Bergen; Wednesday, 25 October, 2006

I sneaked away from work at a little after 3, with the aim of getting to the airport early so that I could have dinner, given that SAS Braathens don't provide food in Economy. Sadly, I had figured without the rail network which was in the process of disintegration at the time. 25 minutes after leaving work I was still standing on the platform, less that 200 yards from my desk!

Eventually, a train did arrive, at got me to Gatwick a little after 4. I zipped through to the terminal building and to the zone where my flight was checking-in to see a massive queue, stretching half way across the terminal. Thankfully, it was for the flight to Billund, so I was able to walk straight up to the counter and check in for Bergen. I picked up some pre-ordered Norwegian Krone and joined the back of the very long queue through security.

Given the number of people queuing, I was surprised that it took less that 20 minutes to get through to the departures lounge. Sadly, by now I only had bout 35 minutes until my flight was due to start boarding so I grabbed a sandwich, sat, and ate that. In the end, I had nearly an hour as they were late calling the flight, which meant that I could have had a proper dinner!

After an uneventful flight I touched down in Norway at a little after 9, working out which limb I was going to offer up as payment for the taxi into town, as the last airbus of the evening was in less than 20 minutes. 12 minutes after touching down, rather to my surprise, I found myself, with luggage (having shot through immigration, baggage reclaim, and customs) boarding the airbus - even more surprising given that I was one of the last people off.

The bus dropped me off in the centre of town, from where it was a five-minute walk to the hotel, then a short walk across the street to the other building, as the hotel now covers both sides of the road, and into my room.

After a quick unpack I collapsed into bed for some well-earned rest.