A Ski Adventure - Lillehammer, Norway

---

Hello All,

After a great weekend in Switzerland, Amanda surprised me with a plane ticket to Lillehammer, Norway to take in some skiing. I have not done a lot of skiing, however, every time I have gone skiing it was been a blast; so I was very excited. To cut some costs, Amanda decided to leave early Friday morning and wait for me to arrive later that night. I couldn’t afford to miss work on Friday, so I took a half-day and landed in Oslo, Norway around 10pm local time. Poor Amanda. She had to wait at that airport ALL day.

While my flight landed safely, the stress was about to begin. It turns out that the airport was a two hour bus drive away from the Oslo train station. We planned to spend the night in the warmth of the Train station and take the very first train to Lillehammer in the morning. While at the airport all day, Amanda check and verified that the train station was open all night. As I was going through immigration, it was announced that the final transport into the city was due to leave at 10:30pm. It was 10:20 when I heard it and was not even close to getting through. Amanda, doll that she is, had the bus driver wait as I ran to the bus.

Once on, I thought we were home free. Two hours and a nap later, we arrived at the bus station. We walked over to the train station around 1:30am. To our shock, the train station was closed. This meant Amanda and I were forced to spend the next four hours in the open-aired bus station. I don’t know if you are aware, but winter in Norway its cold. Really cold. Really Really Really cold. Whenever we tried to lie down on the bench to sleep, a guard made us sit upright. What a d***!

Finally, at 5am we went back to the train station just as it was opening. We were tired, thirsty, and hungry. I got a Whopper from BK and didn’t even feel bad that the sun was not up yet. Amanda and I had to wait 2 more hours before the train we needed to take would leave. Once on the train. . . we passed out.

Two and a half hours later we found ourselves in Lillehammer, Norway. WE got changed and headed for the slopes. It was beautiful. Fresh powder and beautiful skies are what Amanda and I will remember. That and Amanda’s ski outfit as it was a conglomeration of various warm clothes she could find (we have limited wardrobes).

I am going to let the pictures speak for how the trip was. However, it is worth noting that after skiing, we passed out at 7pm and didn’t wake up until 9am. We were knackered. From there we headed back to Oslo and finally back to England. While it was travel intense with little time to ski, Lillehammer made it all very worth while. Home is the next destination for the Holidays.

Happy Holidays!

Aaron

---