Scandinavian Adventure Part 1: Adios America

There's a colonial woman on the wing!

     Sitting in the airport I nervously tapped my feet on the floor. The plane was boarding and I knew that soon we would be careening through the air at a pace so fast it would make race-cars look like baby-carriages. Soon our row was called, and my family and I began the slow shuffle onto the airplane. Walking down the hallway to the airplane I clutched the handle of my suitcase with a death grip. The stewardess greeted us and handed everyone a bottle of water. Glancing from side to side I spotted my row and was quickly pushed into the window seat. Taking off my backpack I slid it under the seat in front of me and waited to be projected from one side of the Atlantic, to the other.

BOOM!Entertainment

     I have been on an airplane before, but that was in 2003 and it was only from Minnesota to Florida. Most of my traveling has been done by car, so I don't really feel comfortable when I'm being lifted up into the air and I can't even see who is flying the plane. Trust issues aside, I knew that I could make it through the plane ride, assuming I had enough things to entertain me. In preparation for this trip I went to Barnes and Noble. Being the English Literature major I am, I knew books would be my ticket to sheer entertainment. I was holding a book in my hand about "Pride and Prejudice" from Mr. Darcy's point of view, when my boyfriend decided to point out a book about Queen Victoria marrying Dracula. It was in the same section as a book I had read called "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer". I had positively adored that book and found it to be hilarious and slightly historical. He handed me the book and soon Mr. Darcy was back on the shelf. That day I purchased "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", "Dracula Anno", a travel journal, and a book of cryptograms. I was ready for my flight.

Yeah!Tiny Tower!

     The night before we were scheduled to leave I carefully stocked my backpack with everything I would need. My iPod was essential, as I needed to be able to check on my Tiny Tower. Tiny Tower is a wonderful game where you build a tower and fill it with businesses and apartment buildings and use that money to building more levels and get a higher tower. My roommate Chris got me hooked on it, so I blame him for all the time spent checking my Tiny Tower. Into my backpack I placed a reasonable amount of reading material, as the airline had specified. Carefully tucking "Water for Elephants" into my bag I imagined finishing the book and finally being able to say how much better it was than the movie. One of my true pleasures in life is saying that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie. The one exception is "Gone with the Wind" because that movie made the book come to life. Don't even get me started on what a disappointment the movie "Ella Enchanted" was. Now that I was fully prepared to be entertained, the only thing left was to get to the airport.

Best Song:He Vas my Boyfriend

     In order to make it to the airport I had to drive 3 hours to my sisters house. This car ride was spent singing at the top of my lungs and enjoying whatever alone time I had left. You see, it was going to be 10 straight days with my family. An occurrence that hasn't happened since that 2003 plane ride. Belting "Young Frankenstein" I began to let myself get excited about going to Scandinavia. Maybe we weren't going to die in a plane crash somewhere in the Atlantic. Maybe, just maybe, we would make it there safely and actually get to see another country. Soon I found myself parked in my sister's driveway being greeted by my niece and nephew, who so desperately wanted to show me their new trampoline. An hour later, after all the carry-ons had been weighed and each goodbye so tearfully said, we loaded up the car and headed to the airport.

Weird Lullaby Pillows

     Airport security wasn't as bad as I had expected, and soon we were seated in Minneapolis International Airport's Humphrey terminal. We decided to eat at a restaurant located there, and so began our family vacation. After my mom took at least 8 pictures, it was time to wait to board the plane. Once we were inside the plane we decided to see what Iceland Air had to offer. Turns out you get your own touch screen television and can pick what you want to watch. This would've been great, except my touch screen wouldn't work. Thankfully I had the window seat so I was entertained by Earth instead of television. Since our flight was overnight, we were given a pillow and a blanket. The pillow had an Icelandic lullaby written on it, which was kind of sweet, but also weird. It talked about little kids wandering to where the lambs play. Do you really want to sing a lullaby to a child about running to the hills where lambs play? I assume this would be right after you tell them the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". Lullabies aside, I did survive takeoff and soon caught my first sight of Canada.

So long America!

     The plane ride was a good 5 and a half hours, and I didn't sleep for more than a half an hour. It was too much fun to look out the window and see the moon shining down on the ocean. What was really cool was seeing the moon out one side, and the sun on the other side. We were flying far enough north that we reached the part of the world where the sun doesn't really set in July. It was so amazing to actually see the midnight sun I had heard so much about. Oh, and the fact that with the time difference we were traveling into the future. Soon we landed in Iceland at the Reykjavik(had to google how to spell that) airport. After a short layover we were back on Iceland Air heading to Oslo. Thankfully this time my television worked, sadly it was only a 2-3 hour flight.

Iceland's Keflavik Airport in Reykjavik.

     Before long we were flying over Norway, and the view was breathtaking. Below us we could see snow covered mountains and miles of green. This was much more interesting than Iceland, where all we could see was moss and these purple flowers. I don't think they have trees in Iceland, which makes sense since it is ICE land. All jokes on Iceland aside, Norway looked amazing from the air. As we began our descent into Oslo we could see the Norwegian countryside. I tightly clutched my armrests as the plane began to coast onto the runway. Soon we had come to a stop and the stewardess began announcing in three different languages that we had arrived in Oslo.