I need some help with a problem that is happening with my blog. I wanted to write about my experiences moving to Norway from the US and my travels around the world. I have shared my experiences and stories and the things I have learned. It seems though that people are acting like I am some kind of government official in Norway and can help them get a job, get a visa or a work permit or even just move to Norway.

When I first started my site, over two years ago, this happened every once in a while and was not a big deal. I thought that I would leave the comments on my posts from people looking for more information on how they could move to Norway, get a job in  Norway or get their visas etc. I left them there because I thought if anyone reading that information (those comments by people) maybe could help and would reply to their comments. But that has not really happened.

Now I have hundreds of comments ‘cluttering’ up my blog and I think it takes away from the quality. My concern is though, that I really want to help if I can. And for most of these people I can not. The only things I really know, I have already posted in my blog and you can easily find what information I know.

I am wondering if any of you out there have a suggestion on how I can handle this situation. I don’t want to leave people hanging, but I cant help these people and I don’t want to take away from the ‘quality’ and helpful comments people are posting.

I have read a bunch of stuff online, looked for different things like Amazon books, and even asked some friends what I should do about this situation. I can not seem to find a good solution.

Some possibilities that I am considering are:

• Just delete these comments since I can not help the people and no one else is stepping in to help them
• Have a FAQ page with clear information that says that I cannot help them with these specific questions
• Have an ‘alert’ when you post a comment on my site that asks people not to post these types of comments

I am just not sure what the best solution for this situation is. So I am asking you, what do you think I should do? Especially if you are also a blogger, I could really use your input right now. Maybe there is some kind of widget or plugin or something that you could share that could help this situation? I am really at a loss for any kind of good solution I feel. So please help!

Leave your suggestion for me in a comment below!

So I already posted a little bit about my trip to India for Guru Purnima this year. There were more pictures of the trip than were appropriate to put in one post. It was just too much, so I split it up into two posts and this is the second one.The first post (see it here) tells more about my trip than I will in this post, and mostly has pictures from Penukonda village and the ashram that I was at. This post will have more sights from the road between Penukonda and Bangalore.

Most of these pictures were taken from a bus and it was pretty cloudy for most of the trip, but as always the colors of India are bright and vibrant.

The pictures in this post (all of them except for the image at the top) can be clicked on to view larger.

On the road back to Bangalore we came across a large market that is not usually there. It must have been a festival or a weekend ‘farmers’ market of sorts. It was very colorful and loud. Fun to seee

There is a hotel and restaurant about halfway between Bangalore and the ashram that everyone traveling to the ashram stops at on the way there and on the way back. We usually stop for a bathroom break, but of course it is Indian style toilets, so I usually do my best to hold it the whole way. I am sorry - I know I am a bad traveler, but I really really prefer to sit when I use the bathroom rather than squatting in a nasty hole in the ground (its hard to aim when your a girl!).

Here is the restaurant and hotel we use a rest stop.

On the roads in India you always encounter other happy travelers. They are very creative in how they travel and how they get places. There do not seem to be any laws that prevent you from even riding on the roof of a car if you wanted. It is always entertaining to see how the people are traveling on the Indian roads. But you can count on one thing…. no matter how they travel, they will be honking the horn the whole way!

And last but not least, here are some pictures of nature and other sights along the road in India. Since I was taking pictures from moving vehicles I did not get the variety of sights that you actually see when there, but here is at least a hint. It is what actually turned out.

Hope you enjoyed seeing a little glimpse of my last trip to India!

I went again to India to celebrate Guru Purnima but the difference this time is I had a new portable camera that I was able to take more pictures than I normally do. So I had my new Samsung TL100 camera (it is so cute) and I had a wonderful trip, as always. It was very cloudy and rained on and off while I was there, not ideal shooting conditions. I did not mind the cloudy weather though, it calms down the extreme heat. Still unnaturally hot to me though!

A little about my trip…

Every time I have traveled to India in the past I have come from Oslo, Norway. The trip from Oslo to Bangalore varies a little bit, you have to go from Oslo to some other major airport in Europe then it is usually a 9-10 hour trip from somewhere like London. That is a pretty long trip in itself. BUT this time my husband and I were coming from California.

Now let me tell you, I do not suggest this for anyone EVER. In my opinion, unless you are lucky enough to be flying business or first class, this is inhumane. Basically you are on a plane for almost 24 hours with a slight pause to stand in lines in a European airport, go through customs and security check again and get back on the plane.

The other thing for us was that when we get to India, we have about a 3 hour car ride from the airport to our final destination. Thankfully about half of that road is paved now which makes it a little better, but man, this kind of traveling is not right!

Anyways, I survived and enjoyed my trip. I am just thankful that any future trips to India will be from Europe and not from California.

So, the trip TO India was not that bad for me since I did get upgraded to business class on both flights. On the first flight, from LAX to London I was on a United Airlines plane (they were awful, and the plane I was on looked like it was a ‘vintage’ plane, it worried me a little….I am not liking United - they made British Airways look like a luxury airline, and if you have been following my blog you will know I have not been a big fan of BA in the past).

On the LAX to London flight, I got upgraded to business class. On United though, business class is like BA’s ‘premium economy’. I don’t know if any of you know what that means, but what that means is that the seats are much bigger, more comfortable and it is a little less painful to sit there for the 10 hours.

Then, the best thing ever happened. When I changed planes in London, they upgraded me to business class again. But business class on British Airways its totally different than business class on United. On BA, you have your own little ‘pod’. There is a divider wall between you and the person next to you, you have a foot rest and the seat lays all the way flat so you can actually sleep for real. It was amazing. I was next to a window, so I did not just have a window seat, I had 4 windows all to myself. Its almost like being in your own little room. It was awesome.

Anytime I get upgraded like this I have such an internal conflict about what to do. I feel like I should ‘enjoy’ all the perks of the upgrade (you know…like real silverware and better service :)) but I was soooo tired then and knew it was going to be a long way to my final destination. So I decided to enjoy the perk of actually being able to TRULY sleep on a plane! Oh, it was more than amazing. I actually slept for over 8 hours comfortably and woke up right before landing to have breakfast. I never want to travel again any other way :) (CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE THEM LARGER)

But then I had to pay my ‘travelers karma’ on the trip back to California. Not horrible, but not that great of seats from Bangalore to London. I at least had a window. That was good. But back to reality in economy…. Then my good traveling karma was up, from London to LAX. I was stuck in the middle row of 5 people in the middle of a packed plane for 11 hours. That was awful.

Anyways, I am back in California again (I will be here for a little while, but am going back to Europe VERY soon…and looking forward to it!). Finally I have some time to share my pictures I took with my new camera (the cutest ever, you should get one - Samsung TL100….). I just have a dilemma on what the best way to present these pictures to you is.

I dont want my hompage to take too long to load because I have so many pictures I want to show you so just click on the more button to see the rest of the article! Enjoy my pics from my most recent trip to India! [Read more →]

When living in Norway, you become very aware of the changes in season, or more accurately, the lack there-of. Winter is long, dark, cold and wet. It can really make you dream of where you want to run for some sun and warmth.

For me one of the things that I have loved to do in the past is take a cruise. I have not been on one in a long time, but I think it would be so much fun to take another cruise soon. During the winter in Oslo I know my husband and I would have loved to have hopped on a plane and take a beautiful Caribbean cruise. But since I am not in bikini body shape, I think I will take a ‘rain check’ for that vacation. There is another kind of cruise I really would love to take.

I think that my ideal cruise vacation would actually be one that goes during the summer and goes up along the coast of Norway. I know you probably all think that I am crazy and wondering why I would want to do that since I live in Oslo already. The reason is that I really want to see the west coast of Norway and the nature farther north. Since I have moved to Oslo I really have not gotten to see much of Norway other than Oslo. I would really love to see the rest of the country that is famous for its beautiful nature.

Plus if you get food and drinks on the cruise boats, there is no better way to see Norway since it is such an expensive country. I know a cruise up the coast of Norway would not be cheap but I do think that it would be my ideal cruise vacation.

Have you ever been on a cruise and loved it? Tell us about it in a comment below!