An unforgettable trip to the homeland of our ancestors

Norway | Sep 25 - Oct 11, 2025

As senior citizens traveling on our own (with too much luggage), this trip looked to be ambitious and arduous. I was anxious about our extensive in-country travel, with all the buses, trains, ships, planes. But it went smoothly, thanks to pretrip communications with Christina, maps she included in the itinerary, and because she booked us into nice hotels close to terminals. Bente in Lillehammer, Stig in Oslo, and John In Bergen were all excellent. We especially appreciated Bente's efforts to bring us to Øvre Ulland, the farm my great great grandfather came from in the 1850's. That was special. Our walk through Oslo with Stig was great. He was easy to talk to about life in Norway, current events, and we were able to effectively explore your beautiful capitol on our own afterwards. At City Hall on Sunday we visited with residents, many wearing their bunads, who were attending a weekly ceremony celebrating and welcoming young children. Three days was not nearly enough time for Oslo. Every part of the country we visited was spectacularly beautiful. We did the Norway in a Nutshell experience with a little hesitation (because we were going to be spending a week cruising with Havila), but we are very happy we did it. So beautiful! The cruise along the coast was lovely. All aspects were great, except for cloudy nights obscuring the Northern Lights. I guess we'll just have to come back and spend enough time away from the cloudy coast to see them. Spending 2 days in Tromsø and the excursion to the Sami reindeer family was also highlights. And the food was great! Minnesota is 1,500 km from the nearest ocean, so to be able to eat fresh seafood 3 meals a day - I was in heaven, gastronomically speaking. Overall, the trip of a lifetime for us. Many thanks, Christina!