Norway trip update and question

Do you mean one night in Oslo? Otherwise it seems like you’re missing a day as you say two nights but then that you’re leaving Oslo on day 2.

Sorry, Slate, that was a typo. I should have written Day 1-2, as we're sleeping in Oslo for two nights, and then on day three picking up the car, and so on. I've corrected it. Thanks for letting me know!

That’s good. there’s a lot to see in Oslo and a full day there is time well spent.

Mardee, there was a poster in the last couple months who was picking up their rental at the Oslo S train station that had some good info. Unfortunately, it looks like the post has been deleted.

I do see that one of the Google Maps routes to Morgedal has you driving through Oslo within a few blocks of the Hertz location at station.

Hopefully, you'll get some useful advice from others.

I would pick up the car and route through Hønefoss. It is very easy to get out of the parking facility and onto E16. Stop at Hønefoss and see the falls (parking is over the bridge on the left (there is a pay station similar to the ones at Canal Park in Duluth). We did drive through Oslo back to the airport, but it got busy around Drammen.

My great-uncle, a harbor pilot, (actually my grandmother's half brother) and his lovely wife, Anna, lived south of Thon Hotel Alesund across Brunholmgata. His family on his other side (not my relatives) still live in the apartments upstairs.

Do you stop for lunch on the kayak tour?

jeanm and mnannie, that's exactly what Badger has been telling me. He happened to see the thread and has messaged me about it. So based on all 3 recs, I will attempt to modify the Oslo pick up and find a better location. Thanks so much!

Right now, I'm in the throes of a well problem at our house. We are trying to get it cleaned out because of some issues, and there's a lot of problems right now because of the process. I'm not quite sure what's going on, so I am drinking some wine and then heading down to Minneapolis tomorrow morning to do some shopping and stay in a nice hotel. I've dealt with it tonight, and I'll let my daughter and son-in-law deal with it tomorrow. 😂

Do you stop for lunch on the kayak tour?

Yes, I believe so. I had to look at John's trip report from last year because he and Bjorn took the same kayak tour. But it looks like they stopped part of the way through and had a lunch cooked by their guide.

I was actually suggesting you pick up the car at the airport, but that's just what we did and we liked the northern route. You can get to Morgedal earlier if you rent a car in Oslo.

Well and septic issues are two country living problems we've avoided so far. Hope you can resolve the problem without too much expense.

Enjoy your getaway to the cities!

It looks like it's not a huge difference in time. Maybe 30-50 minutes longer taking the northern route, and it's nice to know you like that route better, mnannie. So I figure in the general scheme of things, 30-50 minutes isn't going to make a whole lot of difference.

The other thing (which I just now remembered) is that when I rented the car, I. I don't think there was an option for picking it up in town. I rented it through Auto Europe and used Hertz, and all they had was the airport option.

Also, I did book an EV. So, that will be a savings in gas.

Hi Mardee,

Brave of you to rent an EV! The charging infrastructure must be pretty good in Scandinavia. I wanted to rent one in England since I drive one at home but I was to nervous about finding chargers.

Katie, I’m a little nervous about it because I’ve never driven one before but hopefully my daughter and I (who by the way is also named Katie) will figure it out. She has a hybrid although I know that’s a little different and my sister has an EV and she said that it was very easy to learn.

But I do think the charging infrastructure is very good in all of Scandinavia from what I understand. So I’m not too worried about it.

I saw a lot of charging stations in Norway in 2022, and I certainly wasn't looking for them, because I had no rental car (and have never owned a car).