It’s been a few days since I returned from my first trip to Europe (and my very first time aboard a cruise ship), and in between waking up at 4 a.m. every day and longing for just one more Mai Tai, I’ve had time to gather a couple of my favorite memories from the trip.
Around this time last year, I left the United States for the first time for an incredibly unique adventure in Belize. It was hard to put into words, but I gave it a shot anyway, and dozens of people reached out to share their own similar experiences.
That was really fun. I couldn’t wait to do it again.
So here we go.
Let’s get one thing straight: This year’s trip was much more conventional than island hopping around the remote cayes of Belize. But it’s still a journey I think everyone should consider.
My wife, her parents, and I explored the southernmost shores of Norway, a Scandinavian country west of Sweden and east of the Norwegian and North seas.
It’s probably not the first place you think of when you hear “cruise.” There are no palm trees in southern Norway, and the temperature was typically 20-30 degrees colder than when we landed back in Detroit.
But I think a cruise might be the perfect way to see Norway. We got to see four different cities and all of the country’s natural beauty in just a week’s time. The stops were short, but they felt long enough to see what we wanted to see.
Here are some of my favorite stories.
Stranded atop a mountain in Flam
OK, so we weren’t stranded in a fear-for-our-lives sense, but we did spend the better part of an entire day at the top of a fairly remote mountain without any idea why.
Flam was the northernmost spot on our trip, and also the most inland. The city is absolutely breathtaking -- surrounded by mountains and waterfalls (see above).
We took the Flam Railway (Flamsbana) to the remote Vatnahalsen Hotell at the top of a nearby mountain. It was about an hour-long train ride through the mountains, including a stop at the Kjosfossen Falls.
When we arrived, we had about 90 minutes until another train was supposed to show up and take us back to the city. There were a few walking paths and a zip line viewing area to explore before we made our way back to the small station.
There were probably 50-75 people waiting to take the train back, and after a few minutes, everyone was clustered next to the tracks. Ten minutes passed, then 30, then 50.
People started wondering what in the world was going on.
We could see our guide frantically calling the train company, the cruise ship, whoever she could to try to figure out what was going on. People were looking to her for answers, but honestly, she was just as stuck as the rest of us.
Here’s the thing about this mountain: The Flam Railway is the only way up or down. You can’t call an Uber or walk (trust me, I checked Google Maps). So we were just waiting for a train to come around the bend.
Finally the guide got a call back. Apparently the emergency cord had been pulled on the train that was supposed to pick us up. That stopped the train for about 40 minutes before it could head back down to Flam.
They forgot to let us know, and it was going to be 2-3 more hours before they could get to us.
Some people grumbled. Others worried about getting back to the ship on time. But we figured, hey, it could be a lot worse than being stuck with a view like this.
For the next couple hours, we tried Norwegian beer and snacks with labels we couldn’t read. I don’t think the hotel expected to have several dozen extra guests hanging out for the entire afternoon, but it sure didn’t hurt their bottom line.
Every time we thought we heard a train squealing up the tracks, everyone would run to the door. Finally, about three hours after we were supposed to catch our train back to Flam, it showed up, and we were on our way.
Not the most dramatic ending, but how many people can say they’ve been stranded on a remote mountain in Norway? It was fun, in a way. A few more Norwegian beers and maybe I would have taken the zip line down (no, definitely not).
Meeting a Red Wings fan in Oslo
The biggest city we visited, and by far the one with the most to do, was Oslo, the capital city of Norway. Situated at the end of the Oslofjord, the capital city has a little bit of everything: a modern opera house, a complex system of underground tunnels, and even a 13th Century fortress.
There was so much we wanted to see in Oslo that we hired a private guide, Chris, and she got in contact with a driver, Julian.
First of all, Chris was amazing. We handed her a list of places we wanted to see and she immediately had a plan. At every stop -- the viking ship museum, the opera house, the fortress, the sculpture park -- she knew exactly where to go and who to talk to to get us in. We wouldn’t have seen half as much as we did without her.
But the funniest part of the day was the back and forth between her and Julian, who had never met before that day. Julian was tasked with navigating traffic while Chris took breaks from her history lesson to yell last-minute instructions, like, “Wait, turn there!”
“Alright, alright, I’m going!” Or, “You’re the boss!”
He took it well, and to his credit, we got to each stop alive. I wish I could have understood Norwegian to pick up even more of their conversations.
When Julian saw our Detroit gear, he told us he grew up a Red Wings fan, and he wasn’t just saying that. He talked about watching the Wings win the Stanley Cup in ‘97 and ‘98, and even knew the names of some former University of Michigan hockey players.
Turns out Detroit is Hockeytown even all the way in Oslo.
Our favorite stop was Holmenkollbakken, a gigantic ski jump on the side of a mountain with an incredible view. I’ll let the pictures and videos do the talking for this one:
Fjords
Speaking of pictures, you can’t go to Norway without taking in the incredible fjords. I specifically recommend the Sognefjord (to and from Flam).
We happened to wake up around 5 a.m. the morning before our arrival in Flam (we never entirely adjusted to the six-hour time difference from Michigan), and, boy, was that a lucky break.
One glance out the window and we were heading to the top of the ship to get a better view. These were the types of fjords we imagined when we chose Norway.
Some were green. Some were gray. Some were covered in snow. There were too many waterfalls to count, and the fjord was narrow, so we could see everything on both sides.
There are plenty of great reasons to visit Norway, but that trip through Sognefjord would have been worth it all on its own.
We finally won trivia
Everybody loves an underdog story, so let me leave you with an inspiring tale of grit and perseverance.
We played a lot of trivia on the ship. Like, a lot. We were respectable at music and general knowledge, but there were some categories that crushed us, like Australian culture (we lost to Australians. I mean, c’mon).
But there was one category that perfectly aligned with our expertise: TV show theme songs.
Very specific, I know. But my wife’s family really knows their TV. And I helped out too, with Game of Thrones (which was played backwards) and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Some of the songs, like the Friends and Jeopardy! themes, were gimmes. We almost mixed up the Simpsons and the Jetsons, but got them straight in the end. Luckily my wife’s parents knew Charlie’s Angels, Sex and the City, Gilligan’s Island, and Love Boat. I had no clue.
When all 17 theme songs had been played, two teams had perfect scores. It was time for a sudden death tiebreaker.
What theme song could possibly be worthy of such high stakes? I assumed it would be something I had never heard before. I was counting on someone else knowing the answer.
But then it started.
“I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was. Dun dun duh-DUN.”
See, mom? I always knew those days of watching Pokemon would come in handy. It was my time to shine.
And hey, the lyrics ARE fitting for a cruise.
“I will travel across the land, searching far and wide. Dun dun duh-DUN.”
More details
The ship we took was called the Rotterdam, through Holland America. It’s the best cruise ship I have ever been on.
We stopped in Oslo, Kristiansand, Sandnes (just outside of Stavanger), and Flam. Oslo had a bunch of different things to see, and while the other three were definitely worth visiting, they were pretty easy to cover in a few hours.
I also got to see a bit of Amsterdam, since that’s where we flew and where the cruise began. Loved the city. (I still flinch whenever I hear a bicycle, though.)
If you’ve visited Norway, especially the cities we saw, please share your stories with me -- it’s a unique place, and I don’t know many other who have gone. I’m also open to suggestions on where to go next!
If you’re looking for a new place to visit, and you don’t need warm sand between your toes, at least give Norway a look.
