Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Travel’ Category

Mar 10

IMG_3327 Feature
12 Comments

Epilogue

The night before we left Boston to spend a year on Rødøy, we got cold feet. Sitting among 6 giant duffle bags, we asked ourselves, “Why are we doing this?”

We had a good life and had no need to escape anything. Instead of staying on that path, I resigned from my job and we set off to live on a small island north of the Arctic Circle for a year, with nothing planned beyond the year. It was crazy.

That night, we proceeded to work out all the necessary steps to reverse course. Despite the last minute doubts, we stuck to the plan. And it turned out to be the best thing our family has ever done.

6 months after we came back from our year off, the children are happy and well adjusted socially and intellectually. Kristin is teaching part-time at a private school in nearby Cambridge, and she loves her job. The app I started writing, Voice Dream Reader, has acquired a passionate customer-base around the globe, reaching top 10 grossing educations apps at one point or another in 48 countries. That doesn’t make us rich, but we live comfortably while my work gives me profound satisfaction: I feel closely connected to my customers and I’m making a small but positive difference in their lives.

I’ve changed. I think. It’s difficult to tell because I’m hardly a neutral observer of myself. When I talked to companies about jobs after I came back, I smiled and nodded but my heart just wasn’t in it. Meanwhile, I kept going back to work on my app even when sales had not taken off, stubbornly tolerating being unemployed far longer than the old me would have. Perhaps, the knowledge that we could live happily with less gave me strength. At the same time, I’m a lot less stressed about things, and I sometimes find the level of stress around me incomprehensible. I’d like to think that I became a better person.

But even if we did not end up at a better place after the year, we would still do it again without hesitation. Because we had an amazing year that is a treasure of experience and memory. For that we’re deeply grateful to Rødøy and everyone there. For the rest of our lives, in good times and bad, this year will be a reference point for what life could be.

Here are the photographic highlights from our year living on Rødøy, and below are some representative blog posts:

Island Scenery

Fishing

Miscellaneous

Jul 10

Sea Urchin
5 Comments

The Last Hurrah

During these last two weeks, we were totally focused on getting the most out of our remaining time here. Thanks to our dear friends visiting us from America, we perhaps pushed ourselves further than we would’ve on our own, to experience, and to remember. When the sun is shining and the breeze gentle, I’m hard pressed to think of any other place I’d rather be. Here’s documentation.
Read more

Jun 25

2:30 AM
9 Comments

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

On Saturday night, after all our guests have either retired to bed and left for home by boat, Kristin and I took the boat we borrowed out just a stone’s throw away so we could see the sun. It was 2:30 am, and the sun had already started its lazy flight up. The light was fairytale like. We turned off the engine and floated among sounds of seabirds and light breeze. Kristin said that if she died then, she would’ve been happy with all of it. Me, too. Read more

Jun 20

IMG_8384
8 Comments

Fish Will Never Be the Same

The coming Saturday we are hosting a midsummer night party, and we will of course serve fish. In the last couple of days I did some intensive fishing, like a man on a mission. Yesterday I caught 6 big pollock. I will make Seilaks: salted, slightly dried pollock flavored with wood vinegar. We also have four salmon fillets hanging outside drying. I will cold smoke them tomorrow with juniper wood. Read more

Jun 17

Clusters of Islands and Beaches Next to Rødøy
12 Comments

Beach Camping under the Midnight Sun

We just came back from a weekend camping on a nearby island, all feverish from the sun, wind and the buzz of having picture perfect beaches all to ourselves for two days. Read more

Apr 1

The Big One
11 Comments

The Mother of All Cod

It’s been so long since I wrote a blog post that some friends worried if everything is okay. Yes, everything is okay. I haven’t written because there was nothing blog-worthy to write about. The bad weather had a lot to do with it. And I was completely absorbed, obsessed, addicted, in-the-zone, building the next release of my app. I just didn’t have any spare brain cycles to think of what to write about.

But the last 48 hours have certainly been blog-worthy. Read more

Mar 19

2 Comments

Forspill

Forspill, which directly translates to “foreplay”, is an uniquely Norwegian tradition. It is a party in someone’s home before heading out to the bars. The reason for forspill is easy to understand. At 70 Kroners (13 dollars) a beer, getting drunk in a bar could be financially ruinous. Particularly if you have a healthy liver. Read more

Jan 30

Torrfisk
4 Comments

Dried Fish Dipped in Chocolate

Last November, I went to Mo i Rana to buy Christmas presents. After spending one hour at the first mall, I was drained. I had no idea of what to get for people. It turned out leaving without a list was a huge mistake. Walking the aisles of big stores (big by island standards) didn’t at all make me inspired. Then, in a moment of desperation, a revelation! I would go home empty handed and order all the presents from a chocolate factory that I just heard about. Read more

Jan 25

IMG_8087 Feature
7 Comments

Nacreous Clouds

When we were in Oslo between Christmas and New Years, we saw some very strange looking clouds. We were in Frognerparken, a well-known park with hundreds of statues by the same sculptor, Gustav Vigeland. The sun had already set, but these clouds, rather than turning red or dark gray, were a brilliant white. Read more

Jan 22

Northern Lights Feature
20 Comments

Northern Lights

People come from all over the world to see the Northern Lights in Norway. The pictures in the tourist brochures look really good. My advise is, don’t. Come and see the fjords, the midnight sun, the mountains, the cod, but not the Northern Lights, because chances are you’ll be disappointed. Read more

« Older Entries