Norway

From Hitchwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Flag of Norway Norway
Information
Language: Norwegian, Sami, Finnish
Capital: Oslo
Population: 4,848,474
Currency: Norwegian Krone (NOK)
Hitchability: Average.png (average) to Good.png (good)
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots
<map lat='65.33017791526852' lng='15.556640625' zoom='4' view='0' float='right' width='270' height='375' country='Norway'/>


Norway is a country in Europe. It is a member state of the Schengen Agreement, but is not part of the European Union. Its capital is Oslo. Its neighbouring countries are Sweden, Finland and Russia.

The main challenge while travelling in Norway is the rapidly shifting weather, so be prepared for anything, as they say here: There is not such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

Most people speak English well enough for reasonable communication. People have been told to be wary from foreigners. Recently, it's been all over the news that some gypsies wait on the road with a broken car and steal cars from people stopping to help them, and it doesn't help much, especially if you're not quite white.

Hitchhiking culture

Norway is a good country to hitch in, of course depending on location! Even though haike is not too common in Norway, people are very likely to pick you up and can be very friendly and helpful. They have a tendency to always be on the rush on weekdays. Waiting times can be a bit longer around Oslo and in remote areas where traffic is very light. People expect some chatting since distances are long, and seem to have little tolerance for drug or alcohol use while on the road.

One thing that makes hitching easy in Norway is that almost all of the population lives near the E6 road, which extends from the Swedish border in the South to almost all the way North, so it's pretty hard to get lost, as long as you are headed the right way.

Hitching is much easier in the beautiful North (at least in the summer), where many locals hitch regularly to commute. You can hitch a ride from mostly anywhere as there is not much traffic. Another challenge are the long winter nights, which make the hitchhiking day very short unless you are well equipped for night hitchhiking. In the North, total darkness sets in from around mid-November. Don't forget the specifics of winter hitchhiking.

It's common knowledge that truck drivers are very friendly and that the hitching is great if you go out to the shipping areas around Dyre Halses Gate in Trondheim and North of StradveienWhich one?, but some hitchhikers have said otherwise. It's also much faster travelling alone considering that trucks and some commercial vehicle can only take 1 passenger. Around four in the afternoon, drivers have loaded incoming goods from that day and are leaving for a late/overnight haul to the next major city.

Hitching rides on ferries

If possible, try to find out the ferry schedule. Hitch on the side where the cars drive into the ferry because in many places it's hard to hitch on the other side. Just start knocking on people's windows when they drive and wait for the ferry, especially if they come early and have to wait long, it's easy to talk to them. Try to hitch into cars that have already paid for the ferry (they generally pay for the car including passengers) so you don't have to pay for the ride. Apparently for many ferries this is sadly not possible.

Popular Ferry routes to Denmark and Germany are Kristiansand-Hirtshals, Larvik-Hirtshals (ColorLine), Oslo-Frederikshavn and Oslo-Göteborg-Kiel (StenaLine). With ColorLine, cars carrying up to 5 people don't pay extra, so it's possible to hitch a ride on the ferry for free. StenaLine operates overnight only, so even if you manage to find a car, they'll still force you to pay for a very expensive berth (500+ kr). If you're heading to Denmark (the ports of Hirtshals and Frederikshavn are quite close to each other) it makes no sense to take the StenaLine from Oslo, because it takes a really long time (12h!!! that's the way to make you spend as much as possible on board) and you can sail from Larvik in about 4h, which is reasonably close to Oslo to reach in about 2 hours.

Distances

According to markus and abstorz, two dudes.

According to Mila77, a gal

License Plates

There is a coding for areas: the two first letters identify the region in which the vehicle is registered, but as Norwegians travel pretty much all around the country, it's not something hitchhikers rely on

Useful Language Bits

  • North - nord
  • South - sør
  • West - vest
  • East - øst

Vowels: Vowels are pronounced very differently in Norwegian as opposed to English

  • A pronounced "ah" as in bar
  • E pronounced "eh" as in heck
  • I pronounced "e" as in here or "i" as in hill
  • O pronounced "oo" as in moon and in other times, "aw" as in law
  • U pronounced "ou" as in soup
  • Y pronounced "ew" as in few (rounded lips)
  • Æ pronounced "a" as in bag
  • Ø pronounced "er" as in "her" without the R sound
  • Å pronounced "aw" as in "law"

Additionally, the consonant J and the combination GJ is pronounced the same way you would pronounce Y (young). For instance, "jobb" (work) would be pronounced "yobb".

Regions & Cities

Sigurdas hitch-hiking somewhere in the middle of Norway. January 2002.

In the North

Other Cities

Border Crossing

Norwegian border checks can be picky, especially if you're crossing it with a truck and even more if it's an empty one.

Eating & Drinking

Accommodation & Sleeping

Other Useful Info


wikipedia:Norway wikitravel:Norway trash:Norway