Chicago – Dave and Kay's Travel Adventures

Thursday, February 3rd, 2022, Friday, February 4th, 2022 & Saturday, February 5th, 2022

Today we slept in because we weren’t going to Lerwick, Shetland Islands. The nasty weather that hit the east coast of the United States was now coming across the ocean.

Water falls from the melting of the snow!

We went to the front of the ship to read and also walked around the ship. When we look out the windows we can only see water and fog, no more beautiful mountains.

Late afternoon the ship began crossing the North Sea and heading toward London. The wind was blowing about 31 mph and the ship was swaying a little bit. We enjoyed visiting different places so we were rather bored with sailing today and then tomorrow too!

We also were given instructions for filling out the Passenger Locator Form for our arrival in Tilbury (London). We also would gain one hour, from six hours ahead to five hours ahead!

This evening was the farewell celebration even though we have one more day of sailing. They felt that if they did it tomorrow night people would be busy packing and wouldn’t attend the celebration. The captain spoke and champagne was served and refills were given! Tonight’s entertainment was “Stage & Screen- A Viking Venus Variety Show”.

Day 15, Friday, February 4th

This morning was our last time to do a saliva COVID test, health survey and temperature check! From this test, we would be given our results on an official paper so that we could enter England and fly home tomorrow!

Today was another day at sea heading toward England. Sunrise was at 7:51 AM and sunset was 4:37 PM. It was our longest day so far.

This afternoon Mr. Terence Murtagh, a guest lecturer on this cruise, gave a talk entitled, “Your Aurora, Your Experience”. He shared some of his photos and time-lapse photography of the Aurora Borealis that occurred during our cruise. He also shared some of the passenger photos that were sent to him. It was fun as he discussed the techniques of the photography and reviewed what causes the northern lights. He also shared a great site for those interested in aurora alerts, you can submit photos, and up to date information on the science related to the sun. It was spaceweather.com

Katie Healy, our cruise director, entertained us tonight with a variety of swing songs.

Day 16, Saturday, February 5th

We docked in Tilbury (London), England around 4:30 AM. For our disembarkation from the Viking Venus we were to meet in the atrium at 6:30 AM. When our color tag was called we disembarked from the ship and boarded our bus for Heathrow Airport. The sky was beautiful as we rode along.

As we checked in our luggage at Heathrow airport, the agent from United asked us if we wanted to fly on an earlier flight to Chicago. Our original itinerary had us flying from Heathrow to Washington, DC, then from there to Chicago, and then Chicago to Columbus. This change would eliminate one flight and get us in to Columbus about an hour earlier. We were happy to change our flights. The flight from London to Chicago left about two hours earlier! We had time to get through security and get to our gate and then it was time to board!

Snow was on the ground again as our flight got close to Chicago.

We arrived in Chicago on time. We went to Global Entry, claimed our luggage and went through security again to get to the gate for our flight to Columbus. We had time to catch a late lunch before boarding our last plane!

Our time in Norway was marvelous. Every port we visited we learned more about Norway and its people, customs, traditions, and history. And our highlight was seeing the Aurora Borealis! It was another memorable adventure!

We can’t wait for our next adventure!

Friday, January 21st and Saturday, January 22nd, 2022

Traveling during a pandemic is doable as long as you are prepared and aware of the restrictions and the COVID numbers for the area(s) you are traveling to visit! We were receiving emails from Viking about what preparations we needed to have for travel on an airplane and also to enter the country! They also let us know what Viking’s requirements would be to board the ship.

We filled out paperwork for entry into Norway, paperwork for Viking, and “Travel Ready” for the airlines. We were required to have a negative PCR covid test within 48 hours of flying! Norway which is where we were heading requires a negative covid test within 24 hours of arriving in the country. We had a folder with all of our documents ready for inspection as we headed to the airport on Friday.

We went through the check-in process and security without any problems. We had to show our passports, our negative COVID PCR test, and our entrance to Norway document! It’s a lot of paperwork for traveling and always wearing our face masks! Our first flight was from Columbus to Chicago, Illinois. We had about an hour and a half until we boarded our Chicago flight.

Our second flight was from Chicago, Illinois to Copenhagen, Denmark. When we landed in Chicago we had a little over a couple of hours before our flight. We had to leave our arrival terminal, go outside to catch the tram and then go through security again to get to our gate for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).

Our flight from Chicago to Copenhagen was very comfortable. We put in a bid for business class and it was accepted! It was our first time to fly in business class and it will probably be our only time but we thoroughly enjoyed the comfort and extra attention! The plane was not full at all so we feel certain that’s why our low bid was accepted!

On Saturday, we arrived in Copenhagen a little after 7:00 AM and had to go quickly from terminal C to terminal A which was almost a mile walk and we had less than an hour before our flight was to takeoff. When we arrived at our gate to fly us from Copenhagen to Bergen, Norway we had extra time because our flight was delayed about 15 minutes.

Our plane from Copenhagen to Bergen was a smaller jet so we had to walk outside and climb the steps to board the plane. The sun was rising and it was beautiful! The flight was about an hour and 25 minutes long.

When we landed in Bergen, Norway we expected to get off the plane, collect our baggage and go through customs and border control. When we left the gate, we was two Viking reps who checked the 8 of us in and led us down for COVID testing which Norway requires within 24 hours of entering even though we had a test before flying out of Columbus! The line was so long for COVID testing that Viking arranged for us to take our tests between 8 and 10 AM Sunday at our hotel which meets Norway’s requirement. We just left the airport without showing anyone our documents or passports! We boarded our bus and went straight to our hotel, Hotel Norge, and checked in.

We went up to our room and put our luggage in our room and left to go explore the city. The weather was foggy and rainy and the temperature was in the 30s.

Our first stop was the wharf and saw the wooden houses in the Bryggen area. The row of houses along the wharf are one of Bergen’s most popular attractions. Bryggen is Bergen’s oldest district over 1,000 years old. A great fire in 1702 destroyed Bryggen. When it was rebuilt the town followed the architecture that was there before the fire. It still looks the same as it did in the 12th century. This area also is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The picture below shows a carving of a king’s head with three sides over the door of Svensgarden and is from the middle ages.

St. Mary’s church was along our walking path. It is Norway’s oldest remaining building.

We stopped for lunch/dinner at Egon restaurant. It was a quaint place with actual candles that were lit! We had to be careful with our menus that we didn’t get them near the flame!