Hurtigruten

We almost slept in.  We still had to make breakfast.

( Image of the Hurtigruten from outside it. )

The ship is the most consecutive nights we spend in the same place.  To be more specific,  it is the ONLY place we spend more than one night in the same place. We are ready to not be packing up every day.

The ship is part ferry (with cars on an upper deck!), part cruise ship. There is little to no entertainment, but the public areas are not bad for sitting and playing games or reading. The ship stops often and briefly. Many stops are 15 or 30 minutes.

Our room is the tiniest we've had for a cruise ship. Private bathroom (yay!), but with very narrow bunk beds. T took the top bunk and let me have the silk sheet. Even with us controlling the room temperature, he had trouble sleeping under the usual hated duvet. No duvet = wake up because of the cold. Yes duvet = wake up because sweating of the heat. Hate duvets! We miss sheets. This is why it was such an act of love for him to let me have the silk sheet.

We have a port hole that looks out on a public walkway. In daytime,  the views everywhere on the ship are spectacular.

We played a lot of games. I took a lovely nap.

Our adventure for the day was getting off the ship at a 2 hour evening stop to have dinner. Only breakfast is included on board and we hoped to find something cheaper than the on board options. We found delicious Italian food in Svolvær. It was raining when we got off (instead of the snow we all expected), which was a little challenging for everyone else. T was the only one with both waterproof snow boots and rain gear over his coat. I had the snow boots, but my layers were not waterproof. However,  they dry quickly here.

And the Italian food was delicious. I had some of Livingdeb's pizza. Usually I find cheese pizza boring. Hers was probably the most delicious I've ever tasted. My risotto was not the best I've ever had, but it was excellent. I ate too much.

Backpacking travel in Winter

T & I took some traveling advice on trips with lots of movement from place to place to heart. People told us "We had too much luggage. Running for a train with a carry on or rolling suitcase was a drag. I wish we had done it with just backpacks."  So we did it in just backpacks. T has a tiny "encounter" bag for his personal item and carrying about town.

This involved some choices. I focused on having basically one outfit,  just changing underclothes. Make everything quickdry, and plan to do laundry every chance we get. We took some advice from a travel blog I found and got packing cubes. Inside my backpack I have

* 1 large compression cube

* 1 large cube

* 1 medium cube

* 1 small cube

* 1 electronics bag of cables and plugs

* Some tightly rolled zip lock bags

* my tablet (luxury!)

* my flattened blowup back pillow for planes (luxury!)

* quart bag of liquids

I did find that the packing process each day became quick. And digging for one item in my bag while in transit did not require me to painfully spread every possession over a wide area.

Though there are some possessions that I miss, I do think we made the right decision. There were many buses, trains, and swathes of dirty icy ground that I was grateful to only have backpack which did not have to be dragged over the muck. Plus I did not need to hand over my luggage to a stranger "to hold" for a while. Or transport. Even the small European flights let me keep the backpack.

Possibly arguable choices:

* My coat -- I carried my SeV trench coat on the plane. No,  it is not a winter coat. No,  it is not very warm. I depended on the packed layers (layers of quick-dry longsleeve shirts, a thin merino wool sweater, and a thin hooded fleece) to keep me warm. The trench was a outer layer.... and pockets! I think this is the first time I've used Every Pocket. It holds...

- wallet

- passport

- lip balm

- daily drugs

- sleeping pills (for the flight)

- moisturizer

- ibuprofen

- gasX

- headphones

- mp3 player

- spare batteries

- kleenex

- wool scarf

- inner gloves

- outer gloves

- billed hat

And sometimes more, as needed. Yes, sometimes I have to sidle sideways through doors when the full winter gear is not needed.

* Only 1 pair of shoes -- Of course I had to bring the snow boots. And additional shoes would have taken up a lot of packing space.  So,  no other shoes. Sometimes I missed other shoes (usually inside,  when taking the boots on and off), but the boots have been wonderful through ice, snow,  slush and cold. If I could only bring one pair, it was the best choice.

The backpack was very tightly packed on the first flight to Oslo. But once we reached Oslo.... the backpack contents became a lot looser packed, because I was wearing so much of the original contents. Wear the thick winter pants (pack the thin pants), wear leggings, wear a 2nd shirt, wear the sweater, and wear the fleece..... Yep, it all sloshes a bit.

I regret bringing:

* purse -- I packed a flat one and have never used it.

I wish I'd brought:

* lacrosse ball -- I use it on my back and I miss that.  My shoulder has been bothering  me.
* more water flavoring