Every Tuesday through my funemployment, I publish a blog post as part of my self-guided learning program. Last week, I republished a post on the reality of small design teams.
Freedom to Roam: 7 tips for traveling in Norway
I have a Google doc that collects words and phrases in foreign languages that aren’t directly translatable in English.
Mono no aware in Japanese means “the bittersweetness of a brief moment of beauty.” Saudade is a Portuguese and Galician word that means “a pleasure you suffer, an ailment you enjoy.” Sehnsucht in German means an “inconsolable longing in the human heart.” The most recent addition to my list is allemannsretten, a Norwegian word meaning “freedom to roam.”
The most recent addition to my list is allemannsretten, a Norwegian word meaning “freedom to roam.”
Those difficult-to-translate words are like tiny windows to their respective cultures, defining concepts and values their people deem important. In Norway, it’s evident that the people love their outdoor spaces.
Since my husband and I set foot in this beautiful Scandinavian country two weeks ago, we forwent the cities and the fjord cruises. Instead, we wanted to be like true Norwegians, roaming and seeking freedom in the outdoors.
We traveled from the Alps inside the Arctic Circle to the remote island in the south where the number of human inhabitants is the same as the number of indigenous wild sheep (56). We ate smoked salmon for breakfast, chilled in the government-sponsored wilderness huts and had plenty of breathtaking views to ourselves.
To make the best out of the country of roaming, here are a few tips (and surprises):
1. No need for cash.
Since Norway has its own currency, we expected to exchange some Norwegian krones for our stay. But to say the country’s infrastructure robust is an understatement — from the alps to the islands, there seems to be no need for cash.
You can swipe credit cards to buy fish in the local market, coffee on a ferry and a bowl of Norwegian meat stew from a food truck.
Unless the 11-year-old son of your Airbnb host happened to catch a big fish and asked if you would like some fillet for dinner for 50 krones to support his fishing business. In that case, you run to the closest minibank (how Norwegians call ATMs) and pay that hefty fee wholeheartedly.
2. Plan around public transportation schedules.
It’s known that public transportation like ferries, trains and buses are reliable ways to explore Norway. But it doesn’t mean that they are available frequently. So before you sign up for any day-long or multi-day adventures, be sure to check the schedule and plan accordingly.
From Møkster, the small island we are visiting this week, to Bergen, it takes a little more than an hour by express ferry. It doesn’t sounds far or complicated in theory, until I checked the ferry schedule. The only departure in the morning leaves Møkster at 6:42am and arrives Bergen at 8am. It means that I’d wait a few hours in Bergen until the museums and shops are open. Or else if I take a later boat in the afternoon, I would arrive in Bergen with only 2 hours to spare before everything else but restaurants closes.
The best website for public transportation schedule in Norway is rome2rio.com. The website aggregates all the information onto its easy-to-search platform, saving hours of switching tabs and translating Norwegian to English.
3. In rural Norway, English isn’t so widely spoken.
The belief that English is widely spoken in Norway is true, but in rural areas, you might be redirected to someone who speaks some English in the laundromat or in the grocery store. Last week, an elderly Norwegian man was eager to help us use the parking meter in Tromsø. Despite all his sincerity and efforts, all we understood was the clapping when the ticket was finally printed.
4. Wine and liquor are available only in state-run stores.
Want to get a bottle of wine to pair with fiskeboller (fish balls, they’re delicious) on Saturday night? Better to plan the trip to the liquor store earlier in the week.
Surprisingly, Norway has one of the most restrictive alcohol laws in Europe. Any alcohol over 4.75 percent ABV is sold at Vinmonopolet, a single, state-owned chain, and the stores close at 3pm on Saturday for the weekend.
To most Americans, who are used to having wine and liquor available for sale in grocery store, the fact that most Norwegians seem to be happy with the system might be more surprising.
5. Trails are harder to hike and aren’t as clearly marked.
To find peace and quiet in Norway requires a little patience and some wayfinding skills. Unless you trek a world-renowned hike, secluded trails aren’t very well marked.
On Lyngen, the island east of Tromsø in the Arctic Circle, the trailhead to the most iconic view of the alps is behind the bushes next to a passing place on the road. One can easily miss the parking area if you don’t have a detailed trail map.
So don’t expect to see the big brown metal signs from the National Park Service in Norway. Instead, buy hiking maps in advance, bring trekking poles and be prepared for a good workout. Norwegians are used to hiking up and down the mountains after work, so the trail difficulty rating is skewed toward… difficult. On a moderate hike, one can expect some scrambling on slopes with more than 30-degree incline.
6. Norwegians like their solitude.
“If you run into someone in the mountains, you might as well turn around,” says Ingrid, our Norwegian guide at the northernmost distillery in the world, “the hike is ruined.”
That’s perhaps not an exaggeration of how much Norwegians appreciate their own solitude, and that of others, in the wild. In the rare occasions that we crossed paths with locals, we greeted each other and moved on. More often, we spotted hikers from far away, but never ran into them on the trail.
So don’t be surprised if Norwegians take a turn and go on a side trail to preserve their solitude in the mountains.
7. Indulge in Norwegian salmon.
After all, it was Norway that introduced salmon nigiri to Japan.
Yup, that’s right. We have Project Japan to thank for the salmon sushi. Thirty years ago, Norway established a seafood trade with Japan and thus brought raw salmon to the Japanese dinner table. Before then, the Japanese only grilled or dried salmon, and considered the fish to be too lean to eat raw. How the times have changed!
So when in Norway, indulge yourselves with salmon prepared in all fashions.
Whether Norway is next on your list of places to visit, the country that celebrates allemannsretten, the freedom to roam, deserves a special place in a traveler’s heart. True, it is an expensive country to explore, but the allure of solitude and the stunning natural beauty, never more than 15 minutes away, are free.
Have you come across a word or phrase that’s also difficult to translate in English during a trip? I’d love to hear about it and grow my list.
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