Rask Tanke 6: Nomad

Because of the nature of my research I am constantly on the move - new parts of Norway, new towns, new hytter. Somewhere along the way I decided to keep track of all the different places I have stayed for a night.

After 67 days in Norway I have stayed in:

21 hytter
10 Airbnbs
9 hostels
3 locations where I camped in a tent
1 hotel
1 cabin at a campground,
and
1 teepee

That's a total of 46 different places where I've laid my head to rest in 67 days, or a different location every ~1.5 days! Also, with me doing so much hiking during that period, it has been difficult to book lodging in advance; I always try to have contingency plans and factor in flex days to deal with bad weather or just tired legs. That means many mornings I wake up without being sure of where I'm sleeping that night. This type of planning has allowed me to be incredibly nimble - follow the good weather (literally around the country), take recommendations, spend extra days sketching, etc. - but after awhile, it's admittedly a bit draining. Life on the move...

yes, the "1 teepee" is not a joke!

No worries though! I'm writing this post while I sit on a bus from the town of Loen to Oslo, where I will stay for the next two weeks. I have officially finished all of my "planned" excursions! During my time in Oslo, I will be meeting with some collaborators and hopefully doing lots of writing and synthesis of the things I have observed and experienced. This trip has been AMAZING! If I had to rate my time in Norway thus far, I think I would give it a 150 out of 10. I would definitely like to thank the Valle Exchange Program at the University of Washington for this opportunity. I feel so unbelievably fortunate.

. . . that sounded weirdly like a goodbye, but it's not one at all - I'm just getting started! Look for blog posts to start being more frequent now that I actually have time to sit and collect my thoughts. Excited to start parsing through all my photos and sketches!

LEARN NORWEGIAN
hotell = hotel
(ho - tell) *that one should be easy...
telt = tent
(telt)
vandrerhjem = hostel *literally a "home" for a "walker/wanderer"
(vonn - drer - yem)
gjesthus = guest house
(yest - huss)

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Rask Tanke 4: Kvikk Lunsj and Fjellvettreglene

Norway's most beloved chocolate bar is the Kit-Kat-like Kvikk Lunsj (literally translates to "quick lunch"). This delicious confection was first released in 1937, and has been marketed as a packing essential for all hiking and skiing trips since the 1960s. my best attempt at a Kvikk Lunsj ad (also featured: Preikestolen or Pulpit Rock) historic Kvikk Lunsj ad (photo courtesy https://www.freia.no/ ) Historically, different hiking and skiing trails were printed on the inside of the wrappers. If you buy a Kvikk Lunsj today, printed on the wrapper you will find a copy of Fjellvettreglene ("the mountain code"). Fjellvettreglene consists of a series of long-established rules for safety on mountain hikes. Translation: 1. Plan your trip and inform others about the route you have selected. 2. Adapt the planned routes according to ability and conditions. 3. Pay attention to the weather and the avalanche warnings. 4. Be prepared for bad weathe

Travel Map

Although I covered a lot of ground during my adventure, there is so much left of this beautiful country to explore. I will have to return some day : )

From Hytte to Hytte: Lofoten and Vesterålen Part 2

After staying one luxurious night at Maistua in Harstad, Taylor and I made our way back down to our rental car and drove west to Vesterålen - the archipelago of islands just north of Lofoten. While Lofoten has become a well known tourist destination, Vesterålen tends to fly more under the radar. It has a similar landscape, but not near the crowds. See below for a quick time-lapse video taken during our drive: After about two and a half hours of scenic driving we arrived at the small town of Guvåg on the island of Langøya, where after a short hike we reached our destination, Guvåghytta. Guvåghytta the primary lodging cabin is on the left, the two boat houses on the right In 2014 (the most recent year for which I could find such a list), Guvåghytta was voted the DNT's most beautiful coastal hytte. It's easy to see why. Guvåghytta is situated on a small rocky cove and looks out towards the Norwegian Sea. Silhouettes of mountains line the horizon in all directions.

Adam i Norge

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