DUB-OSLO-BOS
We got up at 7:15AM (because we went to bed so early, we woke up pretty early) and went down to the free breakfast. They have a 4 person crew making and running breakfast. Even though there were so many people staying here, breakfast was fully loaded with food and ran so smoothly. There was toast, white or wheat, 6 kinds of cereal, all kinds of jam flavors, bananas, apples, plum looking things (rather tasteless), meats and cheeses, milk, coffee, water with oranges, cucumbers, or lemons in it. Danielle made a pb and j with a banana and come cereal and Alex had a meat and cheese sandwich and cereal too with his coffee. We both grabbed with pastry looking thing and after one bite, Danielle knew it was meat and that was the end of that. Eww. The cafeteria was packed with people of all ages (we had a young male rugby team they were maybe 10 (20 of them all under 12, but very well behaved) or so and then adults too) but there was a table open so we sat down and ate and even made sandwiches to take with us on the plane (now you are not suppose to do this but we snuck it out).
*Toilet paper in the UK and Ireland were little sheets, you pull one sheet at a time to wipe. Takes a while to get a handful.
After we stuffed ourselves and make our sandwiches to go, we went and got ready to leave. We repacked our things and sat and talked for a bit before checking out and heading off to the bus. It was about a 4 min walk to the bus stop and about 35 min to the airport. Then we went through check-in and security which were both very very fast and efficient. First of all there is only a machine checking your boarding pass so didn't have to wait in a line for a person to look at it just lay it down and your through. Then while getting your bags checked, they have designated spots for 4 people to put their things down at a time so that makes bag check super simply and fast. It felt very uncrowded with the 4 spots, nobody pushing up and hurrying you to get your things out.
Danielle found some spare change someone left behind in a basket, 1.50€ and a 20 kroner coin which we found out was from Denmark. So we decided to spend the Euro while we were there and get a cinnamon roll from Starbucks as our snack right before we boarded. We also found the first every water fountain (I don't know why they are not in Europe, their water is safe and fine, but this was the only place we found one so we filled out water bottle up a few times to get us back being hydrated). Right as we were heading to our gate, Danielle realizes she doesn't' have her scarf that she has worn her whole trip. So we panic a bit (boarding takes place in 10 min) and head back to Starbucks but it is not there. Then Alex leaves his bag with Danielle and runs back to security and when he wants to run, he can move!! He comes running back with the scarf, it was hanging at security so probably fell out of the security box/basket when being scanned. Phew the panic was almost over, now to the gate which was really far away.
We got there as they had started boarding and apparently here, everyone just boards at the same time. They say we are boarding and everyone lines up and its first come first serve which was nuts we thought. Everyone is very calm and they just start forming a line and board.
The first flight was fast, only 1 hr and 45 min to Oslo, Norway. No one sat next to us so we could spread out and be comfortable. Landing in Oslo, we saw snowy mountains and as we approached closer, large grassy hills. It took about 25 minutes to get through customs, they had to check boarding passes and passports again (very strict in Norway) and then they put in a small holding room with only 1 place to really buy food and the options were limited. They had an egg and tomato sandwich or a skink sandwich (ewww) but that was it really besides snacks and we could find out way out of this room so we just got nothing and hoped we had enough snacks with us. Boarding happened about 15 min later and we were back on a plane. This time we had our own tvs so we watched movies for the whole 7 hours and 20 min. Unfortunately we got delayed in taking off for about 45 min and ended being about 1 hr and 5 min late in landing in Boston.
By this time we were exhausted and had to stand in a line for customs. The lines in the U.S. are so much longer than anywhere else. They had only 2 people checking U.S passports so everyone who had foreign passports got through so much faster which is ridiculous! We waited another hour in these lines and then went to another line for them to look at the paperwork we just got from the custom people and then just let us through. Seriously nuts. We were so tired and hungry, and had to be back at the airport really early tomorrow morning and finally made it outside.
Now to find our last airbnb we had to walk to another terminal and then to the Hilton hotel and could cross the main road that way. We got a little turned around but made it to the airbnb in about 20 min. We showered and were in bed in no time, both of us out like a light.
*Toilet paper in the UK and Ireland were little sheets, you pull one sheet at a time to wipe. Takes a while to get a handful.
After we stuffed ourselves and make our sandwiches to go, we went and got ready to leave. We repacked our things and sat and talked for a bit before checking out and heading off to the bus. It was about a 4 min walk to the bus stop and about 35 min to the airport. Then we went through check-in and security which were both very very fast and efficient. First of all there is only a machine checking your boarding pass so didn't have to wait in a line for a person to look at it just lay it down and your through. Then while getting your bags checked, they have designated spots for 4 people to put their things down at a time so that makes bag check super simply and fast. It felt very uncrowded with the 4 spots, nobody pushing up and hurrying you to get your things out.
Danielle found some spare change someone left behind in a basket, 1.50€ and a 20 kroner coin which we found out was from Denmark. So we decided to spend the Euro while we were there and get a cinnamon roll from Starbucks as our snack right before we boarded. We also found the first every water fountain (I don't know why they are not in Europe, their water is safe and fine, but this was the only place we found one so we filled out water bottle up a few times to get us back being hydrated). Right as we were heading to our gate, Danielle realizes she doesn't' have her scarf that she has worn her whole trip. So we panic a bit (boarding takes place in 10 min) and head back to Starbucks but it is not there. Then Alex leaves his bag with Danielle and runs back to security and when he wants to run, he can move!! He comes running back with the scarf, it was hanging at security so probably fell out of the security box/basket when being scanned. Phew the panic was almost over, now to the gate which was really far away.
We got there as they had started boarding and apparently here, everyone just boards at the same time. They say we are boarding and everyone lines up and its first come first serve which was nuts we thought. Everyone is very calm and they just start forming a line and board.
The first flight was fast, only 1 hr and 45 min to Oslo, Norway. No one sat next to us so we could spread out and be comfortable. Landing in Oslo, we saw snowy mountains and as we approached closer, large grassy hills. It took about 25 minutes to get through customs, they had to check boarding passes and passports again (very strict in Norway) and then they put in a small holding room with only 1 place to really buy food and the options were limited. They had an egg and tomato sandwich or a skink sandwich (ewww) but that was it really besides snacks and we could find out way out of this room so we just got nothing and hoped we had enough snacks with us. Boarding happened about 15 min later and we were back on a plane. This time we had our own tvs so we watched movies for the whole 7 hours and 20 min. Unfortunately we got delayed in taking off for about 45 min and ended being about 1 hr and 5 min late in landing in Boston.
By this time we were exhausted and had to stand in a line for customs. The lines in the U.S. are so much longer than anywhere else. They had only 2 people checking U.S passports so everyone who had foreign passports got through so much faster which is ridiculous! We waited another hour in these lines and then went to another line for them to look at the paperwork we just got from the custom people and then just let us through. Seriously nuts. We were so tired and hungry, and had to be back at the airport really early tomorrow morning and finally made it outside.
Now to find our last airbnb we had to walk to another terminal and then to the Hilton hotel and could cross the main road that way. We got a little turned around but made it to the airbnb in about 20 min. We showered and were in bed in no time, both of us out like a light.
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