The Baltic - Day 2

May 15, 2018

Yesterday was a day at sea as we traveled from Amsterdam to Flam, Norway. A day at sea at this point in time was a day of trying to get a little sense of normalcy back. The 12 hour time difference coupled with the fact that the sun doesn’t set here until after 10pm and rises around 4am is making the jet lag, well….lag. My head feels like it’s filled with sand. Tomorrow will be better I’m sure.

This morning we arrived in Flam. It’s a tiny, tiny town and the end of a huge fjord. Robert got up at 4 this morning to watch us come into the fjord. I opted for a couple more hours of sleep. When I opened the curtain in our cabin I looked out at the splendorous mountains rising vertically from the sea and exclaimed, “Well, crap. There’s snow”. There’s a reason I live in Maui. Any kind of cool weather makes me wear far too many clothes and grit my teeth. Snow isn’t something I find appealing on any level. But that aside, I can’t deny that the scenery of the fjords is spectacular. It was a beautiful blue day with sunshine and innumerable waterfalls coming off the cliffs.

We had breakfast and were in line to disembark at 7am. We had made reservations to take the Flamsbana railway to Myrdal. It’s a 1 hour scenic ride on an electric train that takes you through 20 tunnels and past countless waterfalls to the even tinier town of Myrdal. Spring is in the making here, particularly in the lower elevations with beautiful wildflowers and brilliantly green leaves just emerged on the birch trees. Water is everywhere. We stopped briefly in Myrdal and then headed back to Flam, stopping at the Kjosfossen waterfall and saw Huldra,           a mythical forest spirit who lures men into forest to seduce them with her singing.

Taking a brief rest, we returned to town (about 250 meters away) and took a boat into the world’s tallest and narrowest fjord. More waterfalls. We arrived at the end of that fjord to yet another tiny town where we caught a bus shuttle back through an 11.5km tunnel and a 5km tunnel. Basically, we just drove the entire time back through the mountain.

After an extensive nap, we stood out on the sundeck to watch us pull away from the dock, do a dainty pirouette (no small item on a 975    ft. ship) and make way out the Sonenfjord. A good day ashore.

The Baltic - First Days Are Tough

May 14, 2018

So let me begin by saying, long distance travel can be brutal. I know, I know…first world problem. Mostly I make note of this so that A: I remember next time I think I want to book a trip and B: so that I can refer back to the first day and hopefully, at the end of the trip declare that it was all worth it.

We left our beloved Maui at 10:30pm on Friday night. Packed into an Alaska Air 737 bound for Portland, Oregon. 737s are my absolute least favorite aircraft to fly on. I’m sure I slept, but it was the pillow-around-the-neck, no, try the head on the fold down tray, no, lean on husband, no, nothing works attempt at sleep. We arrived Portland at 6:30am neither rested nor refreshed and about to spend 6 hours waiting to board our flight to Amsterdam via Delta Airbus 330. Fortunately, we discovered some comfy chairs with ottomans where we could catch a few winks. 

The flight to Amsterdam was about 9.5 hours - cramped but comparatively comfortable. I think I did get an hour or two of cumulative sleep and arrived in the Netherlands completely sleep deprived and nearly delirious. Customs was easy, the airport transfer was chaotic and the ship boarding was appalling. Organization was non-existent and having had next to no sleep was not helpful in navigating the labyrinth of Holland America’s shore crew.

We finally arrived safely in our stateroom which is small but comfortable. We are conveniently located on the sun deck where one can walk, play basketball or shuffleboard. We are at the end next to the door to the outside, have a window that looks out onto the deck and only two decks from the Lido deck with pool and dining. We slept, went to the muster drill and sat on the observation deck as we sailed out of Amsterdam to the North Sea.

By now, I’m an emotional chocolate mess - missing my kids on Mother’s Day, despising my husband for nearly everything imaginable (and I admit most of it was imagined), irritated that many people around me were foreigners speaking another language - oh dear….

So today is a new day. The jet lag is beginning to wane, the sun is shining and the day at sea will help me settle. The seas are calm, the weather is pleasant but cool and the adventure is about to begin.