Milenomics² [NoAF] Podcast Episode 73 & 74: A Norway Trip Report

Milenomics ² Podcast - No Annual Fee Edition

A Norway Trip Report...on today’s Milenomics² Podcast

01:00 Scope: 2 weeks in Norway. Oslo, Tromso, Lofoten then back to Oslo for a few days.

• Wanted to get away from people.
• Love the coast, and Norway has a LOT of coastline
• Spent most of our time in the arctic Circle (but not considered the arctic)
• Map:

10:12 Outbound: Air France. LAX-CDG Plus a 4hr layover.

• Flight was smooth and the daytime departure was nice
• Got to experience the new LAX Air France lounge. Open 3 weeks ago. New is always better.
• 4hrs in CDG was perfect with kids. Got through immigration, train to the 2F terminal, settled into a lounge, everyone showered and then about 45 minutes later we were off to the gate
• Kids meal was pre-ordered and was great.

• CDG-OSL very basic, service by Amelia (by Air France)

20:10 Getting to Oslo from the airport Fly to vs Vy.

• Trains run every 10-20 minutes. Travel time is less than 30 minutes.
• Flytoget calls itself the 'fastest' airport train. This might be true, but only by a minute or two.
• Vy is a few minutes slower. Faster than driving even.

• Flytoget has Kids free vs VY so the prices start to converge when you take this into consideration
• approx $12 - 24 per person one way.
• Taxi was about $125. We had 4 of these one ways to do so we needed to get good at them.
• Vy app is not as good as the Ruter app for buying tickets with US credit cards. Stick to the Ruter app.
• Ruter and VY app cannot buy flytoget tickets, so Ruter + Flytoget app are the ideal combo.
• Tickets can also easily be bought at the ticket machines.

25:20 Clarion hotel the hub (a strawberry hotel)

• Location is great, just off Oslo central station
• 810(!) rooms. Norway's Largest hotel. Did not feel this big.
• Booked family size room for 16000 points
• With a Strata Premier this is 8000 TYP transferred to Choice.
• Included a pull out sofa which was already set up for us.
• Includes full buffet breakfast with omelette and crepe station.
• Nice, newish hotel. Certainly a great way to spend TYP and appreciate they book family rooms.
• Came back and worked to get connecting rooms. Seemed willing to even give some partial extra credit for the family room vs. 2 regular rooms.

30:58 Oslo:

• World city, really a great feel to the city, full of energy, parks and fantastic amounts of museums.
• 20+ Hours of daylight. People outdoors and a city that is alive.
• Paris and Prague feels. But English is a first or second language in most signs and interaction.

• Summer in Norway is Wildflower season. The landscaping in the cities is beautiful.

• Be Aware of your surroundings at night. There were some sketchy areas we stumbled into. Nothing too rough but still, be aware.
• Food was easy to find and diverse
  • Interesting food halls: Oslo Street Food or Barcode Street Food
  • Most world cuisine was easy to find and well done.
• Getting around is so easy. There are very few people driving cars. Taxis only really.
• Malls. So many m