Driving along Nærøydalselva by Gudvangen
COVID-19 threw the world for a loop as you know. I was in Oslo, Norway at the time that my life was first affected by the virus. Thankfully, my parents were in agreement with me that I should stay there rather than return to the US and expose myself while traveling internationally.
So I decided to finish up my semester in the country that I started to really enjoy calling home. I began working solely online with my teammates for our final semester project but still enjoying the limited restrictions that Norway had at the time. Norway was quick to close its borders to international travelers coming into the country, hence isolating itself from other European countries that were battling high infection rates. This allowed the restrictions for Norwegians to enjoy the outdoors with the rule being "Keep gatherings to you and 4 others while outside, and don't mix with other groups. Keep distance while inside and limit interior gatherings". So groups of 5 became our go-to.
We were content with still being able to enjoy nature in groups, and thankfully that was the harshest restriction that happened besides in-person classes being canceled.
As the semester finished and the weather got warmer, the restrictions stopped altogether except for tourists - so now we could get a group of us to get together on a road trip to celebrate the end of university. Lets go!
So we started planning for the trip; consisting of a rough layout, and a packing list. We figured the most economical way would be to rent a van with all of us and camp wherever we went.
Also, Norway offers this amazing club to Norwegians called the "Norwegian trekking Association" or DNT. This allows you to stay at their cabins all across Norway for very cheap.
We decided to head out of Oslo around the south of Norway towards Bergen and then as far north as we could go to visit the Fjiords.
The idea was to plan out the next couple of days as we were on the move so that we could react to the weather and how fast we were finishing the hikes and driving between locations. This is my preferred travel method - continual planning depending on the mood of the group along with new cool recommendations that you learn about along the way.
Our first big hike was Preikestolen
Next up we ventured through the gusts to Kjeragbolten. Even if you're not going to climb onto the boulder sandwiched between the two cliffs, you need to visit this place.
This was a long and challenging day. The early June weather had all of the