Correspondence

Once the ladies revealed their enthusiasm for the flight and cruise plans, I began writing letters and emails to my Norwegian contacts letting them know the basic outline and intended dates for our tour as well as asking for suggestions to make our short time in these regions well-spent.




Earlier this month while visiting a relative, I spied an ancient photo of Grandma Lena's children. I snapped a photo of the photo. Back home, I designed a card – using the image – to send our Norway relatives. Inside, I wrote that representatives of each of these three little girls' families (their brother had no offspring) would be on their way in August to see the Homeland.


Anticipating the Norwegians' replies is the flip-side of Correspondence.

Persistence

"Continuing steadily despite problems or obstacles" is the dictionary's definition for "persistence."

As I've searched for ways to book the sailing part of our journey on the Hurtigruten, I've encountered obstacles. Dan helped me find a company online that listed voyage packages worldwide including this one along the Norwegian coast.

For most people, calling a phone number would be easy. I hesitated knowing our needs would have to be tailored for a port-to-port trip rather than the more-common, full-coastline trip. Last week I found an extraordinary package deal at the company's online site. The "sale" spurred me to dial the number.

The first representative had no clue to which I "deal" I was referring. He passed me off to an international representative who understood the advertisement, listened to my needs and promptly told me, this "sale" would not apply for us. He also informed me even a short cruise on this ship would be expensive. I asked whether he knew of an American booking agent who could help us book port-to-port. When he said: I don't think that's possible."

I explained, "I KNOW it's possible because my host parents have all ridden the Hurtigruten and told me local people get on in one city and off in another regularly."

"Well, we are a booking agent for Hurtigruten," he said. "I can call ask."

"Thank you!" I sighed. At last I'd found someone with the resources to help.

Later in the day, he called back with the desired information. He verified information from the sailing charts I'd pulled up months earlier. We would board 8 PM Thursday in Bergen and arrive 8 AM Saturday in Trondheim. He quoted the cost and added, "Because you're not traveling the full distance, meals are not included. The Hurtigruten people said to plan about $100 per day for food on the ship: $20 for breakfast, $20-30 for lunch and $50 for dinner."

"Since we sail Saturday night and arrive early Saturday, I said, "We can figure just one day of meals and catch the dinner on Thursday night and breakfast on Saturday morning on shore. Right?"

"You could," he said beginning to understand my genuine enthusiasm. He told me because our trip was so short, we wouldn't be assigned cabins until we boarded. Priority goes to those going the full distance.

"Fine with me," I said. "I'll check with the ladies and get back to you." In order to send me more information, he took my email address. He recognized the MN city in the address and confessed Minnesota as his home state. Now we had a "Minnesota Nice" connection.

And – yes – Persistence.

Faith

The most incredible part of planning falls in the lap of Faith – to find contacts.

Two weeks ago Dan found a 1-800-number for Icelandair. With that phone contact, I discovered two important components. First, the company offers flights to Bergen two days a week during the summer – Tuesday and Friday evenings. Second, the company offers a multi-city ticket enabling us to fly into Bergen and out of Oslo. All this for the lowest price of any airline competitor.

Both the Tuesday and Friday flights arrive in Iceland about 6 AM, the next day. Wednesday's arrival has an 11-hour layover before taking off for Bergen. The Icelandair saleswoman said customers could leave the airport for a look around Reykjavik to see the geothermal hot springs among other things. Wednesday's departure for Bergen is after 5 PM arriving about 9:30 PM. Then we would stay over in a hotel, have time to rest Thursday morning, spend the afternoon looking around Norway's second largest city and depart that evening on the Hurtigruten cruise line to take us to Trondheim.

With a Saturday arrival, the flight departs a couple hours later for Bergen. Landing in Bergen happens mid-afternoon. With this option we could take a quick look passing through the city and depart on the ship that same evening. Or we could check into a hotel and have a day-and-half city tour and leave with the ship Sunday.

Personally, I favor the Tuesday departure which would allow for a look around Reykjavik Wednesday, put us in a Bergen hotel that night through Thursday morning, allow us to explore Bergen during the afternoon and evening and have us launched on the ship that night.

Why? Months ago, I pulled up north sailing charts for the Hurtigruten. I learned the ship sails daily from Bergen at 8 PM, continues northward through another day and arrives the following morning at 8 AM in Trondheim. Given this this schedule, if we launched with the Thursday ship, we would arrive Saturday in Trondheim. That would allow us to travel to Grandma Lena's relatives during the weekend – usually a good time to visit people.

The next step is finding a phone contact for the cruiseline... preferably an American agent.

Consideration

I am not a Travel Agent. For four months I've tried to find "deals" to Norway. It's not an easy task given the travel routes we're considering.

At our initial meeting in July, we considered a thrify trip: flying round trip from Minneapolis to Olso, renting a van, navigating ourselves over the Norwegian countryside, stopping at camping huts along the way to meet relatives and friends, stopping for historical and scenic view points from Oslo north to Trondheim and Verdal and then beginning a southeastern journey over the mountains through Lillehammer and down into Hedmark County to the Swedish border south of Kongsvinger and back to Oslo to fly home again. We considered: one night's hotel stay as a treat.

That plan changed in September. My Norwegian host parents came to visit me here in Minnesota. They told me if I were to lead Americans through their country, I would be doing them a disservice if I did not show them the West Coast. They recommended beginning in Bergen, taking the Hurtigruten Cruise ship to Trondheim, finding transport to Verdal to see Grandma Lena's homestead and people and then coming south to see them on the Swedish border before heading to Oslo for a capitol tour and returning home.

Either route falls under Independent Travel. But the latter is far more challenging to coordinate. Oh, travel agents will tell you they can help you book... but when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of the plan, I've found they fall back on their own airline preferences (not always the most thrifty or convenient) and also want fees up front for research as well as to book various portions of the trip. Economizing this kind of a tour is difficult even with a group – albeit a small one of six.

My quest has been to get a price quote out to our group to decide whether our "Tri-City Dream Tour" is one to pursue.

Anticipation

All talk and no action frustrates my husband. That's why he paired me up with his father's cousins to make a trip to Norway.

I'd longed to make a trip back to my adopted home. These women dreamed of visiting their immigrant (great) grandmother's roots.

At a cafe meeting last July, we began to plan for a 10-12 day trip in August 2008. Their main goal was to travel north of Trondheim to the small community of Verdal – where Grandma Lena's life started – a place and people that Dan and I had visited years ago. Dan's cousins hoped to see mountains and fjords, tour a big city or two and travel to the Swedish border where I'd spent a year living as a high-school exchange student. Our mutual enthusiasm was catchy.

With that consensus and my husband's promise for me to lead the group, we were Norway Bound.