Thoughts attic: Day 4 (29 Nov) in Norway: Lofoten Islands, Gimsoy seaside lodge

I misunderstood the tour guide’s instructions when she texted this to the group:

Gentle reminder :

* Tonight have to pack overnight bag

( Bring your pajamas, medicine, phone or camera charger & Next day clothing and other things you may need to use for that night )

- Lodge Room with heater ,kettle ,lotion , Hairdryer, hand wash , body wash and towel

She had also repeatedly reminded us to pack an overnight bag for a glass house by the seaside. It sounded all so exclusive and our big luggage was not supposed to be there.

My understanding was that we only needed to pack a bag for one day (since the emphasis was on the small bag) and we would return to this hotel the day after. I squeezed in whatever I could squeeze into my luggage and 'packed' them neatly into a pile or two and left them at the hotel room, bringing the only small luggage down to the lobby. I even took pictures of them to make sure I could detect that they had been touched or moved when I returned.

Then I happily instructed my mother to take her own sweet time to have her breakfast.

Everybody else had left to get their luggage.

I woke up this morning at 2am, Singapore time 9am, to pack the bag. I also checked with the tour guide that we would be going to Reine Fishing Village by attaching a picture of its signature picture on Lonely Planet

She said yes.

I wanted to make sure that my clothes match the surroundings for photography purposes.

Guess what? Two big shocks awaited the unsuspecting me.

Shock 1:

At 8am when we came down to the reception area, I saw everybody bringing their big luggage and stowing them into the coach! I was puzzled: Did they make a mistake? We are asked to bring our small luggage as our overnight bag.

But so many people could not be wrong.

I asked one of the group members,”Are we checking out of this hotel today?”

He and his wife looked shocked but nodded their heads and replied,”Yes!”

I was beyond shocked!

I shouted to my mother to get back to the room to get our luggage, knowing that I had tonnes of things unpacked!

We rushed back to the room and stuffed all my clothes and things into whatever space my mother’s luggage and bag still had. I really had to thank God that we managed to squeeze everything in! The phrase “panic engulfed me” was absolutely not a composition descriptor! It was a reality.

I just hope that I didn’t leave anything important behind as I was in such a rush to get back to the lobby.

The kind couple waited for us at the lift and helped expedite the moving of the luggage. I cannot express enough my gratitude to this group of kind people who have been extending their helping hands to my mother and me these few days every day! It’s unimaginable that Chan Brothers is even high-quality in this manner: its tour groups. I guess the price tag speaks for itself.

Shock 2:

The tour guide mentioned on the coach hat we would be going to Reine Fishing Village tomorrow!

I almost fainted. I dressed up for it today because she confirmed with me that we were going to Reine today!

I can only say that the best people to issue instructions are teachers and that teachers are punished a lot more harshly when the same mistake is made. Even your integrity can be questioned over a wrong instruction.

We would have lost our job if we give instructions like tour guides do.

It was another gloomy rainy day. We were moving to a seaside lodge on the Lofoten Island to get away from the city’s light pollution to, hopefully, see the aurora.

We had a toilet break on our way to the Lofoten Island at a petrol station. I just thought it made a beautiful picture that a petrol station is situated amongst the mountains.

opposite the petrol station

It was snowing and I took the liberty to record myself walking in the snow.

We were first driven to a fishing village where there was a small harbour with red houses against some icy-looking mountains. Well, not exactly Reine, but similar. I could live with that.

It was drizzling but we had to take our pictures in the rain.

Yes, we spent 15 to 20 minutes taking pictures in the rain

Then we proceeded to a nearby restaurant for a buffet lunch. The best item would be the pork fillet which was tender. Other than that, the fish soup was salty in the true blue Norwegian spirit. I ate little as I was full from breakfast and the food did not suit my appetite but my mother seemed to like the food.

After that, we were driven to an open football stadium without a spectator stand.

It wasn't stated in the itinerary that this was a football stadium so when the tour guide kept saying that we were going to kick football at a stadium, a few of us did not know what she was talking about.

The tour guide made a lengthy speech about the supposedly famous and awesome football field but it didn’t look interesting to me so I went upslope to try to find a vantage point to take pictures. However, there was not much to photograph. It continued to drizzle. As it was surrounded or beside the sea, the wind was very strong. I had had the experience of being blown in the opposite direction I wanted to go. I didn’t dare to spend too much time up there. Did some panoramic images for the sea though.

After that, we were driven to our Gimsoy deluxe seaside lodge that was supposed to overlook at beautiful white beach.

It was dark (4pm) by the time we reached our lodge. I could not see any beach. Each lodge had 3 bedrooms, each consisting of two single beds so two to three families would share a lodge. The lodge also had a kitchen and living area which all the families could share.