Arrive. Walk through Passport Control. Pick up bags from Baggage Claim and Discard Tags. Look for Departing Flight on Display Board. Attach New Baggage Tags to Suitcase and Check In to Next Airline. Wait in line for Security Screening and Take Out Liquids. Go through Passport Control. Walk to Terminal on the Other Side of the Airport. Walk to Gate at the end of the Terminal. Board plane to next destination.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

I’m finally home, but it took me nearly two days to get here! Sissel Sødal and I woke up at 5:10 am Thursday morning in order to drive to the Kristiansand Airport, about 30 minutes away. I then took the 6:55 am SAS flight to Oslo where as soon as I arrived, I had to pick up my suitcase from baggage claim, then travel to the second floor to Departures where I re-checked my bag on British Airways to London. By the way, I did go to Oslo Airport’s Lost and Found where I found my jacket which I had left going through Security 12 days earlier! (It’s a good thing I had packed a second jacket!)

Once I got to London, there was a long walk to Passport Control where mercifully they have installed electronic kiosks for US, EU and other passports. What a change from last April when it took me two hours of standing in line to get through! Then I picked up my suitcase and toted it a long long way to the train where I got a free transfer to Terminal 4—that’s where the Premier Inn is located, a hotel I like to call “my happy place,”—but it’s a huge walk away. It took me an hour-and-a-half from the time I disembarked the plane to opening the door to my hotel room! To say that I struggled with my too-heavy suitcase, too-heavy backpack and overstuffed purse is an understatement!

The next morning I set the alarm for 4:10 am, but I was awake at 3:45 am in order to catch another SAS flight to Copenhagen (of all places!). I had allowed three hours between flights to go through Passport Control, pick up my suitcase, recheck it, go through Security, etc.  Yes, this was backtracking, but it was the only way to catch the Copenhagen-Los Angeles flight on Norwegian Air, an interminably long 11-hour flight while sitting next to a man who was too large for his seat. Although I was sitting on the aisle, I felt squished the entire way.

I got to Los Angeles only to find out (already!) that my next flight on Hawaiian Air was going to be delayed 90 minutes. I had already built in a three hour window, which meant I had plenty of time to go through Customs, pick up my luggage, walk over two terminals and sit at the airport for nearly five hours. (I keep vowing to pack lighter, and I swear, my suitcase was smaller than anyone else’s, but still I struggled with carrying all my stuff!) The five-hour flight to Hawaii seemed endless, and by the time I picked up my luggage and my neighbor picked me up from the airport, it was 11:20 pm Hawaii time by the time I walked in my front door. I had been awake since 3:45 am Norway time! That means it took me more than 55 hours to travel from Lillesand to Honolulu, including an overnight stay in London!

You know me, I never sleep on planes, and this was no exception, but try as I may, I could not fall asleep when I finally plopped into my bed and looked at the clock to see it was 1:14 am! After all, Norway is 12 time zones away, and my body told me it was 1:14 pm in the afternoon, not in the morning.

I went on my usual morning walk, and went to the church to teach an organ lesson.

Now I can finally reveal what I’ve been working on since last April—a new website for Early Music Hawaii! I welcome you to click the link and explore the upcoming as well as the programs I’ve archived on the site. You’ll even see a copy of the season brochure for 2019-2020.

and a postcard design for the opening concert on September 14, 2019:

Today my task was to create the HTML mail for the email blast notifying 600+ subscribers that our new season is starting and that we have a new website, earlymusichawaii.org.

And guess who will be playing continuo (harpsichord and organ)? You guessed it! I’ll be preparing a realized score for the figured bass so that the harpist will have an easier time of reading it.

Aah, time to practice and punch in music … back to reality!