To sum up the entire trip, it was one of the best I have ever taken.
Every single place felt like a new world.
Two full days in Oslo was more than enough and maybe if I’d been there at the start of the trip rather than the very end, I would have thought it was pretty good.
But compared to Svalbard, Tromso, Bergen and the train, it fell way behind.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s a perfectly nice place to spend a few days, just don’t spend any longer. You simply don’t need to.
The highlight was what I went for in the first place - the polar night on Svalbard.
Just magical and even coming to the end of it, it was surreal walking around in the middle of the day being nighttime.
I was bummed that I couldn’t do the ice cave tour, but that’s travel.
Tromso was breathtaking. Such a gorgeous place.
Bergen surprised me. Very laid back, but with the right amount of beauty, sophistication and history to be well worth spending time there.
All of the internal flights, and I’ll include Nordic Regional from HEL-OSL and back, were on time and very good, even the budget carriers SAS, Norwegian and Wideroe.
Finnair international is a very solid option given the competitive prices. The wifi is rubbish, though.
The best flight was Qatar DOH-MEL. The crew were great and the 13 hours flew by because all I did was eat and sleep - two of my favourite things. The free Starlink wifi is a bonus and works well. The Qsuite is private and even though it’s not a new concept, it is such a great way to fly.
Yes, I will consider paying extra next year if I can arrange Qsuite legs all the way, although nothing is guaranteed.
With Finnair not codesharing with QR soon, they will be flying their own metal from MEL to Bangkok and onto Helsinki.
Although the hard product on the A330 is wonderful from my point of view because of the length of the bed and no angled footwell.
The soft product is perfectly adequate without being anything amazing.
I liked the lounge in HEL as well. The last, and first, time I used the lounge, it was a flight from Helsinki to London and then, the UK was part of the European Union, so I must have been in the Schengen lounge which wasn’t great. The non-Schengen lounge is a ripper.
The Al Mourjan business lounge in Doha is the best I have ever been to. I’m not a fan of lounges anyway, but this one was amazing. Staff were brilliant, food service, bar service, showers all top notch.
It’s too hard to pick just one wow moment so I’ll list a few.
The moment I stepped off the plane in Longyearbyen and it was dark at 2pm. My eyes and brain were in complete overload. It simply did not compute.
The views from the cablecar summit in Tromso were breathtaking and so was the cold up there.
Things to note for future travellers to Norway.
Getting around is easy. If you like walking, it’s easy to walk just about anywhere.
It’s safe. As a 184cm, 95kg white male, I realise my privilege and the things that go unnoticed that might bring, but it seemed like a very safe place.
It’s expensive (duh!). Plan your spending money accordingly.
People are reserved. You won’t be striking up a conversation with someone at a bar, or if you do, you are either strikingly attractive or way too charismatic to ignore, of which I am neither. Norwegians are polite and friendly and helpful, but are very reserved with strangers in a social situation. As an introvert, this was totally fine with me, but if you are a social person travelling solo, you may need to put your expectations of meeting and talking to locals aside.
It’s clean. There is barely any litter.
It’s punctual. Things generally run on time. All my trains, buses and planes and organised tours ran to schedule. The only thing that was late was the airport bus from Longyearbyen to the airport, by about 20 minutes.
Wear layers if you are going in winter. Longjohns were a life saver, although they were $6 ones from K-mart and were better than nothing, but invest in some woollen ones and your legs and butt will thank you. Same goes for the top half. And wool or merino thermal socks are a must. The one (or two, really) thing that I cannot recommend enough is to wear proper footwear. I have a pair of proper cold weather boots and I could not have gotten by without them. A neck gaiter came in really handy and so did a pair of thin gloves to wear as a layer underneath a proper set of mittens or thermal gloves. You could also buy a thin beanie as a layer underneath your proper one. Generally I got by pretty well with a T-shirt, fleece and a good high-loft puffer jacket.
Crampons are easy to buy online before you go. They take up little space, are easy to put on and take off and I think I paid about $25 for a decent pair and although I only used them once, they may just save you a broken elbow, wrist or coccyx.
If there is fresh snow, walk on that. It’s the snow that has melted and then refrozen to form ice, that is hard to see and the most dangerous.
It snowed properly only once when I was there - in Tromso one night, but I didn’t have to walk far, and in Oslo and Longyearbyen there were only light flurries.
An umbrella is mostly useless if there is any hint of a breeze. You are much better off investing in a decent waterproof rain jacket, which I had, but didn’t need, although I was glad it was there in case.
If you are like me and feel the heat indoors, consider a small portable USB charging fan. Most of the rooms aren’t able to be turned down to a bearable (for me) temperature and some planes, and the scenic train, were set at an unreasonably high temperature. Having my little fan with me was like having my best friend in my backpack. I used it for sleeping, planes and the long train ride and even in airport lounges where I just needed a bit of circulating air. I was lucky in that all planes but the QR777 had air vents, but these are a dying breed nowadays.
I’m not a museum or art gallery person. My idea of a day out on holiday is just to get out and walk around. Sure, I planned some tours and some things to do in advance, but if you just like getting out of the hotel and seeing where your feet take you, Norway will provide.
Finally, if you are not a Swede or don’t have Swedish background, if you say something humorously disparaging about Sweden, you will be treated well. In sports, Norway could finish second last, but if Sweden is last, then it is counted as a win.
