Tromso fjord, Norway

Dboy85

Hei, I got a research internship there and am heading over around March and I was wondering has anyone here spent time there or around the area. I'll be bringing my family with me obviously so I was thinking of driving over first and sussing out a house for my family to follow. I was looking on finn.no for a rental home has anyone got any other ideas? Is driving over there gonna be a problem with road conditions. With my car will I have to pay import tax on it after a certain length of time? What is the best way for my family to get there? What I know so far is that they would have to get a connecting flight in Oslo or Trondheim. I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of the northern lights around this time so we're looking forward to going.

Aldi is doing some ski gear at the minute :cool:

Edit: Will I have to apply for residency?

imme

How long you going for OP? Residency?

As an Irish passport holder you'll have no problems. Norway aren't members of the EU, but they are very close economically to the EU.

Irish passport holders don't need a visa or anything like that.

There are flights to Oslo everyday with SAS. You can connect in the same airport, Gardermoen, to fly to Tromso.

Tromso is a nice little city, not tonnes to do there really, but it does have a nice feel.

It is possible to see the Northern Lights there but generally in the countryside away from the city. There are tours that you can join if you want to.

Enjoy!

Dboy85

I'm going for 7 months but its a bit sticky as I'll be working rather than studying even though the internship is part of my course in college. I always figured they we're part of the E.U.

Hobbitfeet

I lived in Oslo so can only comment for there, rent was very expensive and there is usually a big deposit to pay I had to pay 3 months rent up front, so watch out for that. If you will be earning money there then you will have to register for a personal number you will also need this number if you want to open a bank account there.
Finn.no is best place to check for houses you could also try hybel.no. Make sure you check things like what furniture is included as a lot of places are unfurnished not even a fridge!! Also check what is included in rent things like bins, water, hot water etc.
Hope you get on well I loved Oslo and Norway sorry I came home

Dboy85

Hobbitfeet wrote: »

sorry I came home

That's what I'm afraid of

Hobbitfeet

If you can master the language stay there its a great place to live. I loved Oslo, beautiful city, great people, lovely hot summers nice cold snowy winters. Love it

Dboy85

Can anyone give me some idea on what the general bills will be like over there? Stuff like electricity, heating, internet, t.v, cab fares, creche fees and stuff like that.

vicwatson

Dboy85 wrote: »

I'm going for 7 months but its a bit sticky as I'll be working rather than studying even though the internship is part of my course in college. I always figured they we're part of the E.U.

No, they are part of EFTA though - European Free Trade Agreement and the EEA - European Economic Area

Tabnabs

Tromso is incredibly far north and in March will be a real culture shock.

It will be cold, dark and white. Driving your Irish car over will be an expensive waste of time. You have to take three ferries (UK, Denmark, Norway) and drive a few thousand kilometers. You'll need spikes on your tyres (pigdekk) once you reach the mountains in Norway. Get online and book cheap flights with Norwegian.no

Keep an eye on the weather to see how chilly it gets http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/Troms/Troms%C3%B8/Troms%C3%B8/

Have a read of http://www.itromso.no/ and http://www.nordlys.no/ and use google translate to get up to speed on what's going on there. They also have webcams to see how the area looks http://www.nordlys.no/web-kamera/

Talk to the nice people in the Norwegian embassy in Dublin http://www.norway.ie/ about what you'll need for employment there.

Read the fantastic http://www.stavangerexpats.com/

And lastly, everything will be very expensive so budget accordingly and start learning basic Norwegian now even if it's just to be able to read signs in supermarkets etc.

Dboy85

Thanks for the detailed post. If it wasn't different I'd go somewhere else. I'm waiting until after the holidays to speak to the embassy and see what they say. I probably wont bother driving over, I estimated it to be about 3k there and back, its too expensive. My biggest problem now is finding out the average prices of everyday living so I can budget properly. Finding a home is the biggest problem at the minute. There is little on finn to choose from bar I rent a condo :cool:

Maybe I'll try find an estate agent that can handle it for me.

Tabnabs

By the looks of it, the cost will be kr11,000 per month for a delvis møblert leilighet with two bedrooms. Plus a kr20,000 deposit.

If you want to give yourself an idea of public transport costs (and a shock too) have a look at their bus company http://www.177troms.no/

Best to get all these costs assembled now (like kr66 for a half litre in the local :eek:) ) to give you a chance to budget.

Dboy85

Tabnabs wrote: »

By the looks of it, the cost will be kr11,000 per month for a delvis møblert leilighet with two bedrooms. Plus a kr20,000 deposit.

I'd be delighted if I found something along the lines of this. That's cheap compared to what I've been looking at. Could you post a link to where you were looking at these. Nordlys.no had a few good adds.

By the looks of the beer prices. Going down for one or two will actually mean one or two :pac: No harm anyway!

Tabnabs

http://www.finn.no/finn/realestate/lettings/object?finnkode=32364681

Just looked it up here http://www.finn.no/finn/realestate/lettings/result?areaId=20413