And I have no regrets!!!
I said I would blog on our trip. I had all good intensions!
My goal was to log in every couple days and share our trip adventures and experiences.
I prepared for my race in Lahti Finland and then we planned to immerse ourselves into a new culture while visiting the Scandinavian countries we had never been to before. We were excited and didn’t know what to expect.
Fast forward.
We are going home in 4 days!
We have been on the road in Scandinavia for 23 days. Our journey started in Hamburg, Germany where we picked up a rented motorhome and immediately headed north the same afternoon. We took a ferry to Denmark, drove through Sweden and into Finland to spend 5 full days in Lahti Finland for the Half Ironman World Championship. Post race our real vacation started and we continued our travels from Finland to Norway where we ended up spending the majority of our time. We really didn’t have specific plans and just decided spontaneously where to head the next day. And so our journey took us up to Hammerfest in the North of Norge and then back down visiting the Lofoten Islands, traveling the Fjords of the cost line, stopping in small villages, hiking up to Europe’s largest glacier, the Jostedal Glacier. We swam in cold lakes, found amazing public pools, ran trails and tiny roads connecting small towns and along the majestic fjords, biked in the pouring cold rain with increasing winds and around beautiful coastal areas. The worst traffic we encountered were the reindeer and sheep on the roads and even in the camping areas. We hunted the Northern Lights, visited beautiful churches and cathedrals and ate way too much chocolate. And when the chocolate was gone….. we stopped to buy more!
We took amazing pictures. In fact, so many pictures and videos that I ended up yelling at Jorg: “That’s it. I am not taking another picture or video. I am sick of it.” Only to find myself whipping out that camera within 3 minutes of my protest.
My intensions were to write and journal, read and blog while Jorg navigated our motorhome through the windy roads that kept getting more narrow each day. And as the first few days passed and the nature and scenery became more and more beautiful, I soon found myself never looking down, picking up a pen or my iPad to write. Instead our jaws dropped and we kept pointing out new views to each other, stopping the RV often to capture our journey in pictures. The truth is, a photo can never replace the real moment, including our thoughts, emotions, gratitude and awe of what nature has to offer. Each day we spent, we grew fonder of Norway 🇳🇴 and began exploring the life here.
The few times I actually put my head down, afraid to miss something, I googled places or things we got to experience, studying the nature, life and history, reading out loud to Jörg while he was driving. If we noticed any special Norwegian customs, we found our answers online and it opened our eyes even more.
There is so much to tell and report and explain. This trip has made a huge impact on Jörg and I. We are simply overwhelmed as this journey has left a deep impression on both of us.
So we chose to let it soak all in. And I have taken some notes to remember and process it all.
I am including some highlights in pictures from our trip but will plan on blogging when we return home. I’d like to share some of those experiences of our journey and will go into detail throughout different blogs.
One thing is for certain, our hearts are full of gratitude, our minds are spinning with ideas and our lives have been enriched beyond measure. But more on that later…..
Right now we are crossing the North Sea to Denmark, spending 2 days there before heading back to Germany and fly home to our family and friends.
To be continued……
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