Photo TR: [Study] Abroad - The world and its coasters

[pyrocoasterkidDonkeys give me orgiastic scream!]

I just realized looking back that it's been a longggg time since you've had an update, and I always followed this thread! Perfect balance of the culture and parks and some absolutely amazing shots. Keep up the good work and keep the reports coming (more often!). I'm extremely jealous.

[coastererI think Intamin should make a donkey!]

Copenhagen has a great thing going for it, in regards to its proximity to Norway. In fact, prior to arriving in Denmark, I would often daydream about Copenhagen as the ‘doorway to Scandinavia’, and often envisioned myself embarking on Viking ships out of port, and heading straight North on a polar bear, skinny dipping in fjords and camping in reindeer hide huts under the Northern lights.

While none of this really happens, you can in some ways get really close, and while I have yet to ride a polar bear, I did do a fair amount of traveling with the aim to actualize these Nordic fantasies.

I’m convinced Norway is the perfect country. It’s beautiful, and perfect, and everybody’s happy, and good looking, and employed, and even if they’re not, the government takes extraordinarily good care of them. I would love more than anything to one day get a cabin in the fjords up north, way in the middle of nowhere, and visit occasionally, but really not be obligated to do anything. Of all the places I went, the landscapes here were arguably the most stunning. And of course, the Northern Lights are to die for.

If you’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights and haven’t yet… I’m not sure this report is for you. I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop talking about how great they are.

I took a February trip up to Tromso for the weekend, a small city waaaay up north, up above the Arctic Circle, mostly situated on an island between the inland fjords and Whale Mountain, which separates Tromso from the Arctic Ocean. The city is stunning and quaint all at the same time, and I just couldn’t get over it. I felt like I was at the end of the world.

I did a lot of wandering. Norway is expeeeennsssive, and even the public transportation was like 6 bucks a pop. There’s a cable car you can take across the bridge and past the Arctic Cathedral, which takes you to one of the mountains for an overview of the city. Tromso is on a small island, about 4 miles long and less than a mile or so wide, with the airport right in the middle, and my hostel way at the south tip, which I would walk the two miles to and from. It was cold, but it wasn’t as cold as you would expect - probably about 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit most of the time.

The Northern Lights were unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was mind-blowing, and all the pictures in the world can’t prepare you for how surreal and hauntingly beautiful they are. They took a while to warm up, but all of the sudden this ghostly green curtain appears out of no where like lava, and slowly ripples its way from horizon to horizon, rending the sky in two. I met a girl from Berlin in her early 20s, who, like me, had gotten sick of her friends’ hesitancy to go anywhere interesting, and had hopped on a plane by herself to just get well off the beaten path. We ended up at the same place the next afternoon for a snowshoeing trek up a mountain, which was easily one of the most exhausting things I’ve ever done. The snowsuits sure were fun to walk around in though. I felt like an alien.

One of the best things to do when you’re budget traveling is to pretend like you’re staying in really hotels. When you pretend you’re staying there, everyone thinks you’re staying there, and you can spend a large amount of time in the lobby, where it’s warm, and occasionally there’s a fireplace and access to their free wifi. Sometimes you’ll even be able to get a crack at a complimentary fruit basket, or a leftover supply of fancy banquet deserts. But you’re also presented with the opportunity to get in on tourist trips that you otherwise wouldn’t have known about.

Like the roundtrip bus and ferry trip to Skjervoy and back. This I signed up for at the last minute and sat down to the most delightful company of an 80 year old Norwegian woman from Alta, who had made the long trek into the city to visit a dentist. The farther we got out of the city, the more beautiful things got. And I’m pretty sure it’s here where I saw the most beautiful landscape I’ve ever seen. The bus flits around the base of the impossibly steep fjords, which tower over you, and the late afternoon sun is just hovering below the horizon for hours now, sending an ethereal glow of purple and pink off the tops of the crooked mountains, their edges blurred by the snow being blown off into the twilight sky. The fjord inlets you skirt around shimmer silver blue, laden with ice, as the lights of the cabin or two across the water flicker on in the dusk like fireflies. And all this time the old woman next to you is telling you about her granddaughters, and you can’t shake the feeling that she must be a witch, because normal people can’t possibly live in places as beautiful as this.

But unfortunately we didn’t make it all the way to Skjervoy – we were blocked by an avalanche, and I had to catch another bus heading back to the city, as they would have to take an alternate route and I would miss the roundtrip ferry back to Tromso.

But fortunately, this afforded me one of the most incredible opportunities I’ve ever had. The guy at my hostel, who I had spent nearly an hour talking with, had suggested I make my way up to Whale Mountain my last night in town. So at around midnight, not having had the money to pay for the last night before my 6:40 am flight, I got everything on my back and headed out into the cold, catching a local bus to the other side of the airport and across the bridge to the town at the base of the mountain, where I backtracked a ways, and found a secret entrance to a set of cross country ski paths, which were walkable due to the snow being packed down from the skiers. And from about 1 am til 3, I was alone on Whale Mountain, the city far away now, the silence of Whale Mountain almost swallowing me completely, as I made my way blindly on the unmarked paths of packed snow, my way illuminated by the silver of the moon and the haunting green of the Northern Lights. And having finally made my way back to the airport, I snuck in through the parking garage elevators, which I had previously read from a travel blog were left on all night, and caught a quick nap under the florescent lights of the terminal, the Arctic cold of the night howling outside.

Words of advice: get to Norway, and then just head north.

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back soon with pictures of Oslo, Tusenfryd, Bergen, and springtime fjords.

[coastererI think Intamin should make a donkey!]

My parents used me studying abroad as an excuse to get out of the country for the first time ever! So while they signed up with a tour company to see Norway and Denmark, I used them visiting meeee as an excuse to stop by Tusenfryd, meeting them in Oslo for a couple days and taking an afternoon during one of their scheduled tours to hop a local bus to the park. The bus ride wasn’t bad at all, maybe 30 minutes, and was very easy to catch from the center of the city.

Oslo itself was mehhh.. it’s mostly just a city. The new opera building was spectacular though. If you’re gonna be in Norway, there are a million better things to see than Oslo. Seeing my folks though, was a great treat. It had been quite a while. Seeing them trying to navigate their way around a foreign country for the first time... well, words can't explain, I was dying.

Tusenfryd I really liked though. It had a kind of backwoods feel to it, small enough but still with things to do, and Thundercoaster hauled. It wouldn’t take more than a few hours to do everything you needed to, but is well worth a stop.

Speed Monster is beautiful the way it straddles the park entrance. The ride is super classy, but wasn’t quite as forceful as I was hoping. It was still a fun ride though.

The rest of the park is pretty standard, with a Vekoma Tornado model looking pretty rusty, the water coaster waaayyyy in the corner, and the cutest of all the kiddie rides.

That leaves Thundercoaster, which, as I mentioned, kicked some serious butt. I loved it. I loved it quite a bit. It was aggressive and you could feel the power, but I wouldn’t call it rough. And the layout was incredibly original. There was great air and sustained intensity throughout, and the whole way you just feel like you’re charging through the course. I haven’t ridden Loup-Garou, but I have ridden Robin Hood, the other Vekoma woodies, and I would call this one wayyyy better. It rides kind of like the bigger CCIs. Which I love. It’s solidly in my top ten.

Thanks for reading guys, It’s been great hearing from all of you. I also just wanted to apologize for taking so long to get these updates up (especially after that long stretch). My last year of college happened, and it’s just taken me completely out of my coaster mindset. But hopefully I’ll be able to finish it this time around.

-Danny

[Hilltopper39Don't make me kick you in the donkey!]

Unbelievable trip report man, I really enjoy your stuff here. Norway looks great, can't wait to visit one of these days.

[coastererI think Intamin should make a donkey!]

My good buddy Eric came up to visit while I was there, and we did a bit of a whirlwind tour through Scandinavia. There was a bit of a struggle catching the ferry from the North tip of Denmark, as we cut it kind of close, but there really wasn’t any better way. It ended in us sprinting about a mile from the train station around this huuuuuge harbor, when we were told that the boat we wanted was actually way over theeeeere, instead of where we were. With about 3 minutes to spare, we burst into the office about as disgusting as you can imagine, and rolled onto the boat, completely exhausted, as the door shut behind us. And within a few minutes, we had pushed off from shore, dropped our things behind a row of chairs, and were overwhelmed by an older, non-English speaking Norwegian woman who regaled us quite spectacularly with the entirety of her homeland’s national anthem, with absolutely no prompting from us.

17 hours and a night on the floor later, we were pulling into Bergen, and spent the afternoon walking around downtown and some of the trails through the woods overlooking the city. The weather wasn’t great but we were able to avoid the worst of it, and crashed after a few mile walk to our hostel.

The next day we made our way through Sojnefjord to a long afternoon messing with sheep herds and running up waterfalls. Up there in the fjords was easily one of the top 5 most beautiful places I’ve ever been. My only complaint about Norway is the difficulty it is to do any really budget traveling. They seem to have kind of commercialized just about everything, and it was all pretty expensive. But as such, we had the opportunity to finally be around a lot of other tourists, which I wasn’t super accustomed to, and it made for a few laughs. There was one woman sooo intent on getting pictures we often saw her leaned way over the laps or the heads of anyone who’d stand still long enough to let her, and sometimes even physically on people. She was great though, and we had a nice little chat with her. There was another Japanese tourist who kept feeding the seagulls, until they were literally dive bombing her to get the rest of her bread, driving her from the top deck with her hands above her head shrieking.

That night we took the train up to the top of a fjord, and camped out in the train station til around 2, catching the overnight to Oslo, where we passed through to Gothenburg, arriving around noon and enjoying a small park in the city until Liseberg opened around 3. I didn’t expect Balder to be my new number 1, but I was expecting really good things, with all the love TPR throws at this ride. And to be honest, I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was moving a bit sluggish? Maybe I wasn’t so thrilled with the repetitive layout, and was a bit disappointed at the lack of speed and lack of out-of-control intensity, but I just didn’t really get it. It felt more like a flat ride that pops you up over and over rather than an actual full circuit coaster. It was okay, just not really my style. I much prefer Boulder Dash, El Toro, and especially the Voyage. The park itself was really nice though, and Eric and I both loved Lisebergbanan. Kanonen was cute, but not particularly forceful. We enjoyed the park but were expecting a little more from Balder. It just didn’t do it for either of us.

From there we caught a train down to Malmo, and made it back home to Copenhagen late that night. Thanks for reading guys,
-Danny

[giscoStarbucks Enthusiast]

Great report you are doing. Some beautiful photos.

[thrillerman1Can you see the donkey in my toast?]

I absolutey love your trip reports! They're so full of life and positive energy no matter the situation, and your photos really show how much you enjoy living no matter what you are doing. Great jump shots too...how in the world do you do those? I'm curious what you found about Balder that didn't live up to the hype. Anyway, thanks for sharing, and I hope you keep doing these reports of your travels as they are easily my favorite to read on TPR.

[coastererI think Intamin should make a donkey!]

Thanks so much guys, your comments really mean a lot. These reports are a blast to make.

Haha, thrillerman1, most of the jumping pictures are timer shots with the camera propped up on whatever semi-flat surface we can find.

And as for Balder, I guess we were underwhelmed by the repetitive and smallish nature of the airtime hills. It wasn't like there wasn't a ton of airtime cuz there was, but it was all very controlled. Where El toro hits its top speed never relents with huge sustained airtime, and Boulder Dash and Voyage keep getting faster and more intense as they charge along out of control, Balder just felt very much like one 50 foot airtime hill after another. And while the airtime was great, the inbetween segments were very much not as intense. In that sense, it felt kind of like a flat ride, one that keeps doing the same pop over and over, without feeling like much of a complete circuit ride. So for me, a ride like Balder wouldn't rank nearly as high as some other rides.

[PhotoBootheJizzy jizz jizz jizz jizz]

This is still my favorite thread. Incredibly jealous, although amazed to meet you at Chicago Midwest Bash the other year! LOL! Love the updates, pictures, and overall enthusiasm of each posts

[deguy123Bonafide Donkey Expert]

I love this thread because the pictures are amazing with coaster/parks or just the random shots of your adventures. I'm jealous also and seriously once my daughter is grown, my first and only thing on my mind will be to travel to different places.