When we told people that we were going to Norway, the universal first response was something related to how expensive it is. They were right, mostly. The three major expenses we have are lodging, getting from place to place, and food. Lodging is not all that expensive. The hostel in Oslo was $88 per night for a private room and private bath. The hotel in Bergen was $108 per night which includes a full breakfast. Getting around is mixed. The train from Oslo to Bergen was $87 per person, which isn't bad (compare that to the price of the Acela from Boston to Philidelphia). Tomorrow we rent a car for 5 days to explore the fjords. That is pricey at around $100 per day (I don't think we will be renting cars as much in the future).
The shockingly expensive thing here is the food and drink. Our first clue was at the duty free after landing at the Oslo airport. It was packed at 1am with people with as much as they could carry. Things are about double the price you would expect in the US. Burgers and individual sized pizzas at a pub are $20. A value meal at McDonalds is $10 to $15. The "cheap" beer at the pub is $10 for a pint. That obviously is not going to help us stretch this trip out for a year. So, we do what we have been doing. We buy groceries. We eat peanut butter and crackers for breakfast (I had canned mackerel on a crackers yesterday - it was good!). We split meals. We have very light meals. We don't get a beer with dinner. The experience has been good for us. In NYC, we ate out all the time. We spent so much money on eating and drinking out. Not only are we saving money, we are losing weight and not drinking as much!
Keep reading below, we both posted a blog today!
- Jake