July 23, 2025
Time for a guest blog! My name is Chris, and I’ll quickly set the stage of why my family and I are ever-so-briefly a part of the “big trip”. My wife, Jamie, and I have known Kayleen since middle school, and Kyle since he started dating Kayleen. They are two of our closest friends and we see them and their kids frequently. Connor and Ollie were born a week apart, and Liana and Lenny are two peas in a pod. We were so excited to hear about their planned gap year, but also sad at the prospect of not seeing them for so long. In 2024, Kyle showed me his spreadsheet filled with their planned destinations and invited us to pick a spot and join them for a week.
Not going to lie, there was some hesitancy on our part. We were of course excited at the thought of joining them for a week, but Jamie and I have never traveled internationally (or very much domestically!) with our kids, thanks to a terrible plane ride to Florida a few years ago when our son was 4 and our daughter was 2 (thanks Liana!). But it didn’t take long for everyone to get on the same page and understand that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to travel somewhere new and spend time with some of our favorite people. We chose Norway because it was a place we had never been, a place we probably would never have gone to, and it lined up with a gap in our kids’ summer camp schedules. So, here we are!
The mornings in Norway have been slow, and Wednesday was no exception. As usual, the kids were the first to wake up, and Jamie and I opened our eyes at 8:30 to the unmistakable parade of footsteps down the thick wooden stairs. The kids have established a routine of an hour or so of Netflix while the adults sleepily drink coffee and make breakfast. After the kids ate, they headed outside for some trampoline fun.
Around noon, we all went down to the marina to spend a few hours on the boat. The kids had been begging for days to go back to Oksabasen island, so we obliged. I spent the 20-minute boat ride in the front with Ollie and Kayleen, enjoying the sun and the music blasting from our Bluetooth speaker, trying to teach Ollie the lyrics to some early 2000s jams (I’m hot cuz I’m fly, you ain’t cuz you not!). I turned the music off as Kyle lowered the throttle and we mosied into the calm bay. The kids barely waited for Kyle to dock the boat before they leaped onto the cement dock and sprinted toward the rope swings. Their practice from a few days earlier was evident – bodies were twirling and landings were generally smooth.
The adults left the kids to the swings and spent some time walking in the water near the shore. I was looking for some good skipping stones (hard to find) and trying to spot another starfish after Jamie found one on Sunday. We started noticing some sizeable crabs and quickly notified Kyle of our finds. Kyle eagerly came over and started trapping crabs between his sandals, proudly showing them off. Liana, always one to gravitate toward wildlife, sprinted to the water from the swings to hold the crabs that Kyle captured.
After about an hour, the entire group trekked up the path into the forest for a quick hike to the ruins of house we discovered on Sunday, with Roy leading the way. When we arrived, we met a local woman who lived in a small cabin on the island. She was happy to provide us with a quick history of Norway, and we learned that the ruins actually belonged to the first prime minister of an independent Norway in the early 1900s. We also learned that the beautiful weather was unseasonably warm for Norway (even though, to us, the dry 80-degree day was a respite from the humid summer in the Northeast). While we were chatting, the kids were busy exploring the ruins and pretending to be explorers or warriors protecting their castle. We had to quietly discard some of their “stick swords” on the walk back to the beach.
The hike ended, we all got back on the boat and drove out to the middle of the fjord so that we could enjoy the crisp Norwegian water. Man, there’s something about this water. The data tries to convince you otherwise: cold and uncomforting, not more than 60 degrees, extremely salty. But the first plunge I took on Saturday was unexpectedly special. I had been up for about 40 hours straight, but that water brought me back to life. It is indeed cold, but not in the polar-plunge kind of way. It’s a cold that reinvigorates your body and mind, a cold that you want to stay in for hours, and the salt makes treading water an afterthought. Four of the kids worked up the courage to also dive in, with Liana content to remain wrapped up in a towel on the boat. I’ll always remember those moments in the water, swimming between the dozens of islands, huge white and grey rocks rising sharply on the coastline, the entire place carved and scarred by glaciers advancing and then melting 10,000 years ago. I hope my kids do as well.
Our plunge wasn’t long – we had to get everyone back in the boat so that we could get back to the house in time to quickly shower, change, eat and get ready for the SK Brann vs. Salzburg Champions League Qualifier match. This time, Kayleen drove the boat and took the wheel with Kyle by her side. Save for one moment where Kayleen abruptly laid off the throttle and sent us all lurching forward, the ride was fun and smooth. Kudos to Captain Kayleen!
I was particularly excited for the soccer match. Kyle and I bought the tickets on Monday in a spur-of-the-moment decision when we realized that there was a match in Bergen during our stay. Ollie and Connor were clearly excited: they had been playing FIFA 2025 matches between these two sides on PlayStation for the past two days. We loaded up the group in our three rental cars and off we went.
It was a quick 25-minute drive to downtown Bergen down narrow roads and then long, massive tunnels through the mountains. Kyle led the way, with Lindsey and I following. When we entered the city, my GPS indicated we were a right turn away from the tram station. However, I saw Kyle get in the left lane. I place a lot of faith and trust in Kyle – this guy always knows what he is doing, and he’s been traveling the world for months so I assumed he had a better plan and sense of direction than the machine. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The left turn took us in the opposite direction and we spent the next 10 minutes circling the city. Eventually I decided to call him, and it was evident Kyle had the wrong address plugged into his GPS. Still, all was well, and we got an unexpected mini tour of Bergen before we arrived at the bus station. We parked the cars and then loaded up onto the tram to head to the stadium, surrounded by fans wearing bright red jerseys, scarves and bucket hats.
The tram ride was quick, only 10 minutes. We exited and followed the long parade of people down narrow neighborhood streets, seemingly each house proudly flying a SK Brann flag near the front door. The stadium wasn’t visible as we walked – this wasn’t Yankee Stadium or Wembley towering over the surrounding buildings. Instead, the stadium is tucked into the middle of the residential streets, not revealing itself until you are almost at its doorstep.
We wanted to join the sea of red, so we immediately bought red scarves and hats from a vendor, and then SK Brann jerseys for the kids from the team store at the corner of the stadium. No sooner did the kids put on their jerseys did the skies open up, rain enveloping the neighborhood and lightning cracking in the distance. We unsuccessfully tried to shield the kids with our new scarves, and luckily we found a staff member hurriedly passing out ponchos. We grabbed a bunch, put them on and then joined the long line that had formed for spectators waiting to get through the gates.
The rain stopped just as we got to the entrance doors. We filed in with thousands of others and fought our way through the narrow concourse and a sea of people to our seats on the sideline. We sat down and took in the scene – red jerseys everywhere, people waving large flags behind one of the goals which clearly was where the diehard Brann supporters sat. The crowd didn’t stop chanting for the 30 minutes prior to kickoff, eventually culminating in what I assume was the Norwegian national anthem. Unlike in the U.S.A., there was no popstar or celebrity taking center stage. Instead, the crowd stood and sang in unison, 17,000 strong. It was a special moment.
The game began shortly after the anthem concluded. I’m not a soccer expert, but Salzburg looked more polished and athletic from the get-go; Brann was having difficulty maintaining possession and Salzburg was threatening to score. To my surprise, Brann got on the board first in the 20 th minute when a forward somehow managed to control a long ball from the backline and chip it over the diving Salzburg goalkeeper. The crowd erupted, thousands of people sharing a moment of pure joy. Awesome.
It was 1-0 Brann at halftime. Each team had about 3 shots on target and our kids had approximately 5 bags of popcorn, 5 hotdogs and 5 ice cream cones between them. I knew the snack pace couldn’t last, and I felt the same about Brann’s lead.
My suspicions were confirmed in the second half. Brann had a tremendous chance to net another one early on, but the Salzburg keeper made a great save. After that, Salzburg dominated. They netted their first goal in the 58 th minute and then quickly followed with another 3 minutes later. The crowd’s chants didn’t stop entirely, but they grew quieter, the hope and optimism of the first half replaced with acknowledgment of their fate and actual animus directed at the referees for some apparent missed calls. Salzburg netted two more goals before it was all said and done, and Brann fell 4-1.
We walked out of the stadium and back to the tram stop. We missed the first tram but caught the next one, along with what seemed like the entire stadium. I was pressed against one of the doors, holding as tightly as I could to one of the straps hanging from the ceiling with my other hand alternating between holding onto Jamie and my two kids. Not a fun tram ride! I think we all felt the same sense of relief when the doors finally opened 10 minutes later at the Bergen bus station stop and we were able to exit the tram, escape the masses and breathe some fresh air.
We got back to the house at 10:00 p.m. with the sun still shining. Play time for the kids was over. Kyle made a bee line to the kitchen and started preparing margaritas while the rest of us got the kids changed into pajamas and not-so-politely told them to go to bed. It had been a long day and we were all tired and looking forward to some time without the kids angling for some sort of snack or activity.
We ended the day like we’ve ended all the days in Norway, sitting around the kitchen table enjoying a cocktail, watching Jamie work on her 1,000-piece puzzle, listening to music and talking about things big, small, funny and serious. It’s the way I’d love all my days to end.
Only two days left before we return home. Part of me is looking forward to getting back to our house and our routine, but I also will be sad to leave. It’s the same feeling I have any time a vacation is coming to an end, but this time it is slightly magnified because we won’t see our friends for at least 8 more months. But I know those months will go by quickly, and I am excited to follow along and read about all of their adventures yet to come.
I am so glad we decided to take the leap and book this trip, even if it is a bit out of our comfort zone, especially traveling internationally with two young kids. It’s been such a great time with this group, even if the initial data said otherwise: long uncomfortable plane rides, jet lag, complaining kids. Ultimately, we took the plunge because we wanted to spend this time with our friends on their one their once-in-a-lifetime journey. I’ll miss the fjords, I’ll miss the never-setting sun, but mainly I’ll miss Kyle, Kayleen, Ollie and Lenny. Until we meet again!
