Norway Road Trip Stop 7: A linguistic challenge, but well worth it for this view! (Short film) | Adventure Every Day
Does an Airbnb cabin promising a spectacular view follow through on the promise? In Norway, the answer to that question is usually: Yes!
The journey continues
We pick up from yesterday's post in the tourist hotspot of Geiranger, where mom and I took an epic boat ride.
It was a rather pleasant finish to a day that was not without stress, given the slight car trouble I mentioned.
The only roads to and fro Geiranger look like this
The day wasn't over yet though. We still had to ascend Ørnevegen to escape the Geiranger valley. This meant the car had to hold up and mom had to overcome her unease about traversing narrow mountain switchbacks yet again.
Both went off without a hitch this time around!
Norwegian ferries are everywhere on the west half of the country
The ferry we had to take was a slightly different story, however. We pulled up just before departure, but it filled up with 3 cars still in line. We were number 3.
Not a big deal, it was only a half hour wait. The only reason I mention it is because, given some of the earlier delays, it was already getting a bit late - soon past the agreed meet up time with the Airbnb host.
I also didn't exactly have the address nailed down. Google Maps is pretty good these days, but even it was struggling to pinpoint exactly where this place was.
It was supposed to be somewhere around here, the town of Valldal:
I drove to about where I thought it was supposed to be, but it still wasn't obvious. The clock was ticking. Time to call.
Now again, this isn't normally a big deal, but again some explaining is required. It has to do with the language.
I'm quite fond of the Norwegian language and usually at least try to stick to it instead of relying on English, which almost all Norwegians are quite proficient in.
Almost all.
It's not always completely true, especially out in the countryside. Adding to the difficulty is that Norwegian is not really one language.
There are actually dozens of dialects from all different parts of the country, and even two official versions: bokmål (book Norwegian, the more common, especially around Oslo) and nynorsk (New Norwegian, a collection of dialectical language from around the country).
Basically, everyone has some of their own dialectical words, phrases and accents.
Our hostess Solveig was a very sweet lady, but it was obvious from the get-go that I was pretty clueless about the local dialect here, and being an older person from a small village, English wasn't really an option anyways.
So I tried my best, and after some struggling and driving around, we arrived at last.
Another Norwegian cabin delight
Solveig could not have been a more gracious hostess, despite our late arrival. Conversation was a bit easier in person than over the phone, so it went okay. And she even offered us a basket of fresh, local Norwegian strawberries. Score!
The view from the porch of the cabin was every bit as good as advertised. A full 180-degree spectacle of pure Norwegian fjord heaven.
See for yourself in this film:
What's your most epic Airbnb experience? Tell me about it in the comments!
Adventure Every Day is a travel & exploration channel started in 2016. In addition to the Steemit blog, I post short films of my adventures to the Adventure Every Day YouTube channel.
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