New member from Sweden!

Takk og like måte ;-)

You're in a great place where you can live in Sweden where the prices are sane, yet travel to Norways mountains and fjords.

You're not kidding on the prices. The 2014 N1K ABS in Norway's MSRP is ~220,000 NOK. At today's exchange rate, that is about $36,000, 3x as high as in the US.

Before anyone points out that "salaries are higher" consider that they aren't 3x higher. Once in a while I toy with moving back to Oslo, and could probably land a job at 2x my current salary. But paying $11/gal for fuel, $23 for a microbrew, 25% (or so) sales tax, "cheap" $225 hotel rooms, $100 hostel nights, etc nixes that idea every time.

My parents still live in Oslo and have recently retired on the gov't pension, which isn't enough to allow them to stay in Oslo much longer. They are making plans to move to Minnesota soon, where their pension and lower cost of living will allow a much higher quality of life. By our calculations, the difference between monthly payments on a mortgage on a $100k townhome in MN and rent on a small apartment in Oslo, equals a $2000 plane ticket to Norway. Every month.

Besides, my dad has a VStrom parked in my brother's garage (also in MN ;-) )

So welcome ;-)