Robert E. Yarber is on top of the world — literally. The 41-year-old American currently resides in Tromso, Norway, a town you’ll find at just about the tippy top of your map. It’s about 220 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
And given his troubled past — and the peace he’s found in his new home — it’s an apt description of his emotional state as well.
“I sat in a prison cell, a six-by-nine cell, with another grown man for five years of my life,” Yarber says. “I wanted to see Paris, London, Berlin, and swim in the Mediterranean, check out the Dead Sea. I wanted to see all that stuff with my eyes. I didn’t want to watch it on TV.”
Shortly after he got out of prison for good in 2014, Yarber embarked on a European adventure, one that’s seen him travel to 44 countries and establish a new home for himself abroad. “I just bet it all on myself and went for it all,” he says.
Robert E. Yarber, 41, works as a bartender and bar manager in Tromso, Norway.
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So far, so good.
Yarber currently works as a bartender and bar manager and makes about $26 an hour for an annual income of about $46,000. It’s not a fortune, but it’s more than enough to live a comfortable life among people he says have truly embraced him.
“It’s so much love, and I feel so welcome. I mean, Norway is my home,” he says. “When I’m in the States, I feel like a fish out of water, almost. And now here in Norway, I’ve been able to move and groove a little bit.”
Bad decisions and imprisonment
In his youth, Yarber did much of his moving and grooving on the football field — he set a league record for interceptions during is junior year of high school in Corvalis, Oregon.
“And I just figured I would just go to university, and I just kept going to the next level,” he says.
However, a pair of knee injuries ended Yarber’s football career, and he dropped out of college after his freshman year. He took a job as a dishwasher at Denny’s, his first of many in the food and beverage service industry.
In 2006, when Yarber was 21, things went off the rails. While attending a party, Yarber and a friend got in a physical altercation with other guests, which Yarber says escalated into a melee. When Yarber managed to escape back to his car, he found himself faced with a difficult decision.
“I’m sitting there and I’m like, ‘Man, I could get in the car and drive away. I’m free,'” he says. “This is my best friend at the time. It’s my roommate, and he’s still in there all by himself, and nobody to help him.”
Yarber was determined to see the world after spending five years in prison as a young man.
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Yarber pulled two baseball bats from his trunk and went back in. He’d be the first to tell you it was the wrong choice.
He spent a four-year sentence in Oregon State Penitentiary as a result of the incident. And when he got out, finding his footing was tougher than he thought.
“When I got out and I was trying to get a job, I couldn’t get a job,” Yarber says. “I tried for all the jobs I wanted to get. Couldn’t get those. Tried for all the jobs I didn’t want. Couldn’t get those. Tried for all the jobs I felt were like beneath me that I would never have done before. Couldn’t get those either.”
To support himself, Yarber took a former cellmate up on an offer to sell cocaine. He was caught and did another 14 months in prison. He was released in March of 2014. He’s stayed out of legal trouble since.
Heading north and ‘just trying to figure it out’
Yarber struggled initially upon his release. He managed to find gigs as a server and bartender, but had difficulty keeping his life and relationships on firm footing as he wrestled with addiction.
When he and a serious girlfriend lost a pregnancy, Yarber says he fell into a depression and knew he needed a change of scenery. In December of 2018 he found a job in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska.
“I figured, if I go there, there’s really not much trouble you can get into. You’re on an island can’t get off,” Yarber says. “I was going to just go there, work in a fish factory and the processing plant and just try to get some sobriety under my belt and just try to figure it out.”
He soon realized Alaska wasn’t quite far enough. He had previously planned a trip to Norway with his ex, a woman of Norwegian heritage. The trip was canceled when the pair broke up. But when he decided to take a shot at living overseas, he figured he’d already done all the research and didn’t mind the cold. He packed his bags for Scandanavia in May 2019.
Yarber was granted a skilled worker visa in 2022 after attending European Bartender School.
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Moving abroad, though, wasn’t quite as easy as Yarber would have thought.
“I honestly thought that I could just walk into another country, walk into a bar, and just be like, ‘Hey, can I get a job?'” he says. When asked if he had a visa, he told a prospective employer that, yes, he had a credit card.
He applied for a visa four times, running into problems over his pay, his bona fides as a skilled laborer and proving his vaccination status during the Covid-19 pandemic. Eventually, after he attended European Bartender School and got the rest of his documents in order, Yarber was granted a skilled worker visa in 2022, which he renews annually for about $640.
Life in Norway: ‘The country really cares about its people’
For the most part, life above the Arctic Circle is pretty quiet.
Yarber tends and manages the bar at the Havblikk Hotel in Tromsdalen — the town just across the bridge from Tromso. It’s an upscale joint frequented by locals.
He earns around 260 kroner, or about $26 an hour, and tends to work about 35 hours a week. Income in Norway is taxed at a flat 22% rate plus a graduated “bracket tax” a further contribution to the country’s national insurance. Yarber says he’s taxed a rate of about 32% to 34%, but he still feels like he has plenty of money to live a comfortable life. He lives alone in a 35-square meter apartment, complete with what he says is a universal Norwegian luxury: heated bathroom floors.
On a typical day, you might find him working out at the gym or sharing a chai latte with friends — mostly other service industry workers. Otherwise, he might catch a movie or spend time playing video games or creating content for his YouTube or TikTok channels.
Plus, Yarber feels like his taxes are being put to good use. Workers enjoy substantial protections in Norway, he says. Those who work odd hours are paid at a premium, and employees’ hours cannot be cut or rescheduled without their permission he says — which is unheard of in the American service industry.
Yarber is studying for a Norwegian language and social studies test in the hopes of becoming a permanent resident.
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And if he gets sick or injured, he’s covered.
“That tax money goes to work by paying for surgeries when you need it, paying for medication, paying for rides to the hospital and back,” Yarber says. “Sick leave, leave if you have children or parental leave — it just shows that it’s a country that really cares about its people and isn’t trying to use everything to make money.”
Looking ahead
In short, Yarber feels like he’s found a home. He’s practicing for his Norwegian language test — part of the process of becoming a permanent resident. He rates his current proficiency at about a five out of 10. He can carry a conversation and order at a restaurant, he says.
“Could I get up and do a TED talk in Norwegian? No.”
All in due time. Yarber hopes to eventually stash some of his money away in order to buy a car (he currently relies on public transportation) and a house in his new hometown. Until now, he hasn’t saved much, opting instead to use any extra funds to travel.
“I should be having savings but, and maybe it’s this trauma from being in prison for so long and just wanting to see the world, I’ve now traveled to 44 countries,” he says. “I spend my money on traveling. If I got extra money, I’m traveling. I just want to see the world.”
It’s a sentiment that puts him right at home in the land of Norse explorers. “I’m a Black Viking in heart,” he says.
Conversions from NOK to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 USD to 9.85 NOK on Sept. 19, 2025. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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