I cannot think of a more perfect gateway city to kick off an Arctic voyage than the city of Oslo, Norway. The city itself is vibrant, easy to navigate and brimming with activities and attractions to suit all interests - from art museums to the opera house, historical sites and Olympic course sites, even Viking and navigational history. Fittingly for our voyage, Oslo is also steeped in polar history as well, being the home of many famous Norwegian polar pioneers of the Heroic Age of Exploration, including Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen. Our cruise included charter flights from Oslo to Longyearbyen before embarkation, as well as an overnight at the Oslo Gardermoen Radisson Blu, giving us a free day to explore Oslo before we headed above the Arctic Circle. I have been lucky to have the opportunity to explore Oslo a number of times and each time I return, I discover something new. This time around, my friend and I were excited to dive deeper into the footsteps and the stories of famous explorers before embarking on our own voyage to the far North!
But first, flying from Missoula to Norway is no easy commute. Two days before the "start" of our itinerary aboard the Ultramarine, I packed up my warm layers, waterproof pants and comfy clothes for the ship and hopped on plane #1 of many. First stop, Minneapolis, then an overnight flight to Amsterdam and finally one last connecting leg in the morning to Oslo. In Minneapolis, I had my obligatory Rapid PCR testing done, so that I could present my negative results to Quark Expeditions within the window of time specified. I highly recommend planning your longest flight as your red eye, allowing for at least a few hours of sleep on the plane before you connect on to a regional flight in Europe to your final destination. This is not always possible, but when it is, it can be a life saver for long travel days and is exactly what I did. Flight number 2 was my red eye from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, a great opportunity to catch up on a couple new movies and take a lengthy nap. My final leg was Amsterdam to Oslo, where I met my friend Lauren, flying in from Paris, to join me for this adventure.
Oslo- Gardermoen Airport has made it incredibly easy for travelers to transfer straight into Downtown Olso from the airport, relatively inexpensively. While a Taxi or an Uber will run you probably close to $200USD and has a drive time of 45 mins, Travelers can opt to take the FlytoGet Express train directly from the airport terminal to Central Station in downtown Oslo. The comparative cost of $45USD is a huge expense saved, and the train takes about 20 minutes from departure to arrival at Central Station, spitting you out right across from Oslo Sound and the Opera House.
Lauren and I had arranged an additional hotel night in downtown Olso to take advantage of our time in the city before the itinerary aboard the Ultramarine started. After meeting up with each other in the arrivals terminal, we grabbed our luggage, purchased our FlytoGet tickets right at the Automatic Teller in the terminal and made our way to downtown via express rail for a solid night's sleep before our day of planned exploration. Our hotel was a convenient 5 minute walk from the Central Station and located amongst restaurants, plazas and museums, setting us up well to begin our adventure in the morning.
Adventure Life is always an excellent choice when planning complicated, extreme, or exotic vacations or expeditions. They provide friendly professional services and advice and are enthusiastic and encouraging in helping us to prepare and thoroughly enjoy our trip. They handle all the details which greatly reduces the stress of planning a difficult trip. I'm very impressed with Adventure Life and definitely recommend them to friends and family.
Scott Trochim
3 days ago
The response from Adventure Life to my first inquiry was prompt and promising. I worked with Jamie Broeckel, Trip Planner, via text, email, and phone calls- always extremely responsive and thorough with information and explaining the process to arrange a private tour for me to Malaysia Borneo. Within about week, the booking was complete and I made decisions because of Jamie's great customer service , friendly manner, and overall competence on behalf of the company's travel expertise. Now I have an itinerary, additional Trip Planner Assistants, several links for vital information for traveling to Maylasia, etc. Still many details for Sept. trip, but now the heavy lifting is done and I can enjoy the rest of the anticipation and research!! Thanks Jamie- you are amazing!!!!
Susan Campo
5 days ago
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
6 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.
