380 days of travelling...

The beginning
So, I'm back in Norway again after travelling from July 2010 until July 2011, a bit more than one year has passed since I sat myself on the flight to Singapore with few plans. Thanks to my good friend Knut the first five weeks was no problem at all, we did the one thing we set out to do, climb Mt. Kinabalu in Boreno. When Knut left, and I was by myself in Bangkok I had no idea how great this trip was going to be.

The people
Most of all I have to say thanks to all the amazing people I've met on this trip. There are many words that describe these people, I'll try to list a few of them: trusting, generous, altruistic, full of knowledge, curious, kind, and most of all they have all been more than willing to share experiences, travels, and good moments the past year.

Without the people I've been lucky enough to meet on this trip it wouldn't have been such a good experience.

The food
Another aspect of travelling is food, as far as I'm concerned trying the foods of different countries and cultures belongs to the travel experience. I've tasted many amazing dishes, but also weird things, and animals I thought I would never eat suddenly became a meal during travelling. One thing is to go to the local restaurants, that's great, but sometimes I was even lucky enough to be invited to people's home to dine with them there, that's a great combination of both people, food, and culture.

The culture
Seeing different cultures is definitely part of travelling, but to actually get to know the culture you need to spend time with local people. They are the experts when it comes to customs, tradition, history, and not to forget, respect. To respect the culture of the place you are visiting is one of the most important things you can do as a foreigner. It might be strange to adapt, but the reward is that you get closer to the real country you're visiting. Language is also a keyword in this context, I've learnt a bit of many languages the past year. Phrases like "too expensive", "yes", "no", "how are you", and so on will make a big difference. In Vietnam, Laos, and Korea I was even lucky enough to get a name in the local language give to me by friends.

The memories
I have to say that after 380 days, I will probably struggle to account for every single day of this trip, but what I do know is that I have almost 9000 pictures from my experiences. If I start thinking back to a specific day, or place I will recall the great people I met, the amazing food I had with them, and the completely different culture where this all happened. Of course I've also met a lot of people from Europe, people who understand what this has been about, and people I hope to catch up with back in Europe.

To be continued
By this I want to say thanks to everyone who has been following my travels on this blog, for some I've heard that reading about far away places, and seeing the pictures has been like an escape from everyday life. This blog doesn't stop here of course, but for me to blog about that I went to the office etc. doesn't really make good blog material. As soon as I embark on a new trip, long or short, I'll make sure to write some lines about it, and of course post some pictures... :)

Thanks for reading!

Einar

Tromøya, Arendal, South of Norway

Last weekend I went to Tromøya in the south of Norway, I went there with my friend Christian, and we visited Eivind and Marthe at the summer house there. The summer house is on the top of a hill on the island  called Tromøya, this is the same island where there is a big music festival every year.

On Saturday evening we were lucky enough to see northern lights, something that is quite rare this far south in Norway.

Christian and Eivind

Marthe, Eivind, and Einar

The view from the summer house

The summer house on a beautiful summer day

Sunset the same night that we saw the northern lights

Eivind and myself

Tourist in my own city, Oslo it is...

Last week I went to the beach in Oslo to try the temperature in the Oslo fjord, it wasn't too bad, but it was definitely very refreshing. The next day I went to the city centre with my sister to have a look if anything was changed during the last year. Except from flowers all over the city centre after the terrible tragedy of July 22. there were few changes in the city of Oslo.

A nice afternoon in the sun 10 minutes south of the city centre

Sunset in Oslo

The great amount of flowers outside the main curch in Oslo

A greeting from the Danish people after July 22.

The parliament building in Oslo

Grand Hotel in Oslo

The National theatre

The City Hall in Oslo

Aker Brygge, the harbour area in Oslo

Espedalen, Gudbrandsdalen, Norwegian holiday

After spending a few days in Oslo, I went for a one week holiday at a place called Espedalen, in the Gudbrandsdalen valley some 4 hours north of Oslo. There at a lake called Espedalsvannet, my parents had rented a cabin for 8 days, the cabin was really nice and authentic Norwegian built in 1937. We also had access to a rowing boat so that we could go fishing in the lake. The scenery in the area is really nice, and we did several hikes in the area, also to go fishing in some smaller lakes in the mountains.

One day we went to a place called Helvete, this is the Norwegian word for hell, so basically we went to Hell for a couple of hours to check out the amazing landscape created here 9000 years ago by the river that uses to flow through the valley.

As I mentioned earlier we also went fishing in some smaller lakes 2 hours hiking from where we stayed, so return in would be almost 15km hiking. We also got some fish, not a lot, but some nice trout that we steamed with white wine for dinner.

The cabin we rented for the week

Coffee in the making

My dad and myself going fishing

A Norwegian cow

A Norwegian barn

Norwegian porridge called rømmegrøt 

Rowing on the Espedalen lake

Now I'm back in Oslo again, gathering my belongings that are here and there. At least it's nice and warm in Oslo now, it's around 27 degrees and sunny, which is great for Norway.

Back in Norway, straight to the summer house

After arriving at Oslo Airport I went straight to my family's summer house just outside of Oslo, there I had a relaxing evening with my family.

My dad at the summer house

The view from the summer house with a nice rainbow

Seafood :)

More seafood.. :)

Last day in London, Oslo next!

After a great drive back to London from Huddersfield in Yorkshire we arrived at Roshan's place in Hammersmith, London in the evening. From there we went straight to the pub where we had some beer since it was the last night in England. The next morning Petter and I went straight to Heathrow to catch our flight back to Norway. 

Roshan and Petter at the pub

Huddersfield, Yorkshire

After 5 days in Portsmouth Petter and I went to Huddersfield, Yorkshire to visit my friends Laura and Leah. We arrived in Huddersfield on Saturday evening, and directly went to Laura's birthday party.

The amazing view from where we had the BBQ for Laura's birthday

Laura, and I at the birthday party

Birthday cakes

Sparklies to celebrate Laura's birthday

More mini fireworks

Leah, Laura, and Charlotte

The birthday cake, amazing job done by Leah

On a nice Sunday walk up to Castle Hill with the girls

The tower, commemorating Queen Elizabeth's diamond anniversary

Sheep!

The local pub in Huddersfield

Portsmouth & Isle of Wight

After spending a couple of days in London with my good friend Roshan, Petter and I left for Gatwick where we met up with my family. From Gatwick we got a rental car and drove down to Portsmouth in the south of England. On the second day in Portsmouth we attended the Graduation Ceremony at the University of Portsmouth where my sister graduated.

The day after the graduation ceremony all of us went to Isle of Wight for a day trip to explore this island.  The island is quite small so we had an easy drive around the island looking at the various sights.

My dad, sister, and mother

First dinner in Portsmouth on Tuesday evening at Rosie's Wine Bar

Desert at Rosie's Wine Bar

Colourful buildings in the city centre of Portsmouth

My sister Elin, and Petter at a pub in Portsmouth

Elin and my mother

The Spinnaker tower in Portsmouth

Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight 

The pier in Sandown

Elin and I on the west point of the Isle of Wight