Quarantine Diary: Winter Wonderland - Tromso, Norway
Next on our incredible 2020 plans, we had a major bucket list - a snowy winter wonderland in Tromso, Norway! From playing with huskies to snow angels, we were so excited to visit Tromso!
The Idea
Stealing our friend’s similar trip in 2019, we wanted to spend a week in the Arctic Circle! With the Northern Lights and sledding with huskies, there are so many fantastic activities!
Planning our Travel
Because Tromso is a small town near the Arctic Circle, it required a little planning flexibility!
Flights
After a few minutes of deep dive research, I learned that Norweign Air flies direct from London Gatwick to Tromso, Norway on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Therefore, it was very easy to decide that we would be going on a Saturday and returning on the next Wednesday!
Lodging
While Tromso is considered a major city in Northern Norway, it is actually a small town. Initially, I booked us at the fantastic Thon Hotel Tromso because I read great reviews about the rooms and free breakfast.
However, our friend Kelly joined our trip and I explored the following AirBnB options, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3. In the end, we chose Option 2 because it was in the budget and had a fuller kitchen!
Norwegian Food & Drink
Because Norway is infamous for notoriously expensive meals (and everything), we were only planning on one great meal out and then going to find either cheap eats on the street or hit the grocery store and cook at home. Our one night out was going to be at Emmas Dream Kitchen, highly recommended by a bunch of foodies!
Winter Wonderland Activities
Boy oh boy did we have the PERFECT winter wonderland line-up. With a few friend’s recommendation, we were going to have a blast - and pay for it. Prior to booking anything, I highly recommend reading all the opportunities on Heart my Backpack.
While it pains me to type these activities considering the excitement and disappointment, here is what we had lined up in winter wonderland.
Epic Northern Lights trip with Greenlander: Not only would we receive professional photos, we would have a small private group and witness one of the best natural shows in the world.
Dog Sledding with Lyngsfjord: Lyngsfjord has a variety of options and a full day’s worth of activities! Our friends highly recommend them for their dog sledding tour!
Snowshoeing: Pushing Mary Frances out of her comfort zone, snowshoeing would have been awesome! This AirBnB experience sounded amazing and even came with hot chocolate!
Reindeer sledding: While we did not book or could not decide on the options, we looked into reindeer sledding for our final day. There are plenty of options!
The Fail
Unlike most of our trips, this is the one trip that will be the hardest one to reschedule. Thus, seeing Norway close until 26 March crushed us both financially and emotionally. Because we had pre-booked a lot of our activities and AirBnB, we initially struggled to recoup our money. In the end, this may be the trip that got away due to the timing. However, we will persist!