The next morning Chris and I arrived at the Oslo Airport early in the morning, again taking the Airport Express train.  We arrived so quickly there was hardly another soul at the airport.  Within the hour, however, the airport came alive and we swiftly boarded our SAS flight from Oslo to Tromso, Norway — the purpose for the entire European trip.

It was early, and the all-economy flight to Tromso was packed.  I tried to sleep and work, but neither were productive.  Upon landing, I was struck by the beautiful topography. I commented on the landscape to my seat mate.  We chatted about my trip to play golf. My new friend was unaware there were any courses this far north.  He was connecting and traveling even further north to Kirkenes — near the Russian border.

We picked up our rental car from Avis and, without a map, drove to the center of Tromso.  There are some fantastic tunnels through the mountains, complete with circles so you can connect to other roads underground.  Amazing Nordic engineering! We stayed at the centrally located Rica Ishavshotel.

Here we met with our local contact, Knut Hansvold, and were given the lay of the land for our 10:30 p.m. tee time at Tromso Golf Park.  Before the game, we toured the town — going to the Arctic Museum and having lunch and dinner — and left for the course at about 9:30 p.m.

–Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

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