Launchpad London maiden journey: Midweek jaunt to Oslo

by Alex Robertson Textor on

London is one dizzyingly well-connected city, uniquely positioned as a hub for air travel around Europe and beyond. The city has five airports–Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, and London City–six if you count tiny Southend. In 2010, over 127 million passengers were carried through these airports. By way of contrast, Paris, the next biggest city in Europe in terms of passenger numbers, saw 83 million people pass through its two airports in 2010.

With this post, Gadling launches a new series designed to call attention to London as a launchpad for travel around Europe and beyond–from daytrip locations just outside the borders of Greater London to destinations as far afield as Dubai. We’ll provide an overview of transportation options and also provide a budget-minded navigation of each destination.

First up: OsloSeveral airlines fly from two London airports to Oslo. From London Heathrow, British Airways and SAS fly to Oslo-Gardermoen, the city’s main airport. From London Gatwick, Norwegian Air Shuttle flies to Oslo-Gardermoen and Ryanair flies to Oslo-Rygge, a secondary airport south of the city. When I searched for fares on Kayak, Ryanair’s flights to Oslo-Rygge were cheapest, though I decided against this option in order to avoid having to deal with the lengthy transit time between the center of Oslo and Oslo-Rygge.

The cheapest flight I found to Oslo-Gardemoen was flown by Norwegian Air Shuttle, a Norwegian low-cost airline with good reach across Europe and an especially strong network throughout Scandinavia. My flight ran £95.60 ($153). I booked it just six days prior to departure.

My accommodation, organized through airbnb, cost me $152 for two nights. The $76 nightly charge breaks down as follows: $68 for the room plus a $16 airbnb service fee. Budget watchers will observe that I’ve spent $305 before arriving in Oslo.

My accommodation via airbnb amounts to one of the cheapest beds in Oslo, though single rooms at Ellingsens Pensjonat, the least expensive Oslo guesthouse I came across during research, are cheaper at 400 NOK ($70) per night.

Bargain-hunters can find relatively low rates in private accommodation. Rooms in private homes can be booked at the train station tourist office on the day of requested accommodation. These rooms begin at around 300 NOK ($53) per night, and there are dozens of private Oslo rooms on offer depending on season.

Want more options? Bed & Breakfast Norway lists the following accommodations with single rooms available for under 400 NOK per night: the centrally-located Den Blå Dør for 400 NOK ($70) and Enerhaugen for 370 NOK ($65); and Ambiose Bed & Breakfast for 370 NOK ($65) and Bed & Breakfast Poppe for 250 NOK ($44), both of which are located on the outskirts of Oslo. During the summer, camping is another budget-friendly accommodation option. From June 1 through September 1, sites for one or two people can be booked at Ekeberg Camping‘s Oslo City Camp starting at 180 NOK ($32) per night.

I set off with a backpack containing two changes of clothes, my passport, a small present for my hostess, a notebook, a print-out of my ticket, my researched list of museums, neighborhoods, and restaurants, and my iPad. And my heavy winter coat, which I had to drag out of storage.

My objectives are straight-forward: to explore Grünerløkka, Grønland, and the city center; to hunt for good things to eat (especially hearty, rustic Norwegian fare and, if I’m lucky, some good Pakistani grub); to explore the local design scene; to avoid frostbite; to run into Stella Mwangi; and lastly, to remain financially solvent.

For another look at how a new home base opens up travel destinations, check out Gadling contributor Meg Nesterov’s Weekending series. In this series, the author details her travels from her home base in Istanbul to Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Lebanon, and around Turkey.

[Image: Flickr | Hyougushi]

Driving from Australia to Norway without stopping for gas

by Kraig Becker on

Four Aussie men are preparing to make an epic road trip that will see them drive from their home in Australia all the way to Norway. That, in and of itself, should make for quite an adventure, but they’ll also make the journey without stopping at a single gas station along the way. Instead, they’ll use biodiesel to power their vehicle and they’ll gas up by collecting cooking oil and animal fat from restaurants and pubs, which they’ll convert into fuel instead.

The journey has been labeled The Green Way Up and it will get underway in March. The drive will start in Hobart, Australia, the southernmost point on that continent and will end more than 28,000 miles later in the northernmost part of Norway. Along the way, the team will pass through 30 different countries, spotlighting the use of alternative fuels on a local level along the way.

In fact, the focus of the entire trip is to bring the use of alternative fuels to the attention of the general public, placing an emphasis on their importance to the environment and the future of energy for the planet. The team is so committed to using biodiesel for instance, that they’ve built their own special processor to create the fuel they’ll use along the way, and their putting the final touches on a biodiesel-powered boat that will carry them from Darwin, Australia to Singapore, with stops on the islands in East Timor, Indonesia and Malaysia along as well.

To find out more about this expedition, visit the official website and check out the video below. Anyone else feel inspired to go on a big road trip now?

[Photo credit: The Green Way Up]


Green Way Up from Jo Melling on Vimeo.

Video of the Day – Aurora Borealis over Tromsø, Norway

by Stephen Greenwood on

If witnessing the northern lights is one of the top items on your travel wish list, the ideal time of year for seeing them (March & April) is quickly approaching. But if Alaska, Norway, or Finland is just too far to travel this year, you can watch this video instead!

Shot by photographer Tor Even Mathisen at the Aurora Borealis over Tromsø, Norway, this timelapse video was created by taking a rapid series of photographs on a Canon 5D Mark II later stitched together in Adobe After Effects. By taking individual snapshots, Mathisen was able to capture a remarkably crisp image with stunning color.

If you’ve captured your own timelapse photography series, we want to see it! Share with us by posting in the comments section below and it could be our next Video of the Day.

Skier sets South Pole speed record

by Kraig Becker on

Norwegian explorer Christian Eide has set a new speed record for traveling to the South Pole on skis, smashing the previous record by more than two weeks and setting a new standard for Antarctic expeditions to follow.

Eide set out from Hercules Inlet, located along the Antarctic coast, on December 20th of last year and proceeded due south towards the Pole, a journey of more than 700 miles. Averaging 29 miles per day over some of the harshest and most extreme terrain on the planet, the skier completed the trip in just 24 days, 1 hour, and 13 minutes, battling whiteout conditions and subzero temperatures along the way.

The previous speed record was held by American Todd Carmichael, who made the same journey back in 2008. Carmichael completed his expedition in 39 days, 7 hours, and 49 minutes, which at the time seemed like a very impressive accomplishment. Eide’s new speed mark raises the bar substantially, and is likely to be a record that will remain unbroken for years to come.

To further put Eide’s accomplishment into perspective, when explorer Roald Amundsen, who was also Norwegian, became the first person to reach the South Pole back in 1911 it took him 58 days to make the journey. He also had the benefit of doing so by dogsled. Now, a century later, we have modern day explorers covering the same distance in less than half the time and under their own power no less.

We’ve come a long way in a hundred years.

[Photo credit: Christian Eide]

Win a trip to Scandinavia

by McLean Robbins on

Want to explore your Scandinavian heritage or simply think a trip to Denmark, Sweden and Norway sounds fabulous? Thanks to Faces of Scandinavia, now you can.

To enter, simply comment on one of the Faces of Scandinavia travel stories, and explain why you like their story or the destination. A winner will be chosen at random on January 14, 2011. Want to be featured on the site? You can also upload your own photo and travel story, although it won’t increase your chances of winning.

The grand prize includes two roundtrip tickets with Icelandair to Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm, two nights in a fabulous hotel in each city, overnight cruise from Oslo to Copenhagen, a train from Copenhagen to Stockholm and City Cards for sightseeing in each city. The second prize is a 16GB iPad with Wi-Fi and 3G and the travel application Guidepal.