We seem to have lost the road.

They’re making a new one tho 🙂

I think, with hindsight, that this ticket would have been valid for yesterday’s journey too… *sigh*

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“Does this Bus go to Honingsvag?”

“Yes”

“Brilliant. Can I use the summer ticket?”

“The what?”

“The summer ticket..”

“Never heard of it..”

---

Turns out the counties are in charge of bus routes and fares and timetabling.. the bus companies are just there to drive the busses. During the pandemic, everyone entered through the middle and back doors of the busses and no one checked any bus tickets, and while everything was chaotic anyway the people in charge decided to change ALL the things. This is the first summer in a while where things are relatively normal, but no one really knows what all the changes are. It was a fascinating and remarkaby good-tempered rant.

At the end of it, I showed her the website with my ticket and she said she wasn’t going to complain about me using it, so I bought it.

That certainly wasn’t one to miss 🙂

If nothing else, I don’t know where you’dd otherwise be served smoked/steamed reindeer heart….

---

It was like someone had got a handful of people together from all different places and cultures, and brainstormed breakfast foods, and then made ALL the suggestions reality. I can’t think of anything they were missing 😲🙃

One lane.

Just when I assumed there must be traffic lights or something, two cars came towards us.

Eek.

The squished over to their side and we squeezed as far as we could to our side, and then it was business as usual.

Until the next cars came along.

Madness.

Also. The walls were all lumpy, like they were still digging it 🙈

I hope that’s not Norsk for Tsunami ahead

This morning I was wondering why I hadn’t fallen for Norway the same way I’d fallen for Sweden.

Right about now, I’m falling 🥰

The sunshiny moments might be worth all the grey..

Maybe.

Jury’s still out on that one.

None of my photos can do the place justice when it’s sunny. Especially not with all the reflections and knees and window blinds in the way.

But.

It’s really really beautiful here.

I love it.

🥰

When the sun’s out.

😜

Nothing like unconditional love 😅😂

So shiny!

Really and truely.

Not much, and not for long.. but there were actual rays of actual sunshine..

..and it was glorious 🙂 (if a little shortlived.. 30 seconds or so)

Not giving up hope of ever seeing a sunny Fjord.

Choosing seats isn’t my strongest point 🙈

---

I got on the bus and went straight for the front seat.

Again.

And then I rapidly realised why it was still empty.

Again.

Yay.

I wonder why they needed to add the blinds so low on the first window..

🤔

..and why I don’t see these things before I sit down..

🤔🤔🤔

A small crowd got off at Nordkjosbotn. Then we all got our luggage out of one bus and onto the next. Finally everyone gets on the secnd bus. Everybody except one guy. He stays outside, rummaging in a bag, presumably trying to find his cigarettes.

The busdriver: if you are going to smoke, you must be quick. We leave directly.

I think he just about had time to light it and put it out..

🙂

Then someone did it for me 🙂

---

This is nice too 🙂 Means I can’t get the wrong bus from the multitudes at the station 🙂

Really..

We’ll follow Mr. Spoen… 🙃😜

Can you see what I see???

Wohl wie brandneu nur voller 🙂

The E6 is the main road we’re on. The stop is some kind of junction.. 

Nah, it’s too early for beer, even a quick one.. later maybe 🙂

Right on time, still no sun 😂

No?

Coleslaw?

No?

How about pickled beetroot?

Still no? Hmm. Fussy, aren’t you?

😂

---

I’m so dull.. can’t even face tame foreign food 🙈

But anyway. Chocolate milkshake and crunchy musli and waffles and bread&cheese and grapes was still a good way to start a day 🙂

Now to figure out what to do with the rest of my time before the bus leaves

Breakfast time 🙂

(No photo, still grey.)

It’s like living in a tracing paper box. The sky never changes… (so far anyway)

Going back to bed for a bit 😴

🤭

Oooh fancy 😅😇

“If anyone wants to get off the train before Narvik, please contact the train staff”

Looks like we’re not going to be stopping much for the last 45 km 🙂

There’s a lot of snow on the hills in the background..

It’s also very grey and very cloudy.

I think the place would be waaay more impressive and pretty and awesome with weather like yesterday’s instead of today’s drizzle and clouds and mist and rain…

Maybe I need to come back this way after all..? 🤔

Or at least the grey’s getting lighter.. 😂

The grey group got off in Kiruna. They were replaced by a lot of backpackers in shorts. Much better ;p

The two of them that my grandmother would have most referred to as ‘a bit of alright’ are very chatty, sharing their table with a lady who kicked their friend out of her seat. I’m not very far away, and they’re talking English so I can eavesdrop 🙂

I am quite fascinated by the ease in which they’re making conversation with a complete stranger; asking questions, laughing, talking about themselves for a couple of anecdotes before asking more questions. Keeping things light.

They had interesting things to say, and were (or acted) interested in what e lady was saying. In the gaps, and occasionally as part of the conversation, they were doing crossword puzzles. The hard kind my aunt does at Christmas. If I was running with a backpack, I don’t think a book of crossword puzzles would be very high on my packing list.. but that’s possibly one of the reasons I’ll never be a fit doctor who runs up hills for fun… 😜

They haven’t just packed a lot into their backpacks, they’re packing a lot into their holidays too. Where they’ve been, what they did there, what they still have planned. Very impressive. All of them. Guys and lady.

The guys have just finished med school in Edinburgh and don’t start work until August, so they’re on holiday, running between mountain cabins. With backpacks. They are crazy, but well fit 🤣

The lady is a school nurse, using her overtime and school holidays to travel around Europe.

If they’re anything like as good as doctoring as they are at talking, England’s gaining a couple of excellent new doctors (and the Netherlands is keeping a dedicated nurse).

“In ten minutes we’ll be reaching the arctic circle. There are several places because of the moving of the earth.

On the right. In ten minutes.

They’ll be on the left too, but without the dates.”

Love that the train conductor tells you these things 🙂

---

The grey group broke out champagne and plastic glasses. I found a better place to sit/stand.

---

“We have to go slow now.. so, about 3 to 5 minutes to go”

---

Just stopped to let a train go past.

Almost a full minute of waggons full of blackness..

It looked like coal, but this train line is the iron ore line, so maybe it’s that. I have no idea what that looks like..

😂😂😜

---

And a big group of grumpy grey people stole my seat. Demanded it with menaces and then stood in the gangway in both directions so I couldn’t get out. Argh.

Time for a sticky bun and a yogurt-in-a-box

Got here, way before it’s due to leave but with plenty of time to choose a seat..

Choice is great… but hard.

Some have tables.

Some are close to doors.

Some have good windows.

Some are ickier than others,

Some are inevitably going to be facing backwards.

I solved the last problem by asking someone which direction we’re going to leave in… She wasn’t 100% sure, but the chances are pretty good that I can face forwards for a change..

…but…

..do I choose the side with almost all the lakes for the first two-thirds of the journey or the side with the huge lake near the end..???

There are currently loads of empty seats, including 2 blocks of 4 seats with tables, so maybe I can switch in time for the lake.. but maybe it’ll be full by then?

Life’s big questions.. 😅

Luckily, other people write blogs too…

‘After the train reverses in Kiruna’ – yay! If I choose right, I get the best of both worlds! 🙂 (actually left, in the direction of travel ;p )

I would have gone backwards for the first bit to go forwards along the lake, but the window’s off centre and I figure I’m much better off going backwards along the lake and actually seeing it 😅

I’ve chosen.

I now have a non-icky table seat with a window, that’s going to face forward for all the best bits of the journey 😊

Ticked ALL the boxes there 🙂

Also: ‘Port outward’, hmm 😇

So. Unless someone tells me they booked this exact seat, I’m going to be here for tHe next 8 hours or so 🙂

Wheee!!

And we’re off!

(Only took 25 minutes to decide where to sit 😂)

Wheee!!

And my ticket worked 🙂

Maybe so…

Not sure that’s great advertising, even if it might be true sometimes… 🤔

Can’t remember ever having to pay for a 2.90€ bus ticket with a card via an app before…

Anyway.

I have a ticket. I just need to drag myself and my luggage to the bus stop.

Arg.

I need to get a new mattress when I get home. This one is so good. Slept so well 🙂

Not that I was expecting to sleep badly after yesterday’s excursion..

So good tho? That was unexpected. It didn’t look all that special.

There’s probably a lesson in there somewhere.

My guess is something like:

“Never judge a person’s bed-review before walking 5 miles with their luggage”

– me. 18.6.2022 😋

🙂

---

Need to find out how to buy a bus ticket now..  and then drag myself out of this fluffy cloud I’ve been lying in.. and pack… and leave.

☝…and brush my teeth. Missed that last night 🧐

---

..and remember to post a ‘good morning world’ picture.. doh! 🤦‍♀️

I’m going to sleep through my first ever real night in the a land of the midnight sun.*/**

🤦‍♀️

I’m not going to make it to midnight, I’m that tired.

Here are some pictures from ~10pm:

* (added on the 18th: I’ve just read that Norway is ‘the land of the midnight sun’. Feel very slightly better about missing it now..)

** (added late on the 18th: I just looked at the weather and was surprised to see the sunset time shown on the screen, so I checked some more places. Turns out, I didn’t miss anything after all 🙂 I’d checked the weather while the train went through a midnight-sun town yesterday, but then it headed back south to Lulea (??) and I didn’t think to check again 😛🤦‍♀️ kind of stupid, but also cool that I still have the chance to see my first Midnight Sun 🙂 )

This might be one of the main reasons for doing all this travelling malarkey.

Sitting in the sunshine on a bench by the sea, with a galoptious potful of ‘salad-esque’ food someone else produced..with no huge list of need-to-dos hanging over my head * is a splendid thing.

* this isn’t technically true.. the things haven’t disappeared, I’ve just run away from them for a while. There’s no point thinking about things that need doing 2000+ miles away.

Next stop Lulea, ok, but ‘Slut station’* ?! That’s rude 😲🤭🙃

*end station.. 😅

If they’re only offering bad camping, it’s a good thing I don’t want to stay here 🙂

Sorry Wheatus 🤷‍♀️

I’m just joining the masses in heading up the platform because the train stopped in the farthest possible place..

So nice out, the best weather for train delays 🙂 (and people-watching 😅)

For tonight.

In Lulea.

Not on the platform. That’d be weird 🙂

Altho also totally plausible 😅

Please note, your platform may be a million miles away and/or hidden at the end of the main platform 😅😂

7:20

Now to wait an hour for the next train 🙂

Should be there already, but we’re waiting for a train to pass. I don’t care – more time on this train means less time on the plattform waiting for the next train (to Lulea) 🙂