9/6 Disembark and on to Oslo

 After the giant screwup with the getting on the ship, the getting off seemed to be well planned and organized.  We were in color coded groups to get on color coded busses to be driven to the airport 5 minutes away.  There we would pick up our color coded luggage that had been transported earlier and the color coded carry ons from under the bus. WAIT FOR IT…

It was raining and the gangplank was rounded metal steps that moved as you put your foot on them.  A very nice young crew member offered to carry my wheelie.  Maggie said that it was placed right next to her bag in the luggage compartment.  WAIT FOR IT…. We drove by the Doomsday Seed Bank that is in Longyearbyen (that was just opened to give some seeds to Syria.)

When we got off the bus, the driver was beginning to shut up the luggage compartment.  I didn’t see my wheelie.  Both Maggi and I asked him separately if there was anything else in the compartment - he sharply said no!  So I went inside to look for it and it was nowhere to be found.  I asked all of my fellow passengers if anyone had picked up by mistake????  But there were no orphan bags standing around. I reported the missing bag to our color coded chaperone and both Maggi and I said it had been on the bus.  My big suitcase was there, so I checked that and waited while she called back to the ship.  The bus was checked again (probably by the same driver who was soooo sure.) The ship was checked.  The area around the gangplank was checked.  By this time everyone knew that my bag was missing.  Some Chinese women rushed over to make sure that my knitting wasn’t lost.  NO, just my meds, my CPAP, and my iPad!  

OMG, I could do a find my iPad!  The young man who was also assigned to my group helped me and it said that the last place that it registered close to me was at the airport.  That meant that it had to be on the bus.  At this point the chaperone said she was talking to Nuno.  I told her to tell him that the wheelie belonged to the “Lady in the RED coat!” She looked at me quizzically, but she told him and then she went ooooh in a soft voice.

That seemed to light a fire and the bus luggage compartment was searched once again.  Lo and behold there it was.  The bus drove back to the  airport with just the one bag.  I was inside, so I don’t know if the driver  apologized.

The flight to Oslo was uneventful, but Val is getting weaker and weaker.  He was in a wheelchair. We managed to get all of our luggage and stuff out to the taxi stand and get a really big taxi to the hotel.  Adrienne and Maggi took Val directly to the hospital from there.  

The hospital staff have been wonderful and have kept Val to try to get him ready to fly back to the states.  Adrienne has been working on getting their travel insurance to medivac him home.  (As I’m writing this on our last night in Oslo, she just received notice that the request was denied.  We are not flying together so once we all get to the airport she is going to be on her own.)

Back to arrival in Oslo - The Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz is very nice and conveniently located.

Slept really well.