Sailing

A little warning, this trip is a self-guided trip where all the purchased tickets are bought as a bundle by Norway in a Nutshell®, so there will be no guarantee that you will be exploring with the same people (you can obviously make friends, as I did!). Is it worth it buying as a bundle? YES if you’re planning this trip last minute (like a week beforehand). I calculated every single ticket (if bought independently) and you will only save around 20€, the bundle will cost you 1740NOK (170€), it is EXPENSIVE. So, here’s the breakdown of the whole trip:

Morning coffee before leaving:)

Bergen to Voss by Bergen Railway

Ready to wake up early in the morning? The train to Voss will leave at 08:39 from Bergen Station, make sure to be on time (the train ain’t gonna wait for ya). You will realize that there will be a lot of people with the same ticket (as you do) as you buy them from Norway in a Nutshell®. Both printed and electronic tickets (save the planet please) are excepted. There will be a specific seat number assigned for you, but I don’t think people really check or care about it. The train ride will take 1.5 hours, so you can still rest;)

Entrance to the train

Inside the train

The view from the train

Voss to Gudvangen by Bus

When you arrive at Voss, you won’t have much time to explore around since you will only have 15 minutes before the bus will leave. Well, I decided to have a short walk just around the lake and enjoy the pristine water and air. Stretch up your arms and legs for the rest of the journey. The bus ride is short, just an-hour-long! You will also pass by some amazing sceneries during the bus ride, some lakes, and snowy mountains.

Short photo stop at Voss

Gudvangen to Flåm by a Sustainable Cruise

Gudvangen is unbelievably beautiful, I can’t even tell how clean it is, the view is breathtaking. WOW, it is more beautiful than Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Look up to check out their snowy mountain, and just enjoy those fjords before leaving by the boat. I would suggest getting a take-away lunch before leaving for this trip. Prices will be very expensive (eg. a regular sandwich for 8€), you will starve!! The best you can get inside the boat will only be hotdogs… The rest-area will also sell some souvenirs if you’re interested.

Interesting fact, the cruise is fully sustainable! It’s so huge, the boat’s capacity can be up to 200 people. You can stay both indoor and outdoor, well obviously I chose to stay mostly outdoor, ain’t gonna waste that money! You will see how long Aurlandsfjord is:) The wind will hit so hard though, so don’t forget your thick gloves, hat, and scarf. The boat will stop once by a village named Aurlandsvangen, if you book the bundle differently, you can also spend a night here. Since the bundle that I booked is the simplest one, we’re gonna continue the journey to the next village, Flåm.

Interior of the ship

Aurlandsvangen

Flåm is a very small village, located in the inner end of Aurlandsfjord, a branch of the giant Sognefjord. You will only have 40 minutes in the village. So I decided to send a postcard to my little sister, fly my drone, and check out the Visit Flåm Museum, it’s free! The museum is generally small, you can check out a brief history of Flåm Railway, Flåm itself, and how locals live back in the days. During this short time, I just use most of it to enjoy the amazing landscape outside:)

Flåm Museum

Flåm to Myrdal by Flåm Railway

Widely known for the most beautiful train ride in the world, this train will take you up to the high mountains, Myrdal. You will definitely enjoy the beautiful scenery of the snowy mountains, hidden waterfalls, local houses in the middle of nowhere, and of course orange leafless trees. In this 20km long ride, you will have a stop by Kjosfossen Falls for a photo stop, a great spot to take some pictures 🙂 The whole train ride is 50 minutes, so make sure you enjoy every second of it, remember that this railway took 20 years to be done, it’s a real artwork.

I would suggest choosing the seat on the right side when going from Flåm to Myrdal as most of the beautiful scenery is on that side. It’s also possible to open the top part of the window to get a more HD view of the landscape.

Myrdal to Bergen by Bergen Railway

Well, technically you will change to the train that you use at the beginning of the trip (the one from Bergen to Voss). The whole train ride will be 2 hours towards sunset, enjoy the sunshine before it leaves. When it was the end of January, the sunset was at 16:20, so early! The whole trip was extraordinary, I would also recommend this tour for families. Though you have a designated seat on your ticket, most probably the train will be empty, so free seatings:)

Will you choose this bundle after all those amazing pictures I’ve shown you? You decide;)

First of all, I would love to say a huuuge thank you for my friend, Justin for letting me experience my first sailing trip in my whole life. Plus living in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle is a very great idea because the marina is just on the side of the block. And running at this area is also super great, you got the beach, marina, and most importantly very big streets with smooth cement!

We started at 10am that day, bought some cold beers and snacks for the sail. Talking about that, we always buy our basic needs in small shops (tiendas in Spanish) near our house. This happened so much when you live in a small neighbourhood, just like me! Even, the prices are usually cheaper than big supermarkets.

This is the location of the marina, by the way!

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Marina+Riviera+Nayarit+at+La+Cruz/@20.7507862,-105.3807937,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x84214041c2551c2f:0x351d63d475922b!8m2!3d20.7507862!4d-105.378605

Stepping to the gate of the sail boats makes me feel so great. Finally I am doing something new! We put all our food and drinks inside the deck and we start sitting down near the steering wheel. The boat is semi-wooden, actually! You guys gotta see the pictures.

My favorite Mexican beer, Pacifico!

Justin is the one with the blue shirt!

Afterwards, Justin gave us a briefing just to make sure we are all in the safest condition–he’s a great captain. I would love to recommend you his tour! It’s Bahia Sailing Tours: https://www.bahiasailing.com/ Looking at how he’s doing all the railings and stuff, I start thinking how people sail with their boats crossing the oceans of the world. That will be quite tough (and scary??).

Look how convenient!

You can even sit on the tip of the boat

Sailing for the first time makes me feel relaxed. I feel that I just get away from all the crowds and just enjoy the most of this earth…. We saw dolphins and turtles, it was soooo amazing! Meeting new people is also fun, especially doing different things that you don’t usually do. That time, we sailed down south to Puerto Vallarta, it took hours because we really take our time to just enjoy the ocean breeze.

We even stop to go to the market in Puerto Vallarta to grab little groceries. My friends went with a water taxi! It was cool to see. By the time we wanted to sail back to the deck, the weather went so harsh….. There was a huge storm and our boat was tilted more than 45 degrees, that was so much fun!! People were so scared but I just feel that we’re experiencing something unique (but a bit dangerous though LOL)!! But anyways, we were all safe back in La Cruz–thank you so much Justin!