Norway travel

Tromsø: Top of the World Film Fest

Published February 21, 2025 | By Clark Norton

By Robert Waite

Tromsø, Norway –

It began with a poster. It was a pre-COVID summer. We were overnighting in Tromsø, Norway, a coastal city of about 52,000 inhabitants located 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

“Tromsø International Film Festival. Frozen Land. Moving Pictures,” it read. The dates were in mid-January.

My partner was instantly interested, but I was less sure. While I have an abiding interest in cinema and write frequently on travel, often to remote locations, Norway? In the dead of winter? To watch films?

But the more I thought about it, the more enticing the prospect became. For one thing, film festivals attract a huge number of visitors. After a rather small beginning in Mussolini-era Venice in 1932, festivals have since sprung up virtually everywhere on the planet. By latest post-pandemic count there are about 12,000.

The Toronto Film Festival, the largest, annually attracts 400,000 film… Continue reading →

Linger in Oslo, Norway’s Cultural Capital

Published November 23, 2020 | By Clark Norton

Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki raft reached Easter Island from the wrong direction, but reinforced Norwegians’ reputation as adventurous explorers. Photo by Karen Shigeishi-Waite.

The last time my wife and I were in Oslo, we did exactly what contributing writer Robert Waite advises against: we skipped town too quickly, flying off to Bergen and our Hurtigruten coastal voyage the day after we arrived.

Walking around Oslo during our free afternoon there, on a beautifully sunny late spring day, we soon realized our mistake. It had been some years since we’d been to the city, and much had changed — by the looks of it, much for the better. But I’ll let Bob delve into all that.

One particular memory stands out among the people we encountered there.

After having dinner at a local restaurant on the evening of our arrival, I left a tip in cash that I knew was way too… Continue reading →

Posted in Baby boomer travel, Cities, cultural travel, European travel | Tagged Norway travel, Oslo Norway, Oslo Norway attractions, Oslo Norway museums, Oslo travel | 1 Comment

According to government and private surveys:

Leading-edge baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1955) and seniors account for four out of every five dollars spent on luxury travel today.
Roughly half the consumer spending money in the U.S.--more than $2 trillion--is in the hands of leading-edge baby boomers and seniors.
Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) travel more than any other age group.
When asked what they would most like to spend their money on, baby boomers answered “travel” more than any other category, including improving their health or finances.