Senja, Norway

It's been way too long since the last blog post! I hope you follow us on Instagram, so you are somewhat aware of our lives and travels. 

I just got back from a road trip to Senja Island, which is the second biggest Insland in Norway. It's located north from the Lofoten Islands. Senja looks very much like Lofoten Islands and it has similar steep mountains rising from the sea as well, so it's also very photogenic. Senja is a lot less known destination compared to Lofoten Islands, which makes it an attractive place to visit.

We just wanted to scout Senja out and we didn't really do any specific plans for out trip. We knew the layout of the place and some basic tourist sites to visit. It's not the most common time of the year to visit the place, so we didn't really meet any other tourists during our trip. One local Instagrammer was kind enough to have us in his apartment, so that we didn't have to rent a cabin. Also he was a nice guide for us!

We were lucky as there had been a snowfall before our trip and the mountains looked nice with a fresh layer of snow. Here are some photos from our trip through Finland to Norway and back!

-Daniel

Spontaneus road trip to Lofoten

It was supposed to be very rainy Midsummer celebration weekend here in Finland and we decided not to stay to witness that. Me and Lauri came up with this road trip idea at 12 pm on a Thursday night. We decided to hit the road at 6 am to make it to Lofoten during the day.

Of course we didn't sleep that much as we needed to get all the camping gear together and pack the car. It didn't stop us. At 6 am the car started and we were in good spirits heading towards the Norwegian coast. It is around 18 hour drive including some short stops on the way.

We didn't have any specific plans for our time in the islands. We just wanted to do some hiking during our trip. We actually ended up hiking a random peak in Gimsøy the next morning as it just looked nice! 

When you’re behind the wheel, you can stop and explore whenever your instincts point you towards something cool. There’s so much out there to be discovered.

We really liked topping a mountain and we did some research for our next hike and found a nice peak called Stornappstinden. We were little tired from hiking to the peak Gimsøy so we decided to have a chill day the next and just drive around the islands and go swimming and enjoy the views.

It was nice to see some new places and actually do some real hiking as the most for me has been the 1 hour hike to Kvalvika beach before. Next time I will for sure spend more time on the mountains and go further and higher! 

Until the next trip to Norway... Here are some photos from our trip!

-Daniel
 

Road trip to Norway - #Finntothewild

I had an empty slot in my calendar and I gave a call to my friend Konsta and asked him to join me on a road trip to Western Norway. Luckily he was also able to make it and we were set.

We started by taking the ferry from Turku to Stockholm. We spent the first night at our friends place in Stockholm and headed to Hamar the next day. In Hamar we were just in time to see the May 17th celebration which is the Norwegian Constitution Day. We watched the beautiful parade there and headed Northwest after the celebration.

It was time for the actual camping trip from there on. We had to turn around on the first day due to the amount of new snow on a mountain pass. It was just too much for our summer tires. We made it near Oppdal and set up our tent right next to a river, which was great! It's actually very easy to find good camping spots in Norway and they usually come with a pretty nice view!

The towns we visited were, Sunndalsøra, Åndalsnes, Ålesund, Geiranger, Stryn, Hemsedahl, Oslo and all the smaller towns in between.  The drive is very nice and the road goes mostly along the fjords or over the mountains, which I like a lot. Hours pass when you just enjoy the views.

Driving in Norway isn't free. Not only the gas price is pretty high, there is tolls and ferries along the way. We had to pay around 60€ for the tolls and 25€ for two ferries. It's definitely not a big amount, but good to remember when you are planning a road trip to Norway.

Gear:

We got some awesome gear to test out from a Finnish outdoor brand Halti.

Jacket and pants: We picked up some super lightweight pack-away jackets and pants named Pisara. They were perfect to the changing weather conditions we experienced. They kept us dry and protected from the rain and wind for the whole trip! Click here for more details.

Tent: We've actually broken a tent in the wind traveling in Norway, so we were happy to have a nice tunnel tent XPD Finland 3 from Halti with us. It is easy to setup and can withstand the weather conditions easily. I don't want to give it back to them anymore!

Sleeping bags and mattresses: We were pretty much Halti from head to toe. We had their sleeping bags and mattresses and I can say that good gear makes such a difference! Having lightweight and high quality gear will keep you smiling on your trips!

See some of the photos from our trip below!

- Daniel