Welcome again to a different month-to-month replace from Root of Good! Joyful belated Independence Day to all of the American readers! We made it again from our final trip simply in time to have a good time the Fourth of July in Raleigh with household.
After chilling (actually) in Norway and Iceland for a few weeks in June, it was a shock to come back again to 100F+ temperatures at dwelling. It’s cooled off a bit, however I used to be rudely reminded why I prefer to trip elsewhere in the course of the summertime months.
Now that we’re again dwelling, we’re stress-free and having fun with some down time in between journeys. We aren’t going wherever in any respect in July.
In August, we’re headed to the west coast for some outside adventures in Northern California with the entire household. It’ll be a brief journey so far as our typical holidays go. Though the itinerary shall be fairly packed whereas we’re on the market.
Let’s soar into the recap of final month!
Monetary Replace
On the earnings facet, June was an enormous month for dividends. Our index funds sometimes pay quarterly dividends so March, June, September, and December are the largest months for funding earnings.
On the spending facet, June was a fairly regular month. We have been gone greater than half the month.
The spending on our cruise was considerably low. Out of pocket bills included about $450 for cable automotive tickets, bus tickets, gasoline for the rental automotive, and parking charges. Norway and Iceland aren’t low-cost. Nevertheless we spent quite a lot of time strolling across the ports on our personal (which was free!).
On the web value facet, we’re nonetheless above $4 million on the finish of June. The online value continues to carry regular. The trendline for 2026 is unquestionably upwards up to now.
June Recap
We flew to London and hopped aboard the Majestic Princess for a 14 night time cruise across the Norway Fjords and Iceland.
14 night time cruise round Norway and Iceland
Much like our journey the earlier month, we took the nonstop flight to London. Then we hopped on a bus to Southampton the morning of our cruise departure.
Our day by day cruise itinerary:
- Southampton, UK (departure)
- Haugesund, Norway
- Skjolden, Norway
- Olden, Norway
- Alesund, Norway
- Reykjavic, Iceland
- Isafjordur, Iceland
- Akureyri, Iceland
- Southampton, UK
I’m protecting the 4 ports in Norway on this weblog submit and saving the Iceland phase of the cruise for subsequent month’s weblog submit to keep away from photograph overload.
Haugesund, Norway
Our first port of name was Haugesund, Norway. That is the southernmost port of name in Norway on our itinerary. After Haugesund, we sailed northward alongside the western coast of Norway to the opposite three Norwegian ports of name.
Haugesund is among the bigger cities within the western area of Norway. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless on the smaller facet, with a inhabitants of about 40,000 individuals. The town appeared good general, with a well-developed waterfront space and many maritime companies.
We initially deliberate to borrow a rowboat at no cost from the Maritime museum, however they notified us a number of days earlier than our arrival that the boat wasn’t obtainable but. Since their vacationer season simply began a couple of days earlier than we arrived in June, I assume they needed to full some final minute repairs or upkeep on the boat earlier than loaning it out.
As an alternative of rowing across the bay towards a secluded island for some mountain climbing and exploration, we switched course and determined to stroll via town.
It was a fairly pleasing stroll via a quiet city. We made our method to a public “seashore” which served as our turnaround level. The clouds began to darken and we knew heavy rain would probably arrive quickly, so we headed again towards the ship.
On the stroll again, we stopped on the Rema 1000 grocery retailer to do some grocery-reconnaissance for a possible future journey to Norway (extra on that later on this submit!). I learn on-line that the grocery market in Norway is mainly an oligopoly with solely three firms controlling nearly the entire varied grocery retailer chains within the nation.
Because of this, there isn’t a lot competitors so costs are excessive. Or extra precisely, lack of competitors plus excessive transportation prices, protectionist tariffs, and heavy taxes all stack as much as make groceries roughly double or triple the value of Aldi or Lidl again dwelling within the USA.
The upside is the grocery retailer seems prefer it has a good number of meats and contemporary produce, so whereas it’s costly, at the very least it seems good!
Skjolden, Norway
The following day after Haugesund, we stopped on the port of Skjolden, Norway. Our ship entered the Sognefjord round midnight and sailed for about seven hours earlier than arriving at Skjolden. Since we have been up to now north, it by no means acquired absolutely darkish, so we have been in a position to see many of the surroundings as we sailed via the sheltered waters within the fjord.
We spent the day in Skjolden strolling across the city, lake, and rivers. The city itself is tiny with a everlasting inhabitants of simply 238.
It’s actually lovely all alongside the water with the mountains rising via the clouds within the background. Surreal.
We arrived on the turnaround spot in our stroll. We discovered a picnic desk solely barely damp from the sunshine rain, and took a break there. An older English couple from the cruise sat down with us to relaxation as effectively. We swapped journey tales, reminiscent of our latest go to to Chester, England the earlier month.
Absolutely rested, we continued again towards the ship however took an extended detour alongside the lakefront to see some waterfalls (mission achieved) and highland cows (failure).
Whereas crusing out of Skjolden alongside the Sognefjord, the gloomy clouds cleared up, leaving a principally sunny afternoon in its wake. We loved watching the inexperienced, rolling mountains alongside the fjord glide previous our balcony. Whereas crusing out, we noticed a number of extra waterfalls.
Olden, Norway
Olden was our third port of name in Norway. After crusing for 4 hours up the Nordfjord, we arrived on the small city of Olden the place we had a busy day deliberate.
Within the morning, we took an tour to the Loen Skylift. It’s a cable automotive that zipped us up a 3,000 foot mountain in about 5 minutes. On the high we loved nice views whereas braving the robust winds and chilly climate.
After the mountaintop journey, we headed again to the ship for lunch. The climate worsened so we thought of abandoning our afternoon plans to enterprise into the city of Olden and stroll alongside the river. Finally the rain dissipated so we hopped up, grabbed our gear, and headed off the ship for some extra adventuring!
The stroll alongside the fjord into city was brief however scenic. We noticed the church, most likely essentially the most fascinating factor within the city correct, however saved strolling towards the river since we knew the rain would possibly return later within the day.
Finally the rain intensified so we wrapped up our riverwalk and reversed course. We took a pitstop within the church on the town for a quick break from the rain earlier than making our approach again to the ship. Again onboard, we loved one other lovely 4 hour sail via the Nordfjord as we made our approach towards our final port in Norway.
Alesund, Norway
Our final port of name in Norway was Alesund. This was the largest metropolis we visited in Norway at a inhabitants of 60,000.
It was one other overcast and drizzly day in Norway, however we made essentially the most of it with a stroll via city to the highest of the hill within the Storhaugen metropolis park.
As we sailed out of Alesund, we noticed the large picket construction purpose-built to burn later that night to commemorate the Midsummer’s Day celebration. Sadly our ship needed to set sail for Iceland only a few hours earlier than they lit up the large picket tower.
Ideas on the western Fjords area of Norway, and future plans
My two favourite components of the Norway port visits have been the unbelievable surroundings and the amazingly cool summertime climate. Daytime temps have been within the 50’s or low 60’s the entire time we have been in Norway which was superb. Loads of drops of rain however zero drops of sweat.
The surroundings exceeded my expectations, which have been already very excessive. When researching our ports of name in Norway, I couldn’t cease enthusiastic about how superior it’s there.
Which made me suppose “hey this could be a pleasant place for an prolonged summer season journey some day”. And that day could be arising fairly quickly, in the summertime of 2027. We’d primarily keep within the western fjord area I believe, which presents tons of mountains-meeting-water surroundings. There are at the very least a dozen totally different scenic drives in that part of Norway so we shouldn’t run out of issues to do.
From my preliminary analysis, it seems like summertime lodging isn’t that costly, with a baseline of round $100/day for weekly airbnb leases. Rental vehicles are about $1,000 for a month and nearly all are electrical automobiles. Throw in one other $500 for electrical charging, tolls, parking, ferries and entry charges. And electrical chargers are all over, even in rural areas.
Meals is the one costly a part of our journey. “Simply eat hotdogs” ha ha ha. Seems the Norwegians eat about 100 hotdogs per yr so we’ll be consuming just like the locals I assume. In reality, it appears the Norwegians don’t dine out all that a lot. Which is sensible given most restaurant meals value $20-30 per particular person for essentially the most fundamental fare.
So how a lot did I like Norway? Clearly so much, since I’m already plotting a path towards visiting once more for a month or extra!
Get free journey like us
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card is providing a 100,000 level join bonus proper now. I can switch these Final rewards factors to over a dozen journey companions’ airline/resort applications like United, Southwest, or Hyatt. For instance, I transferred 6,500 Final Rewards factors to Hyatt and used them to e-book a $300/night time room that sleeps 5 in the course of the peak season within the Virginia mountains.
Capital One Enterprise X card
One other favourite journey card in my pockets is the Capital One Enterprise X card. The Enterprise X card is a “keeper” for me. First off, it comes with a $750 join bonus after spending $4,000 within the first three months. The bonus is paid within the type of 75,000 bonus factors which you could redeem in opposition to any journey purchases from wherever. Then you definately earn a stable 2 factors per greenback spent perpetually! The opposite large perk is airport lounge entry. You get free entry for your self into Precedence Move and Capital One airport lounges (visitors value further since February 1, 2026). Add to this main rental automotive insurance coverage protection and a bunch of different perks.
The Capital One Enterprise X card does have one catch – a $395 annual charge. However they reward you yearly with a simple to make use of $300 journey low cost plus $100 value of factors. Collectively, that makes $400 they provide you yearly which utterly offsets the annual charge. For the reason that annual charge is offset in full by journey credit annually, I personally plan on holding the Enterprise X card perpetually for the reason that card advantages are so nice.
Closing ideas
We had a busy month throughout June as we traveled round Norway and Iceland. I’ll be again subsequent month with an replace on the Iceland a part of our cruise.
Now that we’re dwelling, we’re absolutely embracing the lazy tempo of summer season. Which mainly means making an attempt to keep away from the warmth as a lot as attainable by spending time inside within the air con. I’m working my approach via my ever-growing Apple TV queue (a free profit from my Chase Sapphire Reserve card). I additionally began taking part in a online game that’s been on my to-do checklist for a lot of many months (procrastination will get all of us!). Fallout New Vegas for the basic gaming afficionados on the market 🙂
Proper now we’re about six months into our “not monitoring spending” experiment that began firstly of the yr. I believe we’re most likely spending about the identical as within the latest previous, however it’s arduous to say since we aren’t monitoring our spending. Which is okay – we are able to afford to spend way more than we have now been spending.
I might say the “not monitoring spending” experiment goes effectively up to now. It doesn’t actually matter whether or not we spend $40,000 or $43,000 or $47,000 or $57,000 yearly, when our portfolio might assist double or triple that quantity. Because of this, the experiment continues on!
We positively loosened the purse strings a bit on this most up-to-date cruise. Our cable automotive tour was $100 every for simply a few hours of enjoyable. And our sooner or later of Iceland rental automotive was nearly $200 together with gasoline and parking charges. However we are able to afford it, so it’s not an enormous deal. Our baseline spending at dwelling hasn’t elevated an excessive amount of.
As we glance towards the summer season of 2027, we aren’t planning on skipping Norway simply because some components of the journey could be prohibitively costly. We’ll simply take the journey, economize the place it doesn’t matter an excessive amount of, and benefit from the view!
Okay, that’s it for me this month. See you subsequent month!
Anybody been to Norway? Any solutions for a land-based trip there?
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