June-August 2024

Impossible to not love this country.

Jagged green peaks jut straight out of the crystal-clear water reflecting the midnight sun. I jump into the sea, floating in the glassy water, and look around. It feels like Hawaii, except for one catch: the water is 52F! We watch the almost-sunset turn into an almost-sunrise around 1 AM before heading back to our camp. It's been a month since we've seen darkness, and will be at least another month of endless daylight. This is Norway.

 

Norway. Just the word, to me, evokes Vikings, fog, dark mountains, remote coastline and surreal adventure. It also makes me envious: this is a fantastically wealthy country, with one of the highest quality of life measures in the world. People here live long and live well. As an American, I have found Norwegians to be nearly universally sophisticated, down-to-earth, educated, and yet humble and understanding. They are an all-around fantastic people, and their country is largely void of so many problems plaguing 21st century America. Norway, to me, represents what other countries could someday attain. It's a fantastic country that the world could learn from.

 

I knew for years that Norway would have to be a big trip. There's so much to do and see, so many fascinating towns and people and geography, that I knew we'd have to spend the better part of a summer here, and cover the whole country.

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So, in June 2024, Suhei and I rented a tiny car in Germany for about €25/day and headed north. We spent about 40 days in Norway, entering from the southern border with Sweden, and finishing in Kirkenes before entering Finland. We also flew up to Svalbard for a week, which was a highlight.

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Norway is expensive. We slept in the car or wild camped most nights, with the occasional stay at a campground to grab a shower. Along the way, we took our packrafts, and packrafted a number of magnificent Arctic rivers through Scandinavia. The weather can be bad some days, with torrential rain, but more often then not it was warm and sunny.

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In summary, we found there are simply too many mountains in Norway. You can't see it all in one summer, or maybe even in one lifetime. There are too many peaks, fjords, rivers and canyons to explore. But you can try, and you can reach your own self peak in this incredible nation.

Norway will forever be one of my favorite countries in the world.