"Hi Mari,

Thank you for your welcome home note! We arrived home on Monday, having had a day in Dubai en route. It is such a long way isn't it.....

Glad you enjoyed the updates - it was fun sharing with you as I know you have been to many or all of the places we visited.

The Hurtigruten voyages were definitely the highlights....fantastic!!!! Would recommend them to anyone. We learned so much, and saw sights that took our breath away and will remember forever. No complaints at all, but one query... didn't know we had tea/ coffee and internet packages included till 2nd day of return trip. I actually bought a couple of days internet on the way up, otherwise we relied on maccas etc when ashore to keep in touch with family.

I think the highlights for me was the first day out, sunny blue sky and Norway's national day. We docked in a tiny town and were greeted by the local town band which played for us. A little later we had time ashore at Alesund and were so impressed with the families all dressed up, having lunch at restaurants etc. such a lovely hour or so wandering among them. We also had a ceremony on deck in the morning, marching around like idiots, waving our Norwegian flags.

The other one was Trollfjord at midnight. I had returned from an excursion on Lofoten about 10.15 pm and we were still sitting up talking when called up on deck for a "point of interest". We put coats on over our pjs and headed up to find that we were about to venture into Trollfjord. It was still light enough to take good photos, which was amazing enough, but Trollfjord was .....WOW!

The expedition team on Kong Harald were excellent, presentations every afternoon, where we learned so much about Norway and the North. We were exhorted not to remain in our cabins but to come "ut!" and we were not disappointed.

Our accommodation overall was excellent, convenient and more luxurious than we would have chosen for ourselves. We felt very special. All your directions were spot on...not to say that WE didn't stuff it up several times. I have absolutely NO sense of direction when I'm in the northern hemisphere and usually go in totally the opposite direction. It frustrates me no end, and we did get lost many times, but that was our fault. We couldn't find the railway station as we disembarked in Stockholm, not well signposted, but with some help from the locals, managed to find our way by bus. Train would have been so easy and station so close to the Rival.

Well, Mari, I could go on and on but I guess you have work to do.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything you did to make our adventure so wonderful. We will never forget it.

Best regards,

Lesley"