Got the trip plans done. Well, except for the last 6 days. I got the ferry paid for. Finally. And, plane tickets. Iceland Air. And room at an up-scale hostel for one night. And, a train ticket from Oslo where the plane lands to Bergen where the ferry leaves from. That’s all for now. Leaving Friday, Feb 25 back on St Paddie’s Day.
Also, the trip that a friend and I had planned for the spring of 2022 is back on, in late May.
These are two totally different trips. The first one is kind of kid-kind. Iceland Air, hostel, ferry, backpack. The second one is luxury, pampered, maybe even a suitcase.
I was hoping one of my crows would fly in front of the moon. Didn’t happen.
Not even a picture. Didn’t take a single photo today. I’d better go somewhere that has things to photograph. How about Norway. In February. But why? I need to prove to myself that I can still “do stuff”. I haven’t crossed the arctic circle. I would like to see the Northern Lights.
The arctic circle is sort of the 66th parallel. But, unlike the equator – which is at the middle – the arctic circle is defined by where the sun is on the summer solstice. The arctic circle is currently shrinking (moving north) at the rate of 48 feet per year.
You might think that I would have been “to the arctic” having worked in Alaska. But I really haven’t been much above the 60th parallel.
Illustration courtesy of our very own CIA. (And you thought they just spied on people.)
I am reluctant to make any reservations until I finally get things sorted out with the ferry line. But, I have some hotels picked out for before and after the ferry misadventure. And I have looked at possible planes, trains, and buses.
February is better. Much better. I even had my window open this afternoon. And got “warm” while on my walk.
Spent some time early this morning with the IT Help Desk. For the Norwegian Ferry Company. They are baffled why my credit card doesn’t work. It’s obvious to the most casual observer that the 3DS process is faulty. I am not concerned. Until I start to wonder does their navigational computer work better than their sales computer?
Finished doing my “shopping” for the trip this morning. I ordered a second battery for the GoPro. I refuse to buy special stuff for travel. Especially at my advanced age. I will be well layered and fine with what I have. And, if I need something in Norway, I bet I can buy it in Norway.
Today I tried (but failed) to book passage on the new ferry up the west coast of Norway. Twelve days. Round trip.
This is way out of my comfort zone.
There is still the covid hassle. Not to mention “danger”.
Getting to the jumping off point will take 3 flights. With all the issues of covid and transit lounges.
I have been sick over the side of every dive boat in the Pacific Ocean from Washington State to Hawai’i to Australia. This really isn’t a great idea.
I don’t like dark gray days.
And I hate the cold. So what am I thinking?
On the other hand.
It’s much warmer than Fairbanks, Alaska.
It could be more interesting than Fairbanks.
I have never been to Norway.
And, I need to lose a few pounds – being seasick will help with that!
Always look on the bright side of life.
I decided to not go with the 100-year-old ferry company and their 30-year-old boats. I decided to go with the new company. They just started in late December. Figured that it might be less crowded. And I did an old ferry last summer in Alaska.
So, I went online and booked passage for late this month. Selected a cabin way down as low as possible. Amidship. (I am not a total motion-sickness person like Carlton was. I can ride backward on the train, in the back seat of a car, and I do carnival rides fine. )
Time to pay. It took my credit card info and crashed. Tried again. Same result. Then I noticed a little popup box.
Guess I’ll be on the phone to Norway tomorrow. Before 11AM. It occurred to me that I might be the first person to try to charge a ticket on a US credit card.
And that’s about it from me for today. Sort of tired after working at the computer all day – except for the walk
Also playing with getting things together for a quick ferry trip up the west coast of Norway. Covid rules have made it rather challenging. It is starting to seem like more trouble than it is worth especially when you consider cold, small vessel and rough seas. Most people plan these things 12 months in advance. Twelve days in advance is more my style.
One way to know that you live in an old folks asylum!
Didn’t know that they still made this stuff. I remember way back in the early days of PCs – when we had floppy disks that actually flopped – it was really hard to keep people from using Wite-Out on disk labels. Then 10 years later those same people went on to use Wite-out on CD labels.
But it’s a wonderful concept “correction fluid”. Would that there were such a thing. Lots of shit needs correcting!
OK, this is grim.
And this is one of them. Max weight ever. There has been a lot of desserts and booze in my life in the last few months. Oh yes and butter and bacon too. Did I mention cheese? And snacks. What about pizza?
Remediation is underway. I am 78 years old. What I weigh really shouldn’t matter. But, it does. Not so much vanity. My body just feels better and works better when there is less of it. (And there is some vanity too).
Now if correction fluid really worked, I could order a gallon of it and slather it all over my body and the weight would vanish.
All cloudy again today. But, I made it out for my walk. And, Alexa promised sleet. But, that didn’t happen. So. It’s good.
Worked on getting the taxes ready to go. More stuff is required from the brokerage accounts. But, the deductions are all lined up and the easy stuff is accounted for.
After 6 weeks of steamtable scrambled eggs in a togo box…
The despised cafeteria line is closed and our food once again is cooked when we order it. I was ecstatic to have eggs that someone else poached, English muffins that someone else toasted, delivered to my table on a heated plate.
Not sure about the quality of the other meals. But breakfast is back to acceptable. Next test is dinner this evening. Not looking too promising. Red Lentil Stew. That’s the entree. Hoping that they have burgers which are on the menu. That doesn’t mean they will actually have burgers. BUT wait. I am trying to eat less. Well, maybe I can leave off the lettuce.
Horsetail Fall flows over the eastern edge of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. This small waterfall usually flows only during winter. On rare occasions during mid-to late February, it can glow orange when it’s backlit by sunset. Seeing it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Many factors have to align. The right amount of water, sun, shadow, wind.
Old Bat Firefall is more reliable. All it needs is sunset. It also shows up in February.
If you are curious, here is a little 8-minute video about Horseshoe Falls Firefall and some vintage film about the original Glacier Point Firefall. When the NPS actually pushed glowing embers off a cliff. Every night. To amuse the visitors.
But the sun is creeping ever so slowly back into my room.
Been running in some strange unfocused Energizer Bunny mode since the first of the year. Have to ratchet myself back under control. Today I made a detailed to-do list for Saturday and Sunday. Nothing big. Several big things like getting the taxes organized I just put down “taxes – 20 minutes”. I took an hour for lunch – pea soup and a book.
Spent time pondering my trip to any f-ing where. Like the idea of doing the Norway Ferry thing. Not too happy about the idea of 12 days in which to be seasick. That’s the only thing that is stopping me. There is a “Plan B”. I can always get off the boat and (1) Fly out or (2) Wait on the sea to calm down and get on the next boat.
I have been eating too much crap and drinking too much coffee and booze. Gotta do better. Or rather do less.
My hair has gone to hell, my ears don’t work, my skin sags, my eyes don’t focus, my joints creak, I can’t sleep for shit, my stamina is nonexistent, so why shouldn’t my digestive system slow down too?
Nothing really to complain about today except the weather. Got my room cleaned. Made a great fried egg sandwich for lunch. (I think fried egg sandwiches are one of the world’s finest foods.) Moved the taxes around some on my table. Have a pizza on order for tonight’s dinner. And dining with friends. BYOD.
It’s happened again the origami dojo and tax preparation office are outta control.
I had to put some of the origami stuff away to give the taxes more room. Missing 3 or 4 key pieces. Haven’t a clue why the brokerage houses cannot have my tax stuff in the email by January 2. I mean the stuff is in their computer already.
Most of the day I spent doing fantasy trip planning. I don’t know how serious I am about “cruising” up the coast of Norway. It is much warmer than Fairbanks or Yellowknife. Not too hard to get to. Not expensive if I take the QE2. But more fun and costly to take the ferry/cargo/cruise ship. Mentally giving myself until Monday to decide. I always said I was “saving” ocean travel for when I got old. Well, I think I am there. Old.
No sun to bask in today. So, I took to my bed with coffee.
Had a weird and disjointed day. Maybe it is just wrong to eat a ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast and then have oatmeal for lunch. Maybe the just gets things too mixed up. More than the old brain can keep sorted.
Anyhow, it was foggy and rainy today. It could have been worse. Same is on tap for tomorrow.
Turtle meets Tiger.
A friend here at The Asylum was inspired by my wood Shinto Temple Tiger (2010) and she has been making ceramic versions. We may be old but we keep on doing stuff.
Speaking of doing. You know I have been wanting to go hunting for northern lights for years. The major problem is I hate hate hate winter and have no winter clothes. I go to where the weather suits my clothes. (Thanks Fred Neil).
But what should appear in my email box, but an ad from Cunard Lines. They have some money of mine for a transatlantic crossing that I didn’t make in 2020. And they have a very cheap cruise to Norway in late March. Just at the end of Aurora Season. The viewing will be second-rate. But, it will be warm looking out the porthole. And, it might be my last chance.
A more adventurous option would be to book something on Hurtigruten. Which is sort of like The Alaska Marine Highway. But it would cost more with a greater chance of being desperately seasick. As I mentioned earlier – We may be old but we keep on doing stuff.
And now it is time to go and eat bread pudding and drink coffee
