Aurora Hunting: Getting to Oslo

• Introduction 
• Getting to Oslo 
• Exploring Oslo - The Attractions 
• Exploring Oslo - The Hotels (Radisson Blu Plaza Oslo & Doubletree by Hilton Oslo City Center) 
• Oslo to Tromso on SAS
• The Hunt
• Exploring Tromso
• Review of City Living Apartments, Tromso
• Tromso to Oslo on SAS
• Oslo to Doha
• Exploring Doha & Review of Ramada Encore Doha
• Doha to Kuala Lumpur with a visit to the Oryx Lounge
• Conclusion

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We had flew in to Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia and took the bus shuttle from the LCCT to KLIA. For the benefit for others who might go cheap like us, the shuttle costs 2.50 ringgit a person and is available on the outer traffic lanes of the airport right outside arrivals. A taxi transfer instead would have cost 15-20 ringgit but we didn't check.

After flying first and business class on our last few holidays, I kinda forgot how it felt like to fly economy.  As we arrive at KLIA, we were greeted by a long queue of passengers already waiting in line to check-in. Like everyone else we got in line and then at that point appreciated flying in business or first class. It took about 30 minutes before we got to the check-in counter where thankfully it was only a couple more minutes until our boarding passes were provided and bags tagged all the way to Oslo. Calvin tried to see if there were cash upgrades available but the check-in agent said they didn't do that kind of thing. Oh well..

Long Check-in Line

We made a short stop at the plaza premium lounge thanks to Calvin's priority pass card where I had a shower and some snacks before we headed to the departure gate. 

Our flight to both Doha and Oslo was operated by a A330 plane with a 2-4-2 seating. Calvin had booked the 2 seats by the window so it was convenient for me to leave the seat anytime I wanted. The seats were not that wide leaving a bit of space for me to twist and turn without disturbing Calvin. Surprisingly the leg room was relatively spacious. I also wasn't expecting an amenity kit in economy but was delighted to get  a little picturesque pouch with toothbrush, eyeshade, socks and a ear plug.

Not too long after take off we were served a light snack of chicken calzone, chocolate cookies and drinks.

Not too long later, both of us dozed off considering it was already about 5am Malaysia time. I would have to say this is the most comfortable economy class seats i've sat in. It reclined abit more than usual economy seats on MAS or Air Asia and the seat felt ergonomic.

About 2 hours before arrival, we were served some breakfast. There were no menu to choose from and we were only given rice and fish. I think they ran out of the other option which was omelette with sausages which we caught some folks in other rows eating. The breakfast wasn't really good. The rice somewhat cold and I felt like the rice was not cooked through. For dessert, unfortunately there was no cheese and fruit platter just 3 pieces of fruit cut into cube and a small serving of yogurt which was just sourish without tasting anything like yogurt. For this meal I give them a 1/5, because I have had better food on budget airlines compared to this.

After ~7 hour of flying, we landed at Doha International airport. As we alighted from the plane, we were ushered onto the connecting buses and dropped off at the respective terminal (arrival terminal, transfer terminal or premium terminal). There are NO aerobridges at Doha airport. Everyone were given different colored boarding passes to enable the ground staff to see if we have walked into the wrong terminal. As I learned from the per-arrival info screening in the flight, this is a temporary measure while Doha airport is upgrading their airport. 

We got off at the transfer terminal got through custom clearance and were at the departure lounge only 5 minutes later. As we only had a relatively short ~2 hour transit, we decided quickly browse the small duty free before proceeding to an overpriced cup of coffee at one of the cafe near our gate and wait for our boarding time.

Our flight to Oslo departed as scheduled. This flight was pretty empty with what looked like a 50% load. This flight was pretty much like the previous flights. The flight attendants made a hot towel run right after take-off before serving our second breakfast for the day. Both of us had the mushroom crepes and the breakfast on this flight was much better than the rice and fish we had earlier. 

Both of us alternated between napping and trying to watch movies in the IFE for the rest of the flight. As per the previous flight, a snack was served about 2 hours before we landed.

Soon after, we could see Norway and the captain began the plane's descent into Oslo and before we knew it, we landed at Oslo Gardermoen Airport.

 

Since we were seated in the front economy cabin, we skipped most of the line and was out of immigration and customs with our bags an efficient and painless 15 minutes after we landed. We proceeded to buy our Oslo Passes from the counters right after arrival before heading into Oslo on the express trains.We did have some trouble buying our train tickets as the self serve counters required your credit card pins which we didn't know before approving the purchase. There were some "autogate counters" that just required a credit card swap without the pins that we used instead and 20 minutes later, we arrived in downtown Oslo.