This blog post has been in my drafts for so long and I have extra time today so might as well complete this post. lol
Europe
A Guide to First Time Visitors in Iceland
Everyone should visit Iceland at least once in their life. It’s definitely a one of a kind place to visit because a lot of it is still very raw and untouched. While I may have only been to the touristy spots, I was still very amazed at how beautiful Iceland was.
We spend around six days in Iceland on December 2018 and although the daylight was very limited, it was still a great time to visit with all the snow and the Christmasy feel. I would love to go there again in the summer though to see how Iceland looks when it’s green. Here’s a little video of our almost week-long trip. Still very noob at editing, so don’t expect too much lol
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South Coast of Iceland + Glacier Hiking
December 4, 2018
After exploring the north of Reykjavik the day before, it was time for us to explore and see what the south coast of Iceland has to offer. The South Coast of Iceland is also one of the popular routes that tourists take in Iceland. The drive here is much more farther than the Golden Circle route but it’s definitely worth the drive (or sitting for us, because we took a tour).
Golden Circle + Snowmobiling in Iceland!
The Golden Circle is probably the most basic route for tourists. I don’t know when’s the next time that I’ll be back in Iceland so we went all out and booked a Golden Circle plus Snowmobiling Tour. It is quite expensive for a day tour but I just thought of it as a gift to myself on my birthday. lollll I’ve written some of my experiences and tips for this tour so hopefully this will help you in planning your trip to Iceland!
Visiting the Blue Lagoon + The Northern Lights!
On our first full day in Iceland, we wanted to relax but we also wanted to get a glimpse of the place so we booked a tour to the Blue Lagoon during the day and another tour to see the Northern Lights at night.
The Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon is a manmade lagoon and the water temperature averages at 37-39 degrees celsius. It was super relaxing! Here are some tips when visiting the Blue Lagoon. (These are notes to myself too, when I get the chance to visit again the future!)
How to Get There
Grocery Shopping in Iceland
I always say it and I’m gonna say it again. Iceland is expensive so you would most probably go grocery shopping at least once to buy either food to cook, snacks for your road trips, or your essentials. We went grocery shopping thrice in our whole stay and I took some pictures of how much food is at the Bonus grocery in Iceland.
While there are other grocery stores in Iceland, I’m going to talk about BONUS because we’ve also shopped at another grocery store, 1011 and it was more expensive than Bonus. The Bonus store near our airbnb usually closes at 6:30pm so sometimes after we’re back from the tours, it’s already closed. 1011 is like 7/11 and it’s open 24 hours so when we need just a few stuff late at night, we just shop there even though it’s more expensive.
Rome: Day 3
July 10, 2016
Right when we decided that we will visit Rome, I immediately searched for the Pope’s schedule. I was sad that the Pope didn’t have any parade scheduled for the whole month of July but I was really glad that he held Angelus prayers on every Sunday of the month. And so I scheduled our visit to Vatican on a Sunday to be in the presence of the Pope.
Rome: Day 2
July 9, 2016
We only stayed a few days in Rome and with all the places that we had to cover, we had to make every day count! We started our venture into ancient Rome at the largest amphitheater that was ever built, the Colosseum.
Rome: Day 1
July 8, 2016
Onto the last city of our Europe trip! We took the morning train from Florence and arrived after about an hour and a half. We were very excited to be in the historic city of Rome!
When we were on our train from the hotel to our first stop (the Trevi Fountain), we witnessed a local from Rome snatching a Korean’s bag right when the train doors were closing. The snatcher hurriedly ran and the Korean girl’s boyfriend forcibly opened the train doors and rain after the snatcher. It was a scary thing to witness on our first train ride in Rome so we got extra careful with our belongings after that.
Florence and Pisa
July 6, 2016
We initially planned to just go directly to Rome from Venice and do a day trip to Florence and Pisa because I thought about how hard it was to move from one city to another with our luggage. But I wasn’t sure if doing a day trip to both cities would give us enough time so we just looked for a hotel near the train station in Florence and stayed there for two nights.
The Adventures of Ting Ting 