Douze Points
I got stood up on this one by a contrary sometime travel acquaintance and it gave me a moment’s pause, given how tight the schedule was and how expensive things would be if I got things crooked. There was an early morning flight toOslo (or 150 kms from Oslo ) on 21 August and an early morning flight home from Skavsta airport almost as far from Stockholm on the 25th. I had to spend half a night at Girona airport, find wifi every step of the way for a nightly news related job I was doing. The Norway-Sweden train link didn’t work out, so I’d be travelling by bus overnight between the two. And to be honest I wasn’t doing this out of desperation to see Scandinavia , more desperation to get away from a summer long Spanish heatwave. A big concern was how to travel with cabin luggage only including the laptop (too much hassle dragging two bags on a trip like this) without roasting/freezing at either end.
I got stood up on this one by a contrary sometime travel acquaintance and it gave me a moment’s pause, given how tight the schedule was and how expensive things would be if I got things crooked. There was an early morning flight to
If you are not aware of Norway ’s pricy reputation then you have way too much money. I am not going to pretend here to be broke – I sold my house – but I was broke for decades and wouldn’t have been able to avail of a free ticket to Oslo for fear of being attacked by the price of a burger once I got there. The first thing you will get attacked by if you fly RyanAir to Torp is the price of the bus to Oslo . Given the distance it isn’t exorbitant and I read on a blog that it was cheaper if you use your credit card (alternative is to pay in Norwegian Krone), which I did. So now I don’t know how much it cost! Here is the Torp Express bus company website anyway and the buses meet RyanAir and Wizzair flights.
Accommodation
The room at the youth hostel, the Sentrum Pensjonat cost €55 and I had one of the best nights’ sleep of my life on some kind of a feather mattress, especially after the half night in Girona airport. This was the first of 3 hostels I booked in summer 2009 and I only felt ancient in one (Stockholm ). There was no evidence of the old fascist rules or Nurse Ratchett attitude. They let me hang out in the lounge to work before check-in and after check-out. You can leave your luggage. They minded my laptop when I was out, gave me a token for the coffee machine when I hadn’t been to the bank. I had checked out hundreds of hotels, studios etc and all were impossibly dear and universally cramped. My room at the Sentrum was spacious and clean in a well worn kind of way. I care more about the bedding than the carpet and that was crispy clean. I reserved the Sentrum via HostelBookers, who offer a good range of accommodation in most cities, not just in hostels, and you can book directly with them and print out a docket to take with you. Very reliable and efficient.
Museums
I think it was five museums I saw in one day – the
Opera House
I was going to be happy enough with this little flit through Oslo if I got to see the sculpture park, and I did. I think I took the T-bane (underground) to a suburb within walking distance of the park. It was quite late in the day, so whatever you might buy a ticket for was closed, but the park was open and full of strollers and it was nice to just wander in a green place after months looking at the red baked earth of Spain.
Weather etc
The end of August weather was balmy - T-shirt weather without goose bumps. I was very pleasantly surprised by this and it was just right for getting around. I didn’t do any eating out because of the price paranoia, but also because on my own I wouldn’t get the same kick out of restaurant eating. I’m happy enough with deli food.
To Stockholm
I reserved all this online before leaving home and had to collect the ticket from a machine in the train station using a confirmation number. All that went well, a bit too well, and I set out a little early to catch the 11.30 pm overnight coach to Stockholm . I was still strolling, having gone three wrong sides of the train station, when I found the departure time to be 11.00pm. All I can say is the teeny Little Infant of Prague statue I carry with me clocked up another notch. I have never, ever had a closer shave. It would have thrown the entire programme, budget, bookings, everything. The journey took nine hours and I thought I would expire, wedged with my rucksack in two thirds of my coach seat up against the knee of the seething passenger next to me who had thought he had the seats to himself. At some point I must have slept, because it was around 6.00 am when I woke up not too far from Stockholm . The bus company is Swebus and you can buy the ticket online here.
Cost
I can’t remember what my RyanAir ticket cost, but it was cheap, and it was August, so you can probably get to Oslo from somewhere in Europe for €20 or €30 and see the city the way I did, ie staying in a hostel, using the Oslo Pass and eating sandwiches. The ticket to Stockholm cost around €32. I think the bus to town cost around €20 or a bit more. But that’s it.
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