Travails of traveling
A couple of days before we're off the invitation for my uncle Arne's 90th birthday bash arrives, water-damaged from its long passage through the postal system. In the picture he looks remarkably like Prince George The night before we leave for Oslo via Amsterdam we receive an alarming message from KLM, warning of "unfavorable winds" in Amsterdam, causing flight delays and cancellations throughout Europe. At the same time my cousin Sissel informs us of a SAS pilots' strike due to start Thursday, Sep. 14, when we have a flight to Tromsø. As we descend into Schiphol, strong winds tug at our, luckily, big sturdy plane, and once on the ground, but not immediately, of course, we discover our connecting flight has been delayed almost 2 hours. The "not immediately" causes us to traverse the enormous airport through throngs of travelers, leaving the lively restaurant and commerce part behind to eventually settle down to wait hours in a much less attractiv