Tired from our drive, my father and I didn't do much when we got back to Oslo on Sunday night. The relatives whose house we stayed in were away to their hytte. We were two quiet people in a quiet house. Not wanting to think about having to leave the next day, I did the only thing I could do: repack my suitcase and then go to bed. Oh, the irony.
I woke up to the sound of rain on the window. Throughout my stay in Norway I was incredibly lucky with the weather -- it only rained maybe six or seven times -- so how appropriate that on the day I leave it should be weather more typical of a Norwegian summer. I'd like to think Norway was as sad to see me go as I was. I laid in bed simply listening to the light pitter-patter of tears falling.
At 8:30 I finally rolled out of bed and into the shower. The smell of bittersweet sadness would not wash away. I brushed my teeth and then packed away my toothbrush, zipping my suitcase closed. Breakfast was simple. My father and I leaned against the edge of the counter, eating our poppy seed buns with cheese and butter in silence. My heart was so heavy you could have weighed it like I weighed my suitcases. Saying good-bye to an empty house was almost worse than having to say good-bye to all my relatives. With nobody to say good-bye to, I knew I was saying good-bye to Norway.
We weren't sure how long it would take to get returning the rental car squared away so we left the house at 10:00, even though our flights didn't leave until a little after 14:00. Returning the rental car ended up taking about a minute. But I didn't mind being there so early. We simply exchanged waiting in one place for waiting in another. At least there were people to watch at Gardermoen Airport.
Printing my boarding pass and suitcase tag was extraordinarily easy at one of the kiosks but the system designed to be efficient did little good when the Icelandair baggage drop-off desk didn't open until two hours before my flight. We ended up waiting about an hour before we could even get in line for security. Once through, we sat down at one of the airport restaurants for a nice lunch before going our separate ways and ten hours on a plane.
My plane rides were rather dull. I did some reading, watched a couple movies -- Argo and Singin' in the Rain -- and looked out the window as Norway and the last seven and a half weeks slipped out of sight at 528mph. My plane left Oslo at 14:45 and I landed in Seattle at 17:55 thanks to the time difference.
As much as I'll miss Norway, it's good to be home.
This is it: the end of my journey to Norway. But, as you just read, it ended two days ago. So why am I still writing about it? My time at ISS and travels through Norway (and Sweden, a little) will never leave me. The people I met and the friends I made, the places I saw and the pictures I took, the knowledge I gained and the sleep I lost -- they are a part of me now. No amount of time will ever take that away. And this isn't really the end; it's only the end of the beginning. There will be more trips to Norway, more trips to Sweden, more trips to Europe, more trips to countries I haven't yet visited, more trips around the sun.
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Thank you to everyone who has read my blog week after week and post after post. It's been such a pleasure to write and I hope it has been just as much fun to read. Maybe you even learned something. I also hope that through reading my blog, if you didn't have one already, you have acquired a desire to travel, see everything and meet everyone this amazing world has to offer.
As is the nature of a travel blog, I won't be posting much when I'm not traveling. I can guarantee, though, that there will be many more trips in my future and many more blog posts to accompany them. Vi sees! And... wait for it...
Stay tuned. -NLD
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