Ok! We have a goal for our roadtrip: Senja! That’s a start, isn’t it!?
If Leon would not have been born yet, we could easily take the car and drive and drive and drive…
But Leon has already been born, 1 year ago to be exact. Thus we need to find something, let’s say, a bit more luxurious.

So, a camper is the first thing that comes to our heads. But isn’t a camper a bit too old fashioned? Isn’t it a bit cumbersome, clumsy,…?
Yes off course it is! So we’ll take something just a bit less big or clumsy: a camperVAN! 🙂

Next problem: find the best dealer for our plans/interests…
Living in Belgium we have a little too much choice. Even in Sint-Niklaas (the biggest town nearby our living place) we had several options: the van company, alpha motorhomes, HDR motorhomes,…

After days of comparing prices, discounts, free km’s,… we decided to rent the van via HDR motorhomes. We went to check the van some month’s ago and immediately had a good feeling. Lovely couple and a wonderfull, almost brand new van!

Ok. So the car has been booked. Off we go? 
Maybe I should take a look at our trip to Norway itself. There are several good and bad options to drive there.

We can go all the way over roads and bridges. Through the Netherlands, Germany and over the (expensive – €100, one way 😮 😮 :o) Øresund Bridge that connects Denmark to Scandinavia. Eventually we’ll arrive in Oslo.
According to Google Maps that would be just a short drive (1639km over the highway, which would take us about 17h – no stops included and with a regular car :-O ).

With these facts in our head we decided there should be another option.
These other options all include ferrytime! There are numerous options here. We chose the most affordable one (off course, we just build a house 🙂 ).

Thursday june 7th at 18pm we are supposed to board a ferry at Hirtshals in Denmark. He will bring us straight to Kristiansand in just over 2h! 
The trip Steendorp – Hirtshals is only 1088km and takes “only” 11h when we believe Google Maps.

So we’ll be closer to one of the most beautiful areas in Norway (the fjords) ánd we skipped some 1000km (Oslo – Kristiansand is +300km). Topdeal, no?

Last question we have to ask ourselves: how can we prepare this trip so it will be manageable with Leon, a one year old toddler?
No idea to be honest.
We have some experience in camping in the wild and can think of some stuff that will be difficult with him.

For example sleeping. At home he sleeps in a bed, actually something more of a cage, with “bars” around his bed so he doesn’t roll out.
In the camper is no place for a “caged” bed so we went looking for a solution.
Eventually some friends told us they had a special camping bed for a toddler: a Deryan! Actually it’s a tent for a child placed upon a real bed. Top!

Another problem is the food. We eat whatever we find, he doesn’t! So we have to bring liters of milk with us. We’re going to be driving a MilkyVan! 😉

Clothes. We’re going to pack a lot of clothes. I know we can wash things but this boy still manages to take a shit which shoots almost up to his neck. Sometimes three packs of clothes in one day. We have to be prepared! 😀

We’ll also be a driving pharmacy. Leon has been sick every two weeks for the last two month’s. Today he got his ear tubes, still we can’t take the risk. There is good health care in Norway, but we would rather just travel and not spend too much time in hospitals. We both work in a hospital so we’ve seen enough of it! 😉

Anyway. Seems like we will be packing A LOT! Happy happy joy!

Next time I’ll be talking about my photographic equipment!