I admit it: navigating a foreign city by bus and train intimidates me at times, especially when I’m tired, traveling solo, and just want to give my brain a recess from the typical day-to-day concerns of travel.  Sometimes it’s just nice to have someone to do it for you.

(Oslo Harbor)

I flew into Oslo, Norway after an extraordinary week in Iceland navigating the countryside and bouncing around the villages in my little rental car. It was both exhilarating and exhausting and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way—but I was tired.

I exited the train station to a surprisingly large and buzzing city, pulled out my map in the rain, and tediously traversed my way though the streets with my oversized backpack and tired feet. Hostel, need to find hostel.

Despite my lethargy, I was excited to be in Oslo and knew just what I wanted to see—the same things everyone wants to see in Oslo: Viking ships, the angry boy, and the ski jump. I just needed to figure out where everything was, what bus goes where and what time, how much, when it’s open, and where can I get some lunch. I’m starving.

Or, I could just take a bus tour.  The idea had never really appealed to me—until now.

Did you know that most major cities offer free hop-on, hop-off bus tours or organized bus tours for a variety of budgets? Don’t make your life harder, especially when you’ve got limited time.

I bit the bullet. I took a bus tour. And I liked it. The Oslo Highlights bus tour provided the opportunity to see all of these wonders of Oslo without the worry of self-navigating through a new city.  That’s right, you can put your map in your purse—or man bag. All you have to do is find City Hall, and then sit back, relax, and enjoy a knowledgeable and friendly guide while stopping for just enough time to explore and experience each must-see destination on your own.  Ahhh, simplicity amongst hectic travel. It’s almost better than recess.

I took a tour called the Grand Highlights tour. It lasted approximately 4 hours and runs year round with a live, energetic, multilingual guide; there’s no pre-recorded, monotone soundtrack during off-season.  The buses always meet on the side of City Hall where a tour schedule is posted.

H.M.K Oslo Sightseeing tours offer lots of other bus tours catering to your specific interests and allotted time to explore.  Choose from a number of tour options: Grand Highlights, Highlights, Panorama, Best Choice, and Selected Highlights.

(The Angry Boy in Vigeland Sculpture Park of Oslo, Norway)

Itinerary for the H.M.K. Oslo Grand Highlights Tour

10:15 am: Meet at Oslo City Hall. Drive through Downtown where your guide will point out places of interest such as the Parliament building,  Royal Palace, National Theatre, and the Foreign Ministry among the many other beautifully ornamented buildings in the colorful downtown of Oslo.

10:40-11:15 Vigeland Sculpture Park. Take 30 minutes to walk through the park to view Gustav Vigeland’s naked and nameless sculptures representing the many emotions and stages of life.  Here, you’ll see the famous angry boy, but I hope you’ll take note of his three, less dramatic siblings.

My, how we reward a hissy fit with loads of attention.

(Vigeland Sculpture Park: Oslo, Norway)

11:30 – 12:00  Holmenkollen. View the ski jump, peruse the gift shop, grab a snack or coffee at the café. (30 min)

*Go back to the city hall to drop off those on the Panorama tour (2 hour tour) and then continue on to the Viking Ship Museum.

12:45-1:25 Viking Ship Museum. The museum entrance fee is included in the tour ticket (NOK 340/ 170 child). View the excavated Viking Ships from approximately year 800, the bones of the two queens buried with one, and the items found within the three ships.

(The Viking Ship Museum: Oslo, Norway)

1:30 Take a short boat ride back to the city hall. Choose to get off there or stay on the bus and the guides will gladly drive you to the Opera house if you wish to conclude your tour there.

 

(The Opera House: Oslo, Norway)

The Grand Sightseeing Tour of Oslo includes an additional museum visit. Instead of taking the short boatride back to the City Hall, choose from one of three Museums to explore for an additional hour: Fram, Kon-Tiki, or Norwegian Maritime. Once finished exploring your museum of choice, board the bus and it will take you back to the City Hall or drive you to the Opera House.

The Fram Museum: Oslo, Norway

The tour conveniently ends in the heart of the city where it’s easy to continue exploring by foot to nearby shops, restaurants, the Oslo Harbor, the Akershus Fortress, art galleries, and other popular museums.

Thanks to www.getyourguide.com for sponsoring this tour.

A big thanks to Kim of  So Many Places for contributing the following post as the February 15th Travel Instigator. Stay tuned for a feature post and Q and A from a new adventurous female traveler the 15th and 30th of every month.

On my blog I’ve documented the two-year journey my husband and I have been on to save money, sell our stuff, quit our jobs, and set off to travel around the world.  There have been many ups and downs, and I’ve tried to write honestly about them all.

One undeniable downer is the negativity I am sometimes met with when I tell people about our plans.  I try not to spend too much energy dwelling on these negative interactions, but the truth is that there are plenty of naysayers, and it can be discouraging to encounter them.

The sad truth is that not everyone will support your dreams, especially if your dreams are unconventional.  Do you want to take a job as a financial analyst and buy a four-bedroom house in the suburbs?  Sure, most people will get behind that.  Do you want to move to Paraguay for a fire-breathing apprenticeship?  Prepare yourself for naysayers.

Based on my own experience, below you’ll find a list of common naysayers and some strategies I’ve used to combat them.

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Wait! Before you…ok…I’m sorry. I hope you’ll forgive my slip-up. I, myself, am a girl who gets around and was in much need of some girls-cabin-weekend-snowboarding-hottub therapy. The photo below is the reason we’re all deprived of a Featured Travel Instigator today. It’s all my fault. I was irresponsible. I mean, just look at that photo below. You know what I should have been doing? Sitting in the cabin plugging away at my computer getting that damn Feature up for you guys! I’m selfish. A horrible person. I’m glad we had this talk. The cabin weekend worked. I’ve really come to terms with myself.

(Girls board/skiWeekend at Crystal Mountain, Wa.--Yes, Those are elk in the back yard.)

A big thanks to Amanda Patterson of Amanda Elsewhere for contributing the following post as the January 15th Travel Instigator. Stay tuned for a feature post and Q and A from a new adventurous female traveler the 15th and 30th of every month.

First, a ditty: wear sunscreen. Baz Luhrmann was right; no other advice matters. Second, I found a mouse, dead, on the floor beneath my cubicle desk a couple weeks ago. My second thought upon this discovery was: what is this a sign of? (My first thought being, of course, to run far away and not return until long after building maintenance removed it, and also to lay upon whomever I ran into my tale of woe).

You see, I suffer from all of the common fears in some degree or another: heights, doctors, failure, clowns, that the Bachelor may not find true love. But mice terrify me the most, for reasons I can only half-heartedly explain. They’re small and fast and seem to only be seen peripherally, out of the corner of my eye, running along a wall. You know who else does that? Ghosts.

Anyway, I only had a few days to contemplate what it all could mean (Is my career dead? Am I going to die in my cubicle too? Will I ever find the courage to quit office life to travel the world?) before a startling, tragic development occurred at home. My apartment, it seems, harbored mice as well. And my cat, it seems, loved to catch them and re-gift them to me. I will spare you all of the grisly details except that after a few instances of me standing on a chair, screaming in petrified terror (alone), I decided to take control.

Google told me that to loudly direct profanities at my well-meaning animal companion was not very polite of me.  So when it happened again, sometime between midnight and 1am on a random, thankless Tuesday night, I lulled cat-and-prey as far away from my bed as possible, calmly caught the mouse in my boot, and deposited it outside.

You know what was weird about that? After all the hoopla and the panic and the overturned furniture and the crying, it all ended quietly. No one was around to high-five me, no strategically placed person with a beer on hand to toast me. That was 100% personal satisfaction.

Do you know the kind of euphoria that accompanies conquering your fears? It feels goddamn great and now I’m pretty sure I can do anything.

“What does any of this have to do with anything?” you’re wondering.

Well, it’s the middle of January, and I want to talk about your resolutions. This is a call for a resolution revolution!  Let’s call them Travelutions! The following Ten Travelutions are some of mine and they can be yours because, after all, what is the point of a New Year except to drink a lot and to earnestly try to better yourself? As travelers, and more pointedly, Girls Who Get Around, I think we’re all actively seeking this already.

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My dinner consisted of a family-size bag of “Cool American” flavored Doritos, gas station fish and chips, and a ginger ale. I sat in my rental car alone with my not-so-fantastic feast, killed the engine and turned the lights off. No plasticware, no napkins.

My car faced west and sat at the northern most point of the small fishing village in Iceland, wedged somewhere between the sky and the frigid dark ocean. The sky had not yet revealed its intentions—complete cloud coverage or to surrender to the stars. I kept my fingers crossed for the latter. I had hoped to see the Northern Lights.

The moment was both pathetic and peaceful.

With not much to think about and no one to talk to, my mind wandered to the odd predicament I found myself in just prior to parking my car.

I had arrived in the village a couple of hours earlier. My car crept through the desolate streets as I looked for a place to sleep and to grab a bite to eat.

The wind whipped around every corner and the boats rocked in the harbor while I searched for signs of life. Colorful box houses sat modestly hiding the town’s inhabitants. Where is everyone?

A couple children rode by on bikes and stared at me as if I’d just slaughtered their beloved house pet.

Hostels were closed, bed and breakfasts were closed; even the large hotel on the hill had a note taped to the door, “ For accommodation, please call…” (Number provided with no area code). I sat in the empty parking lot contemplating plan D.

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