Norway

Since this week is spring break for me and I have two days I can devote to something other than living and breathing literature, Jeff and I have been trip plannin' fiends. We found out a couple of weeks ago that hostels in Norway were filling up fast, so we did our best to get the smaller towns booked on Sunday.

Norway is expensive. So, so expensive.

Our first plan of attack was to buy a Hostelling International membership. You can get it in Portland for $28/adult (though I've found digital memberships for less) and save 10% on hostels worldwide. We're saving enough money on our first two hostels the membership is paid for. YIKES.

The small town we're staying in on our wedding anniversary (appropriately the same name as my last name) does not have an HI hostel, but rather 3 other options: moldy and sleazy, falling apart and sleazy or "mid range" aka a decent hotel at a price considered luxury in Portland. We finagled our way around the internets and found a "frequent guest programme" for the mid range hotel that was free to join and allowed us to save 20% on our room, bringing the price down a bit.

(this brings up another important point - don't get exasperated and book without looking for a discount. I can't tell you how much we've saved over the years just searching a bit deeper)

Eating in Norway is a whole 'nother mess. Every place we stay includes breakfast (a requirement) and I'm a huge fan of bringing food from home to survive slightly less vegan friendly areas, but it looks as if we'll be packing much more than usual. I gleaned a few tips from this lovely lady's blog post and am leaning heavily towards freeze drying everything we have in the fridge. You think I'm joking.

I really can't complain too much though. I mean, what's travel without a little problem solving? Plus, look at some of the sights we get to see in Norway alone:

 Bergen

 Preikestolen

 Stavanger

 Kristiansand

 Oslo

Viking Ship Museum, Oslo (I mean, c'mon)