Scandinavian Adventures 2014 - Inspiration and Preparation

Our July and August 2014 trip to Scandinavia was inspired by comments made during out 2013 family vacation in Fripp Island, South Carolina.

At that time Jay and Milla thought they would be moving back to the US during the summer of 2015. They asked us to visit them in Finland before they returned. So all three of the stateside families started considering a summer 2014 European visit. 

Our wheels set in motion, Tom and Ann started planning a visit to Finland and since we would be so close decided to include a stop in Norway. Tom was made in America with 100% Norwegian parts. He had long dreamed of visiting the ancestral land with his brothers. Jay's timeline brought a change of plans and threw us into research mode to identify and locate Tom's ancestors' farms. 

Church records and tax records have been kept in Norway since the 1600's. Researchers have meticulously recorded the history of each farm in Norway and the histories have been shared in regional bygdeboks (farm books). The books are available in Norwegian libraries and several libraries in the states. There are also volunteers who own the books that will look up and share information. We stumbled into this vast world of information while trying to resolve conflicting information about one of Tom's ancestors. A very generous volunteer not only solved that mystery, but provided copies of farm book pages that documented the man's ancestry back into the 1600's and shared biographical information and even a picture of him, his wife, and one of their children. Suddenly we were launched into an intriguing and consuming study of Tom's family, as well as the history and culture of Norway. Little did we know that our search would take us to an online repository of church and tax records or that we'd tackle reading and translating Old Norwegian. With diligent work and some help from Norwegian speaking family and friends, we unraveled enough of the mysteries to identify and locate many of Tom's maternal and paternal ancestral farms. 

Gratefully other relatives had previously visited ancestral farms and shared detailed information about their trips and maps documenting the locations of some farms. Les Vea, a cousin through both Thomas A. and Carrie Thompson and the Sandstøl's, had visited both regions of Norway that we would explore. (Les Vea trip) Tom enjoyed reconnecting with Les for the first time since he was a child. Delano Surdahl, a half uncle through Tom's maternal grandmother, had shared information about his trip to Rogaland. (Del Surdahl trip) Both Les and Del had been graciously hosted by cousin Jorunn Sandstøl Birkeland for tours of the Sandstøl farms. She had also hosted son Jay and his family for a 2013 visit to Hammersmark and Sandstøl farms. We contacted Jorunn who welcomed us and introduced us to cousin Magnar Sandstøl. Before we got to personally meet them, Magnar and his wife traveled to the US and visited their common ancestor Jonas Sandstøl's grave in North Dakota. We got to help them make connections for their trip. Magnar and Jorunn went to work planning a delightful tour and family visit for us and helped us locate excellent lodging.

Parallel research took us into the world of international travel. Tom booked flights, lodging, train tickets, a car and researched routes and parking. We purchased driving maps. Tom updated our GPS with the Scandinavia map set and added our points of interest and farm locations. Google street view was very helpful in our planning so that we knew what to anticipate as we navigated. Tom struggled to find a detour around a major tunnel that was going to be closed, though was unable to find an alternate route. Gratefully that problem was resolved as they reopened the tunnel ahead of schedule just before we needed to drive it. Tom worked hard to make sure our car was properly insured and purchased the necessary health insurance. He found a way to have our home and cellphone messages delivered through email. Jay tried to help with communicating in Europe by sending us an old cell phone. We planned to purchase a SIM card for it upon arrival. Unfortunately the country was on high alert because of terror threats and we never found a place to buy a card where we could afford the two hour wait for background checks.  Tom researched credit cards and found a free one that did not charge international transaction fees. We studied travel tips, purchased easily packed, quick drying clothing for a variety of weather conditions, nutrition bars that would come in very handy, and power converters and adapters. House gifts for our hosts were purchased, including many rolls of duct tape for the grands. Have you ever tried to pack round rolls of duct tape? Hmm...We didn't think about that when deciding the children might enjoy a new craft. We coordinated a rendezvous with Sarah's and Jay's families in Flam, Norway, and booked a very cool jet boat tour as a part of our Norway in a Nutshell tour. Whew! Our heads were spinning by June of 2014.

The first leg of our journey would begin in Oslo, Norway. As our July departure approached, we realized that we had allowed less than two days after arriving to acclimate to a six hour time change before checking out and departing on an 8:05 train the second morning to begin our Norway in a Nutshell tour. Whatever were we thinking?!? To begin the process of acclimation stateside, we began in June to arise 10-30 minutes earlier each morning. Of course, it's easier to set an alarm and drag out of bed than it is to get to sleep 30 minutes earlier each evening. We persevered and were arising at 3:30 AM by our departure date. Our travel launch day was very long as we didn't board our flight until 6 PM. All the preparations served us well throughout our trip and were well worth the effort we invested.