When the full realization hit me that I was sleeping under a large dome of snow in the north of Norway by the Russian border, I admit, slight panic started to set in. But before I knew it, that moment had passed, I had fallen asleep, and now a bright blue light from the hole in the snow ceiling above me glowed, letting me know it was morning and the last day of my Nordic adventure.
Since Norway lost an hour due to their daylights savings, I manually set my clock the night before. I was on a tight schedule with a flight to catch so I couldn’t afford to be late. My alarm went off which I had burrowed by my head inside the sleeping bag to keep warm for fear it might freeze if left to the elements. I proceeded to quickly put on my chilled clothes, grab my sleeping bag and gear and take one last look at my snow room before I headed out towards the warm facilities to use the sauna.
The soft crunch of the snow below my feet was all I heard as I made my way out of the hotel. The morning greeted me with a soft, cool, stillness and I soaked it in with quiet reverie. The odd thing was there was not a soul to be found which was also neat because I got to enjoy the sauna all by myself.
Finally the German lady and her son had joined me in the warm facilities where we waited for the morning to officially begin while we drank tea. It was when an hour had passed and there was no sign of hotel staff or breakfast that I began to be concerned.
I wandered about outside and still no one except barking dogs and sleepy reindeer. I asked the German family what time they had. It was an hour behind what I had. I tried to ask them if that included the daylight savings adjustment but they didn’t quite understand me. I was getting nervous because by this time I only had about 30 minutes before I needed to leave to catch my shuttle to the airport.
Finally, I saw the hotel staff person who was in charge of breakfast. She said she was running a bit late due to daylight savings but when asked the time, she had an hour behind what I had. It turned out time counted and I was wrong! My clock apparently adjusted itself automatically before I manually adjusted it, so instead of being an hour ahead, I was two hours ahead! No wonder I was so tired.
I enjoyed cold cuts, cheese, toast, cereal, and plenty of coffee before we headed over to the reindeer park for the feeding of the reindeer, which we got to help with. They are friendly but shy creatures that will only come to you if they think you have food.
The shuttle from the snow hotel to my transfer point was behind schedule so a taxi was ordered for me. I had approximately 15 minutes to get to the transfer point, get my luggage I had stowed overnight, and get on the airport shuttle bus. Thankfully my taxi driver was fast and got me there with two minutes to spare.
On the shuttle bus, we went through the town of Kirkenes, which has about 6,000 inhabitants and wound around its neighboring villages until we reached the small airport. As I waited for my plane, I stared out across the snowy hills that encompassed the airport, some of them I believe to be part of Russia. It was undetectable to me but apparently the Norwegian dialect in Kirkenes has a Russian influence. This influence I was able to see in the town’s street names. I would have loved to cross the Russian border since I was so close to it and get another stamp in my passport, but a visa was required and I was limited on time.
My flight from Kirkenes brought me to Oslo where my journey ended. Time definitely counted on this adventure with only a week to experience so many wonderful firsts, experiences I’m sure I will be reflecting upon for a lifetime. But as this solo sojourner has learned to say in Norwegian, “Hai da bra,” which in English means, “have it good” or “good bye”… at least until the next scavenger hunt experience reveals itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment