Huh... who'd have thunk it? I'd find myself in Oslo presenting to a global eco-tourism conference, drawing on work experience but also travel tales near and far, to piece together an angle on a complex world. I met some great people and wonder if I will look back in years to come and remember the day I met Gopi from The Blue Yonder, Martha Honey or Intrepid's Responsible Travel Manager, Jane Crouch?
Maybe my lasting memory will be the visual image of the Masai warrior respelendant in colourful blankets, spear in hand, microphone in the other infront of a projected PowerPoint slide.
Now I'm on my way out to London for 24 hours and there's a few funny memories that haven't been caught on Camera that need to be recorded here...
AQUAROBICS: Lost luggage between London Heathrow and Oslo airport means that I arrive with no spare clothes at all and the need to wash off 28 hours of travel. Chris (also in the same boat) and I put a pair of togs onto the company credit card and dive into the Holmenkollen Park Hotel pool. Ah relief! Before we know it, it fills up with a few families and then a stream of yougn girls, pert and pubescent and giggling. We wonder where they're all coming from?
Later, much later, we return for an end fo the day dip and dive in with a group of 6 or 7 girls on a hen's party. Not much alcohol in sight, but a huge 80's style boom box that they use to pump out disco tracks whilst the Hen herself leads the group in a session of aquarobics. I am invited to join in "the fun" but can hardly manage to lift my arms aloft such is the weight of the jet-lag setting in.
THE COST OF THINGS: Hardly a funny memory! But worth noting that beer cost at least $20AUD for a pint in a waterfront pub. However, that pales into insignificance next to the $300, 50 minute taxi fare from the airport. Ouch!
And finally, THE HOLLMENKOLLEN GIRLS CHOIR: I suspect this is where the girls at the pool fit in. At the offical conference dinner, the girls choir came out to sing for us. I sat up expectantly - bring on the traditional embroidered costumes, songs of Nordic forests and vikings! But instead, about 20 strutting girls wearing jeans and sunglasses wiggled their tooshes to 'One Night in Bangkok' for the opening number. Such good spoken (and sung) English could not cover the fact that the lyrics are about prostitution and I giggled at the inappropriateness of it all.
He he he ;-)
