Ålesund

I think I am one step closer to understanding why I have not been able to enjoy big towns or cities as much during this trip. It’s not that bigger towns are complicated, harder to get around, or create friction against my own expectations. It’s the departure from the sheer simplicity of being on the road. One could argue there’s significantly more amount of effort involved, setting up camp, dismantling camp, figuring out where to sleep, what to eat. But it’s still inherently simpler and exact, every action is purpose driven to stay moving longer. Exploring cities, on the other hand is fraught with arbitrary choices and city planners whims, and that is deterring me from cities. In another more traditional trip, I don’t think I would have felt this contrast, but this time around it’s almost unavoidable.

So anyway, I reached Ålesund yesterday. While in the ferry, I met a motorcyclist who tried to convince me to get a motorbike. I must say, I am very nearly convinced. We also spoke about some our favourite Youtube channels.

My Airbnb host, Kjell, has a lot of knowledge on ships. Eventually I found out he’s a ship design engineer. And other than photography his hobby is going around long distances on Kayak and camping on the shoresor fjords, which I found fascinating. We spent the evening boat-spotting.