In search of the Northern Lights

Hi to my dear armchair travellers.
Hope you have packed your winter woolies and thermal underwear as we are about to head off to Norway, Finland and Iceland. Joining me on this adventure will be Captain D, First Officer G and resident idiot Princess Shiny Bright. We have left a hot and steamy Adelaide to make our first leg of what will be 4 flights to get us to our initial destination, finding ourselves in hot and steamy Sydney. Huge thanks to Jackie (our personal Uber driver) for getting us to the airport in one piece. I was almost ready to turn back before we got to Port Road as I had developed a tell tale twitch above my right eye, which is a sure sign that Shiny Bright is on board and already making me rethink our 38 year friendship!
Anyway, all booked in for the first flight but frustrated that we were unable to book our luggage all the way through to Norway. A much needed coffee at Adelaide airport and we start our journey ten minutes behind scheduled departure but that’s not a problem. I am seated next to an Indian fellow with a runny nose, who sniffed his way to Sydney. I kept imagining happy thoughts and am revisiting an earlier period when my mantra was ‘water over sand’ so found myself repeating that over and over again in my head. Mind you, I think I actually said it out loud a couple of times too, but he had his headphones on so was oblivious to my also giving him ‘the look’ accompanied by regular big sighs!
Arrived is Sydney on time though, gathered up our suitcases and after a bit of being momentarily misplaced found out that we had to take a courtesy bus outside the terminal to get to the international airport. A bus pulled up just as we found our way to the relevant bus stop and a short time later we arrived at our destination. We found our way to the Qatar check in and promptly went through what I thought was the BusinessClass entry line only to have a staff member put the tape across after we had gone to the front of the queue. We had no idea if we were in the right spot or not but a nice fellow standing in the line next to us let us push in so we were duly booked in and our suitcases sent on their way.
Fairly quick through the screening section and Immigration but I had to do the full body scan thing and even then the security woman had to pat down my left ankle??? Weird right? We had seen D and G in the economy check in queue so quick hellos to them and an agreement to meet inside the terminal. Once they got to the check in counter they took half an hour as they had seating changed and offers of a bit extra assistance which was really nice. We eventually caught up with them and they kindly agreed to letting us pretend we are much more important than we are, and off Shiny Bright and I headed to the Qantas lounge to grab a bite to eat and arrange to meet them at the gate in timefor boarding. So that’s what we did.
(I had added a whole lot more here that hasn’t saved do I’m now trying to remember it all to re-do!)
Whilst in the Qantas lounge I headed for the food selection as I figured it was well and truly lunch time. I realize my mistake now, as I had left Shiny Bright looking after our bags, one small problem, Our seats were right next to the ice cream bar so in the short space of time it took me to choose my lunch, I returned to find SB scoffing down a cup of ice cream she thought she would have it finished before I returned, so had given herself brain freeze!!! We haven’t even left the country and my right eyebrow is twitching again...
We headed for our boarding gate and caught up with D & G again. Only a short delay of 10 minutes and we were asked to board. SB and I were shown to our seats which were more like a self contained pod where we would make our home for the next 15 hours. oMG it is simply fabulous. SB has already ordered a champagne whereas I opt for an orange juice. I’m too busy working out all the buttons are for. There are 10 alone for seat adjustment and SB is busy leaning over the top of my pod to tell me she has found the seat massager button! It is like being in NASA control with all the fixtures including a big tv. Our pods even have their own sliding door for total privacy. We both have single pods, back to back, so that in actual fact, I am seated with my back to the front of the plane which I worked out when we took off and I looked out my 3 windows.

Can not fault the service. Not only have I got a lovely little bag with Sox, ear plugs, face mist spray and eye mask, but a separate bag containing a pair of pyjamas made by White Linen exclusively for Qatar. Will be popping them on when it’s time for my lovely flight attendant to make up my bed. Tough choices in choosing what I want to eat during the flight as it is an s la carte menu available at any t8me. I eventually opt for a crab tabouli entree and then a three cheese macaroni with haloumi. Needed a cheeky little South African Chardonnay to help wash it all down.
Watched MamaMia, here we go again and surprised myself that I enjoyed it more than I expected. Watched a bit of another movie but lost interest so time to slip into those jammies and get some sleep.
First time ever, that I actually managed sleep too. I was woken up to have my breakfast, changed back into my clothes and time to arrive in Doha. Quickly off the plane, through security, meet up with D & G who sadly did not have such great experiences on the flight, and make our way to our next boarding gate for Oslo.
Now boarded. Much smaller seats by comparison this time, but still really good. A rose champagne each while we wait to take off, while our flight was delayed about 20 minutes, but smooth take off and now I am relaxing in my lovely little pod as we wing our way ever closer to those Northern alights.
Hope you are feeling a part of the journey to date.