One day in Oslo...

We landed in Oslo just after midnight on Friday the 10th of July.  When we got to the hostel we were surprised to hear that we were in a room for 8 by ourselves.  8 bunkbeds and us.  Kind of funny.  It was great though - didn’t have to share a bathroom and had a table we could sprawl ourselves out on, plan our day, and play cribbage etc.

When we woke up the sun was shining which felt like something foreign after all of the rain and clouds in Scotland.  Despite a late start we packed a lot in during our one day in Oslo.  We started by visiting the City Hall which is apparently the thing to do in Scandinavia vs. visiting cathedrals which you might do in other European cities.  The building was fairly new having been completed in 1950.  While I was walking around, I realized that the building reminded of something I visited with my Mom in Stockholm….the City Hall!  What a beautiful city and building that was too!  After City Hall we hopped on a bus out to the Viking Ship Museum.  It has three restored Viking ships from circa 890 AD.  Two of them were in great condition, one having been found in the mid 1800’s  and the other one in 1904.  The latter was discovered by a farmer who was out working in his field.  The ships were at one point used as actual ships but then as burial grounds.  It was pretty amazing, all of the stuff they discovered buried with the ship.  The Vikings believed in life after death.  If you had died in battle you were going to meet Odin (a mythical God) and fight the biggest battle of your life.  If you died from anything else, you were believed to be going to the Underworld.  Either way, those who were burying you sent you with a lot of stuff.  Chickens, horses, jewelry, weapons etc.  The richer you were, the more you were buried with.  You know, because you needed to be fully prepared for the afterlife.  I really enjoyed the museum.  Next we headed to the Kon-Tiki museum.  I had never heard of Kon-Tiki but Jake had.  The museum focused on the explorations of a Norwegian explorer, Thor Heyerdahl.  He traveled by raft in 1947 from South America to Polynesia.  He wanted to prove that the islands could have been first inhabited by South Americans and not necessarily by people from Asia.  He documented the trip and won an Oscar in 1951 for the Best Documentary.  That’s pretty cool.  He did a lot of interesting work during his lifetime but another expedition I enjoyed learning about was one he first tried in 1969 (ended in shipwreck) and then tried again successfully in 1970 - the voyage of Ra and Ra II.  He set sail from Morocco to Barbados on a raft made of papyrus.  He wanted to prove that voyages could have taken place on a vessel like this far before the time of Christopher Columbus.  What I enjoyed learning about most for each of these expeditions is who he chose to be part of his crew.  For instance, for Ra - it was the first ship to fly with the United Nations flag.  His crew of 8 was from different countries, spoke different languages and had different religious beliefs.  Not only did Thor want to prove that Africans could have traveled to the Caribbean and South America, but he wanted to prove that regardless of background, people were able to cooperate and work towards a common goal. Thor seemed like a very interesting and totally mental guy.  He passed away in 2002 at the age of 87.

Next we went to the Vigeland Sculpture Park which turned out to be much more interesting that I was prepared for.  The park had over 200 bronze and granite sculptures all completed by one man, Gustav Vigeland between 1920 and 1943.  

The granite sculptures really told me a story.  Each had at least two figures (that’s what most had), and were laid out in a chronological order.  It was a journey of life:  being a child, falling in love, having children, needing guidance from an elder, getting old, caring for your companion, it was beautiful.  There were a handful where I had no idea what the stage of life was, I wish that I did.  Maybe I’ll figure it out as I progress through life.  This was one of my favorites:

The last thing we did before dinner was went to check out the Opera House.  I had read that it rivals the Sydney Opera House when it comes to architecture.  You can walk on the roof etc.  Not much to say other than - cool building!

Now its time to go and explore Bergen!

Jesslyn

Reflections on Scotland

We’ve just left Scotland, and these are my thoughts after 2 weeks, 5 locations, and 1200 miles of driving.  We picked up the car after flying to Edinburgh and drove to Perth, then to Fort William, Portree on the Isle of Skye, Helmsdale, Kirkwall in Orkney, then back to Edinburgh.

Driving
I have driven on the left a couple times before while visiting Ireland, and it has always been a little scary, mostly for the passengers.  This time started that way as well, but I did a lot of driving, and after a few days, got used to driving on the left.  What took more time to get comfortable with was the single lane roads.  We spent a good amount of time in rural areas where many of the roads are only wide enough for a single car, but have 2 way traffic.  Periodically, there are wide spots, just big enough for one car to pull over and let the other by.  That is fine, except for on the hilly, curvy roads where you can’t see the oncoming traffic around the corner.  They also drive incredibly fast on the narrow roads; 60 mph on a road that would be 30 mph in the States.

We only had 1 incident with the car, which Jesslyn alluded to in a previous post.  We were on one of the single lane roads and thought that we could sneak by an oncoming car in a place where there was no pull-off.  There was a grassy shoulder which looked solid.  It wasn't.  As soon as I pulled onto the shoulder, the car slid into the previously hidden ditch.  It was about a foot wide and a foot deep and invisible because the grass was covering it.  The front and back left wheels of the car were no longer in contact with the ground.  Some people stopped to help, and we tried pushing with Jesslyn now in the driver’s seat, but it wasn’t working.  I thought for sure we would have to get pulled out.  Another car stopped, and he must have been a local, and have seen this very thing before.  He had Jesslyn point the wheels just barely turned back toward the road, and put it in second gear.  Now with all of us pushing from behind, we got out.  Amazingly, there was no damage to the car, except for the smell of burnt rubber from spinning the tires on the unsuccessful attempts.

Hostels
We have been staying mostly in hostels with a few nights in B&Bs.  The hostels are….  interesting.  Each one is unique.  They are a great way to stay in expensive places for cheap.  They let you store and cook your own food which saves a lot of money.  We have had a private room each time, and most of the time had to share a bathroom.   In Orkney we had a private bathroom, kitchen and living room.  The typical hosteler is in their early twenties, so I do feel a little out of place.  But, for the price, I can get over that quickly.  The private room in the hostels are typically half the price of nearby hotels.

Edinburgh
When we first got off the bus from the airport in the Old Town section of Edinburgh, we were amazed.  We were completely surrounded by buildings that are hundreds of years old.  The building our hostel was in was built in the 1500s.  It was like stepping back in time.  Traditional looking pubs, gothic churches, and statues are everywhere.  It was incredible.  It didn’t take too long, however, to figure out that you are also surrounded by tourists and tourist traps.  I had no idea that Edinburgh was such a tourist destination.  We did a free walking tour which was worth the price.  Seriously, it was decent (the tour guides get paid from tips).  We made the mistake of eating at a couple of the pubs in that area.  The food and service were not great.  On our last day, we walked over to an area called Leith which was free from tourists and we had a great lunch at a decent price.

Favorite place:  Isle of Skye
The Isle of Skye is just beautiful.  It has landscapes like I have never seen before.  There isn’t a lot to do other than hiking, and that was fine with us.

MVPE
The most valuable piece of equipment so far has been my raincoat.  I have probably worn it every day.  It has been surprisingly cold and rainy.  The one piece of equipment that I didn’t bring, but wish I did are waterproof hiking shoes.

Food
I know Jesslyn already covered this topic, so I will keep it brief.  We are traveling on a budget so we have been eating at lower priced places as well as buying groceries, cooking when we can, and eating take out.  With the exception of the tourist traps in Edinburgh, the food has been good.  The most common fast food here is fish and chips.  We’ve had it a number of times and it has always been really good.  I love lamb and salmon which has been common and always good.  The 2 things I hadn’t had before were smoked haddock and haggis, both are great.  We had stag pie which was pretty gamey, but kind of grew on us as we ate it.  In Edinburgh, we had one of our best meals in Scotland at Mother Indian’s Cafe, a tapas style Indian restaurant that one of Jesslyn’s colleagues recommended (thanks for the suggestion Mike!).  I’m not sure comparing Indian to traditional Scottish food is a fair culinary fight though.

Beer
This trip to Scotland has confirmed what I already thought:  the beer situation in the UK is bad.  Every pub has a few standard lagers on tap, such as Kronenburg, Carlsberg, Stella.  They have their time and place, but they are so similar (not to mention none of them are British).  The Brits do make a lot of cask ales.  The cask ales are served slightly colder than room temp (think the temp of the basement) and they don’t have much carbonation.  They’re OK once you get past the thought that they taste like a typical American beer that has been left out all day.  Back in the States, there are so many great beers everywhere, like American style pale ales, IPAs, and porters.  The UK just doesn’t compare.  I know London has some places with a good beer selection, but that is the rare exception, while you can walk into almost any bar anywhere in the States and find great beers on tap.

Whiskey
What do they call “Scotch” in Scotland?  Well, it is just whiskey of course.  I thought that perhaps it was all just a big tourist thing, but it’s not.  There are a lot of distilleries, each doing something distinctive, and taking pride in it.  Many of the Scots that I spoke to, knew and enjoyed their whiskeys.  I am still not a huge fan of the peaty smoke flavor, but did enjoy some of the less smokey ones like Scapa.  

Overall, we had a great time and everyone we met were super friendly and had a great sense of humor.

Now on to Norway!

- Jake

Scottish cuisine...

The Scots have this dinner thing figured out.  If I was ever to open a restaurant - I’d pick up a few things from them.  First you are seated in the lounge where your drink order is taken and you are provided with the dinner menu.  Then your dinner order is taken and you are left to enjoy your beverage in the comfy atmosphere.  After a bit of time, the hostess returns to tell you that a table is ready for you in the dining room.  The first time this happened, we thought that a table had literally just become available which is why we started our evening in one room before taking the journey over to the dining.  Nope….I suppose the thought is that, why sit at a table anxiously awaiting your meal when you could be relaxing in a room that feels like someones lounge.  People I know don’t actually have lounges in their homes but it reminds me of the game Clue which makes me smile to myself.  I probably played that 500 times while growing up so its fun to pretend I’m living in the game of Clue.  Except there’s no murder mystery to unravel but that might be kinda cool too.  You know what i mean, I’m not trying to be creepy.  Anyways….we've only had this experience twice as most of our meals have been fish and chips to go or at the local pub, but we thoroughly enjoyed it both times.  I also have no idea how prevalent this practice is throughout the country and perhaps it was just a coincidence that we experienced it twice in one week!

So what have we been eating?  I consistently ask the locals where to go and not rely on any guidebook.  We haven’t been disappointed.  The best fish and chips we had was in Portree on the Isle of Skye.  Six and a half quid and plenty of fish and chips for us to share!  Over the years, Jake and I have come to do a lot of splitsy’s.  Ya know, order two dishes and split them.  Sometimes we choose to do that and other times I’m disappointed with what I’ve ordered and he is such an awesome husband that he splits his dish with me.  Also known as going halfsies - this ordering system works out well on this trip in situations where we both want to try something.  In Fort William we split the venison pie….and it…grew on us.  Seriously.  The first bite kinda smelled weird and tasty super gamey - but literally the second bite was better than the first, the third better than the second….it was kinda weird actually.  Sorry vegetarians but I absolutely love steak.  So….I’ve been told that Scotland is known for its Aberdeen beef and its Orkney beef…so the nights I’ve splurged I’ve had sirloin steaks.  They haven’t disappointed and I’ve been able to have them cooked how I like it - medium rare.  Jake has gone for the bit more adventurous mutton and lamb shank.  I tried both but they still tasted like lamb so I wasn’t into it.  Isn’t it amazing how each of our taste buds are so unique?  Unrelated - but what the heck is salad cream?  It looks as gross as it sounds and its everywhere here…in the same kind of packets that you’d find ketchup and mustard to go.  Over here they charge you 10p for a ketchup pack and 5p for a plastic bag if you want one at the grocery store.  Waste not want not - we love it!  Today is our last day in Orkney and so we splurged on a nice seafood lunch.  If you want to look it up, it was called Skerries Bistro and it was on the very southern tip of South Ronaldsay island.  A pretty incredible location but unfortunately we were in the fog so couldn’t really enjoy the view.  I’m not letting stuff like that get me down and ya know what, I think I would have if I was only on a weeks holiday.    It’s a great feeling if you just enjoy the moment you’re having and not thinking about the moment you are missing out on.  The food was great although not enough for me.  Seriously, I’m always hungry.  Jake asked me the other day if I was like that growing up.  I’m not sure!  Mom?  Dad?  I bet Mrs. Therrien would say yes because I always wanted to eat the Twix and Swiss cake rolls from their hallway cupboard and their ice cream in the freezer.  LOL.  Anywho, I had Orkney diver hand picked sea scallops.  They were pretty good but Jake’s seafood platter looked much more interesting except I’m not into that kind of seafood (smoked salmon, pickled herring, crab….ick….).

Last night in Orkney then two in Edinburgh before heading off to Norway!

~Jesslyn

Hiking in the land of sheep and waterfalls...

I grew up hiking every summer with my Mom and Dad.  I’ve always enjoyed it.  Jake and I climbed a 4,000 footer in the White Mountains on our 3rd date. Together we’ve hiked in various places across the US and in Banff.  So, how did it take me so long to figure out when each of us say, “I love hiking”…that what we love is oh-so-different?!  I like the act of hiking and most importantly the view you’ve earned seeing by the time you get to the peak.  It’s all about the view.  He likes the workout (and probably the view…?).  What this means is that the pace in which we like to get to the peak is oh-so-very-different.  I’d rather race a half marathon than do an all out sprint to the top of a mountain.  I bet that if I got a race bib for the hike it would make my approach more like his.   But I’m sorry, the bottom line is, I don’t like sweating, huffing and puffing and massive burning in my legs unless at the end of it I’m able to log a PR and destroy every other female in my age group.

In all seriousness, the hikes we’ve done over the past few days have been beautiful and memorable.  I’d say I did my first true scramble yesterday.  Don’t need to do that again.  Ever.  We planned a trip to the Isle of Skye not knowing what we’d actually do there.  We had heard that it was beautiful and a trek to get to so figured this is the kind of trip where we want to spend the time getting to the hard-to-get-to places (Orkney this weekend!).  We had no idea that we’d have so many great hikes to explore.  

Monday we arrived in Skye late in the afternoon but it was sunny so we took advantage!  We took a nice drive up the coast and hiked Quiraing (5+ miles).  I’d highly recommend it (yes, even though you don’t get a race number at the start).  We only saw a handful of other hikers and I couldn’t stop saying, “isn’t this amazing”?!….the green hills, the sheep, the ocean, everything about it was breathtaking.  It started to rain on the way back and got really windy and I wondered what it would be like to spend the night out there.  Luckily we made it back to the trailhead just fine but the adventure continued when our car went off the road on our way back to Portree.  I’ll let Jake blog about that experience.

Tuesday we gave our legs a bit of a break after back to back hikes and did a 2 mile walk out to Claigan Coral Beach.  I’d skip that one if I were you but it was nice to be outside and eat our lunch on the beach!  It’s a coral beach in Scotland which is certainly unique…but I’ve seen some pretty incredible beaches so I’m just saying….if you have limited time on Skye - you can skip that one.

Yesterday we tackled Coire Lagan (6+ miles), our only hike in the Cuilin Range.  It was the nicest weather day but I’m done with hiking for a few days!  The trail starts on a beach and when you are an ocean lover like me, that is pretty awesome.  I wasn’t expecting a hike to start at the ocean which made it even more of a find.  At what I considered to be the summit, we discovered a beautiful tiny loch in the middle of the gigantic, jagged peaks.  The water was like you’d expect to see in Jamaica - not Scotland.  The view of the ocean, the loch, and the surrounding peaks was incredible.  Since we literally weren’t at the top, and we could see that another hiker had gone further, Jake wanted to tackle the scramble up the scree (hands and feet up loose rock).  I certainly couldn’t sit around and watch so I insisted I was into it and I went too.  It was scary.  Unstable footing and not knowing if the person above you would loosen a rock that would come flying at your head.  Next time I’ll take up yoga and enjoy the zen setting.  Anyways, I learned that it’s ok to not do everything and try to be less competitive.  Probably a good lesson to learn at the beginning of a year long journey.  It was good to challenge myself and do a scramble up a mountain on all fours but still, I’ll leave that to the next gal.  Unless of course we end up getting ourselves on a future season of Amazing Race - then watch out…I will be the first one at the top of that damn jagged peak!

The "zen" moment I should have continued instead of doing this:

The day started with our cribbage tracker indicating that Jake was up 3-0.  By the end of the day I was up 6-3.  So…he can win on the trail and I’ll win at the table with the cribbage board and the Tennant’s.  I’m sure he’ll take the lead again soon with cribbage but for now, I’m enjoying having won six in a row.

~Jesslyn

FAQ

Q:  How long are you going for?

A:  The original plan is to travel for a year.  However, it could be longer or shorter.  When we run out of money, we will return to the US, so it depends mostly on how well we stick to our budget.  Who knows, we might get tired of traveling and want some stability and come home sooner.  Or, we might find a way to work somewhere else to extend the trip.

Q:  What area are you most excited to experience?

A:  This is the most common question we get, and unfortunately one for which we don't have a good answer.  The places we picked to visit are all ones that we have been wanting to see for a long time.  If I (Jake) am hard pressed for an answer, I think it might be New Zealand.  I know, it isn't very exotic, there isn't a deep cultural history, they speak English, and the food isn't very fancy.  It isn't Europe, it isn't China.  However, I love the outdoors, and the Kiwis invented the outdoors.  I am looking forward to the hiking, fishing, and sailing.

Q:  Where are you starting?

A:  A quick stop in London, then to Scotland.

Q:  Why Scotland (said with a surprised tone) ?

A:  I think the surprise is because, like New Zealand, Scotland doesn't seem exotic and they speak English.  I can't say specifically why, but somehow through what I've heard and read it is a pretty awesome place.  Also, I've never been, so why not?  Since I am in Scotland as I am writing this, the couple of hikes we've done have been incredible.  Check out the pics.

Q:  How do you pack for an around the world trip?

A:  Good question.  We've spent a good amount of time over the past months figuring it out.  This merits a 2 part answer.

Part 1:  The same way you pack for a week long trip, since we plan to do laundry once a week.  We are going to be in somewhat similar climates for much of the trip, so that makes it easier.  When we need to swap out articles of clothing we will buy new ones and donate the existing ones, or ship things back and forth to the States as people come and visit, or just post things back and forth.  Thank you Deb Kennedy for letting us use your place as our address and being our home base administrator while we are away!

Part 2:  We found great resources on the internet to help with this.  First of all, we packed clothes that are versatile.  This means we can wear them out to dinner or on a hike.  Everything goes with everything (or close enough :)).  We purchased some items that are wrinkle free, odor free, and fast drying.  REI has a whole section of clothes like this now.  Fast drying is important so that you can wash a few things in the sink and let them air dry overnight.  We are also using packing cubes and folders from Eagle Creek.  They help to keep your clothes organized, compressed, and minimize wrinkles.

Q:  By what means are you traveling; plane, boat, train, car?

A:  All of the above.  We are using whatever mode of transportation makes sense, which usually means the least expensive.  We are flying between continents, trains or planes between cities, ferries to islands, and renting a car when necessary to get to the places trains don't go.  Interestingly, we are flying in a couple situations where I thought we might take a train.  For example from London to Edinburgh and from Munich to Berlin.  It costs about the same or less, and takes less time.

Q:  Where are you staying: hotels, bed & breakfasts, hostels?

A:  All of the above.  We are also staying with a family in Florence while we take Italian classes.  We might also camp at some point.  We've been researching the locales on the internet and looked for the cheapest (yet suitable) accommodations.  So far it is a mix of the above, but mostly hostels.  The hostel experience will be the topic of a future blog post.

Q:  How long have you been planning this trip?

A:  We have been dreaming of this trip for years.  We started talking more seriously about it a year ago, and started seriously researching last Fall.  The actual booking of flights and places to stay started about 4 months ago.

- Jake

It has begun...

Many of you already know that I'm the inventor of the selfie (Jesslyn speaking here).  So it’s natural that each of our trips have started with one.  In honor of that…here is the first selfie of our world tour….

Travels went smoothly and after an hour stopover in Iceland we landed in London for a quick visit with Lynn and Rob.  We had a fun time celebrating Lynn’s birthday and enjoyed the great weather with a long walk through Hampstead Heath before arriving at The Spaniard for a nice meal.  Outdoor seating was an unexpected surprise for a London meal and the night couldn’t have ended better than with chocolate cake and a bottle of Moet at Lynn and Rob’s flat!

It felt like our adventure had truly begun after we landed in Edinburgh and picked up a rental car for our journey through Scotland.  We spent our first night in the quiet but fun town of Perth before heading on to Ceres in the morning for the 701st Ceres Annual Highland Games.  The live music in Perth reminded us of our time in Dublin the summer of 2011 - we heard “Take Me Home, Country Roads” - not once - but twice within a matter of probably two hours.  For some reason the Scottish and Irish really like this song!  We also heard “Sweet Home Alabama” which always reminds me of my first night experiencing the Ruck in good ol' Troy, NY.  

After spending the night in Perth at a posh B&B with a full Scottish breakfast we moved on to roughin’ it with the younger crowd at the Fort William Backpackers Hostel.  We have a private room with two twin beds and a small window that gives us a view of Loch Eil.  The highlight of our drive out to the West coast of Scotland was the region of Glencoe:   our first view into the majestical landscape of the Scotland Highlands. Our first day in Fort William was spent hiking the highest peak in Great Britain - Ben Nevis (4,409 ft.), but not before we had our own Supermarket Sweep showdown (come on, tell me you remember this awesome gameshow?).  Traveling on a budget is kind of fun (for now)!  In the grocery store, it was basically a game of who-can-find-the-cheapest-yummy-stuff.  We stocked up on bread, ham, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, apples and oat cakes for our hostel-livin-days.  Ok, back to Ben Nevis:  we saw beautiful waterfalls and experienced both sunshine and snow on the 9+ mile roundtrip trek.  Most of the way up was “oh this is so beautiful and great” and most of the way down was “what is wrong with us, why do we do this to ourselves”!”  We expect to wake up quite sore tomorrow and leave the area and head to the Isle of Skye.  We expect to do a lot more exploring on foot there.  We hear that the elevation isn’t great but the views are.  As we’ll be on the coast at this point…we hope to see some great marine wildlife and birds!

In addition to this blog, I really want to keep a personal journal while on this adventure.  I have the book but haven’t started writing anything down yet.  I’ve been having too much fun!  Too be honest….getting it started is also intimidating.  I have a lot of emotions I want to document including what it was like to see friends and family before we left New York and New England.  So many special moments.  I know that once I start it, I won’t feel obligated to write a lot each day, just the highlights.  However today on our 5+ hour hike through rough terrain and questionable weather, I decided something:  I know which words I’m going to use to start the journal…

I’m so happy.

 - Jesslyn