Hello from Stockholm, Sweden! It’s an early morning here, and I fly to Oslo, Norway, in about 45 minutes. I thought I would take a few minutes to jot down my thoughts on my SAS (Scandinavian) flight from Chicago to Stockholm.

First, let me just say, I was impressed! Why have I not flown this airline before? Well, for one, I haven’t needed to go to or through Scandinavia before. Second, SAS is usually a more expensive option that your standard American international carriers. However, this was a shared flight with United, so that may have keep the price lower. And by lower, I mean straight-up low. I’ve never flown to Europe for under $1000 until this trip.

Next, my comments about the plane: SAS has a pretty good lineup of aircraft in its fleet, and although this plane was not one of the newer aircraft, the Airbus A330-300 was still quite nice – and it was not close to full. I already posted a photo to Twitter of how nice the seats are (even in economy class) – a built in mirror, touch screen TV monitor with options for several movies and 30 music channels, and an option to watch the view from the front of the plane on screen! There was supposed to be a few from the bottom of the plane looking down, but for some reason it never showed anything. Guess it wasn’t turned on or something.

The food on board was pretty good as far as airline food goes: Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes with a nice warm roll for dinner; turkey and cheese on a similarly nice roll for breakfast. Nothing barf-worthy…and I’ve had barf-worthy airline food before. (Cough, now-defunct Northwest Airlines!)

Anyway, the seats were pretty comfy, even in economy. Despite multiple crying/screaming/tantrum-ing children on board (and one dog, who was very well behaved), I slept somewhere around 2-3 hours. I woke up shortly before the cabin lights were turned on, at which point hot washcloths were passed out – again, even in economy! This was another airline first for me.

For those who are curious, today’s schedule should have me safely landed in Oslo at 10:45 a.m. Central Europe Summer Time. After customs, I am meeting my advisor, Micheline, at the airport, and we will wait for our undergrad research assistant, Grace, to arrive a little later. Oslo’s airport is about 25-30 minutes north of the city center, so it make sense to wait for Grace to arrive before heading back to the city. The plan is to then go to our apartments and then explore the city this afternoon. It’s overcast and rainy in Stockholm, but it’s supposed to be sunny and in the mid-50s in Oslo today. We shall see!

I’ll try to keep you all posted.