It's tricky......

The year we got married we also went on a 3 week holiday to America (it had been postponed, so not entirely down to poor planning!), and moved house, where the dining room ceiling promptly collapsed, and the cooker didn't work. By the time we got married we were both drugged up to the eyeballs on paracetamol having come down with severe colds. Someone said that we don't make life easy for ourselves. Little did they know (muttered darkly).

If you read Jim's last post, you'll know the fun we've got with delivery vans, low bridges and ikea delivery days.

We bought our kitchen, we'll sort of, it's been sitting in our virtual shopping basket for a few days until we got the right delivery date, after all it worked okay here, so what could possibly go wrong?

Ha!  Easter! That's what went wrong. Norway celebrate Easter on Thursday, and Friday, Sunday and Monday. Ikea don't do deliveries on Maundy Thursday. The only bloody Thursday we're there for!  It's okay, we thought, we can sort this out.

First issue - we have a smallish hire car, and we won't be able to fit everything and everybody in it! 

So. 

We all drive to Trondheim and buy what we need, Jim will drop me and a nominated child of his choice (ie Ned) at the station and see us at home. Right, there are only 2 trains a day (and I thought North devon was bad!), the last one being at 1.10pm. Will we be done in time?

So instead we'll stop at said store on our way past, make a note of what we want, and Jim will drive back another day to purchase everything and drive home. 

Doesn't really make for a fun day for anyone.

Jim then had a lightbulb moment. Hire A Van!

Now during all of this we've been reading the Ikea website, and we eventually came to realise that we can't actually buy the very lovely grey kitchen units I want in store. They gave to be ordered online & delivered to their warehouse or Henteterminal, by the fjord in Trondheim. So we go through the motions and get our delivery date - we could book the right date for our plan! Drive to the house, get it warm and settled. 2 days later return to Trondheim (@ 2 hr drive away), collect the van, collect our things from the henteterminal, all drive home (car and van as Jim will need help to unload), unload. Drive back to Trondheim, return van, then drive home. Again. As the Norwegians celebrateEaster on Maundy Thursday we can't return the van then, hence the ridiculous to-ing and fro-ing.

Except the kids will spend All Day in a vehicle.

So we had a cup of tea to think about it.

Then came my lightbulb moment (and its Genius!). 

Collect hire car at airport when we arrive, drive to other hire car depot to collect van, drive to the warehouse collect our stuff, drive home. Unload. Drive back the next day, return the van, visit Trondheim, and drive home.

Except the delivery date to have the kitchen delivered to this wretched warehouse has now changed. It will now be delivered After Easter. This is Not Good.

By this point I am now fed up of kitchens, ikea, delivery dates and vans and driving. (And reader, I expect you are too!).

So our final plan submitted is:

Drive to Gatwick. Fly to Trondheim. Stay overnight in the airport hotel. One parent and one child per room (guess who I've got!). Yummy hotel breakfast (as an aside when you come to visit, stay at the Radisson Blu hotel at the airport, they do very good breakfasts). Collect hire car from Sixt. Drive to other Sixt depot to collect hire van. Drive to ikea. Buy lights, curtains, oven, hob, kitchen units (not the Very Lovely Grey units I want, but ones that are in stock in store hopefully!) and a sofa bed (wait, what? When did we decide on a sofa bed?). Drive home, unload. Next day drive back in convoy to return the hire van, visit Trondheim (there is more than a certain Swedish home store there honest). Drive home. Collapse.

Which is what we'll do.

That's a big ten four rubber ducky.