Olso, Norway, Radisson Blu, Olso Airport Hotel, creating family memories, misadventures traveling standby, family travel, traveling with kids, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, breakfast, hotel breakfast airport hotel
Flights didn’t look good departing from Oslo to Amsterdam on December 30 but if nothing else we are risk takers. What do a couple too few seats even mean to a standby traveler? Anything can happen. After all, we made it on a flight from Kirkenes to Oslo that morning when the odds were against us, and not just...
Christmas in Norway, Winter in Norway, Norway, Oslo, Scandinavia, Europe, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, creating family memories, family travel, traveling with kids, misadventures traveling standby, Christmas, Scandinavian Christmas
Across town, in the opposite direction of the graffiti and promiscuous pictures was where we found our home for Christmas. This darling airbnb, with red cupboards in the kitchen and four single beds laying side by side each other in the bedroom, was perfect for our celebrations. Though we longed to be in Tromsø, we were finally in a...
Kirkenes, Norway, Christmas in Norway, Winter in Norway, Russia, Northern Lights, traveling with kids, family travel, creating family memories,
We found ourselves in Kirkenes after debarking from our two night cruise on the Hurtigruten. Kirkenes is a tiny little town of only 3,000 inhabitants on just over 500 acres, and was upgraded from a village just 20 years ago! The peninsula is sandwiched between the Bøkfjorden fjord, and the Varangerfjord fjord that borders Russia, and the city is...
bad airbnb, oslo, norway, bad host, bad experience, christmas in norway, winter in norway, stinky airbnb, dirty shoes, dirty laundry, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, creating family memories, traveling with kids, family travel
We knew it would be an adventure to travel for Christmas, especially through two different climates and with a suitcase full of Christmas presents, but we didn’t quite anticipate everything that could go wrong, would go wrong. On our first leg of the trip from Salt Lake City, Utah to Galveston, Texas one of our bags of luggage was...
riding in the cockpit, flying in the cockpit, copilot, co-captain, SAS airlines, aircraft, standby, jumpseat, once in a lifetime, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, creating family memories, traveling with kids, family travel
Scandinavian Airlines, SAS Airlines, flies throughout Denmark, Sweden and Norway to 1300 destinations all across Europe. Their slogan, “We Are Travelers” is fitting as Scandinavians travel an average of five times a year throughout the three countries listed above! It was also fitting for our particular family as we are not only travelers, but have Scandinavian ancestry. Everything comes...
Oslo, OSL, Norway, Airport, Christmas saga, stranded in the airport, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, family travel, creating family memories, traveling with kids
Our family trip to Norway was one of those standby adventures gone wrong, but one we probably should have known better to anticipate. I was stressed for weeks leading up to this vacation. We had three flights to take after disembarking the Disney Wonder cruise ship, and making our way to our Christmas destination in Norway. That meant three...
Fish Tales, Galveston, Texas, Restaurant, Pleasure Pier, Seafood, creating family memories, family travel, traveling with kids, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane
We actually had our heart set on some Elephant Ears at the pier to be enjoyed while riding the Ferris Wheel at the end of the dock of Pleasure Pier, but unbeknownst to us, said Pleasure Pier is closed Monday thru Thursday! After drying a bucket of tears and wringing out our soaking clothes from the injustice of it...
Trukkar Og Tæki, Books in Iceland, Children's Books, Children's Book in Iceland, Christmas Traditions, Christmas in Iceland, diapersonaplane, Diapers on a plane, creating family memories, family travel, traveling with kids
We started a tradition the year we went to Iceland: Buy a book in each place we visit. We started this tradition in Iceland, specifically, because we celebrated Christmas here and it is an Icelandic tradition to give or get a new book on Christmas Eve and spend the night reading it. This practice is called jólabókaflóð. We absolutely...
Someone to Watch Over Me by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Book of the Trip, Iceland, Christmas Traditions, Icelandic Christmas Traditions, Iceland Books, Reading, Iceland Authors, diapersonaplane, holidays, diapers on a plane, traveling with kids, family travel, creating family memories
One of my most favorite Icelandic Christmas traditions is the exchange of books on the evening of the 24th of December. After a feast, which begins promptly at 6p, presents are opened by all. Included in the gifts is always the traditional gift of a book. The rest of the evening and the entirely of Christmas Day is spent...
Driving in Winter, Driving in Iceland, Driving in Iceland in Winter, snow, ice, frozen, great white tundra, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, creating family memories, family travel, traveling with kids
Driving in Iceland in the winter can, and most likely will be terrifying and treacherous. Many of the roads are actually closed during the winter because driving conditions are so poor, including the entire northeast region. Driving in Iceland isn’t too bad in the city, but once you leave Reykjavik, country roads aren’t a priority for snowplows. In addition...