Okay, to be fair, I do plan some. Obviously, airline tickets are required ahead of time. Some type of transportation in the country needs to be set up. For Norway, I decided on the camper van. I own a camper van in the US and am very comfortable with that style of travel. Add to that, Norway, like Iceland (on my list), seemed to be the type of country where being able to explore and camp wherever and whenever would prove to be the winning ticket. So, I purchased the flight and booked the van. I also consulted a map to get a general idea of the route I might like to take through the country.

You could say that my love for not planning each day while traveling was realized on this trip. Over the next five weeks, I went completely off my mapped scenario and found how rewarding that can be.

The travel.

I won’t bore you with too many details but the rookie mistakes I made were quickly glaringly obvious. My route took me from Portland, OR to Houston, TX, to Amsterdam, and then finally to Oslo. Due to the self-inflicted misery I endured on this loooong route I was forced to check and see if there would have been a more direct route. Turns out I could have gotten to Oslo in two flights. Painful!

Lesson one of many: Take the time to find the best connections to get to your destination. I know most of you are thinking, yeah, duh. My excuse, I was so excited about the trip that I just wanted to get the flight booked! Well, I did accomplish that.

When I arrived in Oslo having no idea how to get to Indie Campers, more on my experience with them later, I was left having to ask some fellow travelers for help. Together we determined that Uber was not really a thing in Oslo but taxis were! Better yet, public transportation, but I would not discover that until later.

I picked up my camper and thought I would head to Oslo proper (45 minutes from where I was) and get groceries before I headed out. I mapped a Rema 1000 grocery store, which I had read was the most affordable option, right in the center of town. Perfect!

Lesson two: Norway is not America. I have traveled in Europe previously so should have known. One of the things that makes Oslo (and many European cities) beautiful is their aversion to cars in the town centers. Oslo in particular has no street parking, there are only garages which my camper was too tall to fit into. I was left stuck in a swarm of people, navigating narrow roads, desperate to just get out of town.

In angst, I found a town north of Oslo to plug into Google Maps and started that way. Due to the congestion, Google decided I should get off the freeway and take a frontage road. Apparently, it did not get the memo that the frontage road was closed. I found myself in a line of cars being forced to flip a 3-point turn. This is when my problems compounded further! I was at the front of the line and it was my turn for the maneuver. I shifted the vehicle into reverse but only went forward. What in the world?! My van was a manual and it was clearly marked that the reverse was all the way to the left and up. I tried again. Again I went forward. I tried again! At this point I am literally facing the curb bumping into it each time I ease my foot off the clutch. Construction workers looked on likely thinking my brain had glitched out. There was a line-up of cars on my tail patiently waiting. Surprisingly no one honked. Eventually, they started navigating around my road-clogging mess. Luckily despite having been awake for over 24 hours, I thought to reference YouTube for how to get this Fiat into reverse. Turns out there is a ring around the bottom of the stick that you pull up and then shift. I did it! I was able to reverse my vehicle! And off I went, back into the congestion.

Eventually, I was able to make my way to a small town that had a Rema with a parking lot.

After I got groceries, I used the app park4night to find an amazing free camping spot overlooking the town of Sundvollen.

Sigh of relief, I had made it!

Lessons from: Enter Oslo

• Take the time to find the best airline connections. You won’t regret it!
• Don’t take a camper van into a European city center thinking you will be able to park anywhere near your destination.
• Pack your patience and try to maintain a calm mind because things are likely to go sideways at some point!