Day 10 (19 March): Oslo to Kirkenes

In 33 days, we will be getting up early and heading from our little not-so-fancy airport hotel at Gardermoen Airport, Oslo, and taking a 2.5-hour flight to the very top of Norway - a place called Kirkenes. The March average top temperature there is -2°C. But at nearly 70°N, you’d expect that of a town in the Arctic Circle. 400 km north of the Arctic Circle, to be precise! There’s not much else this far north. A bit of Finland, Russia, Canada, and Greenland.

Arriving a little before lunch, we will drop our bags at the Scandic Hotel and shortly embark on our private tour of the local area, including the Russian border, which is only a couple of kilometers away.

Scandinavia, Kirkenes in the top right. There rest of our trip will be in this square!

Nearly on the equinox, so almost at 12 hour days by this point, sunrise and sunset is early - 5.30 rise and 5pm set.

Maybe we’ll finish the day with a walk around town, or maybe our tour guide will give us some excellent tips on how we can spend our evening!

A fun fact about Kirkenes: If you travel due east, you go forward in time zones. If you travel due west, you also go forward in time zones! This is because east is Russia, and this part of Russia is on GMT +3, and west is Finland, which is GMT +2, while all of Norway, even the part that’s east of Finland, is GMT +1.