Getting to Bodø
Travel Arrangements
We advise you to book your travel to Norway well in advance. You should also try to purchase the International Student Identification Card (ISIC), which will entitle you to travel cheaper. To get to Bodø, you can choose between the following methods of transport: plane, train, car, boat and bus.
Domestic Flights
You can go to most parts of Norway by plane. It may well be cheaper to organize your travel to Bodø once you have arrived in Norway. All Norwegian airlines SASBraathens and Norwegian, offer discount flights to students if you purchase the tickets the same day you intend to travel. You will need to buy the tickets at least an hour before the flight. In order to buy the tickets, you need to find the appropriate airline ticket desk and ask for a student ticket to Bodø, and show your ISIC card (if you are over 26 years old). This cheap ‘stand-by’ ticket offer is available to people under 26 years of age and all students under 31 years of age. Please note on weekends and in times of increased air travel (e.g. music festivals) you may not be able to do this. If you intend to arrive at the weekend, we advise you to book your flight to Bodø well in advance, as the flights tend to fill up very quickly. We can also recommend you to book your flight on the Internet. This way you might find some very cheap offers (you might be able to purchase an even cheaper ticket than a “stand-by” ticket.) Please note that the tickets may not be refundable, as they are very cheap. To find more information about prices and offer, please click one of these following links:
Trains
Bodø is the final destination for northbound trains in Norway. A train trip from Oslo to Bodø is well worth taking if only for the stunning scenery. It will take approximately 17 hours, with a change in Trondheim. There are two trains a day one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The train departs from Oslo Central Station and Trondheim Central Station. Once you have a Norwegian student card you can buy a student ticket from Bodø to Oslo and stop anywhere in-between for up to two months. You can combine these tickets with an Interrail or a Nordic rail ticket. You can also use the train to go to town, and travel between cities. Visit these websites for more information: www.nsb.no (English version) www.interrailnet.com (English version).
Buses
There are many ways of travelling to Bodø by bus, and there are some cheap tickets available from Stockholm, Sweden, or from the south of Norway. Click on these following links for further information:http://www.exact-reise.no/cfml/exactout.cfm?GoToUrL=http://www.nor-way.no, http://globejuice.expressen.se/c/norway/_/
Boat
You can also arrive in Bodø by boat or ferries. Even though most boats are quite expensive, we recommend you to take the boat to see the beautiful scenery surrounding Norway. We also recommend you to take a boat to one of the islands around Bodø. It is also possible to go to Bergen or Kirkenes with the Hurtigruten, one of the most spectacular routes in the world. You’ll experience the fjords, and see people living in some of the roughest climates on small islands in the middle of the sea.
Hostels
If you have to spend one night in Oslo or Trondheim, we recommend you to stay at one of the youth hostels, Rosenborg (in Trondheim) or Haraldsheimen (in Oslo). If you want to arrive in Bodø some time before the semester begins, we recommend you to stay at the youth hostel in Bodø. We advise you to avoid weekends, since it can be crowded, and it might be a bit more expensive. These following links will help you to find a youth hostel;
Notification of Arrival
When you have booked your mode of transport, please let us know as soon as possible so we can schedule a ride from the airport for you. There are several ways to inform us of when you wish to be picked up. You can return the pick-up request slip you received together with the student acceptance form. But the best way is to either send us an e-mail (international@hibo.no ) or to call us on +47 75 51 78 03. That way you will get confirmation of your pick-up right away.
When you arrive at the airport, walk down to the baggage pick-up point and look for the “Velkomsten” representative. If you arrive by train, just go to the information point and look for a “Velkomsten” representative. The “Velkomsten” representative will be holding a “Velkomsten” poster and wear a T-shirt with the logo on. If for some reason your arrival time has changed, please contact us and let us know. If it’s later than 12 hours before your request, we might not be able to pick you up.
In Bodø
Bus
There are numerous buses that go to and from campus and the town centre. As a student you can get a ‘Klippekort’, which is a card that contains credits for 50 local bus journeys. Although the card might seem expensive at first, it is a reduction of over 50 % of full fare if you pay every every time. The card can be bought on the bus or at the bus station in Bodø. Remember to ask for student discount.
You will have to show your student card with a valid registration sticker. The card is refundable so if you leave Bodø and you have not used all of the journeys, you can get your money back for the unused journeys. On Saturday and Sunday the bus service is reduced, so do check the returns before you go somewhere. Also during the weekend some routes change, so check the timetable (you get one on the bus). Useful link: www.nbuss.no. There are three different buses leaving from the school to the city centre. There is also a bus going to the student residences at Flatvold.
Note: the bus ticket is valid two hours one way, so you can make a stopover from where you got on the bus to the final destination. The ticket is not valid for returns.
The most important routes going between the city centre/Flatvold to Mørkved are the following routes:
Route 11: Busstorget (Bus Station) - Høgåsen (30 min.) You have to get off the bus stop at Shell and walk 10 min to school. This bus only takes about 10 – 15 min from the Bus Station.
Route 12: Busstorget (Bus Station) – Bjørndalslia (Mørkved) via Bodøsjøen and Østbyen. (35 min.)
Route 13: Busstorget (Bus Station) – Skavdalslia - Bjørndalslia (Mørkved) (20 min.).
Route 22: Busstorget (Bus Station) – Høgskolen (Bodø University College) – Bjørndalslia (25 min.)
Route 24: Bjørndalslia – Høglia – Rønvik (Flatvoll student home).
There are two bus stops near Bodø University College and different buses go to Bodø from each of them, look them up in your bus time table, and keep in mind which side you are on as the bus stop going to the centre is on the opposite side of the road as the one you get off when going to school.
Car
You can bring your own car, and not need to get it registered through Norwegian authorities for the 1st year. You should contact the custom service when you arrive to Bodø, and they can see if you need to register it through the Norwegian authorities. If you change your address to Norway, you can’t drive a metre before contacting the custom service. If you would like to buy or rent a car, check the yellow pages or visit the site www.gulesider.no. You can use your country’s drivers’ license for up to 1 year. The European Drivers’ license can be used like the Norwegian, and you don’t have to change it. The drivers’ licence must have been approved by the Geneva Convention or the Vienna Convention for issued drivers’ licence. Some country’s drivers’ license, like the Ecuadorian, is not valid for driving in Norway. You should contact the police station or the Directorate of Road about your country’s drivers’ licence.
Taxi
The taxi service is expensive. You have to pay around NOK 160 during the day to go from Bodø centre to Bodø University College. In the night, during weekends and public holidays it is more expensive. You can’t normally bargain with the taxi, because they have a taximeter in the car, and they have to report over the computer where they are at all time. We strongly advise against the use of a pirate taxi, as they are illegal, and because you can never know who is in the car. |
