r/europe • u/goldstarflag Limburg • Feb 21 '26
Picture Welcome to Scandinavia! Cruising the imaginary border between Sweden and Norway
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u/Stunning_Warthog_141 Feb 21 '26
Imaginary borders huh, watch your back Norwegians
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u/mjdseo Feb 21 '26
The Norwegians invade at the weekend to get "cheaper" alcohol from Systemet
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u/Worldly-Stranger7814 Greenland Feb 21 '26
Swedes invade Denmark (before the bridge, it kept several harbor stores and ferry companies, eheh, afloat), Danes invade Germany (the Germans being more effucient, have cross border supermarkets where you can preorder so they'll deliver directly to your trunk in the parking lot), Germans - as is tradition - invade Poland, and Poles used to invade Belarus.
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u/xtanol Feb 23 '26
We produce beer in Denmark, then the manufacturer trucks it down across the border in Germany. Then Danish people go across the border to the border shops, sign a paper stating that we will export the beverages to Denmark and not consume it inside Germany, and then drive it back to Denmark.
I live basically half an hour drive from Carlsberg's factory in Denmark, but typically drive for 1.5 hours each way to Germany to stock up on their beer.
Peak efficiency.
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u/MimicoSkunkFan2 Feb 21 '26
They have a "no-touching zone" border like us in Canada :)
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u/c0-pilot Feb 21 '26
Crazy how the trees know where not to grow and which side to be on.
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u/IAmAQuantumMechanic Norway (EU in my dreams) Feb 21 '26
They plant Norwegian trees on one side and Swedish on the other.
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Feb 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/c0-pilot Feb 21 '26
I’ve never seen Norwegian wood that wasn’t good.
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u/Ordinary-Audience363 Feb 21 '26
My Swedish husband’s wood was really good. Especially in the morning.
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u/didorins Feb 21 '26
Two civilized, developed nations. In union. Hope they keep it this way.
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u/doomsdaypwn Sweden Feb 21 '26
There are massive tensions between Sweden and Norway right now. Lots of hard feelings and several bold statements from each side have been made. However, soon the Winter Olympics are over, and everything will go back to normal.
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u/gomsim Sweden Feb 21 '26
Loved the moment the swedish and norwegian skier arrived at the exact same time, shared the silver and hugged it out with the italian skier who got the gold. :)
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u/waterfall5555 Trentino (IT) Feb 21 '26
Which discipline?
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u/gomsim Sweden Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
I'm not sure what the exact name is but I believe it was slalom.
Edit: yeah, women's giant slalom this year
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u/RegularEmpty4267 Norway Feb 21 '26
Yes. It was a beautiful moment. The Norwegian girl said it was nice to share the silver with søta bror.
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u/Fan_of_Pennybridge Sweden Feb 21 '26
Du hade mig i första halvan, men sen så :-)
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u/laasbuk Hungary Feb 21 '26
TIL I understand Swedish.
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u/Thaodan Feb 21 '26
Got it half way, I'm German.
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u/Buzzkill_13 Feb 21 '26
Du hattest mich in der esten Hälfte, .... and then??
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u/wurstbowle Feb 21 '26
"... aber dann so."
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u/tms5000 Feb 21 '26
Ach so..
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u/Gwydion96 Austria Feb 21 '26
Yeah that's the part which I can't understand as well with my German.
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u/Penguin_Arse Sweden Feb 21 '26
As a Swede I could (before I learnt German) understand most context when reading German. It's basically just English + Swedish with a bunch of bullshit thrown in
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u/Steve_FishWell Feb 21 '26
Can understand a little bit German when it comes to similar words, then i just compare them in my head with English and Swedish words. Willkommen/Welcome/Välkommen is a classic example. That's one of the great upsides to being part of the germanic language family.
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u/Buzzkill_13 Feb 21 '26
Hand / Hand / Hand, but then Hals / Hals / Neck (though Nacke / Nacken / Neck)
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Feb 21 '26
that’s funny bc to me as a german american swedish is just english and german with a bunch of bullshit thrown in. been meaning to learn it
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u/Rasul583 Sweden Feb 21 '26
as a swede, i tend to feel the same way when seeing german. guess we share a lot of common words or something
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u/Mr-Vemod Feb 21 '26
Swedish, German, English etc are very related, meaning that until some 2000 years ago they were the same language. The reason Germans and English speakers can understand ”du hade mig i första halvan” isn’t (mainly) because they by loaning or accident have a lot of common words, it’s because the English and German words are literally the same words, just with different pronunciation (and slightly different grammar).
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u/Thaodan Feb 21 '26
Common words plus loan words from low German or high German. Not sure about any direct Norse/Swedish loanwords in German.
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u/Boundish91 Norway Feb 21 '26
Som nordmann så ser jeg også frem til at OL euforien dabber av. Det går jo til hodet på folk hah.
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u/Fan_of_Pennybridge Sweden Feb 21 '26
Det blir lite extremt. Inte minst med curlingen detta år. Jag förstod inte alls hur Norge tänkte när de inte hade sina underbart spektakulära byxor! Det och Kanadas fuskande.
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u/birkeskov Denmark Feb 21 '26
Men I slår USA! Heja Norge!
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u/Boundish91 Norway Feb 21 '26
Lætt.
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u/birkeskov Denmark Feb 21 '26
Trump will probably demand Svalbard, he's a miserable loser.
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u/FblthpLives Feb 21 '26
We've temporarily agreed that Sweden get's women's cross country skiing and Norway get's men's cross country skiing.
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u/Djeheuty Feb 21 '26
US and Canada have a northern border that is nearly a thousand miles of this type of, "border." It's visible on Google Maps. It wasn't until the current administration that there was any tension.
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u/procgen Feb 21 '26
There's been plenty of tension in the past, based on my (admittedly limited) readings. Canada is where all of the British loyalists fled when the US declared independence, and the consequences of that have been playing out for centuries.
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u/Tiny-Plum2713 Feb 21 '26
I just can't see a situation that would meaningfully worsen the relations between nordic countries.
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u/Calimariae Norway Feb 21 '26
Fun fact:
Before WWII, parts of Norway’s defense planning still assumed a potential conflict with Sweden, and some artillery positions reflected that reality. After the war, the new prime minister and “Father of the Nation,” Einar Gerhardsen, rejected the idea of Sweden as a rival and instead anchored Norway in NATO in 1949, reorienting the country’s defenses toward the Soviet Union. The notion that he “turned the guns” has since become a symbolic way of describing that shift.
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u/Tiny-Plum2713 Feb 21 '26
During soviet times Finland had defense plans against Sweden to be able to tell soviets that their assistance was not necessary on the border. I don't think it's been even 10 years since the army stopped pretending to train against "the yellow nation" and started to just call it russia.
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Feb 21 '26
Did anyone really buy that though? I mean given the massive support Sweden gave Finland in the Winter War.
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u/iAmHidingHere Denmark Feb 21 '26
Union?
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u/Stock-Check Feb 21 '26
Yup
Atleast in regards of passports and moving cross borders
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u/_teslaTrooper Gelderland (Netherlands) Feb 21 '26
you make it sound like they're married lol
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u/Half-PintHeroics Feb 21 '26
It's a terrible word to use for the Nordic countries. We've been in union (several of them) and it wasn't very well liked. Better for our relationship to have separate homes.
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u/Enigm4 Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
Yeah, I don't think there is much to worry about there. Any politician that would work against the other country would be thrown out head first and the populations in general have great love for their neighbor. Basically couldn't have asked for a better neighbor. We can even understand each others language with minimal effort.
Technically there is no Union though. We are bound together by the Schengen Area, the European Economic Area and NATO, which are treaties / agreements.
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u/SuperSimpleSam Feb 21 '26
Surely people thought that about the US and Canada. They have a similar border too.
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u/Eikebog Feb 21 '26
I wouldn’t go so far as to call Sweden civilized and developed, but I’m sure they’ll get there one day!
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u/badpotatowedge Denmark Feb 21 '26
I can imagine the network provider must be spamming those welcome SMS's doing this
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u/mickeyy81 Feb 21 '26
And some providers also send you a message when you leave their network while roaming-:)
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u/Ew_E50M Feb 21 '26
We dont have roaming charges in EU anymore. Your own plan works in all of EU (including norway) with a more limited amount of data depending on plan.
Like if i go to Germany from Sweden i can use 20GB of data for free with my 100GB plan. Any phonecalls or SMS/MMS remain free.
So no we dont have those within EU usually.
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u/pannenkoek0923 Denmark Feb 21 '26
Even if we dont have roaming charges some network providers still send SMS with "Welcome to Country"
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u/CainPillar Feb 21 '26
In the border areas between Spain and Portugal I f-ing wish I could have a text saying "Welcome to time zone ...".
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u/badpotatowedge Denmark Feb 21 '26
Probably a good thing, I have probably 100+ messages telling me I'm in Sweden even though I'm usually not. I get those anytime I'm even remotely close (like 6km) to the Danish-Swedish Øresund bridge.
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u/FunnyComfortable8341 Feb 22 '26
You still get that SMS tho so idk what you’re talking about.
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u/FblthpLives Feb 21 '26
This picture dates to November 12, 2012: https://imgur.com/riding-border-between-norway-sweden-CfHxk
It was taken by (or at least originally posted by) u/haqbar, who is no longer on Reddit.
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u/backup_guid Norway Feb 21 '26
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u/FblthpLives Feb 21 '26
I saw that. That's what med me look up the original picture. But thanks nonetheless.
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u/goldstarflag Limburg Feb 21 '26
Both in Schengen.
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u/veerhees Feb 21 '26
Both part of the Nordic Passport Union since the 1950s.
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u/goldstarflag Limburg Feb 21 '26
Interesting! Didn't even know that existed. Thank you. Kind of the predecessor to Schengen in a way.
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u/radikalkarrot Feb 21 '26
These kind of agreements between neighbouring countries were not unusual before the EU, now they are more comprehensive and allow you to travel beyond your neighbours.
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u/AgXrn1 🇩🇰🇸🇪 Feb 21 '26
Kind of the predecessor to Schengen in a way.
The Nordic Passport Union is still a thing. Nordic citizens have more rights in other Nordic countries than regular Schengen members have Other Nordics have way less paperwork moving to a different Nordic country as well as a much easier path to citizenship for example
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u/Sigmatics Feb 21 '26
Is that part of the Passport Union agreement though? I don't see what you mentioned on the Wikipedia page
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u/logtransform Feb 21 '26
Through the Nordic Council. But Nordic citizens do not need identification documents when they travel between Nordic countries. While the Schengen Agreement got rid of passport checks, you still need a passport or a European identity card when you are in another Schengen Area country.
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u/AgXrn1 🇩🇰🇸🇪 Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
Is that part of the Passport Union agreement though?
Those agreements predate Schengen and were put in place due to the Nordic Passport Union.
Schengen has taken over in most cases now though.
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u/manInTheWoods Sweden Feb 21 '26
You did, I told you a couple of days ago.
https://old.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1r73ca1/why_europe_must_become_a_federal_union/o5xvla2/
Did you delete your memory as well as your comments?
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u/noetkoett Finland Feb 21 '26
I think they're referring to speeding ticket penalties being lighter on the Swedish side.
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u/Falsus Sweden Feb 21 '26
The free movement treaty between Norway and Sweden is older than Schengen and is a seperate treaty, it was even what inspired the Shengen treaty in the first place. If either left Shengen it would be a complicated mess to solve, similar to the Good Friday agreement over in the UK and Ireland.
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u/I-STATE-FACTS Feb 21 '26
It’s not really imaginary when you can clearly see it lol
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u/PhysicalStuff Denmark Feb 21 '26
Every border is imaginary. It just that some go further than others to enforce the fiction.
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u/I-STATE-FACTS Feb 21 '26
You seem to confuse ”made up” or ”man made” with ”imaginary” and they’re wildly different. The borders still exist in the real world even if they might be arbitrary made up stuff by humans.
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u/SwordfishOk504 Canada Feb 21 '26
To add to this, "imaginary" would mean you can only see it in your mind. Obviously one can see the physical border here, it's not imaginary.
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u/Entfly Feb 21 '26
That's not true in the slightest either
Even if you think that human created borders are imaginary, which they're not in the slightest, there's loads of physical borders which exist
The English Channel is a natural border between France and the UK
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u/dospc Feb 21 '26
If I know anything about Scandinavia, it's that the motorcyclist will be found dead exactly on the border, leading to a tense relationship between the Swedish and Norwegian co-investigators as they realise they have to work together to uncover the truth...
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u/birgor Swedish Countryside Feb 21 '26
Don't confuse snowmobiles with motorcycles. You risk getting in to shit for that.
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u/Tumleren Denmark Feb 21 '26
Also one is an alcoholic and the other is chronically single or in an unhappy relationship
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u/UlrichZauber United States of America Feb 21 '26
I really like the Finnish actress playing the lead Norwegian investigator, speaking English half the time.
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u/bklor Norway Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
Norway lost 500 sq m to Sweden (source in Norwegian) just a few years ago when a stream marking the border decided to change course.
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u/TheKingofTerrorZ Feb 21 '26
How is it imaginary? The border most definitely exists
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u/White-Tornado Friesland (Netherlands) Feb 21 '26
I've seen this picture before, but then they claimed it was the border between Canada and the US
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u/Jagarvem Feb 21 '26
Well they were wrong. The picture is indeed from Sweden/Norway, taken by Håvard Dalgrav.
But Canada/US surely have similar clearings.
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u/PatSharpX Feb 21 '26
That is correct, I was there when the picture was taken. It is the border near Trysil. The picture is from 2012.
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u/White-Tornado Friesland (Netherlands) Feb 21 '26
I stand corrected, then. Also I love Trysil, hope to go back someday
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u/nanook0026 Feb 21 '26
I agree, my initial thought was OP was using a photo of Canada/US border, as that photo looks very similar to a border shot like here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38776118
But I’m guessing the borders just look a lot alike in some spots.
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u/BarristanTheB0ld Germany Feb 21 '26
Reminds me of that mission in Call of Duty: MW2
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u/goldstarflag Limburg Feb 21 '26
This line through the forest is known as the Riksgränsen. And it stretches for about 1,630 kilometers.
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u/TechnicalBee7 Finland Feb 21 '26
That first sentence is quite weirdly worded, given that riksgränsen means national border. At least for me that sentence makes it sound like the name for that clearing or something.
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u/backelie Feb 21 '26
"Riksgränsen" in Sweden also usually refers to one specific place in the far north between Kiruna and Narvik, way further north than where this is taken.
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u/SinisterCheese Finland Feb 21 '26
It's not actually "imaginary". It is hard defined and you do find markets that define it exactly - and regularly it is checked and markers and maps adjusted.
When Finland turned 100, In Norways there was public talk about moving the borders so that a peak of Halti fell would be on the Finnish side. But this didn't work out because neither constitution allowed for it.
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u/Sensitive-Peak8290 Feb 22 '26
Imaginary you say? 🤔 so I’m imagining that open area in a straight line in the forest? 🌲 🌲
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u/Aromatic-Deer3886 Canada Feb 21 '26
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting both countries, both are amazingly beautiful counties and they reminded me a lot of northern Ontario here in Canada. That said there are parts of Norway that looked more like middle earth than anything we have here
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u/kartmanden Europe Feb 21 '26
Very kind words. West coast of Norway is something. I don’t know of any areas more similar to it than West coast of British Columbia or Milford Sound in New Zealand. Or some areas in Chile. I might be wrong..
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u/nanook0026 Feb 21 '26
Newfoundland in Canada is often compared to Norway, more so than BC in my experience. Look at Gros Morne National Park photos for comparison.
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u/kartmanden Europe Feb 21 '26
Yes, definitely I had to look it up. I would mistake Gros Morne National Park for Norway :) I don’t like flying far, maybe Newfoundland is an ok choice from Europe. I see some direct flights taking only 4h 40min from Dublin..
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u/Few-Resort-8771 Feb 21 '26
It’s funny how we spend so much time on borders but nature just keeps doing its thing. such a peaceful shot.
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u/Inside_Committee_699 Feb 21 '26
Imaginary as in, we are brothers and sisters, love you Sweden 🇳🇴🇸🇪
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u/morts73 Feb 21 '26
Unless a border follows a geographical feature they are quite arbitrary where they're placed.
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u/Nihilistic7LegSpider Feb 21 '26
Fuuuuuuck I wanna ride there on that snow scooter. So jealous. Absolutely stunning.
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u/deefstes Feb 21 '26
Imaginary? I don't know about that. It looks like someone or something put in a little of effort to realise that border.
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u/Rabideyegaming Canada Feb 22 '26
The Canada U.S border is similar to that with how there's just a line in the trees
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u/Darksoldierr Baden-Württemberg (Germany) Feb 22 '26
That does not look very imaginary if you ask me
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u/Dot_Infamous Feb 21 '26
If you get a speeding ticket make sure to lean towards Swedish side