Ginger DJ Rob

Narvik was our destination today, a road trip of 200km into another country, Norway . Last night we researched what Narvik offered and there seemed to be some impressive views, a couple of museums, in case we didn't find the views plus a couple of random sights to see in case all of the above failed. There were hardly any cars on the road, those that were driving were towing snowmobiles for off-road adventures. We'd already experienced the E10 road going to Abisko and Narvik was twice the distance. As we got nearer to the border the landscape changed from the flat, frozen lakes with the temperature dropping to minus 30 degrees C to more twisty roads passing entrances to ski resorts. For a mile we had to slow down as the signs instructed to prevent road/wheel noise that couldn't set off an avalanche. The 4wd of the Skoda Yeti also felt the ice of the road below so made the progress slow. To the side of the roads were frozen waterfalls with even one of them being c...

Up early for both trying to sort out a hire car and for our dog sledding experience . Slightly stressful sorting out the car. Went to the tourist centre and saw/heard a couple already on the Europcar free phone to say that they were busy at the time and would have to call back. The tourist desk recommended I call Hertz from the Scandic hotel. They were fully booked. Took a third phone number for a hire car company and they were fully booked. It took another call to Europcar to get a double the price 4WD Skoda Yeti. With the car booked we headed over to the Kiruna Guide Tor office. Again they seemed a little disorganised as they were expecting another couple but eventually left without them. We'd been warned that the temperature where the dog sledding was taking place was a very chilly minus 30. It was this point when I discovered that the locals drop the 'minus' when stating the temperature as it seldom gets over freezing. Met another English couple called Big...

Our hotel room was like an oven when we woke up so motivated us to go downstairs to the pub's bar for the breakfast buffet. It was a good choice of food but like most hotels, the coffee was bland and watery. Whilst getting ready I flicked through the ten TV channels. Most of them were Swedish with one Finnish, one Norwegian and one Russian. It was a mix of politics, skiing, US imports, fashion and women's chat programmes at that time of the morning. With our first booked tour starting at 5:45pm we had quite a bit time on our hands and Kiruna town centre had very little to offer. After a decent coffee in Cafe Safari we headed to the tourist office and found out the bus timetable which had a coach heading to the Ice Hotel . For about £7 each for a return we caught the bus taking us direct to the Ice Hotel within 30 minutes. The bus even took credit cards so no need for cash. Along th...

A full day of travel to get to the icy North of Sweden. Free wifi on the Norwegian Air plane which was unexpected. The inflight magazine revealed that the town of Kiruna , our destination was investing to relocate 3kms south due to the mine's expansion. Also read about a Norwegian explorer legend that had been featured in a movie called Kon Tiki. The story goes that a guy wanted to prove Pacific migration so built a raft and brought a crew along to sail across the ocean catching live shark along the way. Stockholm airport was ok. It amused me that the staff used adult sized scooters ferrying around stock to shops. Nice Brighton connection with a number of Abba memorabilia displayed including their Eurovision outfits, winner's medals and Brighton Dome admission tickets. Otherwise it was a case of eating at the New Orleans restaurant drinking Brooklyn Beer on tap and laughing at the Swedish choclate brands like Mums Mums, Kexx and Plopp Met a Norwegian guy (from Nar...