Voicy does Norway

It certainly was. I am impressed. After only 1 year, well done.

I was born in Denmark and grew up in Sweden, Denmark and SA, so got a bit of everything :)
Wish I was up there with the really cheap fish. Must admit that eating amazing salmon fillet is like eating a really good steak, loving that.

Will post some pics tonight.
 
Great thread. I'm very curious about the cost of living. Are you able to save money there? Also, Have you got permanent residence/citizenship possibilities?
 
kim_bcs said:
It certainly was. I am impressed. After only 1 year, well done.

I was born in Denmark and grew up in Sweden, Denmark and SA, so got a bit of everything :)
Wish I was up there with the really cheap fish. Must admit that eating amazing salmon fillet is like eating a really good steak, loving that.

Will post some pics tonight.
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Ah så bra! Jeg vil gjerne ser noe bilder av deg og ditt hjemsted! What's your wive's experiences like?

patrick said:
Great thread. I'm very curious about the cost of living. Are you able to save money there? Also, Have you got permanent residence/citizenship possibilities?
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Cheers, thanks! Yeah man it's a bit complex really. Like I said, there's no real class system here, everyone is pretty much middle class. Even if you work at the petrol station, on the ferry, construction, waitressing or qualified jobs, you're going to earn a living wage.

Medical is free, so no need to get a medical aid. If I go to the doctor I pay a fee of say R150 per visit to a max of around R2k per year. That way I don't waste their time by going for just anything, but also if I'm really sick then I can go to the doc or hospital just about every day and it wont cost more than my R2k for the year.

Taxes are serious business. I pay around 35% on my salary. Also, people are very open about their salaries here. Heck, you could even go online and look at how much your neighbour earns and what his company pays and who owns how much % shares and and and. It's bizarre. But also, there's no "buy flashy stuff to compete with the joneses" vibe going on. Sure, some people always go for nice cars, but most cars are fit for purpose. Also, with cars costing 100% more due to import taxes, it's not something you just buy willy nilly.

My case is a bit different. Im almost never home and if I work on sites I get a living out allowance which covers all my food and travels etc. so if I'm not home i don't spend any money, so i'm saving around 70% of my salary...but I'm putting in around 150hrs overtime some months, so I'm working way more than the average norwegian. The gov still taxes me 50% on any overtime, so I do feel it as well. This last week alone I worked 40hrs overtime on a site to get it up and running as it's a generator backup system for a crucial plant.

As for residence etc. You usually have to reapply for a work permit annually, but because I'm on the short skills list (I'm told) they gave me a 3yr permit and said that I don't need to reapply for the permit after that, I should just apply for permanent residence instead. Some countries change their visa requirements if you have perm residence, so e.g. if I were to visit Mexico on an SA passport but hold perm residence to norway I wouldn't need a visa. Which is kinda nice. 2 more years to go!
 
I've just finished another project and driving home. I've been doing a metric crapton of driving and tomorrow is another 15hr drive from Trondheim north. Usually takes about 2-3 days for me to drive to a site, fortunately the views don't suck.

Worked 20hrs yesterday, slept 5hrs, worked another 10 then had to drive to my stopover. Rain, wind, mist, darkness, dodgy windy road down a mountain. Booked into the hotel at 10pm and collapsed.

Woke up this morning with this monstrosity outside my hotel room window.

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Turns out Geiranger is pretty dope. An hour later the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship rocked up too.

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A lookback at the windy road I drove down.
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The rest of the fjord. Oh! there's a norwegian blockbuster movie coming out today called Bølger. Which means wave. Like a tidal wave. The movie premise is about a glacier that breaks off, falls into a fjord and floods half of Norway or something. Sounds far fetched until you see the size of glaciers and the contours of these fjords.

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I got to drive down skateboard hill as well. (Trollstigen). It's a single lane road, so you have to stop and wait for oncoming cars on a courtesy basis.

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I've been wanting to see these places forever, so it was worth the slight detour. Also, in winter all this closes down because the roads would just be impossible to drive on. Even had to select 1st gear with my 2.5L TD bakkie on some bends to get up places.

Still kinda hard to believe that just over a year ago my work trips would take me to such gems as Umtata and butterworth. :/ Thanks for all the support from everyone in this thread so far. Again, it's not meant to be a show off thread, a few forumites asked me to post some of my adventures to bring a bit of positivity to the forum with all the issues that's been going on lately, so i hope it helps.
 
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Dude, I've been dreaming about visiting Norway all my life. You sir, are truly living the dream. At least mine.
 
Stunning photos!

Here's one from back home to make you homesick

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Voicy said:
Still kinda hard to believe that just over a year ago my work trips would take me to such gems as Umtata and butterworth. :/ Thanks for all the support from everyone in this thread so far. Again, it's not meant to be a show off thread, a few forumites asked me to post some of my adventures to bring a bit of positivity to the forum with all the issues that's been going on lately, so i hope it helps.
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Keep up the pics voicy, It is so beautiful and as jealous as I am of you being to see all that natural beauty, at least we still get to see it when you post the pictures on here.

One of the things on my bucket list is to travel through Scandinavia on a cruise


Thanks for the updates it is awesome!!!!
 
We all hate you ever so slightly Voicy, but in a good way..

Its great to see life in a different country and also great to see you're enjoying it.
 
Voicy said:
Woke up this morning with this monstrosity outside my hotel room window.
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There are some saffas on that liner, a mate of mine & his wife are cruising norway, they arrived in geiranger fjord on the 27th, next day they were walking around town. they keep their facebook updated with pics & location, scenery is breathtaking.

May I upload your pics of the ships/fjord to them?
 
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Breathtaking. :)

Voicy what happens when you drive somewhere and your car breaks down? Is there AA or something?
 
Voicy said:
A lookback at the windy road I drove down.
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You weren't kidding about the winding road. Cant clever engineers design cable cars to take cars from the top the bottom?
 
ponder said:
There are some saffas on that liner, a mate of mine & his wife are cruising norway, they arrived in geiranger fjord on the 27th, next day they were walking around town. they keep their facebook updated with pics & location, scenery is breathtaking.

May I upload your pics of the ships/fjord to them?
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Yeah no stress!
 
Voicy said:
They're friendly but private...even more so than the Germans. Its been REALLY difficult to make friends here.
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I have to ask how this is going?

Do you ever get the impression that they are 'friendly' in a polite way, just being friendly for friendly's sake?. I've always had this impression that the northern europeans being polite is kinda 'fake' while the mediterranean bunch are more of a happy go lucky crowd like us. I'm just thinking in terms of my local pub where you have contractors from all around the world and within a week everyone is getting on like they've known each other for yonks.
 
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