It’s hard to appreciate how big Heathrow Airport is until you fly over Terminal 5. This is just the British Airways planes!

We had some good views of the UK as we headed north. After a nice in flight meal and a movie, we started descending into Tromso, Norway- an airport that I last visited in 1996 en-route to Svalbard! Even with the cloudy skies, it was still an impressive entrance.

After a long wait to get our passports stamped, the skis were recovered, followed by our hire car. Because it’s Maundy Thursday, the shops are shut in Norway, so we’d been advised to pick up some food at ‘the one’ that was open. While there, we bumped into a guide and his wife that I used to work with in Switzerland, twenty years ago! Nice to see some friendly faces and share a few stories!

A very short drive, over a very steep bridge took us from the island of Tromso, west to where we are staying. It was only about 15mins from ‘the city’ and we’re not somewhere with a rather remote feel.

The snow is up to the windows of the studio we’ve rented!

And the sea is right outside; Kaldfjord. Stunning even when cloudy! We had enough time and energy for a short walk for some fresh air, before hunkering down in our new cozy pad… predictably shattered, a bit disorientated and incredibly excited!