The Bald and the Beautiful

I had a revelation this afternoon while driving home from work. Alpine skiing is very much similar to driving a scooter/moped. How’s that you may ask? It’s the eternal race … you and the cars. It’s about getting to the finish line ahead of the competition … in “slow motion”.

It’s about passing cars as skiers pass gates while keeping enough distance in order to avoid straddling the gate. Furthermore, it’s all about the lines … or choosing the correct path to keep momentum and shave those precious milliseconds of the finishing time.

At blazing speeds of up to 45 km/h you got to stay focused, not blink an eye … it’s all about those milliseconds and the ability to think fast!

God I want a car!

Å betale for sydenferie i høysesong som stor familie er en vits. I lengre tid har jeg sett på priser for småbarnsfamilier, og prisene man får opplyst er mildt sagt sjokkerende! Vi er en familie på 5. Et antall som ikke er så uvanlig i dag. For en uke til Egypt i høstferien med avreise fra Bergen må man betale alt fra 40000 – 110000,- for et ukes opphold. Tilbudet er fra Apollo sin sider, og tilsier at vi må ha 3 rom for våre barn i alderen 2-12 år? 3 rom? Hvem vil la sin 8 eller 12 åring ligge på rom alene i syden? Uansett, hva i all verden kan forsvare en slik pris?

Ikke nok med at prisen er høy, men det skal visstnok være øknomisk dårlige tider for folk flest. Usikkerheten i resten av Europa og verden er stor. Skal man tillate seg en tur til varmere strøk når ungene har fri fra skole og barnehage? Jeg kan ikke se at foreldre har mulighet til å ta seg råd til det. Med mindre man tar opp forbrukslån, tjener alt for mye penger eller bruker oppsparte midler … hvis man i det hele tatt har slikt å ta av.

Det forundrer meg virkelig at folk i det hele tatt tar seg råd til å reise på en ukes tur til Egypt for 110000,- for ikke å snakke om 40000,-. For Apollo, Ving, Star Tour, Nazar og andre operatører er jo dette høysesong fordi barnefamilier reiser når de “kan”. Vår husholdning har en allminnelig inntekt som er hverken god eller dårlig, men man klarer seg bra.  Likevel, 110000,-?! Ikke nok med det, men til den prisen får du ikke engang mat på flyet. Kanskje ikke det store tapet, men det understreker i hvert fall galskapen.

Nå skal sant være sant … du kan gjerne reise med Tyrkiareiser til 15000,-, men da må du finne deg i å reise i halve høstferien og uken etterpå. For de som ikke kan planlegge like enkelt ift. sin ferie blir jo dette en liten utfordring. Uansett, prisen er veldig god! Om været i Tyrkia ikke er det samme i oktober som i august og september så er det nå en god norsk sommer. Om vi reiser? Må telle alle 50 øringene i sparegrisen først …

Dersom du har noen tips så er det selvagt lov å komme med de!

Every year is the same discussion … where to spend our summer vacation; however, this winter we decided early to spend a whole week in Kristiansand with a mandatory stay at the local zoo, theme and water park.

As usual we drove the car with our three “gangsters” in the backseat fighting it out between themselves and over all the littlest things in the world. First stop on the road was the ferry, or so we thought … As we were aiming for the coastal experience driving towards Stavanger we took a wrong turn due to poor co-piloting and ended up on a ferry that would set us on a track leading over the mountains. After taking the ferry, getting off and driving around for 15 minutes we figured we had taken the wrong ferry and took the ferry back … IOW, a perfect start! The detour took about 2 hours, but we were on vacation and figured it was not worth spending energy on it …

Arriving in Kristiansand and at Hamresanden camping 11PM at night (2 hours late) we went straight to bed. The following day we just relaxed at the beach and later in the evening my childhood friend, his wife and kid visited us for a barbecue. Tuesday we and our visitors had a day in the aforementioned park enjoying some fantastic weather and playing in the pool with the kids. All in all a fantastic day that ended with us watching a couple of Siberian tigers playing in the water!

The second day in the park was spent a couple of days later. As we arrived early that day we opted taking the Captain Sabertooth‘s pirate boat. First in line we got a good spot to be part of and watch the action. The rest of the day we used riding roller coasters and other attractions in addition to watching the animals.

Friday we were supposed to watch the Captain Sabertooth play in the evening, or so we thought, only to figure out we should have been there a day earlier. Realizing our mistake we had to get new tickets which proved to be easy as they always allow people to sit behind the back row, tickets which are not sold through the online service. So, if you don’t have your tickets in order you can always ask for those (and handicap) tickets … which of course are a bit cheaper than the regular tickets. In addition you will have a small Plexiglas roof over your head giving some cover in case of pouring rain … no need to mention we experienced title-waves of rain that day.

Ending a week with a well executed Captain Sabertooth show and a few sunny days at the beach it was time to move on …
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