The voices in my head hardly had time to stop shouting before the alarm went off. It was 2:00 in the morning and time to wake up, then get ready for the long and boring drive to Benstocken parking outside Arlanda (who in their right mind name a parking place "The bone-log parking"?).

Driving this stretch this early in the morning is so boring your ears might fall off, but we made it on time. Parked the car, got on the transfer bus and off we went to terminal 5.

This is my first flight with Norwegian. It turns out they use the same system as SAS for checking in the bags (which is why I avoid SAS apart from them being rude). You go to a terminal box where you enter your flight code and print your baggage stickers. We were allowed to check in 2x20kg, but as we anticipated some dragging around of said luggage we had opted for packing all in one bag and just checking in that one. Unfortunately Norwegian's luggage system would not let us take 1x22kg instead of 2x20kg so we had to repack. Can't argue with a machine (even if it's bloody stupid and so I would have told it if I could).

The flight was fairly eventless. All food and drink is extra++ but we had brought our own sandwiches. Because that's the way we are. We changed flight in Oslo, at their really cute airport. Everything seemed new. We were the only ones going through the transit security so there were three security guys for the two of us.

After landing in Barcelona we waited a while at the belt. For some reason it always feels like an eternity. I think the universe ended, evolution restarted and history repeated itself up to the point where I FINALLY saw glimpses of our bag between the pensioners who always, for some reason, need to stand one micrometer beside the belt so that nobody can see shit! I elbowed the old fart who had squeezed himself in between me and the belt, grabbed the bag, pulled it off the belt and hurried out of there.

It took us a while to figure out which bus to take and where we actually were going. First we took the bus (tickets can be bought on the bus or a kiosk at the terminal) to the last station, then subway/tram (whatever) and finally a cab from the station closest to the cruise harbor (there is a bus for this stretch as well but we didn't know). The cab driver even showed us what line to stay in. After filling in the health declaration (mental health were never questioned...) the rest of the check in procedure went smoothly and we finally boarded the ship. Oh and they took Mihiris passport and residence permit (we never figured out why - a possible reason could be because one of the crew members said that Sri Lankan passports look so pretty). On the last day they told us they have to show all non-EU passports to the coast guard each day before they let the ship dock.

You better not look tired or grumpy now because they take your picture when you are boarding. The picture is then connected to your cabin key ("Costa card") so they can, to much amusement, see your picture each time you go on or off the ship.

They also had an emergency drill. What you had to do was to put on your life jacket and go to a certain spot ("master station"). No more exciting than that. I had looked forward to see the inside of the escape boats, which looked like escape pods for a space ship, but nope.

The rest of the evening we spent trying to figure out how everything worked, finding our way around the ship (i.e get lost) and to find our dinner table.

The restaurant and table number is helpfully printed on the backside of the Costa card. We had, during web check in, specified a restaurant at the rear of the ship and were therefore mildly surprised to find another restaurant printed on the card. But we managed to get there in time and were promptly seated beside a pair (Russians?) who did not really show any interest to talk to us.

I later discussed with Mihiri if the dinners are not the most boring part of the cruise. Spending 2h just sitting at a table is getting on my nerves. Maybe I have ADHD or ADSL or something. Below is some pictures from the ship.

We didn't actually do any gambling at the casino (whats the point?).

There are some stages where they have lighter entertainment as well, aside from the bigger shows at the theater.

I must admit - to be in a hotel room with a balcony and sea view is be worth a lot and the cabin was just that. We left the balcony door open just to be able to fall asleep to the sound of waves.