From navigating the icy Arctic waters of northern Norway to steering a three-wheeled auto-rickshaw across India , Øyvind Hesjevik and his uncle Jo Inge Hesjevik took on an extraordinary road trip. Hailing from Norway’s far north, where Øyvind is a marine engineer and Jo Inge serves as a mayor for Porsanger Municipality, the duo travelled to India seeking an authentic, slow-paced adventure. They chose an auto as their transportation to explore the country.
Me and Jo didn’t know how close we were, but just when the sun set we tried to check in at a hotel, maybe five kilometers from the border in a town. And we learned that foreigners don’t really get accepted into the hotel so close to the border, so we had to drive in the dark.” Talking about their trip, he continued, “We came to India to attend the ‘rickshaw run 2026’ where 35 tuktuk from all over the world travel from Jaisalmer to Kochi in 13 days. “We spend about 10,000 rupees per day on food, fuel, hotels and tea.
The Norwegian said that they were spending close to ten thousand rupees each day. Plus the International flights and attendance fee.” Øyvind recalled, “The first day we were quite close to the Pakistani border when we were going south through Rajasthan.
He continued, “So we have never driven in India before but we learned when you drive a tuk-tuk in the dark that it’s a lot of oncoming traffic with the headlights on. We have cows in the road and. My uncle doesn’t see so good so I had to drive in the dark but it was two hours driving at night. Despite the initial hurdles, the duo finally managed to drive safely and get into a hotel. Øyvind also talked about one of his best memories from the trip.
“We were driving in the hills of Mumbai, just going up and down through the rainforest, and it was such a beautiful landscape and so clean, and it’s a part of India we never hear about earlier, like when it’s just such beautiful nature and everything, so that was a really big experience for us, and just being in that area, and also very little traffic, so you felt safe while driving, just beautiful.”
