Tag Archives: Oslo

Competition to Design Viking Museum in Oslo

Viking Museum Oslo
The Viking Ship Museum- “The Osenberg”

In January 2014, Kim, Lucas and I visited Oslo, Norway and the city impressed us much more than expected.

Considering it was quite cold out, we spent a lot of our time checking out some of the city’s excellent museums. The Bygdoy area is a peninsula featuring 5 museums, 4 of which we visited.

I’d even consider one of them to be one of my favorite museums in the world! Continue reading Competition to Design Viking Museum in Oslo

The Verdict: Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back

Oslo Map

After quite a few e-mails, posts and a physical letter being sent, my dispute with United has finally come to an end.

Back in January we were on our first trip of the new year in Oslo, Norway. Despite the chilly weather, we had a great time and really enjoyed our visit. Our one complaint was not having enough time to check out more of the country.

Due to an approaching winter storm back at home our flight was cancelled. Rather than head to the airport, I called United through Skype. We got re-ticketed for the following morning without a problem. When I asked who was responsible for our accommodations, I was told (quite rudely) that we were . I got off the phone and quickly booked a hotel and then Kim and I set out some plans for the day. Why not enjoy our extra day in Oslo!

Continue reading The Verdict: Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back

Update 3: Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back

Oslo Map

During our first trip of 2014 to Oslo we got stuck thanks to an approaching winter storm back at home.

Rather than head over to the airport, I called United through Skype and got us rebooked for the following day.  We didn’t mind the extra day in Oslo (we really enjoyed the city), but an extra day meant extra costs.

While rebooking my flight, I had asked the United phone rep who was responsible for our accommodations and she was somewhat rude and matter of fact in telling me that we were.

The following day I found out that 2 other passengers had their hotel stay and meals covered by United! Find out all about it in my post Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back.

Continue reading Update 3: Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back

Oslo Trip Recap: Day 5

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When our trip to Oslo got extended thanks to an approaching winter storm, we had to figure out how to spend our day after getting everything else worked out.

We had already spent a decent amount of time in the city but there was still a few more things that we wanted to do. Initially, we figured a trip to the Munch Museum would be a good idea but it was closed on Tuesdays so that idea went out the window.

We then figured out a couple of other things to do which would be a great way to spend the day without running around in the cold too much.

Here are some of the things we did:

  • Vigeland Sculpture Park (Frogner Park)
  • Mathallen Food Hall
  • Street with Colorful Homes
  • Dinner at The Nighthawk Diner 

Continue reading Oslo Trip Recap: Day 5

Oslo Trip Recap: Day 4

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I hope you’ve been following along with my recap of  our trip to OsloIf not, check out the links below to see what you missed.  We took it a bit easier during Day 4 of what should’ve been the last day of our trip.

We got in one last museum visit with the Oslo Pass before heading back to the City Center. We wandered around a bit before picking up an awesome lunch to take back to our hotel. After relaxing for a bit we headed out to visit an interesting neighborhood.

Here is what we did:

  • Visited the Museum of Cultural History (Norwegian Folk Museum)
  • Some play time for Lucas
  • Tried out some local Freia chocolates
  • An awesome seafood lunch
  • Wandered around Grunerlokka 

Continue reading Oslo Trip Recap: Day 4

Oslo Trip Recap: Day 3

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Our third day of our trip to Oslo was a very busy one. We wanted to make up for over-sleeping the day before so we planned on doing quite a few things. Also, this would be our second and last full day using our Oslo Pass, so we wanted to maximize its value.

We started off by taking the train around 30-40 minutes out of the city to visit the site that we had missed the day before. After getting back to downtown Oslo, we spent the rest of the day walking around, visiting a good variety of sites.

Here is what we did:

  • Holmenkollen Ski Jump & Museum
  • Stopped by the Royal Palace
  • The National Gallery to check out works by Edward Munch
  • Akershus Castle
  • The Nobel Peace Center

IMG_0424 Continue reading Oslo Trip Recap: Day 3

Oslo Trip Recap: Day 2

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The second day of our trip to Oslo got off to a later start than originally planned due to a case of over-sleeping. Apparently our baby alarm Lucas wasn’t ready to get up either.

We made up for the things we had planned to see later on during the trip due to our visit being extended thanks to an upcoming winter storm.

Sleeping the extra hour or so got all of our sleep schedules back on track and we still had a very productive day.

We headed on over to Bygdoy peninsula, home to many great museums about a 20 minute bus ride from the city center.

Our Oslo Pass went to great use covering our roundtrip bus rides as well as admission to the three (very different) nautical related museums that we visited during the day.

Here are the museums we visited:

Update 2: Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back

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This isn’t exactly an update. It’s more of a debate about what my next step should be related to getting my $$$ back from United after being stuck in Oslo due to an approaching winter storm.

Check out what we did during our first day in Oslo here.

A brief recap: Our flight home from Oslo was cancelled and rather than heading to the airport, I called United through Skype. I was able to get our tickets reserved to fly home the following day. After dealing with this, I asked the United rep about accommodations and was told that we were on our own.

Continue reading Update 2: Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back

Oslo Trip Recap: Day 1

Screen Shot 2014-01-15 at 1.47.36 AMWe got home from our first trip of 2014 to Oslo, Norway in the middle of last week. Our trip was extended by a day when we got stuck in Oslo thanks to an approaching winter storm back home.

Our flight to Oslo went well and was comfortable, especially for being in coach. This was Lucas’ first time flying in his own seat, not as a lap baby. He did great during take off and we highly recommend the CARES Safety Harness for anyone flying with a baby/ toddler that fits the weight requirement of 22 pounds. (A review of the CARES Harness will be coming soon.)

Getting from the airport to our hotel in the city center was easy as can be. There are two options for airport trains, an express train (Flytoget) or the NSB regional trains. The express train only gets in about 5-6 minutes faster and costs close to double the price so if you’re visiting Oslo don’t throw your money away!

Continue reading Oslo Trip Recap: Day 1

Update: Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back

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A couple of days back I wrote about an issue that we had during our trip to Oslo. Our flight home was cancelled due to an approaching winter storm coming to the NYC area.

After having a nice (extra) day in Oslo, we headed to the airport for our flight home a day later than originally planned. While there I had a couple of conversations with other stranded passengers who were also on our flight. I found out that while United told me that I was on my own in booking my accomodations, these 2 other passengers had their hotel stay and meals covered by the airline.

This new found information led me to have a discussion with United’s only surpervisor at Oslo Airport (OSL).  Check out my post Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back if you are curious about the rules and regulations that I discovered. 

After writing my post and following the United Supervisor’s instructions on how to claim my money back for our hotel stay and meals, I was shocked at the automated response that I received.

Continue reading Update: Hey United, I Want My $158+ Back