Day 37-38: Paris, is it really the city of love?

The first time around I stopped by at Paris back in 2007 and the impression of the city was not great. It was a sunny day in October, it was warm, trees had a beautiful color to their leafage and yet it didn’t work for me. It was too dirty and too much-ado-about-nothing. This trip, however, was on a cold winter weekend and the trees weren’t colorful, it was only partially sunny and yet I had a fantastic time and I believe I was able to get the city’s vibe. Because this time I involuntarily was able to get over the fact that it’s “Paris, the city of love” and just discover it for myself without looking back at this stereotype. In other words, the weather/season doesn't matter much in the end, plus winter has less tourists flocking to typically touristic places.

Also, I must say I like this two-days-per-city thing that I had going on, I was 4 days in Barcelona and it was somehow too long for me, to be honest. While during 2 days I do extensive sightseeing and walking around and I can freely cover everything I want without going somewhere where I feel I don’t have to go, but do because I’m staying longer than necessary.

I took a flight from Oslo where the night before I’d met my friend with whom I couchsurfed in Stockholm which resulted in me having exactly one hour of sleep at night and leaving for the airport bus at 4.40am. The good thing was that the flight wasn’t full and I had a chance to lie down and take a series of short naps.

Day 35-36: Oslo, Norway: expensive and cold, but nice

Oslo is the capital of Norway. That’s where most people’s knowledge of the country mostly ends. It’s not Europe’s most popular destination as Ryanair’s ¾ empty flight from Berlin shows, however it is a pleasant place to visit for a couple of days.

The journey begins with amazing views from the airplane as you approach the airport (Rygge), a lot of half-frozen islands will present themselves to your view and it might be one of the best landscapes I’ve seen from a plane apart from maybe only the Alps.

Weather: Norway is not a warm country by any means, however what you should know is that Oslo’s dry and sunny -15C actually feels better than Berlin’s cloudy chilly 0C. There is no wind, or at least there wasn’t any when I was there, and I could easily afford walking for 5-6 hours straight without actually even being cold. Of course the usual winter set of a hat, scarf and gloves is required, however you might be surprised how comfortable this weather feels.

Expenses: be prepared to cash out. Coffee and a muffin to go will cost you at least 4.5EUR. My trip to the grocery store saw me empty my wallet for 13EUR and all I bought was 0.5kg mushrooms, some grated cheese and crisps. But I suppose it doesn’t hurt to remember that also is the world’s most expensive city before you book those plane tickets.

Transport: a 24-hour transport pass will cost you about 9EUR. But I wouldn’t recommend splurging on it, because you can freely walk in Oslo from point A to point B without even starting to get tired. That’s why I didn’t really understand why the transport network had to be so extensive in the downtown area as the city is flat and the distances are not long.

The main street of Oslo is Karl Johans gate, it starts directly at the main train/bus station and leads up to the Royal Palace, which, by the way, is the most boring Palace that I have ever seen in my life (I won’t be bothered to even post a picture of it). The exterior doesn’t make it different from any other building in the city, it’s just big, so maybe that’s why they call it a Palace. Akershus Festning, on the other hand, is a location worth stopping by: it is an old fortress that is partially used by the Ministry of Defense at the present time (you'll be amazed by the shabby old buildings that they are based in) and is not only interesting looking itself, but it also presents some great views of the Oslofjord bay.

The Opera House is an interesting building that you can actually walk on. The roof starts at the ground and goes up to the level of the ceiling over the stage. Not far from the central station you can see the Oslo Cathedral, but blink and you won't notice it, it's a small church that looks very tame.

I went to Oslo without reading any travel guides or information about the city and in the end I was glad I didn't, you don't really have to know a lot before you get it, everything is out there in the center, at the airport you should just pick up a free map and you're ready to explore.

Opera House

Breathtaking view from the Opera House

Parliament

City Hall overlooking the bay

Akershus Festning

Oslofjord

Norwegians plug their electric cars into sockets on parking lots, otherwise they won't start

Oslo has some of the fattest and biggest seagulls I have ever seen, they particularly enjoy crowding up on top of the Opera House

Cheap flights or is traveling expensive?

I do love calculating expenses and it makes me inexplicably happy if I eventually end up spending less than originally budgeted. When I go over my budget even a little bit, not so much.

I think it’s essential for successful travel to keep track of expenses. Because the less you spend on one trip, the more trips you’ll be able to have as a long-term result. At least that’s a philosophy that has been working fairly well for me.

I divide my travel and expat life expenses into several categories, namely:

accommodation – typically the lowest of all when traveling as I mostly use Couchsurfing. I couldn’t praise it more, it doesn’t cost you anything AND you meet the most amazing, generous and evolved people AND you are able to share some great experiences with them

food – this includes my trips to the supermarket and all things grocery

entertainment – this is an umbrella term for a lot of things and could include: movie tickets, coffee&cake at a café, entrance fees and the like

transport – all expenses for transport excluding airfare, typically the category that brings me metaphorical headache as I find most means of public transport severely overpriced

airfare – flight tickets

IT– all things computer and cell phone related, like hours spent at Internet cafes and money spent on text messages

clothes – it used to be the major spending category, however in the recent months I have found myself to start thinking material possessions like clothing are exuberant and not as important as my travel experiences (although it doesn’t mean I wear shabby clothes, I just don’t shop for the sake of shopping)

other – anything that couldn’t fit into the above category, might include things like shampoo, toothpaste, books, etc.

And now the breakdown for my 10-day trip to Norway, France, Spain and Portugal in EUR:

accommodation 0

food 54,44

entertainment 6,25

transport 92,25

airfare 114 (previously thought to be 93EUR, but I used a calculator this time around…)

IT 3

clothes 28

other 5,6

Which brings the grand total to 303,54EUR.

Now, I actually think it could have been lower, but I mentioned this some to a couple of friends and they were amazed at the cost. Just a couple of comments:

I feel it's worth mentioning that out of this sum, I spent 70EUR on my first day in Oslo (including return bus transfer from the airport for 29 EUR) on nearly nothing, be careful with this place, it's a destination for oil tycoons.

114EUR is the price of 7 flights with Ryanair, I actually took 6 of them, because the first two I bought back in December were Berlin-Oslo and Oslo-Berlin, but I didn’t take the latter one as I eventually moved to Paris from the Norwegian capital. I do believe it’s an amazing price. That being said, Ryanair is controversial, Michael O’Leary, the CEO, is as well, the environmental policy seems good to me, I don’t necessarily agree with O’Leary on the fact that the global warming doesn’t exist, but he has interesting opinions and a sense of humor. He’s probably impossible as a boss/partner though.

But back to my expenses. Transportation is the one category that I feel discontent about, of course most of that money is the airport transfers and that’s the price you pay for Ryanair’s cheap flights, what I could suggest though is that the EU lowers its insane prices on subway/bus/tram.

But overall, I think it's an okay amount of money spent on a trip covering 4 cities in 4 different countries.

How to pack a carry-on for 10 days (and 4 countries)?

I just returned from my extensive and eventful 10-day trip around 4 popular destinations in Europe, namely

Oslo, Norway

Paris, France

Barcelona, Spain

Porto, Portugal

and will be posting reports on those locations shortly, however first things first.

A 10-day trip is not an overnight stay or a even a weekend somewhere else, it’s a full-on trip. Especially if it includes so much shifting between climate zones. For example, when I stopped by Oslo, the average temperature there was -15C, Paris was already warmer with -2-0C, Barcelona was almost shocking with its palms and 14-16C and Porto completely knocked my socks off with 18-20C during the day.

It was easier to navigate through such weather changes than one might think though and overall it was an extremely pleasant itinerary for me, except maybe I would’ve taken one day off Barcelona and spent it in Porto instead.

Now, straight to the facts. I own a standard suitcase and a regular-size Puma backpack, regular in this case means 40x30x20cm, so it’s even smaller than Ryanair’s permitted 55x40x20cm and I managed to travel with that for 10 days. It is similar to this backpack here. Looking back, it doesn’t look plausible to me anymore, but indeed that’s all I had for 10 days.

Here’s the breakdown of the things I managed to stuff into the backpack:

• passport
• insurance
• 6 boarding passes
• Couchsurfing print outs
• paper+pen
• underwear
• socks
• jeans
• 2 T-shirts
• light sweater
• shirt
• light and flat sneakers
• additional pair of glasses
• ziplock bag: toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, shower gel
• hairbrush
• cell phone
• cell phone charger
• mp3 player and cable
• sleeping bag (!)

At the same time, I was also wearing

• pants
• tights
• t-shirt
• woolen sweater
• scarf-o-hat
• winter jacket
• winter boots

and I had a wallet in my pocket and a watch on my wrist.

Overall, the weight was 5-6kg and 1.5kg of it was the sleeping bag. Honestly, I could’ve taken many more things with me if it wasn’t for the bag, it took most of the space and I used it only for 4 days, however it proved to be absolutely necessary. As it appears, most apartment buildings in Barcelona do not have central heating and it can be quite chilly at night.

Of course it was always an adventure closing my backpack, I couldn’t sit on it because of its size, but I was squeezing it alright. Things got a little bit worse when I for some reason bought a replacement pair of jeans and 2 shirts in Oslo, which was right after my first flight, so I had 5 more to take. Obviously, there was no more space at all. The old pair of jeans had to go and I had to put even more layers on, even as I went south and I had to have my DSLR camera outside the bag. That could’ve proved to be a problem with Ryanair as they are quite strict on their one-bag rule (you can take up to 10kg worth of stuff, but it has to fit in one bag), so I had to hide it in my huge scarf or dissemble it and put the two parts into the pockets of my jacket… It could have been fun if it wasn’t so stressful. But I made all boardings safely and peacefully.

However, I see this incident as one more reason to sell the DSLR and get a regular camera that fits easily into the palm of a hand or pocket, it makes things easier.

And while I am on the topics of electronics, I should also highlight the fact that I didn’t take my laptop with me. Mostly for the sole reason of lacking space for it whatsoever, not because I wanted to be cut off Internet for a while. But it was a very liberating experience, my time online was limited to about an hour or two on the Internet (which is next to nothing, obviously) and once I even survived the day without being online and that let me enjoy the cities in a much more convenient way, I didn’t have to tear myself away from the screen as I always have to do when I get too absorbed. That said, I don’t think I’ll be brave enough again to leave my laptop behind. It feels strangely weird without the surfing.

To sum it up, I'd say that the answer to the question how to pack a carry-on for 10 days is, just take the stuff you need, no excessive clothing, material or books you won't read, cosmetics you won't use, just take the basics and wear layers if necessary.

And before I forget:

10 Days in a Carry-on - a photo guide to packing the right way, I'll adopt some of the techniques next time I do a similar trip