Planning process:
Some weeks before the Easter Break I heard about the idea fro Adele and Zuzana to go on a Roadtrip to the Lofoten Islands. That’s why I asked them whether I could join them. Zuzana responsed me that they are actually looking for one more person, beacause Jannis also wanted to join. I was pretty happy about that answer. In the end, Wytse also joined us, but Jannis got sick after our Mountain Safety Trip so that Jais decided to come with us. We met some times to discuss about the route plan and the eqiupment. Finally we started end of April with an general idea, where we wanna drive each day and where we wanna sleep.
Execution of the field trip:
It would take me hours to describe the whole amazin road trip to Lofoten Islands, but I will give you a short impression, what we did during this crazy self-organised trip. The way up to the Lofoten island through more than the half of Norway was really impressive. We have seen some waterfalls like the Latefossen or Voringsfossen. passed the Hardangerford, did some hikes to a Troll church or to have a great view over a lake, visited the stve church in Borgund, took many ferries, drove over the Atlantic route with the 12 beautiful bridges and enjoyed all in all the amazing landscape of Norway. On the Lofoten Island we slept 3 nights at the place of a friend of Wytse and did, beside visiting old fishing villages, some challenging hikes on snow-covered mountains. The last night we spend in a bird watching house but unfortunately we missed the Northern lights during our time on the Lofoten islands. Our way back was a 28 hours drive mostly through Sweden to avoid the tolls in Norway.
Challenges:
We had many challenges during our time. Here is a short list of what happened:
- We were sleeping at many different places, but to find a good spot for a campside is sometimes not that easy as expected, but with the help of local people you can handle it better
- Luckily, we had no problem while driving with the car, but you can not be sure, that your car is doing the same as your aim
- Spending so much time in a car and sitting needed some time to get used to it
- It took us always a long time to pack the boot of the car with 5 backpacks, 5 daypacks and food
Group dynamic processes before and after:
All of us had a great time, although we have not spent so much time together before. Nobody had troubles with each other. There was only one point, when we unintentionally throw away someone’s lunch into the garbage. Everybody was contributing his strenghts e.g. I used my orienteering skills while driving in the car.
Reflection on the learning outcomes:
Spending so much time together with people from all over the world was challenging as well as driving at least 6 hours per day. But it was definitely worth sitting such a long time in the car, because you never get bored of Norway. It is such a beautiful country and I would never regret this crazy roadtrip. I liked the way, to plan your days together just day by day in the evening aorund the campfire or inside on the couch. I learned a lot of how groups develop in 10 days of being very close together and I learned more about my personality. To sum up, I would say, that this self-organised roadtrip will stay forever in my memories and I can just recommend to everybody to do the same.
Original plan of our fieldtrip: