And in conclusion, "What fresh hell?!" (Geneva)

In the morning, everything went smoothly. We woke up in time, we said our goodbyes to Einar who had given us parting gifts of Norwegian chocolate (yessss!) and brown cheese. We gave him some Canadian paraphernalia which made him happy and so we were all happy. We walked to the central station in Oslo, got some delicious sugar bun things for breakfast and took the train without a problem to the airport. We even mailed postcards and managed to eat at Pizza Hut (keeping a close eye on the time) without missing our flight.

I was feeling incredibly paranoid though. While we were eating (even though we right next to the departure gate), I thought I heard our names called over the loud speaker. Danielle had to reassure me that we were at the right gate and that our flight didn't board for another half hour. She was right. However, we shouldn't have been so complacent in thinking that since we didn't miss our flight we were safe from the Pizza Hut Curse.

We had purchased our tickets the day before online from the SNCF website and since we couldn't pick them up in France, we had to choose the option of picking them up in Geneva. Once we arrived in Geneva, we made it to the train station without a problem, but learned that tickets can't be retrieved from the Geneva train station on Sundays. What fresh hell!? Basically, we couldn't see any way of claiming our tickets. There wasn't even a general information desk anywhere. The woman at the Western Union office explained to us that we would have to pay for another ticket and that SNCF would probably reimburse us.....

In the end it meant we got an earlier train, which was a relief since all of Geneva appears to be closed on Sundays and none of the shops in the train station were open to even browse around. However, to ice the cake of this amazing trip, Danielle realized she had forgotten her super-pro camera on the flight.

My only recourse in a situation like this is a big hug and a weak sense of humour. Eventually, we ended up listening to Canadian country/folk music during the train ride, and Danielle sort of figured out what we could do about her camera. All was not lost, however, because since we have returned, the camera was found (Thank you, Humanity for not being awful!) and mailed back to her at a price, of course.

In sum, if you're thinking of voyaging to Norway and Sweden, make sure to pack an extra pair of pants, don't eat Pizza Hut before you travel... ever, try the brown cheese, be prepared to spend a lot of money on transportation or bring your walking shoes, and Couchsurf!

If you haven't ever thought about going to Norway and Sweden, and aren't inspired yet, this is for you. (Heads up that there is some choice language...)

Love,

Tessa xx