Faraway Files #20

TRAVEL BLOG COMMUNITY

20 WEeks of BRIDGE building Blog link ups

Woot woot! It’s a celebration! This is the 20th Faraway Files blog link up. No big deal, just twenty weeks of building community and sharing and inspiring. Nearly 100 travel writers have been contributing about destinations in over 60 countries. And last week we had 46 contributions. Holy wow. That is cool. Awesomesauce. As I like to say. I have been introduced to places that I never even knew I needed to see. I have learned new perspectives about places I thought that I knew.

I am happy. And inspired. This is what Katy, Clare and I started Faraway Files for. And now, I want to see more. There are holes in our map. Let’s fill it in. I am putting a call out for more posts about experiences in Africa. We have learned of Uganda and Rwanda and South Africa and the markets of Morocco. But I know you’ve seen more. Let’s share more.

And South America – let’s see some posts about Brazil and Venezuela and Argentina, Chile and Machu Picchu in Peru. Have you been? I’d like to! They’re on my list. You too?

Let’s fill in the map. That’s what our community can do. Open up eyes and share the world. Where have you been? We’d love to know!

Haven’t been to any of the blanks on our map? We still want your piece for the Faraway Files. You have a way of experiencing that is unique and interesting. And you’ve been to that village in that far corner of France. Or Italy. Or Thailand. Or Indonesia We still want to see those too!

Last week’s record-breaking link-up had so many amazing contributions, it was difficult to choose!

FAVORITES WEEK #19

But first – coffee. Thank you to Addie from Addie Abroad for taking us more of Panama and this lesson in coffee production. I can almost smell it from here. Pour your own mug full and take a look – beautiful images and experience.

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE… AND COFFEE // TOURING A COFFEE FARM IN BOQUETE, PANAMA | Addie Abroad

Got your cuppa? Good. Because now we’re going on a few adventures. These places I’d never read about and they’re now on my wandering wish list. Kerrie at Travels with Mum regularly features a favorite travel experience from one of her children. I can see why her daughter chose this river rafting trip on the Hozu-Gawa in Japan. Looks super fun and something my teens and tween could definitely get on board with. See what I did there? Oh, wait. There’s more!

KIDS RECOMMEND: HOZU-GAWA RIVER BOAT RIDE, JAPAN | Travels with Mum

Staying adrift – I now want to cruise on a dhow. In Oman! Oh man, this looks amazing. Snorkeling and spotting dolphins? Yes. And Please. Thank you to Faraway Files newcomer Agatha Bertram for sharing this last week.

CRUISING MUSANDAM, OMAN | Agatha Bertram Travels

Don’t worry there’s nothing fishy going on – just heading to Norway for my last favorite from Faraway Files #19. Van from Snow in Tromso takes us on a boat trip of a more relaxed type. An old fishing vessel that has been turned into a gorgeous spa on the water in her Arctic town of Tromsø.

WHERE TO SPEND A RAINY DAY IN THE ARCTIC – VULKANA SPA TROMSO | Snow in Tromso

So float with me now and fling us a fish. I mean a file. A post. Of a place that you love. This week I’m sharing tried and true tricks to rock travel with your teens in tow. You not have teens. Yet. But you may remember being a teen. And whether you are taking them to Egypt or Argentina or Azerbaijan or Nepal, these ideas can help you all. (Those are more places we’d love posts about! Hint, Hint.)

Link up is right here today – scroll down for how to participate or check out the links. As the Danes say – have a lovely lille Fredag! Little Friday!

Cheers from Copenhagen, Erin


FARAWAY FILES TRAVEL BLOG COMMUNITY LINKUP #20
WANT TO JOIN IN?

We’d love you to join us in building this supportive and growing community who will inspire and share each other’s posts. All three hosts will try to read and comment on every post and we’ll share them on social media too. Each week we’ll choose our favorites and highlight them on our blogs and social media channels using #FarawayFiles.

HOW IT WORKS:
  • Link up one travel-related post and add the Faraway Files badge onto the post or your blog (code below) or link back to the hosts.
  • The link up will go live every Thursday at 8 am UK time (9 am, CET) until midnight on Friday. It will alternate between Untold Morsels, Suitcases and Sandcastles, and Oregon Girl around the World.
  • Link ups work best if everyone shares so please comment on all three of the hosts’ posts and at least two others.

 

LINK UP RIGHT HERE ON OREGON GIRL AROUND THE WORLD

TWEET US YOUR POSTS

(@suitandsand, @UntoldMorsels, @oregongirlworld) using the hashtag #FarawayFiles and we’ll retweet to our followers.

SHARE TRAVEL IMAGES ON INSTAGRAM

Tag @FarawayFiles and #FarawayFiles – and we’ll repost our favorites.


WE’LL PIN YOUR LINKS

We are posting each week’s links on community Pinterest page – join in over there.


FIND US ON FACEBOOK

Find Faraway Files on Facebook. Like us. We’ll like your page. We’re friendly that way.

GRAB BADGE CODE HERE:
Oregon Girl Around the World
LINK UP RIGHT HERE:
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Norway by Rail

Start Your Norway in a Nutshell Tour by Train from Oslo

Summer break is almost here and maybe Norway is on your list. If you haven’t taken the overnight ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo – that is an experience in and of itself. Spend time in the elegant and accessible city, but don’t limit your Norwegian trip to Oslo. Norway really shines outside the capital. Ride along as I revisit our train trip from Oslo to fjord country… this is Norway by rail.

ALL ABOARD | STUNNING NORWEGIAN SCENERY FROM THE TRACKS

Wending along in the eighth of ten cars, feeling the pull and sway along the tracks. Remarkably insulated from the bracing sound of metal wheels upon steel rails. Suprisingly infrequent is the clickety-clacking one most associates with this mode of travel. I love riding the train.

Continue reading “Norway by Rail”

By Bus to Bergen – Onsdag Wanderlust – Volume V

It’s Wednesday peeps. That’s Onsdag in Danish. And while my morning excursion to join the morgen sing along with the Copenhagen Opera Festival potentially exposed my gross lack of appropriate Danish pronunciation – and may have quickly led to lip synching – I do know what Onsdag means. It means – it’s the middle of the week. And this week in Copenhagen – the weather is abysmal. Seriously. Rain. Not rain. RAIN. More Rain. Oh – blue skies! Let’s do something! RAIN. I need an escape. How about you? Travel with me, virtually. Here and now.

Today I will take you on the last leg of our recent Norway in a Nutshell tour at the end of June. My story began back in Oslo and wound us through Norway by track and through fjord. (Missed those posts? Check them here and here.) Continuing on this Wednesday, let’s leave the gorgeous Nærøyfjord as we disembark our vessel at tiny Gudvangen. Shrouded in rain, (oh you thought I was going to take you somewhere sunny? Just wait…the weather does turn) we hurriedly make our way past the gift shop full of trolls and viking horned caps and Norsk flags and fur trimmed hats and expensive, if charming, Dale of Norway sweaters. Let the other tourists nab their souvenirs – we’ve got a bus to catch. There is no one ushering us along either. No. You have to locate that ride yourself. Ensure with the driver that you are in fact on the correct bus that will carry you on to Voss. Ja takk, in fact we are. Continue reading “By Bus to Bergen – Onsdag Wanderlust – Volume V”

Norway by Boat

Explore the Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord from Flåm
NORWAY IN A NUTSHELL WILL FLOAT YOUR BOAT

Float with me as we continue our Norway in a Nutshell tour through the gorgeous Norwegian Fjords. More than one scenic train ride stemming from Oslo yesterday brought us to charming Flåm for a relaxing overnight once the tourist hoards had vacated. Bellies sated from the full Nordic buffet at the Fretheim Hotel this morning, we check out and head to the harbor to start the boated portion of our pre-planned Norwegian package.

Continue reading “Norway by Boat”

Norway by Rail

Wending along in the eighth of ten cars, feeling the pull and sway along the tracks. Remarkably insulated from the bracing sound of metal wheels upon steel rails. Infrequent is the clickety clacking one most associates with this mode of travel. I love riding the train.

Save for the engineer’s voice announcing the next stop in Norwegian or the shape and color of the farm houses flying their Norsk flags dotting the countryside – it could be Oregon. Instead of Douglas Fir trees, Norwegian Spruce cover the hillsides. Wait – what? HILLSIDES?!? Ahhhh…. topography. Feels like home. It’s what I’m used to. It is beautiful. Snow still tops some of those distant green hills. Not so in Oregon this year. My mother visiting from my from worries for her yard and town and state with the lack of snowcap and exceptionally warm weather for this time of year.

Not a problem in Norway. (Not really in Denmark either.) In stark comparison, a wetter than normal winter and spring have proffered a beautiful, verdant and lush landscape ripe with wildflowers and light green leafy growth. The overcast skies we woke to on our third morning in Oslo didn’t make it past Hønefoss as we travel north and westerly towards Norway’s famous FJORD country. Today’s eventual destination is the little town of Flåm at the base of the Aurlandsfjord. All aboard the first leg or our Norway in a Nutshell tour. We are underway on a gorgeous rail ride through the Norwegian countryside beginning from Oslo’s Central Station.

Continue reading “Norway by Rail”