Our flight to Oslo from Manchester Airport was at 11:00, arriving at 13:55 and we arrived at the airport nice and early which was just as well. Security was an absolute nightmare! Now I don't usually mind it being so as I just think that it's all part of keeping everyone safe but this was a joke. First of all, I failed the full body scan which is not unusual. The hand luggage followed us through but my camera bag was rejected. The nice lady asked if she could open it and lo and behold, there was Steve's Kindle. Back through it went, only to be rejected again; everybody's bags seemed to be following suit. I finally got to the front of the queue again only to be faced with the most disorganised woman who was more interested in my life story than the fact that I had a plane to catch. Needless to say, we weren't left with much of a wait. We landed in Oslo and had about an hour to grab something to eat before our short internal flight to Harstad. Little did we know that our gate was at the other end of the airport so some brisk walking ensued. We needn't have rushed, someone on board needed an ambulance so we were slightly delayed while he and his luggage were unloaded (hope he's ok). Europcar here we come. One young German girl in front of us, how long can it take? Well, after having everything explained to her in English, a helpful German gentleman translated everything for her even though she spoke perfectly good English! Our turn, oh dear, they have had to upgrade our Golf to a 4 x 4 Skoda Octavia Estate at no extra cost. It took a little while to get the hang of the left hand drive, manual transmission but Steve soon had us on our way. It was another two hours before we arrived at the Sortland Hotell, but what a journey. We passed through the most amazing scenery, huge snow-drenched mountains meeting half-frozen lakes and fjords, perfect reflections in mirror-flat water. Slight problem, no where to stop and take photos but we didn't half enjoy it on the move. Our holiday provided us with a free sat-nav which we were now following to the hotel. Trouble was, said sat-nav was convinced that the hotel was somewhere it was not. We left home at 8.00 and it was now 20.45 (Norway are 1 hour ahead of us). Who would have thought that two 1 and a half hour flights and a two hour drive would take so long and be so exhausting? Dinner in the hotel and bed. Sleep? No chance! The sun doesn't set at this time of year and our hotel room, beautiful as it was, had very flimsy curtains. How come I can fall asleep in a heartbeat in front of the TV but in daylight, no way!