Havila Polaris Postcard #1 – The Journey to Bergen & Pre Cruise.

Our flight to Norway was an 11:00 a.m. departure from Gatwick, so we decided to stay at the Sofitel the night before and take advantage of a parking package. Staying overnight significantly reduces the stress of travel-day logistics; after all, who doesn’t enjoy an extra hotel stay when the opportunity arises even if it is at an airport.

For this trip, we flew with Norwegian Air Shuttle. It was our first time using this low-cost carrier, their schedule and pricing fitted our requirements perfectly. Hotel to airside and having to move from one terminal to another, took 35 minutes and we had plenty of time to grab a coffee and some breakfast before boarding our flight. Our chariot today taking us to Bergen was a Boeing 737-800 and we enjoyed clear skies almost all the way, during the flight, Norwegian Air Shuttle have a complimentary basic WiFi service that allows you to track your up-to-date location, ETA and a few others things you normally get on a long haul flight.

They also offer 15 minutes of basic WiFi during the flight which I tested briefly but 15 minutes went really quickly. We landed at Flesland Airport just after 2:00 pm local time and with the flight taking around 1 ¾ hours. Immigration was very swift, friendly and to be honest thoroughly enjoyable, it’s a shame the rest of the world can’t follow suit.

Our cases were already on the baggage carousel when we got there so it was just a case of booking our Uber to the hotel. The 11 mile drive took 21 minutes and although we could have done it cheaper, just getting to the hotel without faffing around is always a winner for me. So, for tonight, we are staying at the Thon Bristol Hotel and I selected it after reading lots of recommendations on the Havila Facebook group.

First impressions are good and they are certainly not afraid of some colour.

With clear skies and not much of the afternoon remaining, we took the Fløibanen funicular up to the top of Mount Fløyen for some really amazing views of Bergen.

We were fortunate to get up there before some rain set in and had just long enough to explore the area at the summit. On our way back to the hotel we stopped for something to eat and managed to find an Asian restaurant that catered for Nicole and I decided to eat with her so she could have a taste of a couple of dishes.

This evening, we took a walk out to the Nordnes peninsula to get a night-time view of Bergen. We spotted plenty of things we would like to see in daylight so we intend to pop back in the morning after breakfast.

Fitbit Steps – 19,424