husky dog sledding, dog sledding, Tromsø, Villmarkssenter, Authentic Scandinavia, Hurtigruten, puppies, snow, ice, polar night, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, family travel, traveling with kids, creating family adventures, flying standby
Our most magical experience during our family trip to Scandinavia was Husky dog sledding in Norway through the snow blanketed fields of Tromsø. Truly, we had some incredible experiences in the land of Trolls - a spiritual excursion to witness the Northern Lights in Kirkenes, an authentically cultural journey through the North Cape on the Hurtigruten, and even celebrating...
Airport Food, Pepe's Pizza, Oslo, OSL, Norway, traveling with kids, family travel, misadventures, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, creating family memories
All things considered, during our eight day trip in Norway we actually spent a majority of our time at the Oslo Airport, OSL. Three of those eight days were spent at the Oslo Gardermoen Airport in fact. We had zero success getting on a flight to Tromsø for Christmas, and we had zero success getting on a flight out of...
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...
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...
Scandic Hotel, Kirkenes, Breakfast Buffet Scandic, Hair on Fire, Snow, Winter in Norway, Norway, diapersonaplane, Diapers on a plane, creating family memories, family travel, traveling with kids, misadventures flying standby,
Nothing happened according to plan this trip to Norway. And I mean that in the most literal sense. When we arrived at the Scandic Hotel, chosen because of how often we’d seen it pop up in search results in Google and we just wanted a sure thing, it was early in the morning after our Hurtigruten cruise. We couldn’t...
Best Treats in Norway
With the exception of our two night Hurtigruten Cruise we spent a huge majority of our time eating items from the local 7-11, or Norwegian equivalent Narvesen, during our two week Christmas trip to Norway. We found all the best Norwegian Candy, and not because we love "food-like" items that never have an expiration date, but because most of...
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
Our Christmas in Norway was not as uneventful as we had hoped for and certainly did not plan, and not in the good way where Santa surprises you with something you didn't realize you wanted but absolutely have to have now that you've got it. It was wrought with missed flights, a stinky airbnb, and a birthday celebration that...
Surf and Turf, Kirkenes, Norway, Restaurant, Seafood, American, Winter in Norway, Christmas in Norway, diapersonaplane, diapers on a plane, traveling with kids, creating family memories, family travel, misadventures flying standby
During our entire eight day trip to Norway, we only ate at three restaurants for a total of three meals. Everything was either closed, insanely overpriced, or unappealing. That means we lived off of snacks and were starving the majority of the time. We devoured our meals on the Hurtigruten, and Pepe’s Pizza at the airport filled a very...
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...