I stand, perched upon an outcrop of granite rock overlooking this Norwegian fjord. The sun glares in from behind the ominous clouds rolling in through the distant mountain peaks, piercing it’s illuminated rays through to the ocean surface. If it weren’t for the bitter chill of the arctic winds, you would almost think this a scene from the Caribbean. Bright, tropical blue waters, small islands sprinkled throughout, and the soft, sandy beaches. You can’t help but be moved by such a scene. It’s overwhelming beauty engulfs your senses with all of its stimuli and sparks emotion from deep within. I reflect upon what my life has become. It hits me. Tears begin to swell on the outlines of my eyes. Standing here right now, is real life. I’m no longer on vacation. I don’t return to the real world in a handful of days. This is the real world. I’m so thankful for this opportunity of long term travel, and it’s moments like these that make me truly appreciate the significance of it all. The dream I’ve had since I was a little kid, the dream I have dedicated so many years of thought to, the dream I have dedicated years of saving towards. This dream, it’s here, in the biggest way possible. I went into Norway with very little expectations. I researched almost not at all. I left everything up to my friends to organize. I just went along for the ride, and boy, what a ride it was. I have to say, no matter your expectations, big or small, expect this: this country will blow you away, knock your socks off, drop your jaw to the floor or whatever other cliche for impressiveness you can think of. You name it, this country will do it.

My flight landed in Oslo about 2 hours prior the the rest of the group, which consisted of Raphael, Kristin, Grace, Jonny, Paul, Jenny, Lila, and Ariel. Nine of us would be traveling around this fascinating country together. Though, we wouldn’t meet up with Jonny until we arrived in Bergen, where his flight from New Zealand would land him. Once they arrived, we grabbed our two rental cars and headed to the hostel where we would be spending the night. After having checked into our rooms, a group of us ventured into downtown. It was a quiet Thursday evening, without much excitement, save a few bars bustling with nightlife. We spent around 15 minutes walking around town before we cumulatively decided we were exhausted from the long day of travel and called it a night. This would be the extent of which we would explore Oslo for this trip. I look forward to my next visit to Norway, when I can spend a little more time getting to know the capital city of one of the most awe inspiring countries in the world!

Early the next morning, we ate some delicious free breakfast at the hostel then hopped into our cars and headed off to Bergen. Google Maps estimates approximately 7 hours of driving. Obviously, Google isn’t aware of the group we are traveling with. Filmmakers and photographers, and driving through this country… yea, 7 hours, nooot quite accurate. I’d say roughly 12 to 14 hours give or take. And doubling the time wasn’t even too bad in comparison to the drive through the Lofoten Islands, where we more than tripled the estimated drive time Google supplied. I’d say it’s totally worth every bit of delay.

We spent 3 evenings in Bergen, Norway’s second largest city. Filled with typical European charm, Bergen is a bustling coastal town surrounded by beautiful fjords with mountainous terrain rising out of the ocean inlets. Upon arriving, the car I was in, headed to the city center to retrieve Jonny, and the other car headed to the AirBnB. Grace, who is dating Jonny, made a valiant attempt to surprise him, but confusion in texts didn’t make that quite possible. However, they hadn’t seen each other in person for quite a while, given Jonny lives in New Zealand and Grace lives in Austin, so it was still pretty adorable watching them meet up.

After that, we headed to meet up with the rest of the group. Our cozy AirBnB, situated just a few minutes out of the city center, overlooked the small fjord called Eidsvåg. Once we got settled in for the night after dinner, I wandered the streets down to a spot near the water that I had scoped out earlier from our balcony. I’d hoped to snag a shot of the starry night sky above the neighborhoods that lay on the other side of the fjord. To my surprise, however, I captured much more! Upon viewing the two second review on my camera, I was overcome with excitement. I jumped up and down. There, on my screen, shown was the Northern Lights! They were as near to invisible to the naked eye as you could get, but with a 15 second shutter speed, I was able to capture enough light to clearly show them on camera! To my eye, I could see only just one column and it appeared as the faintest of grey spotlights in the sky. Without having reference to my camera, it would been impossible to spot.

The next morning we ventured into town to see what Bergen had to offer. After chatting with the folks at the information booth, a group of us decided to go for a hike up to the top of Mt. Fløien. Atop we were greeted with stunning views of the city and a small shop to buy souvenirs and light snacks including… Soft-Is. What is Soft-Is you ask? Well, it’s probably the best soft serve ice cream I’ve had to date. I would say it ranks up close to Gelateria La Romana in Rome, which isn’t soft serve, however, I’m convinced is the best ice cream shop in the world. Soft-Is is super creamy and light and you can find it all over Norway. They only served vanilla here, but you can choose from various toppings, of which I chose the chocolate, Nesquick-esque powder. Mmmmm so good. After exploring the city views and the forest on top, we headed back into town and then back to the house for dinner followed by some intense games of Taboo and Resistance.

The next day we headed east of Bergen to the small town, Fjell, for some hiking. Once we set off, I spotted a peak and and decided I wanted to go to the top of it. We wandered the paths that lead in the general direction of the peak, eventually coming upon the path to the summit. We discovered it was named, Liatårnet and sat approximately 1,050ft above sea-level. The trail was a little over a kilometer long but rose nearly all of those 1,050 feet. Needless to say, I was sucking some wind by the time I reached the summit. It was then comforting, as I was panting heavily to catch my breath, to spot a mother with her child in a baby backpack bumbling along as if it was just another Sunday stroll in the park! I’m thinking I need to get into shape!

After soaking in the views and getting some good drone footage, we headed back into Bergen for an incredibly delicious family dinner in town at Bryggeloftet & Stuene. To start off, the friendly waiter brought us some bread. This bread… incredible! Soft, airy, and lightly brushed with salted butter. It was addicting. I think I had entire loaf just myself! As an additional appetizer, I split Smoked Whale and Reindeer with Jenny. Both we’re excellent, bursting with a variety of flavors and perfect texture! For my main course, I ordered the monk fish atop a spicy chorizo sauté. Perfectly cooked. Perfectly flavored. The light flavor of the monk fish, similar to that of lobster, combined with the boldness of the chorizo was the perfect combination. After dinner we headed back to the house for the night and prepared for our trip the next day back to Olso, where we would catch a flight to part two of our adventure, the Lofoten Islands located in the Arctic Circle.

PS: I’d like to give a HUGE shout out to Kristin for letting me use her photos! While I was in the Munich airport, I made the smooth move of setting my laptop down, then walking off without picking it back up. Gone along with the laptop is all of the photos I took in Norway. A bit of a bummer, but that just means I’ll have to head back to get those shots again! Anyway, you should head over to her blog, Eat Create Travel, and give her some love, she deserves it! Oh and don’t forget to check out her instagram too! @eatcreatetravel