Enjoying some time in the park, after running around town in search of Indonesian rupiah, mosquito net, camel back and socks for trekking. This evening Arne is watching his beloved Vålerenga play and I am driving my brother and his family to Rygge airport and 2 weeks in Italy. Life is good 🙂
Tomorrow is my last day at work. I’ll be back in august 2015. Just 8 more hot days here in Oslo 🙂
Today marks yet another milestone for us. Today we arrived at the single digit on the countdown to departure. Nine more days in Norway before we are off to Bali. It seems like such a short time since we talked about 300, or even 1 year and 50 days. I hope we are able to wind down and make the trip last “the full year” and not feel like time just flew past in a blur.
We are having a great time living in the city center, here at Ben’s apartment. Katja is finishing work this week, whereas I am just spending lazy days in the sun. Did i mention the 9 days left?
Walk in peace!
As we get closer to the date of departure I slowly realize that it is happening. It is still a bit abstract, the fact that I’m not returning home and to work for more than a year. Today we handed our house to our tenants, which seems like a great couple. Strange though. Someone else will be using my couch, the kitchen and our bed. We are so lucky to borrow my father-in-law’s apartment in down town Oslo until we leave. It is nice, yet unfamiliar to have all kind of noise and people so “close”.
The following days will be spent getting the last few details In order. Especially test-packing for the trip. So far my planned volume far exceeds what’s right. Lonely Planet recommends to lay out what you plan to bring, then take away half. Let it sit for a couple of days…. And remove half again. Then you’re close to the right amount. 🙂
At present time it is 17 days, 3 hours and 20 minutes until departure.
The picture is not mine at all, but has been the background on my iPad for some time. It illustrates quite well how the trip plays out in my head. 😉
Be safe!
Today the buyer will pick up the car. It has been a dream to drive around in a new Audi A4 since we bought it. In my youth, I always envied the old people (I guess people about my current age) that could afford such cars. J Well, it is now the end of the road for the car and us (pun intended), but I’m sure the new owners will be happy and give “The pearl” a great new home.
As it was presented in the add
It’s 34 days until departure, and we are packing up everything that is not rented out with the house. You do not know all you own until you need to move it! Well, back to work.
Walk in peace.
Got a very very nice “have a wonderful year”-present from my colleagues today. These two will be travelling with us and will pop up in all sorts of different places.
Big thanks to all my wonderful colleagues at Kagge Forlag AS and J.M. Stenersens Forlag. I will miss you a lot!!!!!!
Have enjoyed a beautiful day at Sjusjøen! Weather has been fantastic and it’s promising for the next two days 🙂
Here’s some pictures from todays hike around Sjusjøen. Still some snow on the trail!
Life is all about getting ready for the big adventure, but we have some other small great things going in as well. Right now we are riding the train towards Gol for a seminar with the karate group in Hemsedal.
Katja and I will teach for a couple of days and then some of the students will do their grading. Looking forward to this weekend.
It’s been a long time since the last post, but we are still working towards the takeoff at August 1st. In that process we are renting out our town house for the year we will be abroad. The ad for it can be seen here:
If you know of anyone that needs a place to stay in this periode please guide them to the ad. 🙂
In addition to that, Arne is using a lot of time to get his replacement at work hired. There are several good candidates for the position, and we hope it is done within May month.
We are cleaning out a lot of stuff from sheds, cupboards and so on. There is an incredible amount of stuff that has been gathered over the years. A clean-out is absolutely needed. Some things you just wonder why you didn’t throw away in the first place, other things bring back memories of past times. It’s a fine balance of keeping too much and throwing to much away.The next few days will be used for showing of the house to potential tenants, and deciding how big a storage unit to rent.
I do have butterflies in my belly now. We are closing to the 2 month mark in the countdown. Visas, flights, vaccines, economy, electronics, packing, handing of work in a good way… But as Ingrid told us: “Don’t deprive yourself of the travel-fever.”
It’s not easy to pack light, all the time you usually don’t carry the luggage all that much. This time however I want to pack so I can easily carry what I bring along without any stress. With that in mind we went out to get me a new backpack.
Oh my god! It’s a jungle out there! The time when backpack where an easy buy is long gone. Luckily we got good help at Sportsnett @ Klingenbergpassasjen in Oslo.
With good guidance I ended up with a 65 liter Arc’teryx Altra. I chose this for a few different reasons:
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Easy access to “what’s in the bottom” through the opening that goes all the way down. |
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| Adjustable height settings for shoulder straps |  |
| Flexible, yet adjustable, hip straps (rotating Load Transfer Disc™) |  |
All in all I’m happy, but now starts the hard part… What to bring?!?
kogatravel 