Hey, guys. We are in front of the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, and you can hear the bells going off. It must be exactly 9:00 a.m. Anyway, I wanted to show you guys the face of this thing.
Just a few little interesting facts that I’ve learned so far. You can see on the front, there’s a ton of Apostles and all the different priests and saints. This guy right here, that’s St. Olaf, the guy that actually created the capital city. And way up there is St. Michael, he’s a reconstruction. The original one came down, and the guy that reconstructed was a big fan of Bob Dylan, so the face on the statue is Bob Dylan. We’re about to start the tour, so let’s see what they have to say.
The carvings and the stained glass is absolutely amazing.
Hey guys, it’s Shauna from Without Bags. I wanted to film this because I’ve never had this experience before, so I wanted to share. So we just left the king of sheltered fjords of kind of middle-north Norway, and we are now in the open ocean of Norway, you know open waters and literally the boat is being thrown around like a rag doll. I can’t even stand, I am sitting to film this video right now, because if I stand I will fall over, that’s how much the boat is being thrown around, so I’m going to try and try and see if I can get you guys a view out of the little portholes here. Okay, let’s hope we don’t fall over.
I thought you guys might find this interesting. It actually looks super calm. Let’s see if we can get you a view here. So you see it actually looks super calm but basically every time we go over those waves that look nice and calm are actually not nice and calm, they said that there are probably about 3 or 4 feet tall at the moment, and they’re bumping the ship around pretty good.
Certainly … whoo … sorry. This has been interesting. So things I am learning on this trip. This is my very first cruise, if you guys haven’t caught on to that yet, and this is a postal boat, so there’s about 200 people on this boat. Things I’m learning about a cruise … I’m actually a little seasick. And so going up in the cold, so like outside on the decks outside is good for being seasick apparently, and it’s certainly been helping me, so that’s, that’s good. And sleep. Apparently for some reason I can sleep without a problem.
It is currently about 7:30 Norway time and I’ve been getting up about 4 Norway time. So Yeah, I’m gonna take a shower, and go to bed and hopefully pass this really super choppy water in open water Norway and get back to the very calm fjords and be a little more sheltered than, whoo, big crazy waves that just came in through the porthole, that’s so exciting. So anyway, I’m having a lot of fun out here in Norway, life is certainly an adventure and so this is Shauna, correspondent for Without Bags, coming to you from the open oceans in Norway.
Hope you guys are having fun. Tomorrow, I think tomorrow we are going to … no, today we went to Trondheim … okay, let’s see if we can make it over to the list of where I was at today without falling over, that would be lovely. Yes, today was in Trondheim, the Nidaros Cathedral and the Music Museum. Sorry, can you tell the waves are kind of knocking me off, knocking me off my senses a little bit here.
And tomorrow, I’m actually kind of excited, tomorrow night, I’m going like on a Viking dinner kind of thing, so that will be cool. And first thing in the morning, at about 10:15, we’re actually going to be crossing into the Arctic Circle, so very exciting for me, I have never been in that part of the world, ever … so Arctic Circle, gonna do some sightseeing, Saltstrumen, I guess, if anybody’s ever been there. And then in the evening there’s a Viking dinner kind of thing, so that should be cool.
So, anyway, I’m going sit back down before I fall over. These waves look a lot bigger than 3 of 4 feet now, so anyway, this is Shauna, signing off for Without Bags, hope you guys are having a great day. I’m going to try to not fall over in the shower. So I’ll see you guys later. Bye.
Research before your trip to find out what type of beds are in your hotel
In Scandinavia, all the beds are soft everywhere, so I found a way around it and converted a soft bed into a hard bed.
If you like hard beds, ask the staff if they have an ironing board. Sleep on the ironing board. Worked out really well.
Hey, guys; it’s Shauna from WithoutBags. Today, I want to talk to you about the difference between a hard bag and a soft bed. You never really realize until you leave home, and maybe other people do. I always forget. Every single time I go on a trip, I always, always forget that your bed is something that you love and you spend a ton of time in, seven, eight hours a night. It’s so, so, so important to be happy where you sleep. This trip really solidified that in my mind. In Dublin, this past trip, if you guys have been watching, we went through Dublin and Scotland and the Scandinavian countries, Norway, Finland, Sweden, all this kind of stuff.
Dublin and Scotland have hard beds, and I apparently love hard beds. I never really realized that. My mind, I was always more of a medium to soft person. Got to Scandinavia. Their beds were basically giant, 3-inch, down-filled, super fluffy, super soft, like sink into the bed. I couldn’t sleep. I kept having the worst back pain, hip pain, knee pain. I thought, “Oh, my goodness. I’m just turning into an old lady. I’m cranky, whatever.” No, because as soon as I got back to Dublin … This was a big round trip all the way back down through Dublin. When I got back to Dublin, got into the hotel, sat down on the bed, put my stuff down, sat down on the bed, checked for bedbugs. Always check for bedbugs before you sit down. Sat down on the bed, laid down, and went, “Ah,” so comfortable. It was like a board. It was solid and hard, and I apparently love hard beds. I had no idea that that was important.
Things to note. Definitely a question. When I finally looked it up, you can look that up on Trip Advisor and on Hotels.com, Booking.com. You can read other people’s experiences about the beds in that particular hotel. Sounds silly, but figure out what you like and then make sure you get hotels that suit you.
In Scandinavia, if I had thought about it at the time, if I had really recognized what was going on, that I needed a hard bed, how do you solve a soft bed? Normally, it’s not something … If the beds are soft, all the beds are soft everywhere, how are you going to go about solving a soft bed. Last few days that I was there, you want to know how I solved it? There was an ironing board in the room, and I put the ironing board underneath the three inches of big, fluffy feather pillow and slept on the ironing board on top of those feather pillows. My back was perfect. My hips were perfect. My knees were perfect. If you like hard beds, ask the staff if they have an ironing board. Sleep on the ironing board. Worked out really, really well.
That’s today’s tip. If you like hard beds … Find out what kind of bed you like. If you like hard beds, search for the ironing board if your bed is too soft. All right. Hope you guys are having a great day. Shauna, a correspondent for WithoutBags, and can’t wait to see you guys next week. All right. Bye.
Good morning everyone. This is Shauna, from Without Bags, and today we will be talking about a very important thing. Just to give you an example which happened to me yesterday— I was on a bus in Trondheim, and we had plans to see the Nethadras Cathedral and the music museum. While climbing Mount Axla, I stepped on the back of my pants which ripped my pants. So, very, very, very important piece of your toolkit is always, always, always have a needle and thread.
Found this out that I had forgotten actually my sewing kit, which you know, strange, normally I never forget my sewing kit. But, forgot my sewing kit so when we were in Ireland earlier on this trip, had to pick up some thread and thankfully had a needle. So, needle, thread, fixed the pants, life was good so tip and trick for today, always needle and thread in your pack for whenever you are traveling.
Hope you guys are having a great day. I’ll be excited to bring you guys some video and stuff from the Cathedral. The Cathedral actually is going to be really, really cool. This is where the Viking kings used to be crowned and of course all the kings of Norway going forward have been crowned here in Trondheim. Can’t wait to show you guys. Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you guys soon.
And it’s chilly here. We lost the 70 degree beautiful weather. It’s not like, I don’t know, 33, 34, 40, something like that, so back on with the silk scarf. All right, I’ll talk to you guys later. Bye.
Hey guys, it’s Shauna, correspondent from Without Bags and realized something I wanted to talk to you guys about today, which is the importance of staying in contact. Especially when I travel for Without Bags, I’m typically gone for, from anywhere from four weeks to eight weeks at a time working for my other job while I’m on the road. One of the things, especially because I typically travel by myself, one of the things that’s just so, so, so important is the ability to stay in contact with those that you care about. It really, when you’re out traveling, especially on your own, it can get kind of lonely. Getting on this boat, if you guys saw the video from the other day they actually told me originally there was going to be no wifi, no cell signal for a week and I’ve already been traveling for about six weeks and that is my life line. Wifi and “wee-fee” for those of you who have been to Belize, “wee-fee”. Anyway, side joke, sorry.
Wifi and cellular signal is so super important to being able to stay in contact with those that you love. The world has moved really much more towards the social media side. Obviously if you’re watching this you’re seeing us on Facebook but Facebook, Twitter, blogging, those kinds of things. Even simple things like writing a letter or writing a postcard are so far removed from most of our world viewpoints anymore. Getting on the boat the other day they actually reminded us that this is a postal boat and the world is not about wifi and maybe you should consider writing an actual letter. Just wanted to kind of remind you guys that say that you love the people that you love, call them, speak to them, Skype them, Face Time them and if you’re in person give them a hug.
There is a Buddhist theory that says that at a minimum, barest thing at a minimum, people need four hugs a day, good hugs. Four good hugs, at six hugs they are pretty happy and at eight hugs they attain enlightenment. If you haven’t had your eight hugs from people that you care about today, Without Bags is here to tell you to go get yourself some hugs. Hope you’re having a wonderful day and looking forward to talking to you guys later.
You guys have been enjoying watching the adventures. Today we went the aquarium and to Mt. Aksla and the view from the top was fantastic. I tried to take some panoramas for you guys and posted them in one of the previous videos. Check it out and as usual, if you have any comments, questions, any topics, like travel type topics that you want us to cover here on Without Bags, put it in the comments. Write us an email WithoutBags@gmail.com or go to the website, Twitter, Facebook, anywhere you want to connect with us we would love to hear from you guys. I’d love to answer any travel questions that you have. Hope you guys are having a great day and I’ll talk to you later. All right, thanks. Bye.
Hey guys. We went inside the glacier, which was pretty awesome. We were in one of the tunnels that was carved. Would have loved to do Facebook Live but there was no signal this far down into the ice. It wasn’t actually bad in there. It was zero down there but no wind at all, so it wasn’t really that bad. I didn’t even have my hands covered.
This thing was carved in 2015, so it’s really only been open for a couple of years. You would see in the video a black line which is the ash from the 2010 explosion of the volcano.
Thought you guys might enjoy seeing the inside of a glacier. I’ll come back with more videos.
Hey, guys. It’s Shauna from Without Bags, and I just got to my hotel in Helsinki in Finland, and I am in love with it. This is so cool and so cute. I’m so, so, so happy to be here. It’s Hotel Krapi? I’m sure I’m mispronouncing it but it’s K-R-A-P-I. It’s a little bit away from the airport, maybe like 20 minute drive. Absolutely lovely. Apparently it used to be an old farm, so I want to share with you some of the really cool things that I’ve already found out literally just walking in the door, I haven’t even taken off all my gear yet, about this hotel.
First things first, the main part of the hotel actually used to be a cow barn so each of the rooms, I will show you, each of the rooms is named after a cow that lived on the farm. They don’t live here anymore, but name of the cow that lived on the farm. Let’s see if we can … Oh, sorry. I’m trying to figure out how to get out of my room one handed. There’s some very specialty locks on these doors. Anyway, I wanted to share this with you guys. Check this out. My room, the name is Aino. I hope you can see this. Room 27. Anyway, really, really cool. I know. I know. I know but anyway. You can see the carpet actually looks like cow pattern. This is so cool. Gorgeous little hotel.
Let me take you on a tour of the room. When you first walk in the door, you’ve got the main entryway and super cute furniture and very, very simple. I really like it. The room opens up into a really nice just bigger area, very comfortable. The two chairs are really comfortable, really cute views outside. Certainly looking forward to going and exploring out here. All of this land belongs to the hotel, so I think you can rent all those little cabins out there as well.
I’m going to have restaurant in the main restaurant later tonight or on the hotel grounds. Apparently in Finland one of the big things to do is a buffet actually. When I asked the people at the front desk, they said that that’s what you do. When you go out to a restaurant here in Finland, the buffet is the common … That’s how the Finnish people do it. And, I said, “Well, are there any special food, or desserts, or anything that I need to try?” And, she said, “Cheesecake.” The cheesecake is actually the best thing that they have here, so I will be definitely having the cheesecake for desserts. I know life is so rough as a correspondent for Without Bags. Super looking forward to trying this cheesecake.
Just so you get a full version of the rest of the room, there is some ensuite bathroom. If you’re used to booking in America, you always have an ensuite bathroom, but that is not necessarily true when you’re in foreign countries so always make sure if you want a private bathroom, always make sure that your room does come ensuite. That’s typically how it’s … E-N-S-U-I-T-E. Ensuite bathroom. Here’s the bathroom. Super cute. I love the doors. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen doors like that before. His and her robes and shoes and very clean, very, very well done. I do have to say if you guys have never seen this before, they actually give you two options on the toilet so there’s the low flow option. You see this little tiny button? Then, if you need more water, you can use the heavy flow option. Really trying to work on conservation of water out here.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you guys a little bit of a tour. I’m super happy with the hotel. It’s really super cute and can definitely recommend it. And, as soon as I get to dinner, I will let you guys know what’s going on. I think I’m going to go take a walk outside. It looks way too cute not to go outside. I’ll let you guys know and maybe take you out on a tour of the ground so I’ll see you guys soon.
Hey, guys. It’s Shauna, the correspondent from Without Bags. I wanted to share with you guys where I’m at today. I’m so, so happy to be here. I am in Bergen, Norway. It is a lovely day out, probably 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Let me show you where I’m at.
Right now I am on top of a mountain. I think you guys are really going to enjoy this, so I had to share. Look at my view here. This is the City of Bergen below us. I took the cable car up here to come and enjoy the view. It is the perfect spring day.
Yeah, I just had to absolutely share with you guys and let you see all of the beauty that is Bergen, Norway. I’ll be bringing you guys videos as I’m out roaming about today, but I hope you guys are having fun. I can’t wait to have adventures here in Bergen. Talk to you guys later. Bye.
Good morning, everyone, it is Shauna, correspondent for Without Bags, and I am here live today actually from the MS Herald Cong, which is a postal ship that travels up the coast of Norway, delivering postage from all … you know going in and out of all the little different cities around the fjords of Norway. So first, I want to say I am so, so happy that I have signals, even live chat with guys, yesterday when they were doing the orientation for the ship, they were talking about the signal being absolutely zilch the entire trip for a week, and you know, I’m so connected to you guys, and I would feel so sad if I couldn’t share with you guys what’s going on, so this morning I woke up and I have three whole bars, I’m so, so happy, so we get to share, which is so exciting.
So, first thing I wanted to share with you guys was the fact that I am actually in a cabin, well, of course I’m in a cabin, but I will be in this cabin for a week. I have never been on a cruise before. Ever. And I’m not quite so sure that I can call this a cruise, you know, many, many people think about a cruise as the huge ships with pools and bars and restaurants. This is a working postal ship. There are only 200 people on board this ship, and so in a way, it’s very private from that standpoint. But of course the other side of that is that it’s very small, compared to you know, normally, when I’m out traveling for Without Bags, I am roaming around land, and there’s buildings, and space and you know, I’m originally from Arizona, which means I live in a desert, where there’s lots of space. So this is very new for me and yesterday, when I first got on the boat, I actually think I had a little bit of claustrophobia. I have never experienced that before.
So very long story short, you know got into my cabin, and literally, actually kind of felt a little bit short of breath, and I was starting to panic just a little bit. So you know, traveling is all about new experiences, right? So this was certainly a new experience for me.
After I had some water, walked around on some of the outside patio decks and stuff … there’s three decks that have external patios … so I walked around on some of those patios and felt better, couldn’t fall asleep, till about 1:45 in the morning, and of course, woke up due to the waves and the motion of the boat this morning at about 6:45. So I’m sure that means I will crash tonight, but maybe that’s good. You know, this is all about new experiences. And anybody who has never been on a cruise before, I maybe would recommend doing like a two or three day, cruise. This is a five or six days on the boat. But I am feeling much better this morning, so no concerns anybody, everything is just fine.
Anyway, so I’m very excited about this trip. I’m going in and out of these tiny cities, so basically there are cities along the way that we’re going to stop at, so for example, today, the city we’re going to stop at, and of course, I’m going to butcher all of the names, so I will have the Without Bags administrative team post a full list of everywhere that I’m stopping, and I’ll try to check in at the cities with pictures and stuff, so you guys can check the Facebook feed and check the blog, you know Without Bags, anyway, so we get to stop in all these little cities and we get to do activities in the cities, so one of the things I was so, so excited about was at the end of the trip I was supposed to go on an ATV through the snow, up to the Russian border, but apparently there has been so much snow, yay climate change, there has been so much snow that that has been canceled. And one of the other options was to go dog sledding, and that has also been canceled.
So, you know, we will find lots of other awesome things to do, so today one of the things I’m doing instead of my original trips there, was to go to, there’s an aquarium and a famous mountain range or something, All Staff I think it’s called.
Hey guys, it’s Shauna from Without Bags. I am currently sitting in the airport in Stockholm headed for Helsinki. I wanted to give you guys my recap of Stockholm.
First of all, awesome, awesome city. Was staying very near to the main old shopping district, so was able to walk to a lot of places. It’s very much a walkable city. They do have Uber, which is awesome, but it’s actually quite nice to be out walking. Of course today, there was hail, so definitely didn’t walk today. Yeah, very much liked the city. People are very, very friendly, super helpful. Definitely want to help you with whatever your problem is.
I think one of the biggest things that I’m noticing … In Ireland and Scotland, the look on people’s faces started off, even just walking down the street, everybody looked upset. Here and in Denmark, everybody has a very picturesque, actually, look on their face. Everybody here is quite pretty, generally, very tall, and slender, and beautiful. Anyway, very picturesque look on their face. If you look lost or look confused, they don’t really stop to help you, but if you reach out to ask for help, absolutely. They’re super friendly and definitely want to try and help you, so that’s really nice. That’s really helpful. Everybody speaks English basically, so it makes traveling here really, really easy.
Sorry, there is a very large cart going by. It’s kind of loud.