Friday/Saturday, April 27/29 2018

It only has been 4 days since my last trip. Now I am on tour to the general assembly of Norway’s architects union in Tromsø. The assembly is hold every second year and this time I am invited as a guest since I didn’t get elected as a representative for my county. But this is not about the assembly (that would be quiet boring for most people), but about the trip and impressions about Tromsø.

When I was contacted by the travel agent to book my flight, I was offered to take the early flight to Bergen and then the direct flight to Tromsø. But I am a person with format so the perspective of  over 2 hours in a small Dash 8-300 aircraft from Bergen to Tromsø was not really appealing.

So I did some research in advance and got the flight from Bergen to Bodø and from Bodø to Tromsø. This way I could achieve several things as you will see.

My first flight on Widerøe leaves at 6:10 in the morning. To early for the first bus. That’s why I had to take a taxi. Luckily all expenses are payed for by my union. The plane is a Dash 8-300. I like Widerøe as it is a very nice airline with friendly staff and good service – but small propeller airplanes. We leave on time and land in Bergen (2nd time for me in a week) 50 minutes later.

I have a little bit over an hour before my next flight leaves. Time to get some breakfast as I didn’t had the time before. My next flight will be on the new Embraer E2-190 from Widerøe. It has only been in service a few days and is the first one in the world. Great chance to test the plane.

After boarding we leave for the 90 minute flight to Bodø. The plane is great. Good seats, clean, quiet silent, but they made a big mistake with putting the max number of seats inside. My knees hit the back of the seat in front of me. There is no legroom at all. Without that it would have been nearly perfect.

In Bodø I have to do one thing and there is not much time (20 minutes to boarding) to do it. I need to find one geocache to get a log in this county. There is one directly opposite of the airport, just 50 meters away. BOO is a small airport so I am out quickly and the cache is found fast. Then I have to get back inside and through security control. But there is a longer cue and the board already says “Go to gate”. After some words with the security guard I am allowed through the fast track and make my next flight which is an SAS flight that has a stopover from Trondheim.

45 minutes, a coffee and some crisps later I land in Tromsø. The Airport bus is waiting outside and will stop close to my hotel. The meeting starts at 12:00 so enough time to check inn and get ready for the meeting. I only get a short view of Tromsø as it is like a Swiss cheese and has several street tunnels. The hotel is the Clarion Choice Aurora. Close to the may shopping area. Nice room. Before the meeting I manage to find the geocache close to the hotel and secure a new city and county.

The meeting went well. The food in the evening was not the best I have tasted, but as I am invited I will not complain about it. 🙂

The next day we did a walking tour through the city center (of course connected to our professions). I have to agree with what Jimmy Carr said in Bergen: “The person who called Tromsø the Paris of the north has never been to Paris!” Let’s say the city has a lot of potential. There are some nice areas and maybe if you have more time to explore you find very nice areas. And in addition the weather was not the best (snow… nobody needs that). I think I need to come back one day and spend some more time.

After the city walk I had to take the bus to the Airport. The city buses 40/42 are the much cheaper way to get to/from the airport and it only takes 10 minutes more. You also get to see more of the city. Nice green areas for walks close to the city.

At the airport I got the message that my flight is delayed by 70 minutes because of a technical error on the plane. As long as it is not longer it will do, but there is only one flight to Molde today and that I have to catch because I am going to Germany tomorrow. Had some Pizza that was left in the window for to long.

SAS down to Oslo without Problems and then directly to my flight to Molde. Everything worked out and now I can prepare for my trip tomorrow.