The Longest Day

I wish I could vow to never again take any flight over 5 hours, but I know how much I like to travel, so that won't happen.  We began our Norway trip, unsurprisingly, by flying to Norway. From San Francisco, CA. Via Copenhagen. On SAS, which I had heard good things about. I was a very disgruntled passenger by the time we reached our final destination in Kirkenes, Norway. From 5:30 PM until about 1:30 PM the next afternoon, we were on one flight. With the time difference, that was12 hours. In economy. Luckily, I had paid the extra $35 per seat to select in advance and our row was only 2 seats on the side, not the middle 4 across.  They were possibly the smallest seats I've ever stuffed myself into.  The pocket on the seat in front of us was also one of the smallest I've seen and could barely hold my iPad and a bottle of water. We were given 2 meals, although the only choice was take it or leave it. Edible and time consuming, but enjoyable did not enter the picture. And way too uncomfortable to sleep, but I can seldom sleep on planes anyway. I have rarely been so happy to get off a plane, as I normally love flying. And, in only an hour, we boarded another flight to Oslo - luckily only an hour this time. We were then in Oslo for almost 2 whole hours while waiting for our last flight to Kirkenes, another agonizing 2 hours. We finally arrived in Kirkenes at about 8 PM - 18 hours after our original departure. I was not good company by then.  I was, however, exceedingly glad that I had made the initial leg of the trip, Las Vegas to San Francisco, the previous day! I will now happily tell everyone I know to TRY to book stages unless you easily slip into deep sleep on uncomfortable flights  - and I know some who do. The other option, of course, is to fly first or business class. Sigh. Not for my pocketbook. And I'll try to stay off SAS now that I've experienced their planes and attitudes.