Time to take matters into my own hands! Just blogged it: Sometimes it sucks to be us http://ping.fm/w9cBE

So glad I went for the early train...that's now standing still about 500 meters from Malmö C. I so wish I could ride my bike to work.

TV on this Hurtigruten ship is tuned to CNN coverage of the Ted Kennedy viewing. Everybody onboard seems to know who he is. Impressive.

Chilly night...glad it was our last in the tent. Today we board the Hurtigruten for 15 hours of leisurely cruising on the fjords.

Setting up camp in Sortland...highest price & worst facilities of the whole trip. I'm sure my attitude will improve after a shower.

Light rain this a.m., but no wind, so we're packing up and heading for Svolvaer, come what may!

Rain finally stopped so we're out exploring the campsite, which is swimming in wild blueberries. Yum!

Rain hasn't stopped so we're staying put. Stll have cabin all 2 ourselves. Wld Track & Field champs on TV so @DocDarling is semi-content.

And the packing is underway!

This is why we cleaned the apartment last weekend...so that Dr. Darling can spread our gear out all over the livingroom.

In the meantime, I'm dealing with usual chaos-before-taking-vacation scenario at work, and trying to get our electronics situation sorted out at home. The intention is for the new iPhone to take the place of my MacBook for chronicalling our upcoming biking adventure, and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get content into my blogs. (This entry is part of the testing process.)

But an even bigger issue is the fact that my new mobile network provider has dropped the ball on getting my old number transferred to the iPhone. I sent the necessary paperwork a week ago Monday, supposedly in plenty of time to get the number ported before we leave for Norway. I called today to check on the status, and the request hadn't even been logged into their system yet. Gaaaaah!!!

Now it appears the number will get transferred while we are on the road literally), which means I have to haul 2 phones on the trip...which is a real pain-in-the-@$$. But even more worrisome to me is the possibility that there's a further screw-up and we end up in the Norwegian wilderness with no functioning phone at all. (Dr. Darling's pay-as-you-go sim card is not set up to work abroad.)

But hey, plenty of safe and successful bike tours took place before the advent of cell phones. Besides that, I think the Swede would be secretly delighted to be completely "off the grid" for 10 days. Too bad it would DRIVE ME CRAZY.

Testing the ability to post to my blogs via ping.fm's iPhone app

Yes, I finally have an iPhone...and yes, part of my justification for getting one is that it could replace my laptop when I'm on the road. And by "on the road" I mean it literally...as in on our upcoming bike tour in northern Norway.

So the key question is...did it work?