Norway - Northern Lights - Likes and Moans.

1. 😊We are happy to have seen a flash of green - even the tiny flash - of the Northern Lights, it was just not long enough.

2. 😒 We had a lady influencer at our table that couldn't stop talking and boasting and an gent influencer that was a know all in all departments. What a pain they were, filming food, interviewing their partners. Thank goodness we could converse in Afrikaans and say what we felt about it.

3.😊 We loved walking in the snow.

4.😊 Tromso Cable car and Arctic Cathedral was spectacular

5. 😒 The food was very English - Roasts and Vegetables most of the time. No spectacular desserts as on our Fiji trip. We'll be happy to have our own grilled steak back home again. Back to Carnivore for us after this trip.

6. 😊 Cabin with the balcony was a good choice and the bed was very comfy.

 

                                                  Enjoy these scenes.

Norway - Northern Lights - 2 to 5th April 2025

Two days at sea again and loads of eating 

First night entertainment was the energetic dancers again. I was so worn out again I had to go and rest. It was really hard work watching them. I was out of breath.

Our last stop is Stavanger- we sailed into port at 09:00 and it reminded me of the Dutch villages from our Barge holiday in the Netherlands. Lovely and quaint.

The sun is out and the temp is 7deg. A stroll around the town to get a few nick knacks and didn't stop for a beer as it was too early. That was our excuse. Not sure what a beer price would be if a burger hits you at R 600. We'll rather have our beers on board.

We sailed early today from Stavanger and are on our way to Southampton. 

Norway - Northern Lights - 30th March 2025

  

A short overnight trip to the Alta. This is the most northern port we will visit and have two full days to explore.

Day one was a trip into town but not much to see. The only thing we made sure of was that we have magnets from each of the stops on this trip.

First night entertainment was the ships entertainment team doing magic and dance. So-so but the dancing was so hectic I was out of breath and needed to have a rest after the show.

Day two is our Viator booked trip where we will be going into the countryside for a sleigh ride and experience authentic Sami snacks in an authentic Sami village. Or so we thought. Rude collected us in his Merc passenger bus and a half hour trip took us out into the wooded area. The sleigh ride was cool but in was just a round about trip on a farm and the Sami village was a Sami tent on their farm. They did however show us how they sheep farm and we learned a bit about life and rules in Norway.

 Rude was very good and took us on a little detour of Alta - The church where the copper mines were discover and then over by the British - areas that were bombed in WWII - and of course the conversation turned to guns and he loaded us off at the only gun shop in Alta.

The gun shop was more fishing shop than gun shop and we then had to walk back to the boat - four kilometers, I measured in my walking app. 

Entertainment on the boat was the juggling comedian - Jon Udry. Second best show on board.

Up on deck on 31st March, we saw traces of the Northern Lights. The way to really see them is by searching with your phone camera. They appear for a few seconds and then poof, they're gone.

We sailed again at one o'clock in the morning of 1 April.

Norway - Northern Lights - 29th March 2025

 March 29th we woke up in Tromso port. Beautiful and magical but with a snow twirling in a blizzard. We've never experienced this before. 

We are docked on the island and the town is on the mainland.

We have shuttle busses that ferry us into the city so off we set - very carefully, due to the snow and slush - all tucked up in thermals, coats, beanies, you name it. Hey don't mock this is our first walk in the snow.

Our trip on the mainland included the Polar Museum, Arctic Cathedral and a trip in the Cable Car. Even had a bit of a snow fight with it still snowing on us. Something of interest - Even though the snow flakes settled on us, we were never wet. Ha.

We have now travelled past the arctic circle and out time is same as back home.

At night we spend time searching for the Northern Lights until we freeze our inners, but nothing yet at this stage.

The scenery here is beautiful but more commercial than Andalsnes.

We sailed off into the sunset at 18:00 - the sun is now setting later and it was still light at 19:30.

A local Northern Fusion Band, the Habaneroz, were on stage this evening and were excellent. Drums, cello, guitar and violin and did they make their instruments sing. Lovely.

Norway - Northern Lights - 24th - 28th March 2025

 Clint is waiting for his jobs to come through so he has some time off - Lucky for us.

It's a two hour drive from Loughton to Southampton - the Queen Elizabeth II Cruise Terminal.- where our boarding was scheduled for 13:45. The embarkation times are staggered so that everyone doesn't arrive at the same time. It goes very smoothly and there is a ton of staff at the port.

It didn't feel right to leave our passports with the crew but that's the way they do it. Will get them back at the end of the trip.

In two ticks we were in our cabin on deck 11 - A193 - our luggage was already outside the door and we threw open the sliding door onto the balcony. Grabbed a bite to eat at the all day buffet at Horizon restaurant. I can see this being a big eating holiday. 

Two days at sea with a Black Tie dinner last night -26th March. The live show was the 'Motown Girls" screeching and a bit Brakpan. Three very heavy girls killing Tina Turner and Gloria Gaynor.

Early Morning Arrival - Andalnes

The morning of 27th March I took an early 06:00 peep out on the balcony. This is what the Vikings saw as they rowed back from months at war. (Okay - so I'm a lover of the Viking series)

What an amazing sight as we arrived at Andalsnes. It's cold, but not unbearable and on the ship the temperatures at a normal 20 deg.

Aldalsnes is a small walkabout village a Gondola or the Great Train up the mountain to see the views.

In that cold we found the best Ice Cream.

We were in port only for the day and set sail again at 18:00. 28th March is a sea day again. And by the way, that means an eating day again.

Norway - Northern Lights - 19th March 2025

 All packed for the long awaited bucket list trip that we booked in August 2024 already.

Departing 20th April 01:00 - Is this a good or bad time to fly out, don't know so we'll leave a little earlier for the airport, don't want to be on the road in an Uber too late in the night. 

The airport was quiet and check in was easy and quick. 

The flight to Nairobi was good with a smaller plane, two seats on each side of the aisle. Lay over was one and a half hours so no time to really go to the international lounge and off to Amsterdam.

This leg was sent from heaven. A huge Boeing 747-8 and only fifty passengers. If I had to sit in a three seater section that was full, I would have gone balmy. Didn't sleep much but at least we could stretch out on this plus nine hour flight.  

As we whisked through for the final leg to London, Schiphol Airport brought back good memories from our Barging trip 11 years ago. Forty five minutes was all we needed to get there.

Thanks for Clint because at that time we had been up for about two days.

Lovely to see the family again.

Little Switzerland - 24 to 28 February 2025

 I know I'm very lazy to write lately but here goes.

Booked way back in January 2025, we decided it was time to take a break and chill in the Drakensberg.

We have been really busy with the Training at Wattlespring Club but organized it so that we moved everyone a week before or after our little excursion.

Everyone we spoke to, spoke very highly of Little Switzerland. 

We didn't rush Monday and had a Wimpy Breakfast along the way.

Richard didn't even exceed the speed limit, the weather was beautiful, the scenery with the mountains is gorgeous and Little Switzerland is excellent.

Our room room looked out over the bowling green where the horses wandered around and the back drop was the beautiful Drakensburg Mountains.

We had a really relaxing week, reading and hiking up the mountain. We needed this.

We have a few gripes after the expectations from all that have been here.

At night it would rain cats and dogs and we had a very bad leak on the edge of the ceiling that wet the carpet.

The staff were not the friendliest and so meals were a bit spoiled. Some nights the meal was good and some nights, not so good. One thing we could not get the staff to understand was a soft fried egg, sunny side up.

The good points were, the scenery, absolutely gorgeous. The bed and linen was outstanding.

Good week and arrived home safe and sound.