Scandinavia Roadtrip 2016
Day 1 – July 15
Hovden
- We started from Kristiansand at around 2 pm as we went to office to have free coffee and say bye to our beloved colleagues. It was about 3:30 hrs driving to Hovden from Kristiansand. The roads turned out to be quite scenaric which we didn’t really expect. We means me and my friend Jann. At Hovden we did camping, which was my first camping experience. Although I couldn’t sleep well but it was quite exciting.
Day 2- July 16
BERGEN
- We started towards bergen around 10 am in the morning .
- Stayed at a hostel run by volunteers from Christian missionary named ‘intermission’. It was kind of cheap, only 195 nok per bed though it was a shared dorm with 28 other people. My first dorm experience .
Day 3 – July 17
Loen
We started driving towards molde and we knew we need to stay somewhere in between . Initial plan was to go to ballestasd. It was raining heavily, so camping with tent was not possible .we decided to go further than ballestasd . Odelan , stryn or loen ! These small villages were close to each other and we made our mind to stay at any of those. I started to call camping and cabin sites . But everything seemed full! Downloaded couchsurfing app and found only one couchsurfing user in all the 3 targeted area. Magda! …… at the end ended up at her place where she lived with 4 more polish people .all of then were working at hotel alexandaria for the summer . They saved us for that night . They were such amazing people . It was 2nd time I was hosted by someone from couchsurfing after 3 years. My first experience was in hamburg 3 years back , which was awesome too but after that nobody accepted to host me for 3 years and I almost thought nobody will host me again .
Day 4 – July 18
Molde
We left for molde around 11 am. We thought of pass by tH geirangerfjord by ferry was we rEad in lonely planet that its tHe most scenic ferry ride on Norway. The beauty of the fjOrd was splendid but too many People on thE ferry which reduced our Excitement a little bit . After driving quitE few hourS and taking 3 ferries in total we reached molde. Following tHe successful couchsurfing Encounter day before I wrote to few mOre people on CS for our stay in Molde .
Day 5 – July 19
Trondheim
We have to the molde jazz music festival at around 12 after leaving Elina’s super nice place. Walking around the festival for an hour we started to trondheim around 1:30 pm. We took the ferry from Halsa which was 131 nok and rather short. Today we are going stay in the woods in a cabin. I saw a post in Facebook nomads group from Rune, that he has a summer cabin near trondheim and willing to host travellers. That’s where we are heading now (16:00).
We arrived in trondheim at around 6 pm. Parking our car somewhere in the city, we visited the centrum and mathat .passing by the trondheim Havn we get back to car to head to Rune’s place.
Day 6 -20 july
Still in trondheim . Started in a hostel named “ttrondheim hostel “ in the city . 300 per nok night . First hostel experience . I was the first guy from Bangladesh to stay at this hostel, i puT a red dot on the map in tHe dinning over chittagong . Juanita joined us today. We did city exploring today . Had lunch at ‘mat fra hagen ‘ I had hawaii burger which was awesome .
I took a nap while Jan and Juanita wEnt swimming . For nightout we went to Ramp bar , a bit underground, totally creepy Place . Went bAck to hostel soon.
Day 7 – 21 July
Bodo
The weather is so nice . No rain but we wiLl be driving al day . Its aboUt 10 hrs driving from trondheim to bodo. On our wAY to BoDo, we dropped by a lake anD Jan and jhuanita went swimming . I also wAntED to swim but water was a bit colD and I was having issues with sinus since morning . WE arRiveD aT bodo at 1 am.
DAY 8 -JuLY 22
Å -Lofoten
We are 4 nOw including sudip. We stayed at hIs place at the night. It’s 15:31 and wE just got into the fErrY to Å. It’s a 3 hrs ferry. At bodo I with sudip went to the 17th floor of scandic havel , the view was jUst amazing .
The ferry ride is awesome . View is too good. Finally out of network coverage .
Day 9 – July 23
Lofoten islands- reine
Did ccamping . This time prepared so good for cold at night but it was very hot at the end, could not really sleep well, going for hiking now (11:42 am).
We attempted to climb the Reinebingen but I failed. I came down from very close to the top. I suddenly got hight fobic and got scared and my body was shaking . My friends made it to thE top. I was lying juSt beside the sea and hope gona swim soon (16:33).
After sWim we went to a fancy Restaurant named Bacalao at reine where I had the traditional dish Bacalao . ItS a fish dish with potatoes and tomatoes and Salat . Then we drove an hoUR to the hiking track of kvalvika . We crosSed the mountains and reach tHE beach where we camped . The Hiking was a bit tough for me. It waS more than 1:30 hrs of Hike .
Day 10 – July 24
Kvalvika – Svolvær
I woke up a bit latE. 11 am. Had some food, roamed around tthe beach . Couldn’t take much ppicture as my phone was out of ccharge as well as network, also left tthe soNy alpha in tHe car.
The hike back to car was very tough for me, as the first part was very stef. At around 3 pM wE started for Svolvaer. Reached there at Around 6 pm. Had lunch cum dinner at fancy restaurant named again Bacalao . I had whAle steak , it was llike beef meat. Sudip took tthe hurtigruten to way back bodø. We started for Andenes . THE Plan is to stAy tthere tonight then tomorrow morning to tthe whAle ssafari park. We gonna stay in ccabin jjust by tHe artic sea.
Day 11 – July 25
Andenes
It’s about 9:30 in the morning . We just left “stave camping “ where we stayed in a cabin last night . We are heading to Andenes to the whale safari . There was only 3 Places available on the boat and we are 3 persons. Let’s see how it feels to see the whales from close .
Waiting in the ferry Queue to sonja from andenes. Just done with whale watching followed by guided museum tour at andenes whale safari.
Senja : The magic Island
The view from the ferry was so cool that I ran to outer desk to Take pictures . After Arriving there wE had lunch cum dinner . WE stopped many times to see the scenic view of Senja . then started to drive further North , Close to the ferry to tromso , which we will take Tomorrow morning .
Day 12- JuLY 26
Tromso
Took the ferry at 9:30 am and arrived tromso by 12 noon. Meet Mr. Yunus infront of pepeys pizza in the city center. We wEnt to ssee the Beautiful cchurch crOsSing tthe bridge. Jan and jhuanita went to their city discovering tthemselves .
Had lunch with Yunus at his place . HE cooked for me. It was awesome . I went out alone in the evening , sitting beside tthe sea and had coffee at Cafe sann wway back home. Had long conversation with Yunus before sleep and seemed we have similar view about life.
Day 13 – July 27
Tromso / Sweden / Finland
It was a weird Day . WE were in 3 countries in a single dAy and more than 5 hours in each country. Afte dropping Jhuanita at tromso airport , we went to Fjellheisen at Tromso . Then our plan Was to Drive through Finland to Haparanda . Unfortunately the road to Finland From Norway in tHe north was closed due to falling rocks from mountains. We had to go back and tAke the route through Sweden . We arrived in Kiruna, Sweden at around 11 pm. Walked Around a bit , had some crancabol and started driving towards Tornio , Finland . At around 5 am we Arrived in a city in Finland , build our camps and slept.
Day 14 – July 28
Tornio
WE woke up at around 11 am. It wwas too hot Inside tthe tent and mosquitoes were horrible. Now, 12:10 pm we are heading towards tornio. The plan iis to have breakfast there. After having brunch with beef steak we roamed around tthe city for couple of hours . Then started driving again .
Umeå – Sweden
We arrived at Umeå at around 7 pm. I liked tthe city . It was iin a ffestive mood at that time. We roamed around a bit , visited tthe sculpture parl “Umedalens Skulpturpark “. Stared driving again and camped somewhere between umeå and sundsvall . The place is called Örnsköldsvik.
Day 15 – july 29
Stockholm
Started to drive towards Stockholm at 10 am. Suddenly made the plan to stop by uppsala. Arrived at uppsala around 3:30 pm. Visited gamla uppsala and the uppsala university which is the oldest university in Scandinavia founded in 1477.
It’s 6:30 pm now, heading towards Stockholm . Decided to have dinner at a Vegiterian restaurant named hermitage . Then go to our airbnb place at around 9 pm.
Day 17 – JuLY 30
Stockholm
The plan was to visit the city. Went to visit the royal palace followed by the Nobel museum . Then had lunch in a bengali restaurant , quite liked the food and environment . Didn’t really know it was a bengali restaurant , went there following Google review . Then had a coffee another cafe, where met the indian-australian-swedish guy Neil. Such a nice guy. Offered jann a place to stay at his place as jann was a bit stressed about his accommodation for that night and I was also leaving Stockholm for Kristiansand as I was already a bit tired of the whole trip.
July 31- back to Kristiansand and sleep.
