December 24th and 25th, 2024

Bergen, Norway

Christmas (or Jul as it is called in Norway) at her parents' house was everything Erika had expected. While the holiday season had been building for weeks, Christmas Eve started the festivities when they ate the traditional risengrynsgrøt (a type of rice porridge which includes a single almond with its skin scalded off leaving it white) and Erika's youngest sister (Karin) found the almond in her bowl and thus got the marzipan pig as an extra dessert. The next morning, her nieblings woke everyone early (before 6am, still in the depths of the long winter night) and were loudly announcing what they found in their stockings while Erika helped her mother and sisters prepare breakfast.

After breakfast the family went to church, Erika's parents are still practicing Lutherans after all, returning home a couple of hours after the nearly 10am sunrise to have a light lunch before gift exchange in the afternoon while Erika's mother monitored dinner which was cooking already in the kitchen. Erika's gifts were all small - easily packed for her trip to America coming up the next day - and the nieblings got more gifts between them than all the adults (as is appropriate for Jul in Erika's opinion).

The dinner feast consisted of several kinds of meat - ham (spiral cut but not honey covered), a leg of lamb, head cheese, lutefisk and pickled herring - a variety of cheeses, several kinds of breads and pastries; two potato options (boiled and roasted), creamed green peas, carrots and a rutabaga dish provided the veritable options for the meal.

The festivities continued on towards midnight and despite needing to be up early the next morning Erika stayed up late with her siblings, finally retiring to her room as midnight approached and quickly finished packing. She was abed and asleep before 12:30am. (OOC Reminder: In this pose, all times are Central European Time and thus are six hours ahead of the equivalent time in Michigan.)

December 26th, 2024

Flights from Bergen, Norway, to Michigan, United States of America

Knowing the drive to the Flesland Airport (as the Bergen Airport is called) will be less than thirty minutes and that she actually won't need the two hours most travelers are recommended, Erika had set her alarm to wake her at 4am CET (or 10pm CT Christmas night in Detroit). She'd said her goodbyes the night before and so didn't expect anyone to be up but, naturally, her mother was up and had prepared kokekaffe already. After sharing a cup with her mother and giving a loving goodbye hug Erika left the house with two disposable cups of the coffee brew and met her friend who was the first leg of the trip with her.

Georg had been a long time friend of Erika's as they grew up as well as a fellow officer in the Army. During officer training at the Norwegian Defence University College they'd had a one night stand which they decided that, while was enjoyable, wasn't their thing so they chose to remain close friends ever since. He had a business appointment in Frankfurt (yes, on the 26th of December of all times!) and so they'd booked their flights to coincide so as to have company on the trip from Norway to Germany. In addition to the kokekaffe, they exchanged gifts on the ride to the airport: she gave him a tasseled beanie hat she'd asked her grandmother to make for him and he gave her a fleece blanket with the image of a sunflower colored to match the flag of Norway.

Their flight from Bergen on Lufthansa departed at 5:40am CET (or 11:40pm Central Time) and lasted for a little more than two hours. The pair talked though the entire flight, keeping their voices low out of respect for the other passengers, discussing various matters that had occurred in the past months since they'd last hung out together. After the 7:50am CET landing at the main airport in Frankfurt, Germany, the pair ate breakfast at perfect day before parting company.

Erika had a three hour layover and breakfast with Georg couldn't last that long as he had an appointment to get to in town after all. So, having planned ahead, she had an appointment of her own in the airport at the Ladies Lounge for a relaxed and unrushed mani-pedi as well as a hair washing, scalp massage and trim combination.

Her flight from Frankfurt to Boston, still with Lufthansa, departed roughly on time with wheels up happening at 11am CET (or 5am CT in Detroit) and lasted for nearly seven and a half hours before landing at Boston Logan International Airport around 1:30pm ET. During the seven and a half hour flight she slept for about four hours (noise reducing ear plugs and a comfortable padded sleep mask to block out the light and noises are so wonderful!) and watched the new Christmas movie Red One though the plane's WiFi.

She didn't get to relax in Boston. Her "layover" was only about twenty minutes. She didn't have to run though, she'd prepared by reviewing maps of the sprawling airport and was able to get to her next flight with minutes to spare. Now flying with United, the flight took off around 1:50pm ET from Boston Logan and less than an hour and a half later she was at Newark Liberty International Airport for a seventy-one minute layover.

Choosing a quick serve option to supplement the meal she had on the airplane, Erika picked up a sandwich and a Sprite at Firehouse Subs so she didn't even have to leave the spoke of the terminal her flights' gates were at. After eating and perusing the retail shop at the terminal (where she found an author-signed copy of Mistborn: The Final Empire which she gladly acquired) she boarded her United flight to Detroit in time for the 4:26pm ET take-off.

During the flight, taking the book acquisition as a sign, Erika begins a re-read of Mistborn (on her phone via the Kindle app, are you kidding_?! she'd never risk damaging the spine of an author-signed copy of the book!)_ to occupy her time during the more than two hour flight. The landing at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is delayed slightly making her very concerned about making her connecting flight with Delta but it too was delayed allowing her to catch the 6:55pm CT flight before it closed its doors after 7pm and took off nearly twenty minutes late. Good winds had them arrive at the Mackinac County Airport only fifteen minutes late at 8:30pm CT leaving her only to get to the ferry to Spellbound on time to reach the islands fairly late and be put into a temporary room.

At some point between stepping foot on the island and laying down to sleep, Erika heard about the ball scheduled for the next day which occupied her mind on equal measure to the returning memories of the magic she experienced ten months earlier as a tourist at the park.