Breeding bird survey in Norway: the start

3.45.pitch dark out there but the alarm goes on. It was time for the adventure to start. I ought to mention the light conditions because they will be different where I am going.

I quickly made myself a coffee and off I went for the flight. It was going to be a long day at the two airports where I had to change flights on the way to Tromso. This is where I will be surveying in the next couple of weeks.

At Sofia airport there was no problem whatsoever. I was flying with Lufthansa and their luggage allowance let me carry 23.8 kg which was quite a pain to adjust last night. I had to leave behind one or two items but there was no other way around that.

At Frankfurt airport where I had to spend 3 hours I was a bit puzzled about the luggage transfer but quickly solved that and made sure that my camping gear for tonight will be with me 😊. Managed to do some work and get the directions for tonight’s drive.

The flight from Frankfurt to Oslo was fairly short but the fatigue and early start of the day already press on. At Oslo airport everything was as planned. Picked up my luggage and checked in again for the third flight for the day. It’s getting a little bit too much already 😊 It is nice to be hear though and see the natural materials of the interior used at the airport. I gladly found out that the airport is expanding with a new set of gates getting ready to welcome another 5 million passengers making them a total of 28 million. And another hour before the flight to the final destination for today – Tromso.

the plane to Tromso

A pleasant surprise was waiting for me on board. The aircraft had wi fi!!! This is the first time I experience this and it isn’t that bad ;) you can chat and do some work if you like. The flight was still quite long though. It took 2 hours to get from Oslo to Tromso. Big country!

Weather in Tromso welcomes me with 5 degrees Celsius. It will be an adventure for sure 😊 I picked up the rental car which is a gorgeous little Toyota Auris with a hybrid engine which I hadn’t driven before. It is a bordeu colour and has all kind of contemporary little additions that make driving a great pleasure. Some of these include a camera for rear parking, power button instead of a key, button to fold both mirrors from inside. Lovely little vehicle that will be my home for the next two weeks.

Regardless of the low temperature there was beautiful sunshine which was creating very welcome atmosphere. The sun was up until 22. 30 The landscape was just superb. All along the roads there were beautiful mountain peaks with a lot of snow. Dramatic peaks were everywhere. Lovely valleys.

After about 150km driving I arrived in the area of Finnsnes where my first route is. This is where i was going to spend the night camping. It was chilly about 2 degrees Celsius but my gear should be able to cope with this. Since I wanted to make sure I was at the right place I wanted to select a good starting point for the next day. Struggled a bit but managed to find one about a km from the starting point of the route. It was already after 23.00 and I really needed a sleep especially having in mind that I will need to wake up at 3 a.m. Quickly put up the tent and got into all my new gear that I was really looking forward to test.