a few minutes (fortunately, Scott's was still intact and I nicely suggested that he might want to purchase some luggage straps before we returned). We proceeded to the Braathens Airways counter to check in for our flight to Kristiansand, where - uh-oh - more bad news. It seems that the airport at KRS was closed due to a power failure and there was no estimate on when it might re-open. Our options were to wait (Who knows, said the agent, it could be days) or to take a bus that Braathens was providing. The bus trip would take 7-8 hours (good grief, it's only a 45-minute flight!) and would be departing in about 2 hours. That would put us in Kristiansand about 3:00AM, and still about an hour away from where our friends lived. I ventured over to the Hertz counter and spoke with a very nice gentleman there. He assured me the drive was quite easy and should only take about 5 hours. Scott was a bit apprehensive about setting off without much of an idea of what we'd encounter regarding terrain and weather, but I convinced him it would be an adventure. Hertz set us up with a cute little Audi stationwagon, which was great fun, and we were on our way. Turned out to be a beautiful drive, and the sun was only just setting when we reached our friends' house at about midnight.

Next up: OSL-MAN-BCN