34 hours of travel…whew
Thursday, August 25th: Oslo, Norway > Frankfurt, Germany > Chicago, Illinois > Detroit, Michigan
Our alarms blared a little after 3:00 AM. We packed our things into the backpacks and had a quick cold breakfast at the hotel. They offered yogurts, granola, fruit, cold cuts, bread, spreads, etc.
We returned the rental car and got to the gate with plenty of time to spare. We boarded for Frankfurt, were forced to wear masks (all flights in and out of Germany… I thought COVID was over) and passed out immediately.
When we arrived in Frankfurt, we were in desperate need of an airline lounge. We were denied by the Lufthansa agent because we didn’t have Star Alliance status. So we got a strawberry streusel pastry and a cheesy flatbread with a hot link sausage to ease the pain.
We waited… and waited… and waited. We sat at the gate for 7 hours, napped, made some initial plans for Greece, ate more bakery items (all the carbs) and boarded for Chicago.
We boarded the Lufthansa flight and immediately felt cramped in our two-seat row. We watched several movies (The Outfit, Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Death on the Nile, Moon Fall) and napped on and off. Dinner was served without any protein or options - just vegetarian pasta for everyone with a side salad, slice of Brie cheese, dinner roll and some kind of caramel cake. Several hours later they served a sandwich, also vegetarian, with whole grain bread, cheese, some sort of tomato basil like spread and slices of cucumbers.
We landed, went through customs, picked up our bags, picked up our rental car (no upgrade) and started driving to Ann Arbor. We were sure if we would make it all the way, since it was already 2 AM Norway time and we had been up for almost 24 hours straight. We grabbed Taco Bell, switched drivers, pulled over to nap and made it all the way home.
In summary, we drove 9 hours to Oslo > woke up at 3 AM to get to the airport > traveled on two flights with a layover for 20 hours > drove 5 hours to Ann Arbor… total travel time = 34 hours
Accommodations: Emily’s House, Ann Arbor
