Getting Around Oslo

While the friends drive and all that, and don't mind taking me around, I like to take some time alone too. The city of Oslo is small and getting around is easy. The friends didn't even bother to tell me how and what beyond showing me the nearest three train stations to the house. Hahahah. They completely trust my sense of direction.

There's the inter-city commuter rail of which also leads passengers to and fro the airports. There're options of the Metro or what Oslo calls it as the T-bane, the tram or the bus. I like the T-bane best. They run every 15 - 20 minutes. It's the most convenient option for me and it takes me everywhere that I want to go. Although, why do so many train stations stink of urine. UGH.

Downloaded the Ruter app onto my phone and buying tickets has never been easier. I'm just really thrilled Ruter made an app for the Windows phone. Heh. With a local data-SIM card (took Telenor because Netcom RAN OUT of SIM cards. Win lor. But not unlimited data though. 10MB a day, capped at 1GB a month I think. S$60), it makes travel easy, checking train schedules and buying tickets. E-tickets are downloaded to my phone. Depending on whether there's an officer to check the tickets upon exit, then I'll flash the email/PDF copy of my ticket upon request.

The best part- I could pay for these tickets with a credit card (as long as you have a PIN code for it), even if it's only NOK30 (~S$6). Importantly, the e-tickets are fantastic for buses and trams because they don't offer the option of buying hard-copies at the respective stops, and if you buy on the tram/bus, it's quite a lot more to pay for per ticket. Just grab a NOK90 (S$18) 24-hour ticket for unlimited trips across T-bane, tram and bus. It's quite awesome that I haven't had to change cash at all! I have zero Norwegian kroners on me. Wheeee.