The most beautiful journey in the world

Hurtigruten has been connecting Norway for over 130 years and has become part of the people's soul. Everyone, no matter the age, should treat themselves to a trip along the Norwegian coast.

I wait for warmer days here in the south, but in vain. The snowstorms won't let up. The longing for something else is growing. I want something more than this cold, gray existence in a city abandoned at Easter. I want to see something I won't forget. I want to get away from screens, dining rooms, and open-plan living. But I have responsibilities to others besides myself. Luckily, it only takes a few minutes to convince my mother, a relatively recent hip replacement patient, that a boat trip along the coast is a good idea at this time of year. I want to defy the weather gods. I want to take lots of pictures.

We decide on an eight-day sea voyage: Trondheim-Kirkenes-Trondheim. The main character isn't me, but my mother. She hasn't been on a really exciting trip in a long time. She needs to move and see the world. She has me and my boyfriend, François, with her.

My mother was born in the parish church in Tana and travelled with Hurtigruten from Vadsø to Ålesund for the first time when she was one year old. That was in 1931. In other words, she has become quite old. Since then, she has made quite a few trips up and down the coast. When she was four, there was a memorable trip south on a ship that was considerably smaller than the boats we know today. She remembers well one time when she was walking around the deck and saw a cage with three cute polar bear cubs.

Maybe they were going to be transported to a zoo far away. She went over to the cage to pet them, but a sailor came and dragged her away, warning her that it was dangerous. She could lose her fingers.

From the sickbed to the Arctic

– I think I'm pretty brave! she says now, the day before leaving for Trondheim. I agree with her there. Many things become more difficult with age, not least walking. It wasn't many weeks ago that my everyday life involved visiting her at a health center in Bærum after she had undergone a new hip joint operation. Now she has trained herself to walk, albeit a little unsteadily, with a cane and perhaps with a helping hand. Now she may soon have to put on sea legs. But we have been a bit strategic, it must be admitted. The trip we have chosen from Trondheim avoids the waves at both Stadt and Hustadvika.

We drive north from Oslo, stay overnight at a hotel in Trondheim, and get to see the Nidelva in the morning sun before boarding the MS Kong Harald. Everything goes as smoothly as possible. We have a light wheelchair with us in case the weather gets bad.

It's hard for a woman who has been so strong in her life to become physically weak. She has a PhD and has written books on politics and history, but this week she needs my help to get from her cabin to the 4th floor for breakfast, and from there to the panoramic lounge on the 7th floor.

The weather matters. You can get all sorts of weather at this time of year. But this time the sun is never far away, even though we also experience both snow showers and rain. It is only when we cross the North Sea towards Lofoten that things really start to rock as we sit in the panoramic lounge at the top, with a 180-degree view. François ends up going down to the cabin and getting the wheelchair – without it, we would never have made it to the Bistro for dinner.

The photographer on duty As a photographer, I feel that my place is “on duty”. Where is it? Yes, it is out on deck, either on deck 5 – where you can walk on deck all the way around the boat, or on deck 7, where you can stand protected (and a little warmer) behind glass. I quickly get to know the other photo enthusiasts during our trip. A Japanese man, a Korean woman, a few young men with heavy lenses and tripods. We trudge around the deck wrapped in down jackets and layers of wool. We take out the equipment, both larger and smaller lenses, iPhones, whatever you have and want to use. The pictures along the coast are amazing no matter what equipment you use.

As we pass Honningsvåg, ice has formed on the deck. It crunches under our feet as we make our rounds. There are always mountains, fjords, sunlight, clouds, cliffs, and reefs to be documented, or perhaps even turned into photo art.

The days go by quickly. Every morning, Eivind from Skjervøy welcomes us in the breakfast room and gives us lots of compliments. “You always look so pretty in the morning!” he says to my mother on day 3, when she makes her entrance with a colorful shawl. It’s a good start to the day. Gradually it becomes a routine. We go from breakfast to the panorama lounge on deck 7. There we might read a little in a good book, but mostly we look out at a vibrant, nautical-romantic picture floating by.

One day we visit Captain Leif Ven on the bridge. My mother is welcomed – François and mate Steinar help her up into the captain's chair. The captain's mother smiles broadly.

In Tromsø, Uncle Helge and Aunt Jorun visit us. I can see that my mother appreciates the visit immensely, as she has not seen them for several years. Who knows when she will see them next.

Time is running out.

“Time is running out for us,” says Aunt Jorun, who is a philosophical soul. I ask her about the Northern Lights. How big is the chance that we will see them in their full glory? And strong gusts of wind are predicted in a couple of days when we round the North Cape. Will there be high seas? Maybe it will be too tough for my mother? Jorun has no statistics on the Northern Lights. They come when they come. And the weather?

“The weather doesn't look at the weather forecast!” she says with a smile on her face. We simply have to take it as it comes.

And she's right. The gusts never came. We had exceptionally good weather throughout the trip.

In Kirkenes, the three of us went ashore, in minus 14 degrees. We went for a lovely walk and pushed my mother in her wheelchair on the cycle path along the E6, through white snow with a blue sky above us. All the way to the center of Kirkenes. I haven't seen her so excited in a long time.

A couple of days later, just south of Tromsø, the long-awaited northern lights arrive.

My fellow photographers on deck 5 are getting their way. The night sky is lighting up in the east and west. Our country, our sky, our solar system, everything seems to be in just the right place right now. And we are there. We see.

Even if your legs aren't working so well, you can still grab hold of life and capture both day and night. So go out and see the world, while you still have eyes that can see!