Oslo, Norway

As promised in my last post, I will take you through each of my travels in 2018, writing about my experiences. My travel to the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in March marked my first international travel in 2018, even though it was just a short 3 day trip. It was meant to be a celebration for my 30th birthday, so as you can imagine, I had mixed feelings! ;)

A bit of reading will tell you about the history of Oslo, one of the biggest and most important cities of Norway. Situated close to the harbor, it is an important trade city and houses many local and international industries. From a traveler's point of view, I found Oslo to be very global, with a good mix of what seemed like natives and expats. English signboards everywhere made it very easy for us to commute and we took the Flytoget from the airport to the city center, a comfortable 20 minute ride. We stayed at the PS: hotell in the city center, which was very well located and offered us a comfortable stay over our short trip. It was a no fuss, no frills accommodation, but came with a wholesome continental breakfast with some local delicacies and a great view of the city.

My husband and I like to see cities on foot, walking through the streets and noticing the details. In the middle of March, this did mean that we saw snow everywhere, even though locals told us that the snow had overstayed. Surprisingly though the strong sunshine made us feel a lot warmer than we did in London.

We picked up the map we got at the hotel and found our way around. The highlight for me was the walk up to and inside the Akershus Festning (Fortress). This 13th century castle has a royal aura to it as it used to be the Royal residence until the late 16th century. The complex also houses government buildings as it continues to be the center of state power in Norway. 

From here, we walked to the harbour area, where the Oslo Opera House sits and watched as young men and women dipped in the waters. This is a popular tradition in Norway, in which people follow up a hot sauna with a cool dip in the ice-cold waters of the fjords. We did not have the courage to try it ourselves, but from far, it did look like something we could have planned for!

Overall, Oslo was a good mix of culture and contemporary for me. Norway is an expensive place, but after London, the pinch wasn't very pronounced. However, if you have traveled to other places in Europe, you will definitely see a big difference. People were friendly and helpful and very 'urban'. I do think that the other cities of Norway would give one a more local experience of the country so that one remains for our trip to see the Northern Lights. :)

Next up is Turkey, which is my absolute favorite place in the world- watch out for it! :)

 

Back with a B?

Let's just say, its been a while!

I took a really long break and much more than just me has changed over these 4 years. For me, I have gone ahead and got myself a shiny new degree (an MBA), relocated from India to the UK, changed my profession by sector and function AND got a new roommate in the form of a husband!

More importantly and much more impactfully, social media has changed and somewhat shifted how people consume content, which has also made me move to other platforms, most notably Instagram.

However (there always is one, right?), I have come to realize that while my photos capture the moods and beauty around me, I do feel the need to pen down or spill out the emotions and stories as I trot around the world. As making videos might take a while, I'm going to resurrect my writing and start with blog-lets. This one is an intro to what will follow over the next few weeks.

Now, for context, my husband is a legit traveller. I like to travel too, for the fun and the experiences, but he's got a goal- all countries by 2022 (he's at number 54!). Of course, as I have a 9 to 5 (let's just say that for now for my wishful thinking continues as 2018 draws to an end *sigh*) job, it is impossible for me to keep up with his goal, but I do get to tag along to some unique destinations and increase my count too (I'm at 35!).

Keeping this in mind, we spend a lot of time planning our holidays, so that they serve dual purposes of enjoyment and check box ticking. This year, I managed to visit 7 new and 5 old countries, partly with him and partly for work. I'll write my next 12 blogs on each of these experiences. It does go without saying that travel is fully therapeutic for both of us and we eat (well mostly- I'll tell you why), sleep and breath the cultures when we are there. That said, in some cases just one or two cities hardly do justice to soaking in a country, so we plan to go back and explore them in a much more holistic way some time soon!

Until my blogs come, do look at my Instagram handle (@thegirlwithsmallfeet) to see some of the experiences. Seriously, I do have very small feet, so just felt like the right name for someone still trying to take very big strides! :)

Adiós (as I'm currently in Spain!),
Priya