This travel update is for our two days traveling from Mulberry Florida to Oslo Norway, it covers July 17 – 18.

July 17, 2023 – Monday: A Long Distance Travel Day!

These days are always interesting and last more than 24 hours.

We didn’t need to return the rental car in Fort Lauderdale until 4PM today so I went for an early jog in Mulberry, Florida this morning then cooled down and showered. We took our time packing today since this is the day our new Dakine 120 liter bags will go on an airplane for the first time.

We left Mulberry a little before 11AM and went east on state route 60. We stopped for lunch at a little local restaurant called Bill’s Café in Lake Wales and had a nice, inexpensive lunch.

When we hit Interstate 95 we turned south and headed for Fort Lauderdale Airport. Our gas stop took longer than I had expected and we were delayed by two accidents and we ended up getting to the Avis rental car return place 31 minutes after we were due. But the girl didn’t mention it so I was relieved not to have to pay for another day of the rental car.

Just a thought, I think this is the cheapest and most convenient way to get from my brother’s house to the Fort Lauderdale airport. Get the rental car the day before then just drive it to the airport and drop it off. The cost was $59 USD.

We took the bus from the rental car building to Terminal 4 and got in line for the Norse Atlantic flight to Oslo. Here’s Patti in line. We’re both traveling with our 120-liter Dakine rolling bags and our REI Trail 25 backpacks. Additionally, Patti has a rolling carry-on bag, a purse, a small pillow and blanket, and a water bottle carrier.

Patti spent countless hours decorating her new rolling carry-on bag. Here’s close-up pictures of her creation.

While in line Patti talked to the guy in front of her who was returning to his homeland of Lithuania. I talked to the girl behind me who lives in Oslo and who gave me some good information about how to take the train from the airport. After we checked in we went through security. They opened Patti’s rolling carryon to inspect her bag of Reese’s Pieces which they said looked suspicious and they opened my backpack to inspect the new laptop for explosives. I would have been angry with Lenovo if the new laptop had explosives in it!

Then we found a place out at the concourse to wait.

We had about 3 hours to wait so we got food and I watched people. By 10PM we were on the plane. Patti likes to take pictures of us sleeping (not sure how she does this while asleep).

July 18, 2023 – Tuesday: On The Plane

This plane didn’t have the map showing our route, just a data display. In case you wondered, it’s 4,780.34 miles from the Fort Lauderdale airport to the Oslo airport, as the 787 flies.

Norwegian Airlines stopped flying their Boeing 787s during the COVID and then Norse Atlantic Airlines acquired them for about the same purpose, namely low cost, long haul flights across the Atlantic. It cost $1022 for both of us to fly one-way. I like the 787, and the shape of the wing appeals to me.

Here’s our plane on the ground in Oslo.

We had a good experience with Norse Atlantic, no issues.

We dozed at the start of the flight then ate a dinner of chicken, noodles, and vegetables, then got some more sleep. The Samsung Health app on my smart watch tells me I got about 3 hours of sleep on the trip, which I was happy with. I didn’t feel too badly when we got off the plane. It was around 1:15 PM Oslo time.

We went through immigration first and got our 90-day Schengen visas, then, before we got to customs, Patti found her first Norwegian Shopping Opportunity so she headed into the Duty Free Shop to scope out the price for Baily’s Irish Cream that she adds to her coffee every morning.

The place was big and had lots of stuff to buy including lots of booze.

Then we went to baggage claim. When our 50-pound (approximately) bags came around on the carousel I let Patti pull them off, she needed the exercise. She’s strong! Notice she’s still wearing her 15-pound backpack in this picture.

Google Maps is working well here so I was able to use it to map transportation options around the area and get a recommended route to our Airbnb.

So, once we had our luggage we went to the automated kiosk and bought tickets for the Flytoget express train into downtown Oslo.

It was about a 50km trip and was another nice, quiet, smooth train experience and the countryside was green and lush.

We debarked at the Oslo Main Transportation Terminal, here’s Patti in the terminal.

We went outside and walked about 400 yards to a tram stop. The walk took us on a pedestrian only street that was quite busy with people.

I had downloaded the “Ruters” app to buy tickets with my phone and I bought two 1-hour tickets for “Zone 1” for $4 each. I thought that was kind of pricey, most cities we’ve been in would probably give us a full 24-hour unlimited ticket for that price. We only went about 2.3 kilometers. The Ruters app was very easy to use though. Here’s Patti on the tram.

To get the keys for our Airbnb we went into the grocery store right next to the tram stop and I used the “ShareBox” app that I had downloaded onto my phone to open door #17 and retrieve our keys. That was interesting, there was a bank of small doors on the wall and when I pressed the “open” button on the app on my phone our door sprang open. Here’s a picture from their website of a woman doing that. It’s a way to share keys with various people.

Then we walked around the corner to our building at Vidars Gate 4. This is a five floor walkup (no elevator) and as luck would have it our Airbnb is on the 5^th floor. So, we lugged our bags up the steps. My big bag weighed in at 46.8 pounds last night at the airport and Patti’s was 48.8. I was huffing and puffing when we got into the apartment.

This Airbnb is a studio apartment, here’s Patti in the kitchen with the dining table.

Here’s Patti in the living room, about 10 feet from where she was in the previous picture.

The living room also has an old Roland FP-5 digital piano, quite a coincidence since I have an FP-3.

Our loft bed sits on top of the drawers and hanging clothes rack and we have an aluminum step ladder to get into bed. In the middle of the night when I get up to pee, I have to take my time going down the ladder in the dark and half asleep.

The bathroom is small but functional and we have a washing machine.

Unfortunately, all our hosts’ possessions are here, it looks like he temporarily moves out of the apartment when he gets an Airbnb guest. So, there’s not much room for us to put our stuff. But we’ll make it work.

After we unpacked a bit we walked down the street and got pizza at the Laundromat Café. We enjoyed talking to our waiter, he’s a British guy who has lived in Oslo for about 4 years now. Here’s Patti with our pizzas.

Then we went by the Extra grocery store for some breakfast foods. We enjoy strolling the aisles at local grocery stores because of the interesting differences and similarities in types of foods and brands. For example there was a lot of Coca Cola, a brand we’re familiar with, but I bought a bag of Friele instant coffee made in the Netherlands that I’ve not seen before.

After that we walked home, did some more unpacking, and got ready for bed. I crawled into the loft around 11PM Oslo time, which was about 32 hours from when I woke up in Mulberry, Florida, USA yesterday.

Future Plans:

• July 18 – 26: We’ve got Airbnb reservations at this Airbnb in Oslo
• July 27: We’re flying Norwegian Airlines from Oslo to Longyearbyen.
• July 27 – August 2: We’ve got an Airbnb reservation for a place in Longyearbyen.
• August 2: We have flight reservations on SAS to go from Longyearbyen to Tromsø.
• August 2 – 10: We have an Airbnb reservation for a place in Tomsø.
• We’re thinking that after Tromsø we’ll head south down the coast of Norway. We’ll make reservations as we go.
• October 17 – December 3: No plans yet.
• December 3 – 9: I’ll be participating in research in Durham, North Carolina at the Med-El facilities there. Med-El is the company that made my cochlear implant and they’re going to put us up in a hotel and I’ll spend 9AM to 4PM for 5 days that week being a lab rat. They say they will test various new programming options for my cochlear implant with the goal of improving their systems. It should be fun, I’m looking forward to it.
• December 9: We’ll drive to Bradenton, Florida
• December 9 – 31: We’ve reserved a cabin at Horseshoe Cove RV Park in Bradenton, Florida, where we stayed last year around this time. We’re looking forward to singing in the Christmas Choir again.

2024

• January through April: We plan to travel through Belize, Costa Rica, and Panama. We don’t have any reservations yet.
• May and June: We’ve reserved a cabin at Horseshoe Cove RV Park in Bradenton, Florida again and we’ll spend these two months getting our yearly medical stuff done and visiting with family and friends. May and June are “off-season” here, and the rate is $56 per night for these 61 days, which is pretty good for a place like this in this location. In season, January through March, the price doubles.
• After June 30, we have no plans, but we’re entertaining options about where to travel next summer. Maybe Germany/Austria/Switzerland?