EASTER BREAK TRIP
| Stavanger – Bergen – Eidfjord – Odda |
29.03.21 – 04.04.21
Easter break meant to go out of Krisiansand, we opt for a road trip through some of the main cities in Norway, Stavanger and Bergen. The main difference of this trip in comparison with the others were the people, not the outdoor classmates this time, but flatmates and friends from Italy, France and Spain. So that implied different goals for the trip, other ways of enjoying Norway and in general different planning; but with different doesn’t mean worse or better, just different.
In total we were 12 people, 4 in each car to travel, 3 main drivers (I was one of those). We divided all of us in rotating groups, in that way we all were going to mix and spent time in the cars together (since it was a road trip, many time in the road). That worked pretty good, specially for the drivers, who could have different kinds of conversations as well as different types of music and environment.
This trip was based on sightseeing the cities we were staying, specially the most famous parts, as every tourist would do. In Stavanger the main attraction was Preikestolen and some cute streets/parts of the city center. We were unlucky with the weather and we couldn’t enjoy Preikestolen at all, there was fog since the beginning, but we still did the whole hike. In that moment we decided that we should go back again with better weather because it was in our “must do list” since the beginning of the stay. Rainy days in Stavanger but we could still enjoy the city. We spent two nights there.
Then we drove to Bergen, almost 5h with some ferries in between which made the route more amusing. There we planned to also visit the city center and the important neighbourhoods, and to do a hike in Fløyen, the mountains next to the city, where you could get there through funicular. The weather improved there, not rain and more sun but still cold temperatures. We also spent two nights in Bergen, in two apartments in the city center. Since in another trip we already had bad experiences with parking our cars, this time we went directly to a parking spot willing to pay whatever (as the wise Dewey called it “learning by doing”).
After 4 nights moving around the south-west coast of Norway visiting Stavanger and Bergen, we drove a bit to the inside, to Vossevangen, Gudvangen, Flam and finally Eldfjord. All these short stops were basically because there was something to visit in each, maybe just a cute beach or a beautiful fjord. That night and the next one were in campings, in bungalows; some of us were not used to that (was surprising, weird, but at the same time funny :D) and you could see it with just by watching their faces when opening the doors of each bungalow. The other night was in the camping of Trolltunga, in Odda. We took a bath in that camping, in the fjord over there (was so cold, couldn’t breathe inside the water).
The mood of the group keep changing during the whole trip, it makes sense if it is a 7-days trip. We could see that sometimes the weather affected the mood, for instance if it was rainy then the things planned had to vary and it influenced people’s mood too since improvising when you are a group of 12 people is not as easy as being a small group. The more people the more difficult to come to an agreement, could be for deciding where to eat outside, which restaurant, or how to get to one place (being 3 cars); so this sometimes lead to misunderstandings and some troubles than ended being personal issues. Nevertheless, we tried to overcome all those issues or at least to make them smaller, to let the others enjoy the time there.
After doing this trip with people I was used to live or spent time with but not to travel with I realised that each one’s features get stronger when travelling, also because you spent 24h a day with them. Then is when you have to learn how to be patient, comprehensive and look for the group’s wellbeing because going by your own won’t lead you anywhere. It was a good trip overall, a good experience with nice people.