Across the Sea

We officially departed Birmingham on August 4th and 37hrs, one plane, one rental car ride, another plane, one train, two busses, another bus, one tram, one train, and one bus ride a bit of a hike and a [very] short car ride later we finally arrived at our Air Bnb for the month in Orkanger, Norway!

We've actually been here for six, seven, eight days two weeks as of the time I'm writing this, but between all the travel, the jet lag, the figuring out our new space, a little bit of exploring, some more jet lag (especially with a toddler), and Beadle going to Sweden for fiddle camp writing has been low on my list of priorities- or even my abilities. Ellum transitioned to the new time remarkably quickly, probably faster than any of the rest of us. By day three he was already going to sleep between 7:30 and 8:30 and sleeping until 8:30 in the morning. He may be absolute crap at waiting in line, but buddy knows how to SLEEP. Arlo, on the other hand, is an angel when going through an airport security line or waiting to board a train, but when it's time for lights out he wants only Mama...in constant contact with him...and preferably nursing if at all possible. All night. We already knew from traveling this summer that it takes him a bit to get used to a new sleeping environment and this was a mega adjustment. It's tough, but I know from experience that it should improve, it just takes time. Also, he's teething. Perfect storm.

All that to say, I have historically done a bit of writing in the evenings after the kiddos go to bed, and that just hasn't really been an option lately. Also, I have no pro tips on getting a toddler to adjust several time zones ahead beyond what's already out there, including but not limited to:

-Maintain your sleep environment as best you can (cool, dark, white noise if you practice)

-Keep that bedtime routine going

-If baby/toddler wakes up in the middle of the night, make sure they don't need anything, but otherwise be as uninteresting as possible. Do not get up and out of bed if you can help it!

Like with baby sleep in general, my perhaps unpopular opinion is that I think a lot of it really depends on your particular kid. You can try as many of the tricks as you like, but I'm not sure any of them actually do anything other than help us as parents pass the time until the babes naturally adjust.

Now on to that travel story...

August 3, 2025

Beadle, the little boys, and I met up with Davy and Faolan at the Birmingham Shuttlesworth Airport around 9:30 for our 11:45 flight to Baltimore, MD.

It was honestly a bit early considering it's Birmingham, AL and we had TSA pre check, but figured it was best to be early and stressed out keeping the littles entertained than late and stressed we would miss our flight. TSA Pre-Check was worth every penny (and it's honestly not really a lot of pennies) to not have to remove ALL our electronics plus toiletries and shoes for six people while also corralling Ellum, who as I might have mentioned, loses his absolute mind when waiting in lines, especially at airports. It doesn't matter how much we talk about it or prep for it in advance, put him in a queue and all that prep knowledge evaporates from his tiny body. He refuses to carry his bag, lays prostrate on the floor (I'm not a germophobe, but the airport floor gives me as much heebie jeebies as the hospital floor), either refuses to walk or tries to run away. It is absolutely wild. We opted not to bring our double stroller because we thought maybe he had matured past this with it having been a year since he had last flown. I'm definitely considering getting a small single stroller here in Europe for no other reason than to contain him on these rare travel days. It would probably be worth it. Once he's through security, he's kind of ok until it's time to board the plane when it all starts over again- thank goodness for Southwest's family boarding-and lasts until his butt is in the seat. Luckily, for the flight itself, he is cool as a cucumber.

We landed in Baltimore and proceeded to get our rental car to drive to our local hotel for the night and then to JFK the following day.

I know what you're thinking. Why on earth would we fly to Baltimore then drive to New York to catch our flight? Why not just fly into New York?

All I can say, is that for a family of 6, it made sense. I couldn't find any hotels close to JFK to accommodate all of us without spending >1K USD for just the single night, plus the added expense of getting a direct flight from Bham to NYC and then figuring out transit and carting our stuff around. Anyway, it's what we did and it worked out!

After a brief delay getting the car- we only had our temporary licenses on us after getting TN driver's licenses this summer, which didn't arrive at our TN address until the day we left-we headed to our hotel in downtown Baltimore. We had a fine one night stay, but can't say we'll be back of our own accord (sorry Baltimore!).

August 4th

We took our time having breakfast and leaving the hotel and then headed for JFK. The drive was really pretty straightforward. It was around 4p when we arrived and we couldn't check in for our 11:55pm flight until 8p, so we rented a room at the TWA Hotel which was an experience in itself.

The Hotel is pretty well preserved from its 1960s inception, with the rooms modernly updated, and includes a museum as well as a lounge in an old TWA plane out back. You can get a "Daytripper" rate in which you can book a room by the hour, with a four hour minimum and checkout no later than 8p, while you wait on your flight. Definitely would recommend if you find yourself in a similar situation. We were able to unload all our stuff at the hotel while Beadle and Davy returned the rental car with minimal stress. We let the little boys run around a bit and played MEGA Twister, then headed back to the room for some snacks and a little Disney Channel until we could take the Air Train over to Terminal 7 to catch our flight.

Check in for the flight was a bit harried. Be advised- Norse Atlantic Airline WILL weight your carry on and make you put your personal item in the sizer. This would probably have gone a bit more smoothly if the big kids had not loaded up additional items in their bags after I had finalized what they were packing 😵‍💫. After some scrambling and rearranging, no one had to throw anything away...for now. We proceeded to security where unfortunately they DID NOT have a TSA Pre-Check line. Oof. We only had to take out electronics and not toiletries, but it was a little hiccup that was unanticipated and made all the more stressful by Airport Ellum. At this point I was wishing we had gone with our early consideration of taking a Transatlantic cruise instead of a flight. Alas...

Boarding the flight involved its usual shenanigans. Lots of families and babies aboard. One of our seats got moved and then double booked, despite us paying for seat selection. Again, it worked out and we had two full rows for the family for the red eye flight. Arlo was asleep before the plane ever took off and basically didn't make a peep until we landed in Oslo. Ellum fell asleep shortly after meal service and did pretty well for a few hours, did this half wake up thing he does sometimes in which he cries inconsolably until you can wake him up enough to snap him out of it for a few minutes, then went back to sleep in time to wake up for...

August 5th! Our arrival in Oslo

After landing at 12:45p local time, we made it through customs quickly and easily. In typical circumstances, we would have been able to take a train pretty much the entire way to our hotel, BUT shortly before our arrival in Oslo they started doing work on one of the train lines. So instead, we had to take a train and two busses. I purchased tickets through Vy, one of the transit providers in Norway, while still in the airport and had access to WiFi. I got familiar with our route, took screenshots of the transfers. We were ready to get to our hotel and settle in. Unfortunately, we got off the train one stop early to catch our bus and spent about 45 minutes rectifying that mistake. I started to get concerned that the time on our transit ticket would run out before we made it to our destination...but 1) it didn't, and 2) no one ever asked to see our tickets.

Travel tip: If you aren't traveling with international phone service from your home provider, go ahead and set up your e-sim before you leave your transit hub (airport, train station, wherever it is that you buy it and have access to WiFi). Having the GPS while we tried to find our way from transfer to transfer would have been SO MUCH EASIER with it.

Finally we made it to our hotel for the night, Scandic Holmekollen, overlooking Oslo.

While a bit outside of Oslo city center (hence the public transit odyssey), the hotel is definitely worth the journey for a larger family, especially with kiddos. They have family suites that include a double bed, double pull out couch, and twin bunks so you don't have to book two rooms, which definitely saves some cost. Additionally, there are some short outdoor walks/hikes and just off the main lobby you can find a kids playroom featuring a foosball table, art supplies, and the ever favorite in the Beadlecom g

b households household-toy cars and trains. We availed ourselves of the dinner buffet that evening rather than making our back down into the city before retiring for the night.

August 6th

After a restless night, I awoke to the sound of a baby puking. If you have kids- or pets- you know the suddenness with which you are jolted from your otherwise peaceful slumber.

Poor Arlo. It was his first pukey illness in his whole year and a half of life. Like with many other things in his life, he was really quite stoic about it though. I was very much internally freaking out because not only did we have a lot more travel to do this day, but I was also imagining this illness making its putrid way through the whole daily. I was imagining our six hour train ride as a hellish vomit fest…

Luckily, my worry was for naught. After a full morning of not keeping anything on his tiny tummy, once we boarded the train from Oslo to Trondheim and saw the kids' play area at the back of the train, baby bro made a complete recovery. He was requesting snacks within the hour and kept everything down after that. No one else got sick. It practically felt like a miracle.

Ellum held out until the last 30 minutes before losing it, not too bad all things considered. It was cold and rainy when we stepped off the train in Trondheim. We found our bus out to Orkanger with relatively little difficulty, but when it came time to get OFF the bus, we did not realize that you had a press a button to let the bus driver know you wanted to get off a particular spot, so we missed it and had to get off at the next one. Our lovely AirBnb host arranged for a neighbor to bring our rental car down from our lodging so that we didn't have to make the entire uphill trek with all our gear and me carrying both Arlo AND Ellum baby wearing style (Ellum had fallen asleep on the bus and was having difficulty interacting with his new environment). But at last we made it and started to settle in to our home for the next month.

More on how the settling is going/has gone later! Also, check out our Little Goes Instagram for more pictures and adventures!