A Retrail journey · what actually happened

Poland, Norway & Stockholm

Warsaw · the fjords · Stockholm · one Amsterdam morning  ·  July 17 to 27, 2026

Eleven days as they were actually travelled. On the seventh day the two fjord driving days came off the plan, so this route turns east to Stockholm for two nights and then recovers Geiranger by cab and cruise in a single Saturday. Every time below comes from a booked ticket or from the photographs. The plan this diverged from is kept intact as the Great Fjord Road Trip. Prefer it told as a story? Read the blog.

The whole trip, in order

One bead per night. The orange link is where the plan changed.

On the Thursday the fjord drive came off the plan and the route turned east. Stockholm is where the record and the plan diverge.
Friday
July 17
beads = nights  ·  ◼ to verify  ·  ◼ booked
The WARSZAWA sign lit up at night, its letters in different colours
Near The Royal Castle in Warsaw, Warsaw.
Friday · July 17 · night in Warsaw

Land soft in Warsaw

  • 12:25 pmWheels down at Chopin, twenty minutes by taxi into the centre.
  • 1:26 pmInto the streets by half past one: the Saxon Gardens and its fountain, then the Old Town lanes.
  • eveningPierogi and a slow loop back. The WARSZAWA sign was lit by eight, and the last frame of the night is at 11:19.
Warsaw hotel
A long glass-roofed walkway with a moving belt, lit from above
Warsaw.
Saturday · July 18 · night in Oslo

Warsaw in a morning, Norway by night

  • morningA last Warsaw morning on foot, unhurried, photographed until just past noon.
  • 2:15 pmTo the airport for the 4:50 flight to Oslo, about two hours, no time-zone change.
  • 6:55 pmDown at Gardermoen, the airport train in, and bags dropped five minutes from Oslo S.
  • eveningA first walk toward the water; the last photograph is at 9:38.
The 4:50 pm flightRoyal Castle at 9:30Oslo hotel
A fountain with a sculpted glove atop it, red and blue houses behind
Oslo.
Sunday · July 19 · night in Oslo

Oslo, the Sunday version

  • to 3 pmA slow Sunday. The morning went unphotographed, which after two travel days was the point.
  • 3:31 pmOut from mid-afternoon: the fortress side of the old town, Kontraskjæret under the Akershus walls.
  • 7:33 pmChristiania Torv, where the glove fountain points at where the old city began, then dinner.
  • lateThe harbour promenade, and the last frame at 10:54.
Munch timed entry
A waterfall falling in two stages down a rocky green hillside
Near Kjosfossen, Myrdal.
Monday · July 20 · night in Flåm

Over the mountains to Flåm

  • 12:01 pmThe booked train west out of Oslo S, five hours over the roof of Norway, past Finse, the highest station on the line, in mid-afternoon.
  • 5:09 pmThe Flåm Railway down from Myrdal, 865 meters into the fjord valley. The train pauses at Kjosfossen, and the falls photograph is stamped 5:22.
  • 8:02 pmFlåm in the evening light. The hotel is steps from the platform; dinner in the village.
Train + Flåm RailwayFlåm hotel
A green and white train standing at a platform under an arched station roof
A station platform. Bergen.
Tuesday · July 21 · night in Bergen

Down the fjord to Bergen

  • 9:30 amThe booked electric ferry through the Nærøyfjord to Gudvangen, and the 11:40 bus over the mountain road to Voss.
  • 2:19 pmBy 2:19, a photograph on the platform at Bergen station: an earlier train than the one booked, and no complaints. Bags down next to Bryggen.
  • eveningDinner at the hotel, which came with the room, and the wharf at golden hour. The last frame is at 10:05.
Ferry, bus, trainBergen hotel
A funicular carriage climbing its track, the harbour and city below
Near Trollskogen, Bergen.
Wednesday · July 22 · night in Bergen

Bergen

  • 1:18 pmBryggen's leaning wooden row in the early afternoon, and the lanes behind it.
  • 5:04 pmFløibanen tickets at four minutes past five, the receipt says, and up the track with the harbour opening below.
  • eveningBack along the port. Dinner at the hotel, included with the room; the last frame is at 9:31.
A café counter in marble and brass, its name in gold letters on the wall behind
Franska Caféet, Stockholm. The only frame from the Thursday afternoon
Thursday · July 23 · night in Stockholm

The plan turns east

  • 8:06 amAt Bergen airport with the bags checked. The two fjord driving days had come off the plan on the Tuesday evening: Geiranger cancelled without charge, Årdal refused.
  • 10:05 amSAS to Stockholm, an hour and twenty minutes, on the ground at 11:25.
  • afternoonNothing booked and nothing photographed until a café at five past five. Two nights at the Sheraton meant the city could wait for the morning.
Sheraton, two nightsThe two flights east
A bronze statue on a stone plinth in front of a domed building, clipped hedges and blue sky
Near The Royal Palace, Stockholm.
Friday · July 24 · night in Stockholm

One full day, and the water does the work

  • 12:17 pmInto Gamla Stan, and stayed in it better than two hours. The Royal Palace at the end of that, around three.
  • 6:07 pmA boat from Strandvägen out into Lilla Värtan and back along the Djurgården shore. The National Museum, Thielska Galleriet, Waldemarsudde and Gröna Lund all went past the rail inside forty minutes.
  • 9:38 pmDinner up on Sveavägen, north of the centre, and a long one: the last photograph of the day is at eight minutes to midnight.
Sheraton, two nights
The Geirangerfjord from the Eagle Road viewpoint, the road curving along the wall below
Near Ørnesvingen Viewpoint, Geiranger.
Saturday · July 25 · night in Ålesund

The day that got the fjord back

  • 6:05 amOut of Arlanda in the dark, one stop in Oslo, into Ålesund at 9:40.
  • 10 amPicked up at the airport and straight to Brosundet to drop the bags, then back into the same cab and east. One way to Geiranger, 350 euros, in place of the cancelled rental.
  • 12:11 pmThe Linge quay, then across the Storfjord on the Eidsdal ferry by 12:28.
  • 12:54 pmØrnesvingen and the Eagle Road bends, Flydalsjuvet at 1:28, Geiranger village by 2:23. The drive the plan lost, reached from the other end and in a quarter of the time.
  • 3:00 pmThe electric cruise out of Geiranger, on the ticket booked on the ninth and never cancelled. West past the falls, alongside in Ålesund at six.
Ålesund hotel3 pm cruise, usedThe cab
A mixed grill platter with rice, salad and flatbread, a glass of red wine beside it
Dinner at Dabka, Amsterdam
Sunday · July 26 · night in Amsterdam

Out through Ålesund

  • 10:09 amA slow Ålesund morning on the harbour. The Atlantic Road loop the plan held in reserve needed a rental and a spare day, and by now there was neither.
  • 5:10 pmÅlesund to Amsterdam, nonstop, into Schiphol at 7:15.
  • 9:01 pmInto the centre and out on foot: Weesperstraat first, then a long hour around Zeedijk and Nieuwmarkt until quarter past eleven.
Flight to AmsterdamSunday airport planAmsterdam hotel
A table laid with cups and plates in front of pink armchairs and a framed picture
A table set for a meal. Amsterdam.
Monday · July 27 · fly home

One canal morning

  • 8:59 amA long breakfast, then the canal ring on foot; the walk is photographed between 10:17 and 11:07. No museum, and no regrets about it.
  • 11:45 amLeave for Schiphol.
  • 2:50 pmAmsterdam to San Francisco, landing the same evening, one day younger by the clock.
Rijksmuseum slotLong-haul re-check
Layer two

The budget dialAll figures illustrative

These are the plan’s estimates, kept here because they are what a reader forking this route would want. They do not describe what this trip cost. The two postures are the drive that came off the plan, so both are hypothetical now; the figures actually paid live in the ledger below, where the cab reads 350 euros and the released and charged hotel nights are both recorded.

4
$0
per person, illustrative
$0
whole party
Excludes the long-haul flights you already hold and shopping. A real quote beats every line here the moment you have it.
The to-do list

The booking backlog

Top to bottom; the top sells out first. Ticking a box here turns its mark green on the map. Your ticks save on this device only.

Beds first

Flights

The rail-and-boat legs, Monday and Tuesday

The road days

Timed tickets

Layer four

Ask the trip

A guide scripted from this plan; it works with no signal, in a fjord, on the plane. It answers from the itinerary and says so when it does not know. It is not a live AI and never guesses a train time.

Trip guideScripted from your plan · offline
Every site, once

The reference shelf