We are currently in Bergen and celebrating our first week on the road!

It has been great!

Some highlights: 

Settling into a routine: It still feels much like a ‘vacation’ and not as our new ‘normal’. Jason and I are definitely unwinding from the busyness of the last weeks in the US, which were packed and overwhelming at times. We are enjoying the lack of a strict “to do list” (things that had to be done before we left), however we continue busy with planning our trip. At the end of each day we have been working on defining what to do the following day (what local things to do, where to eat, etc) but also focussing on our longer term traveling (we are getting close in nailing down our itinerary in south east asia).

Jetlag: The jetlag was overall fairly mild and we have adjusted to a normal sleeping pattern for the kids from 9 - 7ish.

Budget: The nordics are know for being expensive: US$12 draft beer or $6 americano cup and going out to dinner, as a family of 5, easily gets us in the US$100+ without alcohol! We have started tracking our daily budget for what we spend in groceries, entertainment, eating out, transportation, etc We want to experience the places we go to but also want to stretch our $ as much as possible.

Schooling: nothing structured yet but we have been taking advantage of the learning opportunities at museums, hikes, travels, etc. For example, yesterday we went to several museums, the kids favorite was the fish museum in Bergen. It was very educational and the kids learned about the fishing culture, boats, quotas, techniques, types of fish, conservation and much more. It’s amazing to see their eagerness to learn and seeing them take it all in!

Food: as mentioned before, it’s expensive to eat out, so we have been aiming for one meal out and the other 2 at ‘home’. Tasting the local food is amazing: yesterday, Kaio begged for a whale meat burger and it was gone in seconds!  But going to the grocery store and finding new, local foods is also fun: the other day we came across the typical brown goat cheese that is caramelized goat whey and is a sweet cheese.

Setting rules: We are a tight family but spending 24/7 for 1+ year together might get overwhelming at times, which is why  we are focussing on setting some basic rules of respect, listening and boundaries. Work in progress ;-)

Packing: the packing cubes are fenomenal! It makes it so easy to stay organized. We have under packed for colder temperatures. Luckily, we have been able to do laundry, but are looking forward to wearing our summer cloths!!!  We have now done several longer walks (from station to Airbnb, to boat, etc) with our backpacks and bags and it has gone great. (with just a little bit of whining from Josefine ;-)