Europe 2025

Today marked the end of the Norway portion of my trip. It exceeded all my expectations both in the beauty of the place and just how expensive it is, I did eventually stop converting the cost of my food to AUD in my head. An example was the bowls of fish soup I enjoyed were around 200 NOK. Thats $30 AUD. Nice soup but I’d never pay that in Australia. My budget was 660 NOK/$100 a day. Some days I went over, some I was under and that’s eating 1-2 meals/day. Bloody good food though!

I’m really glad I used the Havila boats to move up the coast. The alternative would be flying as above Trondheim there are no trains. The boat let me see lots of scenery, talk to a variety of people and I learnt much more than I would have taking flights. I’m glad I got off and on though. It gave me time to explore the towns which you don’t get to do doing an excursion from the boat, Thus was reinforced during my excursion in Bodø. The timing to see the Saltstraumen wasn’t the best. The tide goes in and out 4 times a day and it’s best to time the visit with the tidal changes. That’s not possible when the boat has a schedule to keep. They also kept pointing out interesting points of interest Thats we just drove past.
I do have a slight regret I didn’t travel from Svolvær to Kirkenes then back to Tromsø getting off there but then if I’d done that I wouldn’t have been on the northern lights tours on Monday night and had that incredible experience. If I was doing the planning again I’d try and see if I could spend a second night in Flåm.

While I didn’t plan it, each place I stopped in I did a fjord cruise, except Oslo where I went around the harbour on the public transport boat.

The Trollfjorden out of Svolvaer was short but the most spectacular, the Nærøydjord from Flåm to Gudvangen was the next best, it was also the first I did.
I did the Hjørundfjorden with Havila, that was good although not as striking as the first two.
I discussed the Tromsø fjord tour last night, it was more of a general cruise rather than a fjord cruise.

Of the aquariums I visited Ålesund was definitely the most comprehensive and informative. My favourite museum was the Folk museum on Oslo. I could have spent several days there.

The standout activity though was definitely the northern lights tour. Partly I think because I had such low expectations and we had an above average experience. When planning my Norway holiday I didn’t plan it around the northern lights a some who I met in my trip did. It was more that 2025 is meant to be the peak of the 11 year cycle the sun goes through (although there is some evidence it actually peaked in October last year) and they are meant to be good around the equinox. My plans put me in Tromsø at the autumnal equinox so I booked a tour. I’m so glad I did and it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

I’m currently in Manchester. Several people have asked me why Manchester? Simply it was as far north in the UK I could travel with a single flight from Oslo. My original plan had been to explore more of Scotland but that’s been put on the back burner and I’m going to explore North Wales and then the Bath/Oxford/Somerset area.

They flights from Tromsø to Oslo and then to Manchester were fine. It’s a bit of a novelty taking flights of just two hours. The flight from Tromsø was almost full. I literally got off the plane and walked all the way through Oslo airport to sit for less than 5 minutes and then get on the plane for Manchester. I knew it was going to be tight with just 50 minutes between landing and takeoff but it was doable. That flight was only about half full. I forgot about the hour’s time difference between Norway and UK so thought the flight was only one hour instead of two.
I landed about 12:30 and managed to navigate border control and customs without actually speaking to anyone. I eventually navigated my way out of the airport and onto the train to Glasgow. I got off the first stop at Manchester Piccadilly and found my way to the hotel. Fortunately I could check in a bit early as I was exhausted. I was up at 4:45am to catch the bus to the Tromsø airport.
After a shower and short rest I decided to go and check out the Picadilly Gardens. They looked a lot bigger on google maps. The gardens sit between tram stops and bus stops so is quite busy. There was quite an assortment of people there - young families, teenagers and young adults, some quite colourfully dressed. There’s a strip of eateries along one side and they all had student specials. There are a few universities near by and it seems this week is the first week back with teaching beginning next week.Read more