Portland to Amsterdam to Oslo

Well, we arrived in Oslo on Thursday afternoon after TOO MANY hours of travel. Our long flight to Amsterdam was uneventful accept for the gastrointestinal issues the man in front of us had.We looked at each other every 15 min or so with the wide eyed OMG face!!!!! HOLY COW DUDE! Though it may have been fatal, it was very tempting to open a window.
   

 View on our way out of Portland, OR

 Amsterdam Airport was decked to to the hill for Christmas. The airport didn't feel like Europe accept for the very obvious lack of overweight people and the plethora of very stylish people (even during travel).

Schiphol Amsterdam 

 

Jonny sporting his  'The Eh Team' shirt

(he had several other Canadians asking him where they could pick up one of their own)

Check out this fantastic couple who were waiting to catch our same flight into Oslo

And this is us after a long long long trip

View right before landing in Oslo

After arriving at our hotel and getting settled, we headed off for some dinner and then came back and proceeded to sleep for the next 18 hours.

Pinching Pennies

While packing and making my usual list of things to remember, Jonny and I were discussing ways to pinch pennies on our upcoming trip to Norway. We are planning on doing several self-guided walking tours and only visiting the museums that are a must see (ironically, most my personal 'must sees', are suggested for kids-ha!). We'll avoid public transit and walk to most of our destinations instead. Luckily this is possible because Oslo and Bergen are walking cities.



Our conversation then took a turn south. When the topic of how to save money on food came up, there were some truly unique suggestions including but not limited to:

1. Costco muffins being packed into our checked luggage-Umm....I can just image TSA inspecting our bags
2. PB and J's-not too bad
3. granola bars and nuts-getting better
4. dehydrated camping food-HOLD IT!

What did you just say?...You want to bring camping food on our trip to Europe! Are you serious? Can you just imagine the romantic dinner scene. Just the two of us sitting in our hotel room waiting for the coffee pot to boil water so we can enjoy our dehydrated chicken and rice? How depressing! It was a nice thought, but I just can't bring myself to do that.

So I guess this is all to say that I hope we can find a happy medium for penny pinching and traveling but some things are worth the extra dough, like skipping the dehydrated camping food when possible.

Fjords and More...

We leave for Norway tomorrow! I really can't believe it! We plan to spend 5 days in Oslo and the take the train west headed to Bergen for another 5 glorious days. Mindy, Kevin and both their families will be meeting us there. The wedding is on Saturday and I'm sure it will be a truly unique event. Kevin's aunt made Mindy's dress (that she designed) last month and it is soooo Mindy!


The only downside to this lovely adventure to Norway is missing the holidays with the family. We will miss all of you! Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!