August 20, 2023 - Sunday - Going Home and Epilog
It is Sunday, the last of our 27 days aboard Pursuit. We got up at 6:30. Once dressed we went to Windows Buffet for our final meal. Breakfast has always been enjoyable there. Today was no different. Well almost. It was crowded with people hurrying to have breakfast before their early debarkations. We had time because our transfer to the airport did not leave until 9:00.
We bid farewell to more new acquaintances and friendly crew. Then we made one last stop in our stateroom. we checked all of the drawers and closets one more time. That is not really true. Between Alice and me we must have checked at least four times. There is no chance that we missed anything. Then it was time to vacate by 8:00 so Dustin could prepare for the next guests. We made our way to the Den where we spent the next hour waiting for our number to be called.
Promptly at 9:00 our transfer was announced and we made our way to be scanned off of the ship for the last time. The went smoothly and we were then directed to the luggage claim res. Our bags were together and easy to find. With them in hand we moved to the coach. A porter stowed the bags and our carry on bag and we boarded. Soon we were a full load and a crew member bid us a final farewell. He told us that the ride to the airport would take 45 minutes because there was a triathlon in progress and traffic was rerouted. No worries for us. Our flight did not depart until 3:45.
The ride went smoothly and we were checked in for our SAS flight by 10:15. We made our way through security and then passport control. That took just half an hour. We finally found our way to the SAS lounge. We spent 4 hours there before going to the boarding gate. At 2:45 boarding began and we made our way to our business class seats. We were scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 5:15 PM. That is 1:15 AM in Copenhagen. The comfort of the convertible lay flat seats would be appreciated.
Our flight was very smooth. The flight attendants were excellent, as were the food and drink. We landed a few minutes and took half an hour to get to the gate. The walk to passport control was easy this time. There were hardly any people crowding the halls. It was nothing like our transit in March of 2020 at the outset of Covid. Our facial scans at the Global Entry station took only about 30 seconds. Then it was a 45-minute wait for our luggage. We collected that and whisked our way out to the concourse. I called for American Taxi and in 10 more minutes our bags were in the trunk and we were going home.
Everything looked good at home. And the house was cool. While sitting in the SAS lounge, I remembered to connect to our thermostat and turn on the air conditioning. Now all I had to do was restart the hot water heater. This one is only four months old and started like a champ. The previous one always required several restarts before it would behave normally. At 8:00 PM we were settled in and happy to be home again. Until next time.
I have not done this before, but several people have asked how we get around in port. Occasionally we do a ship’s tour. Otherwise, we love to walk. I have prepared a schedule of our steps and miles by day. This is courtesy of my Apple Watch. It has proven accurate at home and I expect that it was on the cruise. The results surprised us.
Thank you for following along. We hope that this might inspire you to put beautiful Norway and Iceland on your future travel list.
AZAMARA PURSUIT - 2023 STATS
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AZAMARA PURSUIT CRUISES 2023 |
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DATE |
LOCATION |
STEPS |
MILES |
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NORWAY INTENSIVE 7/24/23 TO 8/6/23 |
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7/23/23 |
DUBLIN |
6,049 |
2.6 |
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7/24/23 |
DUBLIN |
14,467 |
6.3 |
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7/25/23 |
SEA |
3,580 |
1.4 |
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7/26/23 |
SEA |
4,080 |
1.7 |
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7/27/23 |
ALESUND |
9,258 |
3.7 |
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7/28/23 |
KRISTIANSUND |
11,356 |
4.6 |
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7/29/23 |
TRONDHEIM |
16,344 |
6.8 |
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7/30/23 |
MOLDE |
8,955 |
3.6 |
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7/31/23 |
OLDEN |
14,392 |
6.0 |
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8/1/23 |
VIK |
7,549 |
3.2 |
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8/2/23 |
BERGEN |
11,342 |
4.4 |
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8/3/23 |
EIDFJORD |
11,549 |
4.3 |
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8/4/23 |
STAVANGER |
11,406 |
4.5 |
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8/5/23 |
KRISTIANSAND |
11,828 |
4.8 |
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8/6/23 |
OSLO |
12,527 |
5.0 |
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TOTALS |
154,682 |
62.9 |
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ICELAND INTENSIVE 8/7/23 TO 8/20/23 |
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8/7/23 |
OSLO |
4,131 |
1.7 |
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8/8/23 |
SEA |
2,735 |
1.2 |
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8/9/23 |
ABERDEEN |
9,469 |
3.6 |
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8/10/23 |
LERWICK |
9,961 |
3.8 |
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8/11/23 |
TORSHAVN |
10,410 |
4.0 |
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8/12/23 |
SEYDISFJORDUR |
6,095 |
2.5 |
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8/13/23 |
AKUREYRI |
8,570 |
3.5 |
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8/14/23 |
ISAFJORDUR |
10,065 |
4.0 |
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8/15/23 |
REYKJAVIK |
9,822 |
3.9 |
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8/16/23 |
HEIMAEY |
6,225 |
2.6 |
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8/17/23 |
SEA |
2,470 |
0.9 |
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8/18/23 |
SEA |
1,986 |
0.8 |
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8/19/23 |
SKAGAN |
12,312 |
5.2 |
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8/20/23 |
TRANSIT |
6,258 |
2.5 |
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TOTALS |
100,509 |
40.2 |
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GRAND TOTALS |
255,191 |
103.1 |
