Scandinavia Trip: Day 4 – from Sweden to Northern Norway

With great displeasure, I woke up at 5:50 this morning to catch the airport express from Stockholm Central Station to Arlanda Airport. I had many reasons to feel smug though. Firstly, I had activated my 24-hour ticket at around half past six the previous day, so I did not have to waste time buying another. Secondly, I had already bought a return ticket to Arlanda. Thirdly, I had become intimately acquainted with the Central Station over the previous days, knowing exactly where to go on this important occasion. Fourthly, I had checked in online, so I saved time once I arrived at the airport. Finally, I put off brushing my teeth and eating breakfast until I got to Arlanda, which saved me from waking up at half past five.

Everything went smoothly at Arlanda, though I have to say that the security check was appallingly long. I flew out on time to Oslo, and I changed easily to the domestic terminal only by scanning my boarding pass. There, I met Johnny and his friend Zhongwei with whom I would spend the next few days in Norway. We cobbled together a duty-free lunch which we ate during our wait for the plane to Harstad/Narvik Airport.

It should not have surprised me that as we descended into Harstad/Narvik, we flew over snow-capped mountains, though it did feel strange in late June. Nor should it have surprised me how big the parking lot and town around the airport were. A lot of things on our drive to the Lofotens did surprise me nonetheless, like the quality of their roads, the busyness of these roads, and even the presence of fairly frequent public transport in the Lofoten Islands.

The car rental went ahead without a hitch and so did our entire drive to our accommodation on the island of Vestvågøya. We made a few stops along the way to admire the scenery and two final stops to buy ingredients at the local Spar and dinner at a nearby burger place. We would have been blown away by the prices had we not been warned that everything is quite expensive in these faraway lands. 

A view of Tjeldsund Bridge
The same
A little house in the foreground
Mountains over the sea at another lookout
Another view from the same lookout
A view of an orange house farther on the way
A waterfall
Mountains at another stop
A bay and an island
More of the same
Mountains in a haze
A wider view

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