June, 1997 (continued): After a flight from Nuremberg, Germany, to Frankfurt and a missed flight to Oslo followed by one that put me 3 hours behind schedule, I arrived in Norway.
My visit to Norway was typically brief: Upon landing in Oslo, I took a four-minute taxi ride to my hotel, checked in, went to sleep, got up the next morning, and spent the day with the air staff of Radio 1.
Then it was back to the airport and on to Vienna (changing planes in what rapidly was becoming one of my less-than-favorite airports, Frankfurt).
With a 10:45PM arrival, I would be lucky to log anywhere near my required eight hours’ sleep.
At 11:45PM, a taxi deposited me in front of the Hotel Das Triest. As the cab drove away, a hotel employee hurried to meet me, exclaiming, “Mr. O’Day?”
Never having been thus greeted by a hotel employee, I figured it meant one of two things. Either I was an incredibly important guest and the hotel staff had breathlessly been awaiting my arrival…
…or there was some sort of problem with my room and/or reservation.
“Mr. O’Day, I am very sorry, but there is a problem with your room,” said the flustered desk clerk.
Warily, I asked, “What is the problem?”
“Well….Someone already is in it.”
The hotel was overbooked. The desk clerk — and then the manager, whom I demanded to see — swore they had nothing at all available, not even a suite.
They were very apologetic and explained that a pop music group was staying in the hotel and had unexpectedly extended their stay.
My normal routine of acting stern and stomping my feet did not succeed in making a room become available. Finally, grudgingly, I climbed into another taxi and went to the Radisson SAS Park Hotel, where a replacement room awaited me.
The pop music group? They were in town to perform as back-up to Diana Ross. (Ross herself wasn’t there yet; she would arrive later in her private jet.)
I never did like her much.
