After tea last night I met up with some of the others going on the expedition, needless to say the plan of an early night went right out of the window when we retired to the bar to have a chat and get to know each other. As the evening wore on the time of our departure from the hotel kept getting changed - the original plan was to be at the check in desk at the Terminal no later than 4.15 am which would have meant getting up about 3 am but every so often an extra 15 mins kept getting added so we ended up getting a 1/2 hour lie in and not leaving the hotel until 4.15. The guys had stayed in the bar till quite early on this morning (no surprises there) and came down looking extremely blurry eyed and red faced. At the airport we met up with the other 6 and found out at the check in desk that they were short staffed so the desk wouldn't be opening up until gone 5 am, typical !! When we were finally rid of of our bags and boarding tickets in hand things went quite smoothly and our flights to Oslo and then on to Tromso "flew by" (pardon the pun).

Descent to Tromso, Norway.

As the plane descends we get our first glimpse of Tromso; pretty little houses nestled in the hillside, very picturesque. At the airport we are met by Tore, owner of the Villmarkscentre and also our guide for the oncoming week. On arrival at the centre we are taken to where we were to spend the night as a group.- a Lavvo which is a large Sami tent with an open fire. The warmth inside the Lavvo was amazing very cosy.

The Lavvo

First we sorted through our kit into what would be going on the trip and what would stay behind at the centre. Following this we were taken to get kitted out in thermal suits & boots; although everyone had brought their own thermal snow pants and jackets it was thought prudent to take the centre's thermal suit as well to have as a back up just in case our own got wet.

All Kitted Out

Following our kitting out session Tore gave us lessons on putting up our tents, using the stoves and of course how to go about harnessing the dogs, of course making everything look so easy, hah hah !!! Lots of rules to remember - most important, numero uno - Don't Let Go !!!! We were shown our food rations for the trip and everyone was pleasantly surprised - our evening meals would consist of home made dishes put into boilable bags(mostly fish including Salmon and reindeer stew which we would be sampling this evening). Once lessons were over we pottered around petting the dogs and taking lots of pictures of them in their kennels until it was time to go back to the Lavvo for our evening meal. We were certainly ready for something to eat by this time as large trays of 2" thick, vegetable omelette and tureens of piping hot reindeer soup with chunks of bread were brought in, all extremely tasty.

Very Cosy Inside the Lavvo

One of over 200 dogs !!!

Although the dogs are working dogs they are incredibly friendly and attention seeking

Our sleds all labelled up with our names and dog teams ready for tomorrow

After our meal everyone just made small talk for a while, I think everyone was just so preoccupied with what lay ahead and throughout the evening most of the group checked their kit once, twice and yet again to be certain they weren't taking too much or too little, constantly referring to each other what they had decided to leave or take!! We get a final briefing from Brian our expedition leader mostly top tips for keeping warm and healthy. Of particular note we are told to drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration – wee should be like champagne, not lager, not bitter and definitely not Guinness!!! You can imagine what the conversation was like after that!

A fair few yawns from around the tent signalled it was time to finally put down the reindeer skins on the floor and our sleeping bags on the ground and finally try to get some sleep.