Oslo by Accident!

A Playground inside the Oslo Airport

As I said yesterday, I was voluntarily bumped last fall while on my way to Amsterdam. I had decided to fly from Columbus to Dublin rather than Amsterdam, saving myself at least a hundred bucks. Then I had a cheap Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Amsterdam. When I got to my gate in Philadelphia, the flight was oversold and they were asking for volunteers. I volunteered as soon as I heard the words $500 flight voucher and first class. What I wasn’t really paying attention to was where I was going. I finally determined that I was going to Oslo, and then had to think really hard to remember where Oslo was. I have to admit that I actually accepted the bump before I remembered that Oslo is in Norway.

So I ended up on a first class flight from Philadelphia to Oslo. I have to say, First Class is really nice. It might be worth having to have a real job someday just to be able to afford to fly first class. Or I could learn to accumulate frequent flyer miles (see yesterday’s post).

When I got to Oslo I had no intention of leaving the airport. I had about six hours to make my connecting flight, which was to somewhere in Germany, followed by Paris, followed by Dublin. I couldn’t get a boarding pass that early inside security, so I was instructed to go out of the departures area and back into the ticketing area. So I left and had a long chat with the very helpful Air France employee, who managed to book me on a direct flight to Amsterdam that night! Now I had an eleven hour layover, and I didn’t want to stay in the airport. So I took the advice of an airport employee and went into the city. Mind you, a few hours before I couldn’t remember where Oslo was, I had no Norwegian money (and they don’t use the euro), and I had no maps or any knowledge of the Norwegian language. Considering I normally plan for weeks before traveling, I felt I was taking a leap of faith as I got on the train from the airport. I had to pay for the ticket with my credit card with no idea of the exchange rate. I was pretty afraid I would find out I had ridden a $100 train. It turned out to be about $20 round trip, which isn’t bad. 

The Oslo Train Station

The Platform

Oslo Airport