My North African Adventure ♡

One drunken Thursday night myself and Flo decided that we fancied a wee trip to Africa and without much thought or planning we booked a mid-week vacay to Morocco. The return flights from Madrid to Marrakech were an absolute bargain, so props to drunk Kate and Flo because lets be honest, that could’ve been an absolute disaster. By the end of the week we managed to convince our mate Nina to tag along and the three of us set about roughly planning our African Adventure. Neither myself or Flo had ever visited Morocco before, but Nina had been there the previous Spring and looking back I don’t think we would have survived on our own. The two of us are pretty laid back kinda gals, but we probably would have had a fit trying to manoeuvre ourselves around the incredibly chaotic streets of the Medina. Lost tourists wandering aimlessly from street to street definitely became an everyday sight and even though we did our fair share of this, I can just imagine it being ten times worse without the help of our wee German Geographer.

As soon as we left the airport we were bombarded by different men trying to usher us into their taxis. These men didn’t turn out to be the actual taxi drivers, but instead the kind of middle man in the whole process. Their job was to negotiate the price and then drop us off with their partner who then brought us to our destination.  However, there seemed to be some sort of misunderstanding along the way about the price. I don’t even remember the amount or anything because it was over six months ago, but basically the driver wanted to charge us more that the agreed fare. He got a bit aggressive, but that didn’t faze us in the slightest. We had agreed on a fare and we were sticking with it or heading back to the entrance where there were many more men to choose from. I think he was a bit shocked by how feisty we were and as soon as we stepped out of the car and demanded our bags back he backed down and finally agreed on the original amount. I think the best advice I could give to anyone going to a country where they haggle is to simply walk away. At the end of the day, they want to make that deal as bad as you want that cashmere scarf or that silver teapot and usually they give in and take your offer before they loose sight of you.

Basically it was like entering a completely different world. We definitely were no longer in Europe, but it was a good different, an exciting different. The streets were hectic as hell and the only way you’ll survive is sticking with a local, even though at times you think you’re about to get run over by a moped, a donkey and cart or even a car. Let’s just say there were little to no pedestrian crossings and Flo’s hands legit started to peel from the stress of it all. Like everything else, we only really got used to it when we had to leave.

The cultural differences were extreme but as I said before this made the whole experience more intense and intriguing. We did so many exciting things, visited some amazing places, shopped till we dropped (literally) and ate enough tagines/couscous etc to last us a life time. Instead of including it all in this post, I’m going to do separate posts on the things I enjoyed the most and those that I didn’t enjoy at all. As a whole, I adored Marrakech, even though I spent the majority of the three day trip with my mouth hanging wide open in awe/shock/excitement. As our stay was so short, we didn’t get to venture to the sahara or see the atlas mountains but without a doubt I’ll be back one day.

 

26 hours in Oslo (16 of which were spent at Rygge airport)

After two weeks of travelling around Ireland, watching all four series of Love/Hate and stuffing our faces full of popcorn,chocolate and ice-cream, it was finally time for Ode to bid farewell to Ireland for another year. However, thanks to Ryanair, there were no direct flights from Dublin to Tallinn and initially we had no idea how we’d get to Estonia, but in the end it all worked out. Our stopover city of choice was Oslo. Well, I say choice very loosely, because what I mean to say is that it was the cheapest way to get to our desired destination (according to sky scanner). This actually suited us perfectly, because we’re both travel fanatics who love to see new places and this was a great opportunity to cross another city of our todo list.  Technically I had already been to Oslo the previous year, as it was once again my layover between Madrid and Tallinn. However on that occasion, I didn’t actually leave the airport. So I was counting this as my first proper trip to Norway, because let’s face it, airports are never the most exciting part of the trip. Our plan involved sleeping at Rygge airport (which I also did the year before), because you guessed it, we’re stingy students who would rather spend our money on a ferry trip to Finland (which we also did :P).

We arrived in Oslo at 9am on the Sunday morning, meaning that our flight departed Dublin at around 6am, so a veeeeery early start for the two of us. As I don’t live in Dublin, we actually had to get the 3.30am bus to the airport and typical of me, I couldn’t sleep the night before due to a mixture of excitement and nerves (more so excitement). Anyway, as soon as we arrived, we pretty much got straight onto the Rygge express bus that brought us directly into Oslo city. The airport itself is located about 45 minutes away, so this was the perfect opportunity for me to catch some sleep before we embarked on our long day of walking and exploring. As it was a Sunday, the last bus back to the airport was at 6pm, which was rather early, seeming as our next flight wasn’t until 11am the following morning. This left us a lot of time to stare into oblivion while attempting to sleep on some of the most uncomfortable benches known to man, but hey, it was an experience and sure didn’t we make it out alive anyway? 😛

Initially, we’d looked up ‘things to do in Oslo’ or ‘must see places in Oslo’ mainly because we wanted to ensure that we got the most out of our short time there. This isn’t how either of us usually like to discover a city, as the two of us much prefer to just wing it and literally get lost in the city that we’re in. However, due to the brevity of our trip, we wanted to make sure that we got to see all the good stuff that Oslo has to offer. We even went as far as to make a list, in the order of things we wanted to see and the first sight on our list was the highly acclaimed Sunday market, Blå at Grünerløkka, however we aborted that idea along with the entire list, in order to do what we do best, which is to wander around with no particular destination in mind.

One of my favourite travel quotes: (one which I thought slotted in quite nicely :L)

“The saddest journey in the world is the one that follows a precise itinerary. Then you’re not a traveler. You’re a fucking tourist.” Guillermo del Toro

Anyway, after we chucked the list, we decided that a strong coffee was exactly what we needed, because if I’m honest, we were looking and feeling pretty rough by that stage. Before we’d arrived, I actually checked out whether or not my favourite coffee shop was in Oslo, that being Espresso House (it’s amaaaaazing). I first became obsessed with this place during my numerous trips to Sweden and I was in luck, because there was one located in the central train station and I was dragging Ode along with me, whether she liked it or not. We popped our luggage into storage at the bus station and set off on our way to find this place, which took us awhile and I’m not going to lie but I’m pretty sure we walked past it and around it a few times, but we got there in the end. I was super excited to get an Iced chai latte, because the weather wasn’t good, but it was humid and sticky so I definitely wanted something to cool me down, but this wasn’t to be. The girl misunderstood me and gave me a regular chai latte (which is still amazing), which wasn’t a big deal and I’m sure I could’ve changed it, but I didn’t want to embarrass her, so instead, I decided to make do with what I got and anyway, it did the job of waking me up and getting me pumped for Oslo, so I can’t complain.

The first thing that struck me about Oslo was that it was a lot prettier than I had thought it would be. I try not to, but before most trips, I usually google image the cities that I’m visiting in order to get a feel for what they’re like or checkout a few places that I think I’d like to visit. But can I just say, google images does not do this city justice in the slightest. It’s a very cute and clean city and it kind of reminds me of Helsingborg in Sweden with it’s little cobbled footpaths, redbrick buildings and seafront view.

Standard selfie in Oslo

The tiger in front of Oslo Central Station is actually one of Oslo’s most photographed “inhabitants”

Trinity church, Oslo Norway

Trinity Church, Oslo Norway

Oslo, Norway

 

 

Basically we just wandered from one place to another, stopping wherever caught our fancy. One thing that I really liked about Oslo was how chill it was, of course it was a Sunday, so it wasn’t your typical busy weekday but there was definitely a nice atmosphere. After wandering for awhile, we decided to take a walk up towards the Royal Palace, a place that we didn’t even think we’d have time to visit because google maps made it seem as though it was located much further from the centre than it actually was. It was pretty busy there but it was well worth a visit because both the palace and it’s surroundings were really beautiful. The palace is surrounded by the public park, known as Slottsparken and it was here where we decided to just relax for an hour or so and take in our surroundings.

Oslo Royal Palace

Even though I didn’t know much about Oslo before this trip, there was one thing I was well aware of and that was that it’s an expensive city, in fact, one of the most expensive in Europe. Knowing this, and being two students who have limited funds, we decided to take some food with us, like snacks, just so we wouldn’t have to spend too much money. At one point we even said that we weren’t going to bother with dinner because we thought it would cost an arm and a leg. However, that plan went out the window after a long day of sightseeing, which made us rather peckish. In the end we opted for a little sushi bar that we had passed earlier in the day and this turned out to be the best decision that we’ve ever made. Both myself and Ode are extremely fond of sushi, but as most of our friends aren’t fans of raw fish, we don’t get to eat it as often as we’d like to. We bought a 20 piece box to go and I think we paid 120 Kroner each (I can’t remember, but it was cheaper than what I’d pay in Ireland) and OMG I can’t even begin to explain how bloody amazing it was. Nothing has or will EVER come close to how amazing that little box of sushi tasted. We sat down by the Opera house which is located by the sea and it really was the perfect way to spend our last few hours in Oslo. My mouth is watering right now as I’m writing about the sushi and if I’m completely honest, I was thinking about dedicating an entire blogpost just to the sushi (that’s how unreal it was). I still can’t come to terms with it, like the fish was so fresh and so tasty, I just can’t do it justice with words alone. All I can say is that you need to get yourself to Oslo because their sushi is the bomb. com.

The definition of Heaven on earth. Look how bright and vibrant the fish looks. YUM

Oslo Opera House.

Selfie on top of Oslo opera house!

  

The bus back to the airport left Oslo at around 6.15, which meant we arrived around 7.30pm. Without a doubt we were both dreading the incredibly long wait that was ahead of us and as we got closer and closer to the airport we were coming to terms with the idea that we were going to be there for a long time. The first 3-4 hours weren’t actually that bad, because we were just chatting, instagramming pics of Norway and Ode even braided my hair for awhile, but soon enough we ran out of things to do and it began to get very boring. There was literally NOTHING to do, Rygge airport has one shop and I could barely afford a bar of chocolate there because Oslo is such a rip off. With every hour that passed I was getting more and more restless and my ass was getting so numb. I was grabbing clothes left, right and centre from my suitcase, using them as cushions and blankets, but nothing was working. As we’d arrived so early, we were able to pick the best place to sit, right by a plug which was badly needed because our phones and iPods became our lifelines. But at around 10 or 11pm a couple came and literally sat right by us (they might as well have sat on Ode’s knee), even though there were lots more seats available. One thing you should know about Ode and myself is that we’re super paranoid and basically trust no one (awful I know), so they made us feel very uneasy. However, I had already began to fall asleep at this point, so it didn’t bother me as much, whereas Ode couldn’t sleep because they were making her feel so uncomfortable (I can’t even explain to you how close they sat, it was ridiculous). I was sooooo tired, the combination of not sleeping the night before, waking up so early and then walking for an entire day had really taken a toll on me but I just couldn’t sleep and even when I did manage to nod off for a second or two, something would make a loud noise or some annoying person would shout and I’d jolt up, so it definitely wasn’t the best nights sleep. At around 5am the airport started to gain life again, as people began to check in. Even though we still had awhile to wait (6hrs to be precise), it just didn’t seem as bad now because the airport wasn’t so still and quiet.

At around 9am, we were finally able to check in and by this time we were in dire need of a change of scenery (we’d sat in the same place for approximately 14 hours) , so as soon as we could, we upped and left. We did the usual airport routine and dropped off our luggage, went through security etc and I just remember that my entire body was aching and how I felt like a complete and utter mess. All I wanted to do was shower and be far far away from any human contact. Before we left for Oslo we exchanged €50 each into Norwegian kroner and by this time we’d spent the majority of it on food, coffee and transportation, but we wanted to use up whatever we had left on chocolate and sweets, just to bring back a little taste of Norway. Ode also bought a traditional Norwegian cheese that was like a combination of cheese and caramel (if I remember correctly) and I’m pretty sure that she said it tasted weird when she finally got around to trying it.

Soon enough it was time to board the flight and it was literally the best feeling in the world, it was like the light at the end of the tunnel. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Norway and I’ll definitely go back again some day (especially for that sushi) but I was glad to be leaving Rygge airport behind me. Anyway, I was super excited to be reunited with one of my favourite countries in the world, Estonia. Just as we were waiting to walk up the stairs onto the plane, the heavens opened and it began to rain like there was no tomorrow. Like literally, we were minutes from the plane, could it not have waited like five extra minutes? Well anyway, I was saying goodbye to my straight hair as well as Norway, so that 3 hours that I spent the night before leaving Ireland painfully straightening each strand turned out to be  a complete waste of time, oh well. Funnily enough Ode and I got a seat together, which was lucky because this year Ryanair introduced assigned seating. Basically, you’re given a randomly selected seat when you checkin online, so it was completely by chance that we actually got to sit beside each other. Looking back on this, I am extremely glad that we were, because as soon as my ass hit that seat, I was conked out and I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t making the most attractive faces in my sleep. The flight was over as soon as it had begun and finally we were in Tallinn.  As soon as we collected our luggage we got a taxi back to Ode’s house and we were warmly welcomed by her cats, well one of her cats, TIFFU (literally the cutest thing you’ll ever see). It was from that day forward that I strangely became a crazy cat lady, but you’ll hear more about that in upcoming posts about Estonia. All in all, we both had a great time in Norway but of course we felt that there were so many things that we just didn’t get to see/do, but I guess that just means we’ll have to go back again someday! 🙂