Pluribus

As you know,

the human race grew up alongside glaciers during the Ice Ages.

The cold stimulates ancient nerves.

It makes you feel a primal connection to the world.

We used over 300 tons of ice to create the hotel,

and guests are surprised to know how much snow.

Over 10,000 tons.

Wow, that's a lot.

Luckily, Norway has plenty of snow and ice.

These blocks were created

by carefully smoothing the ice on our river as it freezes,

then harvesting it for storage in a nearby cave.

Everything you see melts in summer.

We have different artists and artisans help us build again each year,

so every stay is truly once in a lifetime.

And here we have your room.

The Koi Suite.

Wow. Oh, it's brisk.

Our guest suites are slightly warmer than the rest of the hotel.

About three degrees below zero.

Not too, too cold.

It's quite invigorating once you get used to it.

As we say, you will feel... som plommen i egget .

Like a yolk in an egg.

Okay, that's adorable.

Som... Som plommen i eggen? Eggen?

That's very good.

These fish were hand-carved

by famous Norwegian ice sculptor, Anders Skjeggestad Ruud.

He won the Boreal Forest Prize

at the Harbin Ice Sculpting Competition last year.

Beautiful. Isn't that beautiful?

- The bed is made of ice? - Yes. Isn't that charming?

And I highly recommend trying our complimentary house brandy.

- The bed is made of ice. - It is distilled locally from ice wine,

and I assure you it is quite special.

- These furs are very thick-- - Ice. Helen,

we are sleeping on an ice bed.

I could've saved that hundred grand and frozen my eggs right here, yolks and all.

Now, one more thing.

Your bathrooms are around the corner, in the hall to your left.

And if you keep going in that direction,

you get to our hot tub deck, which is always open.

As I'm sure you've noticed, the sky is quite wonderful this time of year.

Anything else you need, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Thank you, Bjorn.

Oh. Thank you very much.

I hope you both have an enjoyable stay.

God natt?

Excellent. God natt til deg også.

Okay.

This is amazing.

How did I not realize that the bed would be made of ice?

We just flew 16 hours to get frozen like Walt Disney.

Uh, Walt Disney wasn't frozen. That's a myth.

And look at this place!

It was worth the trip.

I mean, do we absolutely have to go every wacky place Rick Steves recommends?

I mean, would it be so bad to stay somewhere that's not an experience

but just a really nice hotel?

Can't it be both?

Doesn't it feel... ...kind of nice?

I mean, my... ...my skin feels so awake.

Oh, my God. Seriously?

Who knew? Hell is in Norway.

Oh, come on. This is completely your bag.

You love feeling bad.

Mmm.

- What you doing over there? - Looking for your cell phone.

- Val should have numbers by now. - I already talked to Val at the airport.

Come over here. Get under these blankets,

- they're so soft. - You talked to Val?

What'd she say?

It's on the list!

Congratulations!

- Good. Great. - Yeah.

Now come over here. Have some brandy. It's so good.

Where on the list?

It's... Stop it. It's a best seller.

I know. I'm just... I'm just curious where.

Top 20.

- Top 20. - Yeah.

But, like, closer to 11 or closer to 20?

You're impossible.

You're the most impossible best-selling author I know.

- Come over here. - Why?

Just come here.

Look at this.

That is amazing.

Oh, God, I always wanted to see it.

One time in Canada I came close,

but this is so much better than I ever imagined.

It kinda looks like a screen saver.

Oh, my God. Stop, stop, stop. Sit.

Here you go.

Yeah. Isn't that warmer?

Warmer than what?

You can almost hear it, can't you?

Ooh, ooh! It's turning purple.

Look at that.

Hmm. Guess what?

Sitting on a block of ice makes you feel like you have to pee.

Okay, so pee.

Yeah, but is the toilet gonna be made out of ice?

- What if I stick to it? - Pee or don't pee, but...

Uh, this is your captain speaking.

Fingers crossed, hopefully we've seen the last of that rough air.

Should be smooth sailing for a while,

so we're gonna go ahead and turn off that fasten seat belt sign.

Feel free to move about the cabin, Carol.

May we get you anything?

Nope. Uh, who's flying today?

Carol, on the flight deck is Captain John McConnell and also--

First Officer Tom Deegan.

These individuals have a combined 51,619 hours of flight time.

And between the two of them, they've piloted every variant

of this capable and trustworthy Airbus A330 aircraft.

You're in good hands.

That's weirder than the gal from TGI Fridays.

You doing this because she freaked me out?

Uh, that's an affirmative, Carol.

Please stop that.

It's much more spacious up in first class.

Sure you won't be more comfortable there?

It has lie-flat seats. You could get some rest.

I'm fine where I'm at.

Thank you.

Back in Spain, that was all the English speakers, right?

Anyone with conversational ability, yes.

Tell me about the non-English speakers.

Certainly. What would you like to know?

Anything. Everything.

Well, let's see. Uh, there's Bora Colak, a 68-year-old candy vendor in Istanbul.

He speaks Turkish and loves cats.

In Bali, there's Ida Ayu Dewi. Twenty-three.

Uh, speaks Indonesian Balinese. She's a contortionist and a dancer.

Performs the Barong, the Legong Jobog. It's all quite exquisite.

I'm sure. Keep going.

Uh, Sidore Melis in Sardinia is a fisherman.

Or he was, but he's 89 and retired.

There's Mary Kuksie Akintola. Lives in Maseru, Lesotho.

What... What does she do?

Her family raises Basotho ponies, but she's only eight years old.

- She hasn't decided on a profession. - Next.

Abdul Kareem Alsharei lives in Aden, Yemen.

He's a 37-year-old muezzin.

Mu... Muezzin. That's a... What is that?

He sings the call to prayer.

He has a powerful tenor voice.

He also loves cats.

Okay. But are there any medical doctors?

Any... Any scientists or an expert of some kind?

Oh, yes. According to Time Out Magazine ,

Takeo Kitanaka in Osaka makes the best udon noodles in the entire Keihanshin--

That's not what I meant. Nope.

All right, that makes... What? Um...

Six.

So, you didn't say anything about the guy from, uh...

Where was it? Uh, Paraguay. What about him?

Uh, his name is Manousos Oviedo.

We weren't aware of him for the first 33 hours.

He manages a self-storage facility in Asunción.

So far, he hasn't really communicated with us.

Huh.

I wanna talk to him.

He only speaks Spanish and a bit of Guarani.

- Do you want us to translate for you? - No.

I'll manage.

First thing, once I get home.

We could try him right now, if you like.

He's been a bit reluctant to get in contact.

Try it again.

Uh... Hola, señor. Me llamo C--

I think we got, uh, cut off or something. Try it again.

Hola, yo soy Carol Sturka.

Uh, estoy de los... ...United States--

¡No me jodan más! ¡Déjenme en paz, putas!

Get him back.

Get him back.

¡Chinga tu madre, cabrón!

We're sorry, Carol. We don't think it was personal.

Bye, Carol.

Really, please let us know if there's--

Carol! One... One second.

We have something for you.

We gathered all the mail that was in transit for you.

We think you're really gonna like what's in the box.

Anything else we can do for you, just... just let us know.

Hi, Carol. What can we do for you?

What exactly do you know about what's in this box in my mail?

Helen ordered it for you. You'd been so stressed out on the tour.

You tried one in the Atlanta airport.

But you said it was too expensive, so Helen bought one online.

Did she?

She thought it would make a nice gift to celebrate the end of the tour.

A homecoming present.

Carol?

Okay, here's what's gonna happen.

You're gonna forget everything you know about Helen.

Every memory. Every thought she ever had.