Well what a start to the holiday!! Our flight was due to depart at 2.45pm on Monday and at 8.00am that morning I was at the doctors with the doctor on the phone to a Cardiologist. Not feeling good at all and I knew that I should really have cancelled the trip. I was finally given approval by the cardiologist to go, loaded up with medication and strict instructions that any exercise or activities were strictly forbidden. So it is a day by day thing at the moment to see if I finish the trip.
We are doing our trip with friends Paul and Janeve. When we originally decided to do the trip together, it was agreed that we would do our own thing regarding flights. Ray prefers the quickest route and Paul prefers the cheapest. Paul and Janeve decided to fly with Air Asia and booked well in advance. However, about 4 months out, Air Asia cancelled one of the flights as they are no longer doing that route. They had to reschedule with another airline (Emirates) who also cancelled on them as they discovered when they arrived in Singapore. They were put on another flight and overall, they left home 18 hours before us and arrived in Munich 8 hours after us. We met at a hotel in Munich and when they arrived they were completely stuffed. 'Never again are we doing cheap flights' said Janeve when we met in Munich. We had an enjoyable afternoon looking around the small town where we were staying but the enjoyment didn't last long. As we were getting ready to go down to dinner, there was a knock on our door. It was Janeve in a panic. She had lost their passports. She was about to make sure they were put away safely, couldn't find them and couldn't remember where she had them last. Was it at the airport or on the train? If at the airport, where? The hotel receptionist made some phone calls and left messages but no-one had them. We could not go anywhere without them. We could not even pick up the motorhome. A call to the embassy said that travel documents could be issued but she and Paul would have to travel to Berlin to get them. So we started making alternative plans and did not have a good night worrying about the passports. Next morning, Paul checked his emails and discovered one from Emirates saying that they had found their passports. Whooohoooo!!!! At last!! Something going right!!
Say 'Hi' to Janeve.
We bought an imitation Webber Kettle for NKR49 (AUD8) to save cooking steaks etc in the van. This is Ray and Paul intent on the assembly.
At the rental station
We picked up the motorhomes in Munich on Wednesday afternoon and have just spent the last couple of days making our way north to Norway. We are camped tonight in a tiny place called Hjerkinn in Norway, north of Oslo. It is in snow country (some snow and ice on the mountains not far from our camp) and at this moment, is very cold and very wet. This morning was beautiful and clear but has come in very ugly this arve. Long days of sunshine here with daylight until probably about 11.00pm. Last night I went to bed at about 10.00pm looking out the window of the motorhome at the people next door cooking tea. Broad daylight!
They also have some different ways of doing things at the campsites here. They lock the gates into and out of the caravan parks at night and don't open them until a specified time each morning. This time differs with every park. We weren't aware of this. After our first night of camping, we were ready to rock'n'roll by 7.15am. We got into the motorhomes and went to drive out but the boomgates were locked shut. I walked off to see if there was another exit but with no luck. I was walking back when I saw Paul coming for a look as well. We were nearing the motorhomes when Janeve started shouting at Paul to get in the car and to hurry up. She was really agitated and I was puzzled as to what was going on. Ray had found the key to the boomgates and had unlocked it just as the owner came out. World War 3 ensued and there was much screaming and abuse from the owner as we quickly dashed to our vehicles and drove off in a mad rush with her threatening to give us a ticket. Can you believe that they lock you in at night so that you can't get out? Well, I think it is more so that campers can't come in after lock-up. But how bizarre is that?
Also, none of the caravan parks have water hook-ups to the vans. They often have only one hose outlet in the park and campers have to walk to the water hose and fill up their containers (usually watering cans) and take them back to the van. They do this over and over until the van is full. How dumb is that? So, obviously none of the vans here have showers. Not sure about toilets. Thankfully our motorhome has both.
Internet access is going to be pretty unreliable in Norway so there won't be a daily blog. 'Thank goodness for that' I can hear you say. Talk to you again soon with some photos.
