During our descent into Oslo, I couldn't help but notice the similarities to Oregon's Willamette Valley. I joked with Haley that we could have hopped on a two hour plane ride, rather than the sixteen hours of combined flight time, and ended up in practically the same place. But I quickly learned the travel time, airplane food and movie binge session was well worth it. Oslo is truly lovely. Even as jet lagged and zombiesque as we felt, we managed to enjoy every moment of our brief stay. It was easy to navigate and incredibly clean. The airport has a self-explanatory train that takes you right into the heart of the city. For some reason I had deemed myself navigator, so the pressure was on! After a few wrong turns upon leaving the train station, we found that orienting ourselves in the unfamiliar city was easy and we made our way to our hotel. We had done a small amount of research on what there was to do in Oslo, and as we only had 24 hours we didn't skip a beat.
Haley makes a beeline to the Royal Palace. (Molly Stanko)
After dropping off our luggage, my royal-obsessed travel partner beelined it toward the Royal Palace, and I tried to keep up. We spent the afternoon wandering the lush grounds of The Jubilee Park, which was full of sculptures (we quickly discovered the Norwegians are fond of unique and weird statues) and other activities since they were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the crowning for the current King and Queen. Haley was even able to write them a congratulatory note.
Haley writes the Queen a message. (Molly Stanko)
Although we didn't have any set plans, we found our way to the harbor which was packed with people and our time was well spent wandering around the streets and simply taking in the scenery. We stumbled upon a festival with lots of music and food venues. We didn’t get around to asking anyone what exactly was happening, but we did enjoy the sights and the food.
Enjoying the busy streets of Oslo. (Molly Stanko)
As someone who considers eating a favorite activity, I was looking forward to trying some authentic Norwegian fare. For dinner I ended up eating Poke, a Hawaiian dish of raw fish and rice, from a food truck. Not exactly Norwegian, but I was teetering on a line of hangry and I didn’t want Haley to experience that ugly side of me. I figured we were on the water so the fish must be fresh, and I was not disappointed! Regrettably, I can’t say l was able to eat my weight in Norwegian waffles and brown cheese. I guess I will just have to return to Norway for the hiking and the food!
We ended our evening atop the famous, Olso Opera house and enjoyed the 360 view of the harbor sunset. The next day, mid-morning we returned to the airport for our next stop, Longyearbyen!
The holiday of a lifetime. The company is Alaksa-owned and thhat makes a big difference to the experineces you get i.e. meet genuine First Nations tribes people. The amount of wildlife was beyond my expectation, and seeing everything on sucha small, intimate boat made it even more spoecial and unique.
Liz O
1 day ago
Adventure Life covered all the details in planning our trip to Ireland. Any questions we had were answered immediately. Any trip glitches, which always happen when traveling, were resolved immediately. There were no worries, just fun!
Kathleen Weller
1 day ago
It was an outstanding, up-close, educational vacation of nature, culture, history, animals and geology! It was everything they promised! Binoculars were plentiful on the boat, but I'm glad I brought my own. Food was excellent. Rooms had black-out shades. Pack/wear multiple layers of clothing (I carried a small backpack when off the ship). Crew were delightful and very accommodating! Remember to jump FEET FIRST first when taking the optional polar plunge! Spend as much time outdoors as you are able and ENJOY!!!
Janet Dutton
6 days ago
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
1 week ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.