Sep 15th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Norwegian wildflowers are the subject of today's Photo of the Day. Flickr user Tao, Ding took this snapshot of flowers against a striking mountain backdrop in Tromsø, Norway back in July.
I have a nostalgic reaction to this photo. It reminds me of images in early 1980s earth science textbooks, of one of those visions designed to capture a sense of the earth in its full glory. Fun ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
norway posts
Photo of the day - Norwegian wildflowers
Sep 15th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Norwegian wildflowers are the subject of today's Photo of the Day. Flickr user Tao, Ding took this snapshot of flowers against a striking mountain backdrop in Tromsø, Norway back in July.
I have a nostalgic reaction to this photo. It reminds me of images in early 1980s earth science textbooks, of one of those visions designed to capture a sense of the earth in its full glory. Fun ...Video: Tromso, Norway
Aug 26th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
Tromsø from Dave Pinke on Vimeo.
Anyone can go to Tromso, Norway. Anyone can go anywhere, actually--that's what I like the most about travel. There aren't restrictions. Get up and go if you want to go. Take pictures and make videos documenting the things you see and experiences that will, undoubtedly, mold you. That's what Dave Pinke has done. Dave Pinke is a traveler, video-taker, ...
Video of the Day - Slopeflying in Stryn, Norway
Aug 16th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
If you've watched a Youtube video of wingsuit flying in the past few years, there's a good chance it's courtesy of Joakim Sommer. The 25 year-old Norwegian has been making a name for himself by capturing a special wingsuit technique known as proximity flying.
If you're asking yourself "why is he getting closer to the cliffs?!" - that's the point. Proximity fliers like Sommer jump off the ...
Visa-free travel by the numbers
Aug 15th, 2011 at 11:30AM:
Visa-free travel is easy travel. Procuring visas takes time, energy, and money, and is beyond debate a pain for frequent travelers. The erection of visa barriers responds to a number of factors, though it can be said without too many qualifications that the citizens of rich countries tend to have a much easier time accessing the world visa-free than do the citizens of poor countries.
The ...Brits behaving badly abroad
Aug 4th, 2011 at 8:30AM:
Today the Foreign Office released British Behaviour Abroad 2011, with detailed figures on British nationals in trouble overseas (read: Brits behaving badly abroad). The period surveyed: April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011.
There are lots of interesting tidbits in the survey. British nationals request consular assistance in greatest numbers in Spain and the United States, though since both ...Airbnb: Six awesome experiences
Jun 7th, 2011 at 12:00PM: Last autumn, after having tracked the Airbnb buzz for a while, I finally took the plunge and reserved rooms through the site in Panama City and Bogotá for my two-stop December jaunt.
About a half-hour into my first pit stop, it was already clear to me that the service was a perfect fit for budget-conscious travelers. (For the record, I'm not the only Airbnb fan at Gadling. Check out my ...Top 20 least sexist countries in the world
Apr 24th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
Have you ever wondered which countries are the least sexist in the world?
The Global Gender Gap report calculates such a thing. The study chronicles gender disparities and progress for rights across the sexes in several countries. It essentially gauges the treatment of women using various data points including educational attainment, health, and political empowerment. The study encompasses ...Photo of the day: Rosendal, Norway
Mar 16th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Norway is a place I'd like to go. To be fair, I'm a travel writer. I'd like to go most places. Scratch that. I want to go everywhere. But Norway seems particularly enchanting to me.
When photographer, Ben Britz, first began traveling, he traveled in the most frugal ways possible. While in Norway back in 2005, he traveled only with a backpack. With a small tent for sleeping and a thumb in good ...Fuglen, Oslo: The world's most stylish cafe-furniture shop
Mar 16th, 2011 at 1:30PM:
After a few days wandering around Oslo in the middle of winter, I felt as if I'd hit upon the city's essence. In a frenzy of reductive resolution, I decided that the Norwegian capital is best described as a city of winter sports-crazed jocks.
My evidence: the many locals who made it abundantly clear that they couldn't wait to drive to their cabins in the mountains for a skiing weekend. That ...Schengen and the disappearance of European passport stamps
Mar 1st, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Creative new use for border crossing posts at German/Austrian border.
In the late 1980s, an American spending a summer traveling across Europe with a Eurailpass would see his or her passport stamped possibly dozens of times. With a few exceptions, every time a border was crossed, an immigration agent would pop his or her head into a train compartment, look at everyone's passports, in most ...Launchpad London: Oslo budget strategies
Feb 24th, 2011 at 10:30AM:
In hindsight, Oslo was probably the worst possible inaugural destination for a budget travel series. And in fact my first few hours in Oslo, though a great deal of fun, were a budget traveler's nightmare. An hour in and $90 down, I had to wonder if I would be able to come up with any useable Oslo budget strategies at all.
A one-way journey on the airport express train, which sets off from a ...Launchpad London maiden journey: Midweek jaunt to Oslo
Feb 21st, 2011 at 10:30AM:
London is one dizzyingly well-connected city, uniquely positioned as a hub for air travel around Europe and beyond. The city has five airports--Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, and London City--six if you count tiny Southend. In 2010, over 127 million passengers were carried through these airports. By way of contrast, Paris, the next biggest city in Europe in terms of passenger numbers, saw ...Video of the Day - Aurora Borealis over Tromsø, Norway
Feb 15th, 2011 at 8:30PM:
If witnessing the northern lights is one of the top items on your travel wish list, the ideal time of year for seeing them (March & April) is quickly approaching. But if Alaska, Norway, or Finland is just too far to travel this year, you can watch this video instead!
Shot by photographer Tor Even Mathisen at the Aurora Borealis over Tromsø, Norway, this timelapse video was ...
John Cleese takes $5,100 cab ride to bypass Icelandic ash cloud
Apr 16th, 2010 at 4:00PM:
While some people may just give in and spend a couple of nights at the airport, funny man John Cleese is far too important to sit around and do nothing. So, instead of spending the rest of the week in Oslo, Cleese and his assistant got in a cab and asked the driver to head to Brussels. Thankfully, the cabbie was smart enough to make the 932 mile trek with a second driver.
Once in Brussels, ...
Explore the Arctic with Hurtigruten Tours
Jan 25th, 2010 at 3:00PM: Spitsbergen is the "last stop before the North Pole," a cold, remote landscape of snow, ice, and arctic wildlife. And you can explore it with Hurtigruten, an adventure tour company.
While some of their longer tours may be prohibitively expensive for a lot of travelers (9-day tours cost around $5000 per person). they do offer a much more affordable 6-day Polar Encounters cruise starting at ...A year in the life of a Norwegian forest (time lapse video)
Jan 9th, 2010 at 9:00AM: In 2005, Eirik Solheim shot a still picture of his back yard in Norway every day for an entire year. He aligned the pictures together and created a beautiful time lapse. Since his 2005 version, he's managed to do a higher resolution movie in 2008 and finally, during all of last year, he put together time lapse that uses video clips.
Eirik chose the amazing Canon 5D Mark II for this experiment ...Incontinent and impotent after fall in cruise ship spa is worth $9.5 million
Dec 30th, 2009 at 3:30PM: In 2006, British Fitness instructor Danny Simpson slipped on the wet floor of the spa on board the Norwegian Cruise line's "Norwegian Crown". Mr. Simpson was employed by Steiner Transocean, responsible for operating the spa facilities on the cruise line.
When he fell, he suffered a back injury that made him impotent and incontinent. And apparently, that kind of suffering is worth $9.5 million. ...Photo of the day 12.14.09
Dec 14th, 2009 at 7:30PM:
This year, I'm feeling just full of the holiday spirit, so in looking for tonight's Photo of the Day, I decided to base my search on holiday phrases. While this beautiful photograph, entitled "blue december" and shared by kanelstrand isn't exactly what I had in mind, you can certainly see why I was drawn to this image with its strong lines and vivid colours. A really arresting shot.
If you've ...Mysterious blue light shines over Norway
Dec 10th, 2009 at 1:00PM: On December 9th, residents of northern Norway were surprised to see a weird blue light shining above. According to reports, the beam of light seemed to point to the sky from behind a mountain. As the light began moving in circles, forming a spiral, a brighter beam came out of the center. The phenomenon lasted for about 12 minutes.
After the light disappeared, the Norwegian Meteorological ...Gadlinks for Monday 12.7.2009
Dec 7th, 2009 at 5:00PM:
I hope everyone enjoyed their first weekend of December! I have a feeling many cities inaugurated the season with some sort of Christmas lights parade and Honolulu was no different. Here on the islands we have a paradise Santa display where he and Mrs. Claus kick off their shoes and dip their feet in the water for some tropical relaxation. Here are some good travel reads to get you all relaxing ...
