Sunday, July 08, 2018

Adventure starts when things go wrong
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It was supposed to be really straightforward: fly to Copenhagen, chill for 4 hours, board the onward flight, and Vælkomin til Føroyar (welcome to the Faroe Islands, in Faroese).

But of course my onward flight had to be cancelled, just one hour before the scheduled departure time.

Me: Why is my flight cancelled? *puppy eyes*
Airline Staff (also a cute Danish guy, LOL): It's cancelled due to bad weather. Let me see what I can do for you.
*rapid typing*
Airline Staff: I can get you to the Faroe Islands by today, but it's going to be a long wait. I can put you on a flight to Bergen, and then fly you to the Faroe Islands from there. But the flight to Bergen is at 4:15PM, so you'll have to wait. (It was 10AM then.)
Me: If my original flight got cancelled due to bad weather, wouldn't it be the same for the flight from Bergen? Would I get stuck in Bergen instead?
Airline Staff: That flight is still scheduled to fly, so there shouldn't be a problem. The staff in Bergen will assist you if otherwise.
*silently cheered about the possibility of a bonus (totally unplanned) pit-stop in Bergen. What currency do they use in Norway? What can I do and see in Bergen? This happened in a split second.*
Me: Okay, that's fine.

(Tip/Reminder: Be really, really nice and polite to the people helping you, no matter how frustrated you are! I was the only one who got rerouted this way - perhaps it wasn't the most desirable rearrangement that people would want, (did the rest get offered this rearrangement, but declined? Maybe, I don't know.) but it's exactly what I needed, so I would like to think that my politeness got me this and I'm thankful to the guy who helped!)

also:

Airline Staff: How does your luggage look like?
Me:It's black.. medium-sized.. with a yellow luggage strap.
*started to prepare myself for a delayed, or even possibly lost, luggage. It's black, and common looking. I was skeptical about their ability to recognise and redirect my luggage onto the new flights. Thoughts that ran through my head: Thank god I've learnt not to bring anything of sentimental value along with me. Is everything in my luggage replaceable? Yes, but it'll be a pain to replace them. Damn it, the insurance payout for it is probably not going to be enough though. How many days can I go in this same outfit? Thank god I've packed all my jackets (all 3 of them) in my hand carry. This also happened in a split second.*

From that point onwards, I had close to zero expectations of my luggage getting to the Faroe Islands together with me.

So, with a 100DKK (~SGD22) voucher in hand, I headed off to wait out my extended transit time. 6 hours, totally manageable.

What did 100DKK get me? Just 2 bottles of water, and 2 chunky kitkats. That's all. That's SGD22 exactly. Things in Denmark are really expensive, and the airport inflation hiked it up more. So that's all I could get with 100DKK. (I got chunky kitkats because I planned to bring chocolate bars for my hikes in the Faroe Islands, but forgot. So I got what I needed, for free. Kinda.)

An aside-

I wasn't on the best terms with my parents when I left, because the trickery and schemery I employed to hide my solo hiking plans was exposed on the day before I flew, and my parents were understandably furious. ("Why would you want to do something so dangerous? Have you thought about how we'll feel if something were to happen to you?")

Therefore, while I was itching to tell my family about my misadventures, I just couldn't, because of the circumstances.

But am I sorry about the trickery and schemery I used? LOL no.

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So anyway, I was scheduled to arrive in Bergen at 5:35PM, and my connecting flight was at 6:45PM.

Okay, I mean, obviously they would only put me on a flight that I could catch. Pretty sure I would be able to make it onto the flight before the gate closes.

But my flight to Bergen was delayed, and I only made it out of the flight at 6PM.

"ALRIGHT. WHAT'S MY CONNECTING GATE. WHERE IS IT."


Bergen airport turned out to be a small airport, and my connecting gate was just next to my arrival gate. Andddd my connecting flight was delayed by 15 minutes. So it was all good.

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Pretty roomy.

So it was Vælkomin til Føroyar finally! Just 7 and a half hours later than originally planned.

About my luggage-
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WHAT A SURPRISE! I was smiling like a fool and I think the people around me were wondering what's with this girl snapping a photo of the conveyor belt.

But I just couldn't resist.

It was 10ish by the time I got to my guesthouse.
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It was all good fun, really.

I love surprises. Smooth is boring, and I wouldn't want it to happen any other way.

That's the way to kick start a memorable trip, innit?

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