As every year, in 2025 we set out on a tactical expedition to find out how public transport can also be organized. After six years, our destination was once again Norway, which didn't matter at all, as there was only one member of the original expedition in the new team. Moreover, this expedition was to take us to completely different parts of Norway than the previous one.
The first destination was, of course, Oslo, given its capital status and the availability of connections. After traveling by night train to Poznań and taking a morning flight to "Oslo" (quotation marks entirely intentional, as we had to travel more than an hour by train from Sandefjord Airport, which was also replaced by buses for part of the route), we began to discover the beauty of not only the city's transport systems, such as the surface metro line to the ski jumps at Holmenkollen, the functionalist town hall, and the moose burger.
After a few days in Oslo, we took the train north. After a whole day of challenging travel through Lillehammer, the Dovrefjell mountains, and a detour by replacement buses through Åndalsnes, we arrived in Trondheim. This city was interesting to us mainly because of the world's northernmost tram service, which is gradually dying out as it is being moved further and further away from the city center, thus losing its significance.
We then set off on another day-long train journey to Bodø. We left this relatively compact and not particularly interesting coastal town early the next morning to visit the beautiful island of Værøy. The beautiful views are nice, but we were there mainly for the flight back to Bodø on a chartered helicopter. In addition to the unique experience, it was also a great time saver (the ferry takes about 3 hours and the helicopter flies in 20 minutes) and a considerable financial saving (the ferry is free and the helicopter costs the equivalent of several hundred crowns).
The railway ends in Bodø, as the Nazis did not manage to build it further during the war. So we had to take a bus to Narvik. Even when using the ferry, we admired the untouched nature and deep fjords along the way. Due to the inclement weather, we visited the local museum in Narvik, a significant part of which was an exhibition on the history of the local Ofotbanen railway, used to transport iron ore to the local port. In the evening, we sampled the local seafood cuisine (at least those of us who didn't have a whale burger) and in the morning we set off on the Ofotbanen railway for our gradual journey back south.
The journey by train to the Swedish port city of Luleå also took a whole day and led, among other places, through the mining town of Kiruna, known primarily for its gradual retreat from the impacts of mining activity. Unlike Bodø, Luleå is quite spread out, but even less interesting. Public transport is provided exclusively by buses, so we had to actively seek out places of interest. For example, we saw the local town hall, a huge steel mill, and a sweat lodge village just outside the city. Some buses had really unusual interior designs.
From Luleå, we flew to Prague with a transfer in Stockholm, looking forward to summer weather again, which, except for Oslo, resembled a gloomy autumn in Norway.