Night Before

Preparing to leave for Norway.

Not sure if I have ever felt completely prepared to leave for any trip, however only having to worry about getting myself ready certainly eases the pain....or at least it should, right?

Flying across the Atlantic only intensifies this uneasiness, not really a fear of flight, rather a general worrisomeness about something that I can never really put my finger on and no matter how much preparation or how ready I am it never really dissipates until I am in the air. I am sure there is a name for this condition, I call it traveling.

The Trip...

I am sure everyone, well at least those who watch tv, have seen the Citi commercial of the father and son taking a trip to Norway only to find out that they are actually from Sweden... My father and I are pretty much doing that, but we really ARE Norwegian (well Dad is 50% I am 25%)..... Instead of going to the hall of records to confirm our heritage, we have been invited to a family reunion at the Sætevik family farm (in this area) of my great grandmother and her ancestors. Pretty cool, pretty, pretty, pretty cool.... now go sing happy birthday while you are washing your hands.

The Night before, well now...

Here is my plan for tonight, going to stay up late so I will be able to catch a few hours of sleep on the plane... having said this I do not believe I have ever actually fallen asleep on a plane, so this plan may backfire severely.... worst case scenario is college flashback to finals week for a night/day/night I think I can deal with that, or at least it sounds feasible as I type...

The Flight(s)....

Flight takes off tomorrow at 7am, to Chicago... 3 hour layover... 8 hours to Frankfurt... 3 hour layover... 2 hours to Bergen... fuzzy math tells me we will arrive 11am local time... then the fun begins. Hoping the excitement of new surroundings will enable my body to stay up until at least 8pm.... Good strategy, but it is all in the execution.

The Hotel...

Crashing at the Thon Brygge, cheap for Norway, but looks decent... assuming a flat surface is all I will need by that time, it also has wifi, which is becoming a must when traveling and having become iphone addicted and mentally dependent. Also helps with the phone bill to use skype.

My traveling companions...

Iphone 3GS

NewTrent IMP550 Iphone battery extender (pretty cool for a long flight)

2307 songs... currently stuck on Beirut, Andrew Bird, National...

6 movies... Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, The Conversation, Glengarry Glen Ross, Hot Tub Time Machine and the new Sherlock Holmes... decent popcorn shows... should delay the boredom.

3 books... The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Road and The City of Fallen Angels

1 Travel Guide... Rick Steves .. Norway

Sony HD Video Camera.... 1080p should make Norway pop!

Blogging has made the above plan... stay up late the night before... all too easy. Time to sleep, hope to be able to post often, but not sure how that will go....