Monday, June 24, 2019:

As typical of my family, we finished packing about an hour before we needed to leave the house for San Francisco International Airport. Also typical of my family, we forgot to book vegetarian food on the flights. This trip was going to be around three weeks, according to my father, and it was for tourism more than anything else. We were going to visit Norway, a place highly recommended by friends who had been there before. I also found it fascinating because Norway is home to some traditional Norse myths that I’ve read about in different books, and learned about through Marvel Comics and Movies. Our flight was at 9 pm, but we got there with more than an hour to spare. Eventually, we got on and slept.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019:

Our layover in New York stopped at 5:30, but I was weirdly awake for that time of day. Our next flight wasn’t until 8 though, so we spent time getting out of the plane, wandering the terminal at JFK, and getting some breakfast. Finally, we got on the plane, this time the four of us all next to each other in the middle. But, there were plane issues, so we didn’t leave until approximately 1.5 hours later. It kinda sucked, but I was super tired, having gotten no sleep the flight before, and dozed until they brought us a breakfast of yogurt and a bar around 11:30, Eastern Standard Time. I had, of course, set my clocks to show me time at home, in London, and in Norway, so I knew what time it was everywhere. I finished reading my book Ready Player 1, which is honestly much better than the movie. My dad was reading Good Omens next to me, which I already finished. Both the book and movie are amazing. We ended up in London around 10 pm, and the drive to my uncle’s house meant that we were there at 12:30. We ate, and then talked about old memories before going to bed at 2:30 am.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019:

I finally got to see my baby cousin today, who’s already two years old. Little kids are so energetic, honestly. I went to drop my baby cousin Nivan at his daycare, and Navadha was dropped at her school. Our breakfast was idli and sambar, after which I showered. I got to spend some solid time writing after that before I went for a walk with my mom. She went to a nail salon, Imagine Nails, though they were really bad and didn’t do her polish properly. After lunch, I sat down to keep writing while my dad, grandpa, and uncle watched cricket on the TV. The entire day, since after breakfast, my sister had been sleeping, which we thought was pretty funny. It was pretty chill – we hung out, ate food, and I played with my cousins and sisters. Nivan, who’s only 2, is absolutely nuts – he has so much energy for a tiny child, and his parents are still working on boundaries for not hitting people randomly. He laughs at the most random things, but my mom said that both my sister and I were like that, it’s just a baby thing. Eventually, I got exhausted, and I wrapped up. My parents and aunt put on an Indian horror movie called Stree, though it wasn’t very good. After, we went to bed around midnight.

Thursday, June 27, 2019:

I woke up at 12, exhausted still because it was technically still morning back home. I nevertheless ate breakfast and took a shower before helping my parents a bit with packing our bags. I was tired though, and my allergies were acting up giving me a pink eye. I sat and relaxed a bit before having lunch while playing Connect 4 with my mom and then sister. I had to take my inhaler, because of how the air or maybe the dust was aggravating my lungs, and I had to take a Claritin because the same thing was turning one of my eyes bloodshot red. I sat a bit more, and then we left for the train station with our bags. My cousin was crying and asking us not to leave, which I felt terrible about, but we left. The Underground is super similar to the Caltrain, so it wasn’t anything new for me to take it. It took about two hours, and we changed from the central line to the district line to the Piccadilly line. I listened to music throughout most of it. Security at the airport was longer than I expected – it takes much longer compared to America, as a warning. We got through and barely reached the gate, taking our seats. The plane ended up staying in place for a long time as the crew worked stuff out, during which my family and I ate dinner. My mom had packed roti and aloo sabji before leaving the house, and we had bought a small protein bowl at the airport. I couldn’t eat the bowl, because it had chickpeas, hummus, and falafel. The flight to Stavanger was pretty short, all things considered – only 1.5 hours. Norway was kinda cold, and for some reason, there were no water fountains in the airport. We had to buy a water bottle. Our customs person was funny, quizzing us a bit on the American flag. Our taxi driver was friendly too and took us to the Airbnb room we rented. We put our stuff down before leaving to wander – it was midnight, but still, there was light enough to wander. None of the stores were open, but we wandered a bit before going back to our room and having some snacks. I couldn’t eat much since all the food my mom packed had ingredients I was allergic to, so I had some stuff I could eat. Then, after setting up the couch so my sister and I could share, we slept.

Friday, June 28, 2019:

It was my birthday today – I finally turned 15!! I woke up pretty late, but my parents had woken up early to go grocery shopping. By the time I was up, they had come back from the store and were cooking breakfast. My dad, of course, teased me about being lazy because of how late I always wake up. I eventually got up, yawning still, and stumbled to the bathroom to change. Norway is colder than other places, so I put on warm tights my mom brought from Japan under my ripped jeans and a full-sleeved shirt under my vest and jacket. Breakfast was scrambled eggs with lots of veggies like my dad always makes, and we gobbled it down before leaving the house around 11:30. Norway is beautiful – in the right clothes, it’s neither hot not freezing. We wandered in Stavanger, following my dad and trusting that we wouldn’t get lost in the small coastal town. We paused at one point to visit the boating center and found a squash court. I had never seen squash played before – it’s fascinating. My sister spent some time running around while I rested, eventually climbing onto a graffitied oil pipe. My parents took numerous pictures the entire time, of course, to preserve the memories. Our lunch was around three. We kept wandering for a while, visiting a colorful street and a white street. I can’t remember the names, but they’re named that way because all the buildings on that street are colorful or white. My sister got some ice cream on the colorful street while we talked, and my mom finally worked through her vexation. My mom had been on edge and angry the entire morning, snapping at me, my sister, and my dad over the smallest things. Eventually, she talked it out. We kept wandering, visiting a small pancake shop and a tower, though we didn’t enter either. Burger King was our stop for the bathroom, and as we say we talked politics – immigration, the upcoming elections, democratic debates, policies, and more. My sister got bored in the process and pushed us to leave. We did and found a small restaurant on the harbor that served Italian because my dad had a craving for pizza, Al Forno Skagen. It was… Interesting. Every patron around us got an individual medium pizza, even this little three-year-old girl. We weren’t sure how they would eat it all, but a lot of them did! And, most of them were using a fork and knife to eat it – not similar to America. It wasn’t my favorite place since I thought the veggie pizza my family all shared wasn’t very good. We started visiting souvenir shops after, being the stereotypical family we are. Trolls are big in Norway, so there were a bunch of troll related statues everywhere. We got a mug, a gnome, and a Viking gnome statue. My mom and sister got distracted in a store but my dad and I were bored by it so we went to the Starbucks in front of the store and shared a hot mocha while taking advantage of the free WiFi. It was getting late at this point, so we stopped at an ice cream store for dessert. I’m a sucker for chocolate, so I got a mouthwatering tiramisu ice cream that my dad and I gobbled up. My sister got some unicorn thing that was way too sweet and fake for me, but I think she liked it. We also did an impromptu photo shoot of my sister while she was cartwheeling, handstanding, and performing other gymnastic feats in front of a church for the camera. The room we were staying in thankfully had a hot shower, though the bed my parents were on was way too soft. It was really weird sleeping even though the daylight was bright outside because the clocks said it was 10 while it looked like it was 5, 6 at most.

Saturday, June 29, 2019:

We had to wake up earlier today, which kinda sucked. We layered up, ready for a day outside, and after our scrambled eggs we walked the 5-minute walk to the ferry. Our tour people, GoFjords, directed us to the area where the boat would land, and we waited for almost 15 minutes before it came. Honestly, we could have slept a little longer. When I had gone to Puerto Vallarta last spring I had gotten sick during a cruise; thankfully, that didn’t happen this time. The boat was too big and the water smooth enough that I felt nothing. The views were amazing, and during the time I had different relatives call me from their time zones to wish me a happy birthday. After the boat, we took a bus up the island and stopped at the base of Pulpit Rock. There is a restroom there, but it is the only one – after that, nature. My mom and sister rented out a set of hiking poles since my mom didn’t bring here from home, and we started. 2.5 hours, mostly uphill, as the weather got progressively hotter. We shed layers one by one like a lizard shedding its skin – first my jacket, then vest, then pants so I was just in leggings. My family had done the same. We were wanting, sweating, and our legs ached, mine more since I hike faster than the rest. Around us, other people hiked, in tank tops and sports bras or even shirtless. The path was rocky – we were bouldering more than anything. It got hotter and hotter, and we stopped numerous times to take photos. It was incredibly scenic and I loved it, no matter the work. I suggest drinking water the entire time (I used my Camelback) and taking deep breaths. We reached Pulpit Rock at noon. A large cliffside

with a flat, 2000 foot drop on all sides. Mission Impossible: Fallout filmed the ending scene here because of how beautiful it is. To our left, a long river and canyon that look like they came from Lord of the Rings. There’s a short rock that stands separate from the main Pulpit Rock, and from there my father was able to get some excellent photos of us. After photos, we ate the sandwiches my mom packed in the morning. I had a bit of fun – lying down on my stomach so my head is dangling over the cliff, sitting down to dangle my legs and more. One guy walked in with a 10-foot selfie stick, and we saw a guy propose to his girlfriend on the cliff too – pretty romantic. We started walking down around 1, and my father and I quickly overtook my mom and sister, especially after they stopped to use the restroom behind a rock. By the end of the 8 km hike our feet were aching, we were stumbling a bit, and I couldn’t stand still without my legs tremoring a bit. When we finally got down it was all worth it to know I had hiked to pulpit rock and back, though. I used the restroom, got some strawberry ice cream from the store, and sat with my dad to stretch our legs and rest after the strenuous day. My mom and sister caught up with us about 30 minutes later. Since we had a busy schedule, we were able to sync our times to take the 3:40 bus back and take a ferry to the mainland. We went straight from there to a Mexican restaurant, Los Tacos, though the food there wasn’t very good. Our desert place, the same Italian restaurant as the day before, was better – I got a tiramisu, and my sister got a walnut brownie with vanilla ice cream. I couldn’t eat it because it had nuts, but I enjoyed my tiramisu. Sleep caught us quickly at the room, though we had to spend time packing first.

Sunday, June 30, 2019:

Waking up at ungodly hours, ugh. I got up at 4:30, which sucked. I distinctly remember waking up at midnight and seeing my dad sitting near the door doing something on his phone, though why he was sitting in the dark I don’t know. I got dressed and scarfed down a piece of homemade french toast before getting ready to leave. My dad is kinda OCD about these things, so we left at 5:30 even though the cruise wasn’t till 7, and reached more than an hour in advance. It was unnecessary – we didn’t have to leave the house till 6. I sat, working through the Crooked Kingdom, the sequel to Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. It’s an amazing duology. The boat we ended up boarding was huge, 10 floors. It had come from Denmark, and a lot of people were in their different cabins. We placed our stuff at our seats, which were positioned in a room like airplane seats, and then went down to the lounge to get some food and relax. It was a 5.5-hour cruise to Bergen, after all. I sat and read my book for a while with my dad, and my mom and sister napped. A nice woman was sitting across from us who lived in Bergen, and we made conversation with her. She said that having a pen pal and sending letters by paper would give me new experiences and more patience; I agree, but I’m way too modern of a person. The ship was going through internal channels the entire time, so we were always super close to the coast. It started raining as we got closer to Bergen. This wasn’t light drizzling, but hard and heavy rain while lightning flashed across the sky. It was really beautiful, to be honest. We reached Bergen eventually, trailing after a group of boys in uniforms who looked like they had gone to sailing school. Some of the older ones had swords, and one of the younger ones was lugging around a giant pack of coca-cola. It all gave me an idea for a story in the end. As we lugged our suitcases to the hotel room it was still raining, though much much lighter than before. Finding the room was a bit of a hassle since the entrance was in an alley that was covered by a door, but the room was nice. I liked it more than the other room because there was less dust, so I wasn’t sneezing like crazy the entire time. This Air BNB was smaller and had a worse kitchen. We settled down and then went for a walk outside to an Ethiopian restaurant called Naomi. I’ve never eaten Ethiopian before, and I thought the food was really good. We ate family style – Injera bread, red lentils, and some salad. There were yellow lentils too, but those had chickpeas in them so I was unable to eat that part. After the restaurant we continued our walk, visiting the gondola. It was too foggy to be able to see anything after the rain so we continued to the coast. It smelt like fish on this road, but all the houses were super colorful and bright. Everything was made of wood too. My sister’s ankle was hurting by then though, and I was feeling tired and nauseous after our long day, so we took a taxi back to the hotel room. There, my sister and I rested while my parents went back out for a couple of hours. They also did the groceries on their way back. This settled us into the new room.

Monday, July 1, 2019:

6:30 is still an early time to wake up, but it wasn’t too bad. Outside it was pouring cats and dogs and I have to say – our ponchos and jackets were not enough. Bring an umbrella. After going through my scrambled eggs and helping my mom sooth her frizzy hair with the hairdryer, we left the house for the train station. By the end of the 10-minute walk, we were soaked, but thankfully the 2-hour train ride gave us time to rest and dry off. On this specific ride, to a town called Voss, I recommend sitting on the left side of the train. Seats can be reserved or not, and all of it was organized by Norway in a Nutshell, this touring company. They also give a few other day tours like Fjords in a Nutshell. It was incredibly scenic outside, with large rock walls, rivers, and dozens of tiny waterfalls that trickled melted fjord water down. When we got to Voss it was still raining, and we boarded the bus. There were 3-4 buses for all the people going on the tour, and we were some of the first to get on. For this part of the journey, sit on the right for the best views. It’s beautiful – we went on a long scenic tour of the mountains until we were surrounded by nothing but waterfalls and greenery. We could see them thundering up close. The road we were on turned narrow and windy, our incline approximately 19 degrees downwards. I loved it, though buses make me drowsy and I ended up napping on my mom’s shoulder for a while. We reached the town an hour later and had a lunch of pizza and fries after using the bathroom. The restaurant was called Gudvangen Fjordtell, and the food was good for fast food. They also sold a lot of souvenirs. After, we took a slew of photos of the environment and surroundings in Gudvangr, the town. Crossing the bridge, we bought tickets and entered the Viking village. It’s a live village, which means that everyone who lives there lives like Vikings – in Viking clothes with Viking jobs. First, we got a tour from a guy who came every summer to work here before going back. He talked about how women and men were equal in those societies except for politics, where the women couldn’t participate. I still thought it was really progressive for that time. Being a Viking was also a job – it involved going out on board as pirates. If you were a regular person like the other 90% of society that farmed, then the person was simply Norwegian. Unfortunately, many Western history narratives have grouped the two. We learned about their Gods and the different days of the week named after them. Thor is Thursday, which I already knew. Freya is Friday, and Odin is on Wednesday. We got some free time after that and I have to say, the activities are great. There was archery, ax throwing, fake sword-fighting, weaving, wood shaving, blacksmithing, and cosplay, all of which we participated in at one point. Archery was fun, since we got to shoot fake foam animals, and I had a bit of practice from my bow and arrow at home. Ax throwing I wasn’t so good at, but my sister was decent. Picking up the fake swords and shields, my sister and I battled it out, and in the end, I was victorious. While I watched the woman talk about her blacksmithing experience and how she lived in the village, my sister forged her fishhook. I thought it was kinda ironic because we’re vegetarians, so it is no use to us. This entire time my dad was sitting on one of the numerous animal pelts that were strewn around the cafe, resting. I was tired by then, so I sat down while the rest of my family took pictures with the Viking gear we had seen during the weapons section of our tour – handmade axes, swords, helmets, chainmail, and more. We eventually left the village and my mom got herself lunch because she hadn’t eaten with the rest of us before. Meanwhile, my dad was looking for souvenirs, and my sister and I ate ice cream. By the end, before our boat was to leave at 4:30, we had bought souvenirs and were done eating. We boarded the boat first and got good seats, excited for the scenic ride ahead of us. As expected, it was beautiful even though the heavy rain. We met a tour group comprised entirely if adults above 50 who were touring Norway, which was interesting. The few times the rain abated temporarily we all rushed outside to take photos and look outside without the rain that dripped down our windows. I thought it was all very Lord of the Rings reminiscent, what with the fog and the river and the mountains that only got closer and closer to us. I would highly recommend this ferry to Flåm. Once at Flåm we boarded the train to Myrdal and started on our scenic ride. I’ll be honest – for sightseers, this is the day. Me, I would have preferred a bit more adventure or interactions, like kayaking down the river as I saw others doing. The Myrdal ride was just as pretty, though by then waterfalls had lost their mystique. There was one amazing part, and it was when we stopped at Kjosfossen waterfall. The waterfall was hardly 5 feet from us, and we were on top of where it

continued. It was also so strong that the most were going everywhere, and by the end of our 5 minute stop, my jacket was soaking. Kjosfossen waterfall has a free fall of 305 feet and is super beautiful. One minute into our foray to the fall, while we were taking photos, ethereal music started playing, and a woman in red appeared and started dancing. I’m not sure if there was more than one woman, but their red dresses and flowing blonde hair matched, and they danced for two minutes before disappearing. This is a performance they do often or every time a train stops at the station. It was worth it. We reached Myrdal quickly after. Myrdal is an abandoned town that is serviced exclusively by the Flåm Railway, which to my surprise went fully electric back in 1947. We were high enough that the ice that is frozen over the mountains were visible and close. It was a prime photo opportunity. It started raining shortly after, and it was freezing. Shivering, we went to the lodge to wait for our train. It arrived and we boarded, glad for some peace and respite. It was about time for sleep by this point, and we dozed on the two-hour ride. The trains were weird in that we had to change seats at different stations because seats are booked in chunks. Because of this, our seating from Myrdal to Voss was different from our seats for Voss to Bergen. We got back to the apartment at 10:30, and after showers fell asleep.

Tuesday, July 2, 2019:

Today was a lazy day – I awoke at 10:30 to see the rest of my family still waking up. We all got dressed and ate breakfast before leaving the house about an hour later. We decided to go to the funicular – a gondola style train that takes tourists up the mountain to a view of the entire city. The line was, to our dismay, Incredibly long because about 5 cruise ships had all docked at Bergen that morning. Nevertheless, it was that or walk up the hundreds of stairs that take one to the top of the mountain, so we took deep breaths and stood in line. It went much quicker than expected since around 50 people leave every 5 minutes. We eventually used our Bergen passes to get a discount on round trip tickets, and we got on. I suggest sitting at the very front of this ride because there was a huge clear window in front of us that gave us a great view. The path is also really well-timed – there’s a single path at all times except for a tiny portion where the two barges cross one another on their trips bringing people up or down the mountain. The ride up was beautiful – panoramic as we took in the city and sea surrounding it. We made it up quickly and spent time taking photos, working through the crowd around us to get some great pictures. It’s amazing – the entire city in pastels, the blue sea, and ships sitting in the harbor. It’s an entire little village up there: a restaurant, a park, a troll park, a lake for canoeing, some hikes, and a zip-line park. We stopped at the restaurant to use the restroom and eat the sandwiches my mom had packed. You have to order food to sit there, so we got some deserts. My favorite was the apple tart, my sister loved the croissant, and my dad liked the carrot cake, though I couldn’t have the latter because it had nuts. After, we wandered a bit more. My sister played in the park for a bit before going zip-lining. I will say that the zip-line park wasn’t very good; it was small and the platforms weren’t properly placed, so it was hard to go from one zip-line to the next. Nevertheless, she had fun. After, we started on our trek back down the mountain, having chosen not to take the funicular. It was freezing at this point, and the walk was 3 km to the base. We ended up having some fun by skipping out on the paved road and going through the forest, carving our trails. It took a bit longer since we had to get over tree roots and keep our balance on the marshy ground, but we walked half the distance. It was worth it. My dad chose not to accompany the rest of us and took a regular path down. When we got to the bottom we were in a completely different part of town, with cars parked on narrow roads and a few electric car chargers. We chose not to consult the GPS and wandered, finding our way into a small coffee shop. At this point, it was 5, and we had left to start the hike at 3:45. My sister and dad got some ice cream, but I didn’t because it was a tiny, kinda bad store with only 3 out of their advertised 10 flavors. The flavors I wanted weren’t there. After, we looked for restaurants for dinner and found a small Italian restaurant called Ruccola. The food was the type of Italian I’d find back home, and it was booked out for a couple of hours. I suggest making a reservation in advance. To be honest, their food wasn’t very good. Even though they were stringent on allergy warnings and had a diverse menu, none of the food had flavor. It was all rather bland. We decided to finish what we ordered and go somewhere else for dessert but ended up taking a bus back to our room and watching a bit of Merlin. The Bergen passes we got aren’t that useful, since they don’t give us a discount. They do let us onto the light-rail and buses though, so if you’ll use that a lot then get the pass. Otherwise, it’s a waste.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019:

Today was an early wake-up day again, and we were out the door by 7 with our luggage in tow. The light-rail stops directly in the airport, stop Bergen Lufthansaven, so we took the 45-minute journey in light-rail to the airport. The tunnels we went through were pretty cool – they had LED strings in patterns that lit the walls of the tunnels up. The airport itself is impressive since everything except for customs is self-service. We used a booth to check-in and get our tickets and luggage tags, before we tagged our suitcases, scanned them, and put them on the conveyor belt. Customs was also pretty quick this time, and we were left with a little more than an hour to relax before our 10:15 flight. The flight itself was short, and we quickly reached Oslo for our 2-hour layover. There, we had a hardy lunch of veggie burgers and sweet potato fries. I do love sweet potato fries. We boarded the plane to Tromsø, with the check-in also a self-service scan. None of it required passports. There are direct flights to Tromsø, but we weren’t able to book one. The flight was again short, and unlike the last flight which was fully booked, this one was mostly empty and we were able to spread out from our assigned seats and take entire rows. When we reached, we found that Tromsø is much colder than Bergen and Stavanger. I would estimate it was around 15°C. It was gorgeous though – even from the plane, we could see the snowy tipped mountains and the way the coast turned green as it disappeared into the ocean. Tromsø is much higher than Stavanger and Bergen, so the average temperature is much lower. The lady who introduced us to our new Air BNB apartment even told us that it was really good weather that day, so she had pulled out her summer clothes. I found it kinda ironic. The apartment itself was way better than our last ones – it was two floors and had separate rooms for my parents and my sister. We settled down before going to the tourist center to check in on what there is to do in Tromsø. Apart from a few hikes, museums, and the midnight sun – absolutely nothing. Yeah, there are jacuzzis and parks and hikes, but a lot of it is stuff that can be found anywhere. I would say that the best part about it was the scenery, to be honest – it looked photoshopped. After the tourist center, we went for dinner downtown at a small restaurant called Presis Tapas. Their food was amazing – homemade bread, sauces, many vegetables picked in their garden, and great service. Our waitress was very friendly and the room had an earthy atmosphere, with string lights and fake flowers strung through the rafters. I highly recommend this place. I tried rhubarb for dessert and found that it wasn’t my thing. After food, we went to our room and while my parents did the groceries we showered and bolstered ourselves for the night ahead. Tromsø, being as cold as it was, meant that I dressed very warmly, with my thickest tights under my pants, two shirts, scarves, hats, and gloves. It was raining slightly, and we picked a taxi to get to the Arctic Cathedral. It’s a majestic, triangular building that required us to cross a bridge since it was on a different island, but I reckon the distance was hardly 2 km. In there, we saw the Midnight Sun Concert at 11. It was amazing inside the cathedral – stained glass everywhere. There were 3 performers for the 30-minute show: a man on piano/organ, a woman on Alto saxophone, and a man on baritone. I don’t care much for classical music personally, but I thought that the baritone’s voice was the best; the acoustics of the room only served to amplify it and help it resonate around the room. After the concert, it was a 10-minute walk to the base of the funicular and caught the 12 gondolas up. Upstairs it was even windier, and a bit of walking led me to a patch of snow. Something I can now say – I was playing in the snow at midnight in July. I could see the entire city from up there. Ideally, I should have been able to see the sun on the horizon at that time, but because it was so foggy we saw nothing. The evening wasn’t the best since it was raining and we didn’t see the sun, but it was objectively stunning. I don’t think I’d be able to live here though, where the sun never sets for 6 months and then transitions to a period of never rising for six months. We got back to the hotel with a taxi around 1 and went to bed.

Thursday, July 4, 2019:

We woke up late today due to the long day yesterday, so around 10:30. We left the house by 11:30 after deciding to go to the Northern Norwegian Science Center. It took a long time to find a taxi, and since it was raining it wasn’t feasible to attempt the 40-minute walk to the center. We caught a taxi after about 30 minutes of mild walking and looking for a taxi. The Science Center itself was a lot of fun. We were there until closing time at 5, during which we participated in as much as possible. The second floor had to do with the climate, and we explored it thoroughly. After, we went to the fourth floor to watch a movie in the planetarium on the Aurora Borealis, and to play around in the space exhibit. It was great fun even for my parents: a museum for all ages. The first floor was about physics and the human body – we assembled the inside of a human using plastic parts, played brain teasers, ran in hamster wheels and more. It was very enjoyable. After that, we went to the airport because the mother wanted to rent a car. Based on the prices though, and the fact that it was already 5:30 so we’d hardly get a few hours out of it, it wasn’t feasible. We left the airport an hour later to go downtown, and there we dined at Egon. I highly recommend this restaurant – it had an extensive menu in six languages and a thorough allergy menu. This I appreciate about Norway, the fact that they out up allergy warnings everywhere and are careful about it, making it a lot easier for me as a person with extensive allergies. Each person got one dish. Though my mother had ordered an extra dish it was unnecessary, and it took us a while to finish it off. My mom got tacos, my sister quesadillas, me fajitas, and my dad a burger. For dessert, we had nickers, a dish with ice cream drizzled in caramel, chocolate, and peanuts. I overall really enjoyed dining there, what with the warm atmosphere. It was a lot more crowded than the other restaurant, and the food took a lot longer to come, but that was because they were cleaning down their equipment as a safety precaution for my allergies. After the restaurant, we walked home and went to bed.

Friday, July 5, 2019:

Today we had to wake up early – we were out of the house by 5 and sitting in the airport by 6. Customs and baggage went by quickly, so we relaxed in a coffee shop. Our flight to Oslo was completely booked, but we had decent seats on the 1.5-hour flight. It went by pretty quick and we reached Oslo. After buying tickets, we took a quick train ride from the station that connected to the airport and then walked to our hotel. Before the walk, however, we stopped at the tourist center to check-in as we did in all the other cities, an action I recommend. It was blazing hot here, unlike in Tromsø, and the many layers I had donned that morning were making we sweat like a stuck pig. At Hotell Bondeheimen, I took some of the layers off, as did my parents and sister. After booking a taxi and putting our suitcases in the luggage room, as check-in wasn’t until 3, we left for the Norsk Folkemuseum. It’s a cool open-air museum with a bunch of houses from the 1700s that the Norse lived in. We arrived just in time for the guided tour, where we visited different houses and learned about their history. We ended at a church, learning about how the conversion from Catholicism to Protestantism changed Norway. After, we visited this exhibit where we saw a girl dressed in period typical clothing for the 1700s. We ate at the cafe, though it didn’t have very much, and then watched a folk dance. I thought it was really interesting and well put together. I especially liked learning about how putting 12 to a house was regular in some valleys back then, especially the isolated ones. They also had I credibly tiny beds – I doubt someone who is more than 4’5″ could fit. In the nicer villages, during the marriage, a man was required to make an ironing board propose to a woman. The nicer it was, the more prosperous the marriage would be, if she accepted the board and marriage. If a woman rejected him, he’d be forced to hang the board on his wall as a mark of his shame. The folk dance was also fantastic. The male dancer performed some wild acrobatic feats like kicking a hat off a pole from 2 feet above his head, and a few handsprings back to standing only seen in the fight scenes of dramatic action movies. My sister and I visited a small stand where they were making traditional Norwegian bread, and after, we left. From the museum, it’s a 5-minute walk to the Viking Ship Museum, dedicated to different Viking ships that have been discovered over time. The real ships from around 300-900 CE were all in the room, mildly renovated but mostly comprised of the original wood and pieces. These ships were used for burial after their use as warships or sailing ships had passed – the dead were buried on them with many of their belongings, such as horses, dogs, sleds, tapestries, and even peacocks into the ground. We spent about an hour browsing the souvenirs but ended up purchasing the books on Amazon for a cheaper price. After a stop for ice cream outside (we indulged ourselves so much that vacation) we caught a taxi and went to Vigeland, a huge public park. To accompany the stunning flowers and rows of trees that are everywhere and framing the large fields of grass, an entire section is dedicated to artist Vigeland’s

works. The art comprised entirely if statues of people in the nude in different positions. There is a long walk with statues on both sides, with male, female, and child bodies displayed. At the end of it, a fountain sprays water into the distance and highlights a large column of naked bodies writhing in misery. It’s beautiful. It’s a free museum too. We wandered for a while before playing around with the Lime scooters that were parked in a corner, since we had never used them before. We went for dinner at a downtown restaurant called Asia. Their food was great, and more like the tapas restaurants. We ordered and ate about 7 dishes between the 4 of us, all vegetarian or vegan. The seating was also great since we were outside, surrounded by heaters and pillows, and had a view of the sea. It was a 15-minute walk to our hotel from there, and we passed the Nobel Prize hall where the award is given. At the hotel, we picked our luggage up and went to our room and bed.

Saturday, July 6, 2019:

This hotel served a great breakfast. I had some bread, sunny side up eggs, waffles, and cheese. After packing our bags, we head out around 10:30 to the cancer museum. I found it in the brochure my mom got at the tourist center of museums in Oslo. The interesting ones to me were the Holocaust Center, Armed Forces Museum, Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology, and the Cancer Museum. The museum was small but interesting. There were fun games and exhibits about what cancer is, its causes, and what it felt like to have it and recover from it. We spent about 1.5 hours there but easily could have spent more time if not for the fact that we had to catch our train to the airport. On the walk to the airport, after we picked our luggage up and checked out, we stopped because I saw a nice red jacket. I ended up buying it, but by then we were getting delayed so we had to dash to the station, buy the tickets, and get to the station. We skipped into the train just as it was about to close, finally taking deep breaths and relaxing. The airport took a bit longer than at other places because we were going on an international flight, so our passports had to be checked every time. We got in and went to a little food truck restaurant place and had sandwiches and burritos. Then, our flight to Heathrow. It was only 2 hours and remarkably peaceful. After reaching was where things got harder though – the long line of immigration led to the Underground, where we were for almost two hours. We had to go to near the end of Piccadilly before spending another 40 minutes on the Central to get to our station. It was tiring, hard to hold our suitcases, and hot. To make matters worse, the entire population of London was getting back from Pride that day, so the stations were even more crowded and impossible than usual. People couldn’t even get on the train, things were so bad. We finally made it out and to my aunt’s house. My cousin was super excited to finally see us, and after dinner, we showered and went to bed. Well, it took me a bit longer because the adults were playing Sequence in my room. After some reflection, I realized that Tromsø could have been better planned because there are some scenic drives to go on. It’s also recommended to stay in a national park or somewhere in the wilderness, instead of a city, because then there is a higher chance of catching a glimpse of the elusive midnight sun.

Sunday, July 7, 2019:

I finally got a long relaxation time and didn’t wake up for a while. When I finally did wake up it was to my wild baby cousin and his big sister playing with my sister. After breakfast and a shower, we watched the new Jumanji for a bit before the rest got ready. I wrote a bit during that time. After that, when everyone was ready, I stopped my munching on cherries and I left with my dad and aunt for Stratford. It’s a station on the London Underground and where the Olympics were held a while back. There, my dad and aunt changed our tickets to Manchester so that they would be able to watch the upcoming cricket match with India. We met my mom, sister, uncle, and little cousin sister inside a bit later, and we all got lunch in the food court. It was all sorta crappy fast food, but we had Pizza Hut and then went up to sit. After buying tickets for the 5:00 Spiderman: Far From Home, I went to Zara with my mom and aunt to shop a bit. I bought a comic-book print shirt of Mickey Mouse, but what was cool was the self check out. All I would do is put my pile of shirts on this counter, and it would scan the shirt even though there were no sensors in sight. It was amazing how the technology was being used in a way I don’t see in America, and we even took those magnetic, ink-spewing things off on our own. I’ve never done it before, but it was awesome. After shopping, we went up and watched the movie. I thought it was fascinating, though not the best Marvel movie, and I would give it an 8/10. After the movie, we went home, at dinner, and slept

Monday, July 8, 2019:

I was woken up today by the gleeful screams of my two-year-old cousin. Wow, he has a set of lungs. After breakfast and a shower, I started packing with my dad. When my suitcase was done I finally got a chance to relax, and I spent time on my laptop. I love writing, so I lost myself in the flow and hardly noticed time pass until I was called for lunch, and my cousin left for school. After lunch, I got to work on my summer reading, a book called Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. It’s moving, even if I can’t read large sections at a time because of how sad it makes me. This chapter was about how he got a boy out of adult jail after the boy was convicted of shooting his mom’s abusive boyfriend because he was sexually assaulted in jail, and was only 14. I thought it was terrifying – to be my age and to go through that. A bit more writing, an hour of packing while my sister slept, some more writing while my dad slept, and it was time to get my cousin from school. After her, we got my other cousin from his nursery. Being a tiny screaming child, he had great fun with the microphone my mom got him. His screams just amplified. His cries when we left were also really loud, but there was nothing to be done. We took the train on Central line to the national railway and boarded our train to Manchester. The two-hour ride was peaceful, as was the 30-minute car ride to my uncle’s house. He’s my dad’s brother, and my other uncle who’s house we came from is my mom’s brother. My cousins were asleep since they technically are still in school due to the UK’s yearlong schools where summer break is only a month or so. After a really good dinner, we went to our rooms and fell asleep.

Tuesday, July 9, 2019:

I got a nice, lazy morning today and didn’t wake up till 11. After a breakfast of sugary cereal that I wouldn’t eat unless it was the only cereal in the house, which it was, I took a shower. Then, I got some time to work on my laptop. I found that Shadowhunters was on Netflix now, and since I’d read the books, I downloaded episodes online for the plane flight. I wrote it before having lunch, where I discovered that my uncle’s family eats a lot. A lot. I barely got down what he gave me and that was after I took some out. I spent more time writing after that, since writing is my passion, only to be interrupted a few hours later by the shouts of my cousin’s home from school. Apparently, to get taller they have to hang from monkey bars for a certain amount of time every day, and my cousin didn’t want to. We were interrupted by the sound of our parents coming home from the cricket match they had gone to – India v New Zealand. It hadn’t finished because of the rain, so my parents were probably going to go again the next day to finish the match. We spent some more time relaxing, talking, and getting to know our cousins before going to bed. My sister and I had commandeered my 13-year-old cousins room, and he complained a lot.

Wednesday, July 10, 2019:

Today was a touristy day – we left for the Manchester Science and Industry Museum through the tram, which is super similar to the London Underground but stays above ground the entire time and acts rather like a light rail. It took a bit, but eventually, we got off and walked to the museum. My uncle and I were the only ones with small backpacks of water and snacks. I thought that though the museum had a few interesting places, the museums in Norway were much more interesting and structured better. There was a rather fascinating demonstration on cotton, however, and we got to see how the industrial revolution changed how it was mass-produced in big machines where they showed us real cotton being spun into bundles. There were a few school groups thereof younger children watching the presentation too, and something I noticed was that in the UK, all uniforms seem to comprise of ties while the ones in the US generally don’t. There were a few examples of how television and communication progressed over the ages, but it was overall a rather boring place. Their food court was decent though – after a hardy lunch, we left the place and went to the tram station to meet my parents, who were back from the game. India lost, unfortunately. Using the tram we went to the John Rylands library, even though my cousin kept complaining that he wanted to go home. I loved the library – the architecture was magnificent and there were hundreds of old, leather-bound books covered by glass on the shelves. It’s a real working library too, so we saw some people sitting in the nooks and working. I’d love to have a library like that at home; I’d never leave. It was built by Enriqueta Rylands for her dead husband John Rylands. In the main room, there were some amazing stained glass windows with examples of famous scholars on them – Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, John Locke, Dante, Beethoven, Mozart, and more. The library also had a couple of rooms dedicated to the massacre that had happened when some military members had slaughtered around 700 people who had gathered to discuss new, revolutionary ideas. I even got to see an authentic printing press. There were a few prices that weren’t in the library at the time, including the Bhagavad Purana, a painting that dictates the twelve incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The souvenir shop was also amazing, but we were rushed out and to the station. At the station, though my mom saw Primark, a store she had been meaning to go to for ages because of its large Harry Potter section. We split up with my uncle, aunt, and cousins there and while they took the tram home, we visited Primark. It was really fun – a huge, relatively cheap shopping mall with huge clothing sections dedicated to Harry Potter and Friends. There we even a coffeeshop modeled after the one in Friends, Central Perk. My mom, sister, and I got a bit carried away in the Harry Potter section, but to be fair merchandise is incredibly expensive in the US, and was cheap and well made here. My dad had left after a bit to sit down in the coffee shop, and we joined him with the four coats that my mother was trying on. She eventually picked one and we checked out and left the store. A quick walk down Market Street took us to the tram station with our 3 Primark Bags, and we were home quickly. After a hardy dinner, we went to bed.

Thursday, July 11, 2019:

Today was also super fun. We woke up a bit early and got dressed in warm clothes. After a solid breakfast we split up into two cars and the 2-hour ride to the Lake District commenced. My sister and I shared earbuds and listened to music for all of it until we reached. The Lake District is a really large, nice district centering around Windermere Lake. There are treetop adventures, which are kinda like a playground in the trees that finish with a small zip line, archery, laser shooting, buggy carts, boating, and more. While the younger kids started by exploring a manmade cave that is inside their building, I ate some food with the rest of the adults. I thought their soup was really good, personally. After the kids came back we went to the laser shooting range. We had thought it would involve actual guns, and shooting clay pigeons or the like, but it was shooting using a gun that let out a laser to hit a disk. It wasn’t as fun as expected, but still a really good intro to shooting and enjoyable enough. My younger cousin on my dad’s side was wildly good at it and got to more than 100 points while the rest of us didn’t make it above 30. After eating a bit more we rented a motorboat for each family and took to the lake for an hour. I got to even drive it around for a bit, which I thought was wildly enjoyable. By the time it was time to go home we were all exhausted, and sleep overtook us quickly at home.

Friday, July 12, 2019

Packing was our main priority this morning since we would be leaving Manchester by train in the evening, so we put all of our stuff into our suitcases and our suitcases into the car before leaving the house. We went to this amazing mall called Trafford Centre that was huge – it had an arcade, a theater, a laser quest, and more. It was well built, with beautiful architecture too. In this one area, there were columns each painted with one of the nine muses. I played Laser Quest with my sister and cousins for one round before we went down to get lunch. The court was pretty big, and we had wanted to eat Nando’s though we couldn’t. Nando’s is a well-known store with great food, but their veggie burgers had chickpeas in them. I ended up going to Subway instead. My sister and I each ended up eating a footlong in the court. Across from us, the arcade flashed bright colors, and we ended up visiting it to play games. I had fun racing my cousins and sister at various games until it was time to leave for the escape room we had scheduled. It was under a company called Lucardo Escape Rooms, and each family had booked a room. My family had a magic-based one, and my uncle’s family had a WWII based one called Espionage. We all escaped within the limit, though barely, and with numerous hints to guide us along. It was rather hard to be honest, in our room, but the way it worked, where we had to get into a room and make a potion, was exciting. This was only my third escape room. Many, many pictures later we left for the train station where we rested for a couple of hours. We had dinner at this great little restaurant outside the station that I can’t remember the name of and then got on the train. We spent the entire train ride playing Sequence, a fun board game for families. My sister and I as a team only won twice, while my parents won more than 5 times at least. The two-hour train ride led to another 1.5-hour ride on the London Underground as we made it from the national rail at Euston to our station on the Central line. We were tired by then and quickly went to bed.

Saturday, July 13, 2019:

Today was a very relaxing day – we didn’t do anything until the evening when we left for an Indian restaurant called Dishoom to have dinner with my parent’s friends. In the morning we had spent time watching some movies and writing, though nothing tangible. The restaurant itself wasn’t too far from the house, and it was a nice Indian restaurant. A reservation was necessary because of the line, but their food was decent. I had their pow bhaji, and to be honest it was good, even if it wasn’t the best to me for the sole reason that my mother’s pow bhaji outstrips all competitors by miles. It was a friendly dinner, and the people we were dining with had two kids about me and my sister’s age. The boy, who was my age, was distracted by watching the cricket world cup though – New Zealand v England. Things got heated after dinner as we left because we kept stopping in the middle of the road to watch the game. Things were getting heated because some of us were supporting NZ while the rest supported England, and England accidentally touched the ball at one point which led to a tie-breaker. Eventually, the game ended with England winning, which most of us were salty about since we thought NZ deserved the win. We split on a good note and went home.

Sunday, July 14, 2019:

Today was relaxed like yesterday – we left in the afternoon for Hyde Park, where we met some of my dad’s friends from the Netherlands and had dinner at another Indian restaurant called Roti & Chai. There were 12 of us again, and after a relaxed dinner, we split up and went home. The daughters of my dad’s Dutch friends were rather quiet, and I spent most of the dinner in conversation with the same kids from yesterday, who had come to the dinner again.

Monday, July 15, 2019:

All of today was devoted to packing, because we would be leaving the next day.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019:

We left today. It took a taxi to get to the airport, and after a long flight to Atlanta and a layover we reached SFO late at night. I had spent most of the flights watching movies such as The Hate U Give and How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. They were both excellent movies.

Overall, this trip was a success. Norway was incredibly beautiful and enjoyable to be in, though I would have liked for Tromsø to be planned better. I got to spend a good amount of time with family in London and Manchester, and we toured Manchester a bit like tourists instead of spending all our time at home.