Norway 2022: Did I crash a car?

During May I responded to a post of a girl in a Facebook group, where she wrote that she was looking for a partner for mountains and trips. Coincidentally, she was from the next village over, so I responded to her post, saying that I was studying in Brno, so I would be more of a weekend buddy. But she wrote me that she had a free week in July, and miraculously, so did I! So I suggested Norway or Scotland, whereupon she was quite horrified because she wanted a lowcost trip, which together with Norway sounds quite ironic, but as they say "you don't try, you don't know".

On July 24, 2022 we really flew to Bergen, Norway. It must be said that we saw each other for the very first time on the way to the airport. So a tip for you if you don't have anyone to go with and don't want to go alone, Facebook travel groups work!

The very first day was pretty intense though, mainly because of the car. My partner didn't have a license, so everything around the car was up to me. Well, I do drive, but in big cities or other situations you can't exactly say that I'm a confident driver, which was evident right away when I picked up the car.

I found the keys as instructed, unlocked, started the car, put it in reverse and the car sped forward...stopping the car about 50 cm from the garage door. It's a bit downhill, I guess I need to work harder, running through my head while my new passenger gets out to see how close we are. I don't end up executing the quick start strategy, but the car only gets closer to the door again, with my partner backing away with terror in her eyes. She chooses the crashed gate rather than the run over legs. But now we're so close there's no room for error. I don't know what's wrong, so when I see a neighbour coming, I go to ask for help. The gentleman not-too-willingly goes to the aid of a wet hiker in distress. He gets in, gets in gear, and backs out. He gives me a rather uncomprehending look and leaves without explanation.

The positive thing is that we are now away from the gates again, but that doesn't really solve the fact that we have a 1,000 km journey in 5 days and I don't know how to put the car in reverse. Apparently this fact has also been reflected in the confidence of my fellow traveller, who immediately agreed that we would not go to see the centre of Bergen, but would go straight out of town. Well...if there's one thing I'm glad for, it's the fact that we picked the best possible car insurance and therefore the lowest deductible. Still, I'm glad we saved the roughly 5k on the garage door and can continue our lowcost trip.

As the saying goes, "The experience doesn't always have to be positive, it just has to be strong".

But now for some tips on how to cut costs in Norway:

Flights (you can find cheaper ones, but there are good deals from Poland).

Krakow -> Bergen return

Wizzair with 10kg checked baggage

3 550 CZK/person

Car:

Getaround app - Great thing for more expensive countries. You rent a car directly from the personal owner and pay about 1/3 the price compared to rental companies. The way it works is that a person who maybe doesn't use the car, has two, etc. puts a quote into the app and you choose. But it's good to look at the terms and conditions as there are often mileage limits per day or overall, additional driver fees or maybe as in our case a young driver fee. The keys are either handed over in person or left for you somewhere hidden etc.

You pay for the petrol/diesel and return at the same level. After about a week, the owner also sends you the amount for road tax and ferries, which is automatically added up and your deposit is refunded at the same time.

We rented the smallest and cheapest car - Opel Corsa

Rental for 5 days cost us 4 658 CZK + 1674 CZK insurance (the best option)

934 CZK road tax and ferry

Diesel not included

At the same time, beware of parking prices especially in well-known places you will dig into your pocket a lot, so it's good to look ahead.

Trolltunga parking fee - 1 231 CZK

Accommodation and food:

We took a lot of food with us + cooker

Accommodation - Opel corsa + tent