Collection

"Just a note to let you know I've received envelopes from everyone. Thank you so much for helping fill in the blanks."

I wrote this in today's email to the journey's ladies.


I went onto explain about research on vehicle rental, train fares and schedules as well as the wait for a response from our Verdal-area relative. I closed the briefing:

God has a plan! I'm working hard to find it.
With this week's report,
Wendy

Sticker Shock

Vehicle rental prices in Norway are startling.

The lowest quote I received was for a three-day van rental. That would cover our needs during our stay in the Trondheim-Verdal area while visiting relatives and seeing places dear to Grandma Lena. The cost translates into $692 and includes 600 "free" kilometers or 372 miles. Gas costs translate to $8.94/gallon.

Of course, when we divide out these costs out between six people over three days, the price per person per day is less overwhelming. Nonetheless, we come to appreciate the relative "cheap" travel costs at home in the USA. We also understand the European push for public transportation.

E-mail Encouragement

A few email messages encourage me.

One friend spent three weeks last summer traveling Norway and booked all her tickets and lodging by using her computer. "No need to do any work with a travel agent," she wrote and offered hints about looking for bed-and-breakfast type accommodations which are much more affordable than hotels.

My host parents offered to host our group on our journey's last leg – after visiting relatives north of Trondheim and before we depart from the Oslo airport. Should we decide to take the train from Trondheim south, my host dad offered four options for pickup:
1. In Lillehammer: the site of the 1994 Olympic games
2. In Hamar
3. In Lillestrøm
4. In Oslo.

A third email came today from relatives living in the Grandma Lena's childhood house in Verdal. The husband of Lena's great-niece answered an email I'd sent asking for local agents with rental mini-vans. He kindly provided websites, email addresses and telephone numbers for three.

Now it's my turn to research and e-mail on!

Confirmation

Last Wednesday morning I called the airline to book our tickets for an 11-day tour in mid-August, flying into Bergen and out of Oslo with stop-overs – both ways – in Iceland.

The airline agent suggested seating the six of us together across the center aisle. But because the ladies had requested cruise cabins "with a view," I asked the airline agent for window seats too. She booked us in the same two rows of three – one behind the other in the window aisle – for all four flights. So, we should have no trouble remembering where we sit.

Next, I contacted the cruise agent to book three-days on the Hurtigruten, boarding in Bergen and departing in Trondheim. The agent set us up with "port-hole" window cabins for our port-to-port venture and gave us a money-saving deal for booking three cabins!

Because our voyage is on a north-bound ship, we will cruise through the dramatic Geiranger Fjord shown here. Years ago, I took this photo of my husband to fulfill his 30th birthday wish of having his photo taken on this renown ledge over-looking the village of Geiranger. We did two shoots: one on a gray-afternoon and this one the next morning when the sun came out and a cruise ship sailed in. This time the ladies and I will be on the ship!

Today, I have notices from Icelandair and Hurtigruten of ticket Confirmation. Let the count-down begin!

Divine Intervention

Time was ticking. My husband was on my case to book the tickets. I explained that the financial means was on its way. The credit card agent had said, "Look for your card – in a white envelope with an Omaha return address – on or around March 24th."

That date was three weeks away when I'd applied last week... But who knew whether our travel ticket prices or availability would hold until the card's arrival.

Today, I called the airline and cruise agents to verify prices and availability. The agents suggested putting a courtesy hold on the tickets until Wednesday. That would give me time to contact the ladies with information and gain other information to secure the tickets.

Wednesday... I thought. But my card won't be here for two more weeks. I wrote emails and telephoned one of the gals to explain the ticket hold and ask for advice about billing. After contacting the others, she called me back with the news to book the tickets and their preparations to mail out checks to me.

Late this afternoon, I walked to the mailbox, picked out newspapers and thumbed through envelopes, including a white one with an Omaha return address. I slit open the envelope and removed a card imprinted with my name. Tears streamed from my eyes. The financial means had arrived two weeks early – and most certainly – by Divine Intervention.

Financier

Researching, planning and mapping out a trip for six is one thing. Booking tickets is another.

How does one private person handle finances for five other people? The airline and cruise agents suggested my gathering credit card numbers from each person to book that person's part of the trip; or having each person call with her own information; or putting everything on one credit card.

I didn't feel comfortable asking other people for their credit card numbers. I also knew that having each person call to book her own airline ticket would add extra fees vs. one fee for booking six tickets together. Plus some of the ladies didn't have reliable computer access to receive e-tickets. The ladies responded: "If you're willing to book it all on your card, we'll send you our checks."

I was willing. My question was HOW?

How many people have available a five-digit credit-card-limit balance? Not me: a stay-home mom who manages the house, the kids, the pets, the activities, the bills, the mail...

Flipping through the mail last week, I noticed a credit card solicitation. Usually I throw those envelopes directly in the trash. Who wants to manage more than one card's debt? Right?

What caught my eye on this one was "0% APR for 15 months on purchases" written in bold blue print on the envelope front.

"There's got to be some catch," I thought as I opened the envelope and perused the papers. I called the toll-free number to ask if this REALLY meant I could make purchases, make NO payments until next year and have NO interest charges as long as the full amount I charged to the card is paid in full by that 2009 due date. The agent said, "Yes, ma'am. That's what 0% APR for 15 months means."

"Wow," I said. She took my application information, processed the information and recited my five-digit credit-card limit – just enough to finance a Norway trip for six. I said, "That's a gift from heaven."

Now I felt like a travel agent capable of providing the service of Financier.