In the land of no ice and snow

Since I'm on a roll with the travel tips & random observations, let's say you're on a road trip in Norway, and you have brought a cooler for your food. You'd think that, of all the things, obtaining some ice to keep your reindeer steak and cod fillets cool should be the least of your problems.

Not so fast.

Unlike in the U.S., where any gas station, convenience store, supermarket, or bodega will have bags of ice for sale, ice turned out to be hard to find in Norway, as we discovered just a few hours into the trip. Gas stations don't have ice. Supermarkets don't have ice. Campgrounds don't have ice. There's ice in the glaciers, but you're not standing next to a glacier (which, don't). You're on the road.

Kiwi to the rescue. The ubiquitous Norwegian grocery chain Kiwi carries, at least in all the stores we tried, bags of ice. You might have to poke around at bit, as it's a separate freezer from the frozen food section. Find your closest Kiwi store here.

Failing that, we found a travel hack. The next mountain crossing is inevitably not that far. Next time you're up there, pull over, grab some snow from any snow bank, stuff it in a sandwich bag, and drop the bag in your cooler. Violà.

Oh, and by the way, bring some zippered sandwich or storage bags. They come in handy.

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