Dear readers,
I have been back in Norway and my hometown Odda for about a month now and being a real ¨Oddabu¨ I realize that what to me makes common sense might not to tourists.
Daily people visit the diner I currently work part-time at, not only to eat but to ask for bus times, directions, taxi, shop opening hours, how to get to their hotel and asking how long it takes to get to Trolltunga. Some tourists are aware it is a long hike to Trolltunga (between 7-10 hours hike back and forth depending on condition). It is not possible to get there by car just to take a photo and wearing good hiking gear is a must.
Months of June-July-August are so busy you might have to wait in line to get a picture of yourself on the rock and it makes no sense to me that so many people want to hike that far and stand in a que that long either but then I guess we did not have a tower to visit so a 10 hour hike was the next best ;).
A few days ago I had an guy from India asking how to get to Sjeggedal (the starting point of the Trolltunga hike). He got annoyed when I told him he could take a taxi if no one could drive him, his hotel was also in that area and so his only option to get back to Sjeggedal was by taxi or to ask someone for a ride. Now I am no expert on travelling or anything , but if I go travelling I make sure I can get back and forth to my hotel without problems. And if someone helps me along the way I am grateful not annoyed. I had no idea so many people choose not to plan stuff like this. To me it makes common sense really. I enjoy living in cities that are international or influenced by ¨globalism¨. Yet sometimes I have to sigh at certain people´s ability to push responsibility over on other people when they clearly did not plan the most important features of their trip. Sure some things are not really necessary to plan and in many ways that is what makes a journey an adventure. Yet transport , flights and a place to stay etc. are kind of a must to plan if you ask me.
Not too long ago a Swiss lady pushed her head into our kitchen at the diner , she asked how much a ferry would cost from Utne. I told her she should call the number stated on the board outside since I had no clue and urged her to ask tourist information if this did not work. After all I was just helping in the kitchen of a bar which has nothing to do with ferry times. The lady did not take no for an answer and pushed her annoying self into my space and insisted she needed the price. I repeated myself when one of my male colleagues got annoyed and asked her kindly to step out of the kitchen area and that she needed to call the number on the ferry board and he emphasised we were not the tourist information. I had to giggle to myself while prepping the garlic dressings, because the kitchen staff can be very blunt compared to me and sometimes it turns out a good thing.
Photo by: Me- ODDA and it's surrounding mountains in all it's glory :)
Tourism is good for Odda and most times I choose to think people would wanna know which kind of country they are going to and what to watch out for. Might be I am a bit bitchy when it comes to helplessness. Maybe that is due to my strong belief in evolution or just the fact that such helplessness picks away at my patience. It might just be my personal preference to feel independent and not feel helpless in these situations. Even so, this world does not favour helplessness so some people should just toughen up and plan more from where I am standing ;) Welcome to Norway peeps, the land of the Vikings the land of kind but though people:P
xx Viking
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