Flying with drunk Norwegians...

One of my more memorable flights was from Marrakesh to Oslo, back in October 2008.

What I hear from my Norwegian friends is that Norwegians like to go for charter tours, and get really drunk and behave silly from the moment they board the plane. What I experienced first hand was a Norwegian getting drunk on the flight back to Norway.

It was a 6hr flight in the afternoon, and I took the window seat and a norwegian woman in her 40s (lets call her Norsk dame) in the aisle seat, with the middle seat vacant. Her husband occupied the opposing aisle seat.

I could not help but notice that the Norwegians around me (seats in front and beside) were consuming beer and wine purchased from the in-flight catering, and having some stuck-in-your-seats party.

3 hours into the flight and a few wines later, Norsk dame picked up her magazine. I turned on her reading light to assist. She appreciated the gesture. She fidgeted uncomfortably for 20 minutes and gave up reading for some sleep. She could not sleep in her seated position, and so she raised the arm rest to her side, and lay down, occupying the vacant seat, head toward me. She smiled at me to get my consent.
After 10 minutes of writhing in the 2 seats, she decided she needed more space and politely asked if she could place her head on my lap.
I responded," only if your husband does not mind." We looked towards him for a response, and he just smiled at us. I agreed. He then said," You're a good man." I just smiled, puzzled at what had just happened.

For the rest of the flight, I remember chatting to the couple and taking pictures (for the husband) of the sleeping Norsk dame on my lap.

I still wonder:
Why did I allow Norsk dame to lie on my lap? (I did not find her attractive)
Would I allow my drunken spouse to lie on a stranger's lap?
Is such behaviour embarassing? It's all done in good fun after all.

Talking to Norwegians

Norwegians have been reputed to be cold people, and some of the most difficult people to befriend. That might be true to an extent, but I know Norwegians to be curious and extremely warm on first impression , meaning they will smile, laugh, query, dance, drink with you and even give you their contact number/email address/facebook contact (and possibly more), but do not expect to ever see or hear from them again in the future.

Here are a couple of pleasant first impressions:

On a late Friday evening, after the usual fredagspils (customary Friday beer session), I was thinking of saving on cab fare and asked the girl in front of me in the taxi queue if she was headed in the same direction as me, and it turned out she was. We shared the taxi ride back. Turns out she was an auditor as well! Some money saved, and good conversation on the journey.

On a separate evening, I had missed the last train back home. Again, in order to save some cab fare, I approached a slim attractive blond and asked if she was headed in the same direction as me, and whether she would like to share a cab with me. Turns out she was headed back to the university close to my place, and agreed to share the cab, but had no cash and needed to draw some from the nearby ATM. I then suggested that since it was only a half hour walk in the Oslo snowy winter, why not walk the journey instead. To my surprise she actually agreed, and we walked and talked to our own residences.

Interesting thing I remembered from that conversation was how she had to redo a semester in university due to almost a year spent in bed, as she found herself very weak and unable to get out of bed to work and study (a disease you will probably not hear of in Singapore).

Another observation: I only asked her name at the end of the evening, meaning we had been sharing personal things such as work, studies, family, relationships, health and hobbies for half an hour with a stranger.

Are names important at all?

There were quite a few more random encounters, but the above 2 just remind me of the kind of friendliness that I have yet to receive in Singapore.