Saturday (01/08/2015)

Our RyanAir flight from Dublin landed at Dublin airport. Rygge, which is over an hour from Oslo, Norway. I bought the train that runs the Rygge – Oslo route in advance on this site and I paid 640 NOK (Norwegian kroner) for the two of us round trip, that is, approximately 70 euros (half the price of the 2-hour plane ticket, but that's ok).

[NOTE: I don't know if you know, but RyanAir usually stops at places that don't have a finger, that is, you get off the plane using the stairs and walk to the airport building. When we got off the plane, we were so happy to realize that it was hot (over 25 degrees), something that doesn't happen here in Dublin very often. ] 🙂

We went through immigration without any problems, picked up our tent from the conveyor belt and went to the information desk to get pamphlets (I love them!) and ask about the train, since we hadn't seen any signs about it. The lady explained to me that there is a free bus that takes people to the train station and that you can even buy a train ticket from the bus driver (for the same price as the train ticket). Internet). There is also a bus that goes directly to Oslo, but it takes a little longer than the train and costs about the same. We took the bus to the train station and then the train to Oslo. Both were very comfortable and quite crowded, with lots of talkative backpackers, by the way. Here they are:

When we arrived at Oslo's central train station, we went straight to exchange our euros for Norwegian kroner. Celo had done some research beforehand and saw that there were no exchange offices in Rygge and at the train station, the best quote was from the company Nordea (the blue counter company) then we went straight there. There is the Forex also, which is a yellow counter, but we actually confirmed later that it was more expensive. Take a look at both when you go to exchange your money. Just in case…

Car Rental

We stopped at the supermarket inside the station to buy some snacks (expensive prices, as expected, but we were starving!) and went to stand from the Hertz to pick up the car. In less than 3 minutes, we were out with the keys and didn't have to sign any documents. What efficient people! I don't know if all rental companies in Norway are like this, but we found Hertz very top and to our surprise, it was the most affordable. We rented a super car (hahahah…look at the size in the photos!), which as always, was the cheapest available (we paid 365 euros for the 8 days) and off we went to start our journey. roadtrip of 10 days!

Our backpacks and tent filled the back seat!

We continue to Kristiansand, which is located in the very south of the country (almost 4 hours by car), with the help of chip with Internet and our dear Google Maps. (We are too stingy to buy a GPS or rent one from a rental company, so we always travel with Maps!)

Tip: Use the Internet just to calculate the route and then put the cell phone in airplane mode, so as not to waste bandwidth. It works perfectly if you don't stray from the route!

To our surprise, as soon as we left Oslo, we came across the car DeLorean, from the movie BACK TO THE FUTURE. You know what it is? Very cool! Check it out:

We passed through many tunnels on the road (1 every 5 minutes driving) and some bridges after some time driving.

The quality of the asphalt and the signage is excellent (worthy of a first world city) and the drivers are very polite, but they definitely do not respect the speed limits on the roads (they must know where the speed cameras are, of course). We read in our guide that Norway has very strict laws for drunk driving (the blood alcohol limit is almost zero) or for those who exceed the speed limit, so we decided to be the only ones who obey on the roads. No one wants to pay 300 euro fines, have their license confiscated and still be imprisoned for 21 days (if caught drunk driving), right? Well, we think the same.

There are signs warning about automatic toll, that is, without a booth, but since no one at Hertz told us anything, we were unsure whether we had to do anything. Here in Dublin, for example, there is a toll booth on the M50 that is automatic and must be paid within 1 day of passing through it. We were unsure about this for a few days, but then we read in the contract that we didn't need to do anything, because the sensor attached to the front window would capture all the tolls and we would pay later! How scary the bill was! :-/

Only a beautiful road like this would make us not worry about the loss!

If you want to know more about this 10-day trip to Norway, check out the posts below:

• 10 incredible days in Norway in the middle of summer (Summary)
• Arriving in Norway (a plane, bus, train and car saga)
• 1 day in Kristiansand and surroundings
• Between Kristiansand and the famous Preikestolen stone
• The famous Preikestolen
• 1 day in Stavanger and surroundings
• 1 day in Bergen and surroundings
• The largest Norwegian fjord and the largest European glacier
• Borgund Stavkirke, a medieval stave church
• 2 days in Flam and surroundings
• 2 days in Oslo, capital of Norway

If you want to book tours in Norway safely, check out the options offered by our partner Civitatis: