A trip you won't forget!

A trip you won't forget!

My name is Hólmfríður Anna and I work for Wow air. Wow air is an airline in fact the cheapest airline you will find in Iceland. To top that off, we also offer organized trips  for our customers. This autumn we offer a trip with a guide in London so that you can have the best experience of London as possible. The trip is more towards people who have an interest in the history  and who wants to wine and dine in the best restaurants!
If you want to see London in a different light for only 154.000 ISK , then continue  reading!

 

Thursday – Trip starts

So the boarding time should be about 4:20AM and the flight takes off at 6:20AM. We encourage everybody to show up at the airport around 4:20 and check in your bags. You can’t check in if there are only 45 minutes until the flight takes off, so it is important that you take this seriously and be on time. Because nobody wants to be denied to the trip of their life! When you have checked in your bags you’ll have the chance to look in the stores or get you a snack for the flight

The plane will take you to Heathrow Airport in London and the set arrival time should be  10:40AM. Everybody will collect their bags and then the tour guide will welcome you to London. The guide lives in London so he has an answer to nearly every question you’ll have, except why the sky is blue..
I can’t promise that.
You will get on a bus with the group and stop right in front of your hotel. You are going to stay at the Park Plaza Riverbank London which is a 4 star hotel located in central London.

The group will get 2 hours to refresh or powernap at the hotel, then you will visit  the first museum in this trip which is Tate Britain.
Tate Britain is an art museum located on Millibank so it is only 450 meters from the hotel. What is spectacular about Tate Britain is that it was opened 1897 , it is 119 years old!  In the museum you can see arts from 1500 to the present day. You will walk back to the hotel 3 hours later ,then the clock should be around 05:00PM.  The group has a reservation at 7:00PM  at Chino Latino, which is a famous restaurant located at the hotel. You are going to try out the tasting menu which includes 8 courses! The menu is a fun way to try many different kinds of food all at the same night.

Friday

The breakfast starts at 09:00AM and is finished 11:00AM. So if you want to get breakfast you have to wake up then, the tour guide will meet you at the lobby at noon. The group is going to walk to the subway station , the walk should take about 5 minutes. The destination is  the British museum that is talked about all over the world and it is free! They are going to be at the museum for 2 ½ hours and then take the bus to see the London eye. The London eye is a  ferris wheel, the biggest one in Europe! It is located on the South bank of the River Thames, so you can see almost over whole London.  Afterwards you are heading to see the Big Ben. Big ben is the nickname for the bell of the clock in the palace of Westminister. The palace is often called Elizabeth’s Tower because the queen lived in the palace.
Then the group are heading back to the hotel, you can go to shower or whatever you want to do before the show. 2 hours later we are going to see the Thriller live which is a music show based on Michael Jackson’s work. It is the most selling show in theaters in London and I can guarantee that you won’t be disappointed!
After a long day they will get back to the hotel to have a relaxing evening.

 

Saturday
The group is going to wake up for breakfast at the hotel then they are taking  the train to Camden lock market. You are signed up for Camden Street art walking tour, so you will get to see beautiful street art and also shop at this cute market.
The tour should take about 2 hours, then the next destination is Natural history museum. You will take a train to South Kensington Tube station and walk just for 5 minutes, then you’ll each the destination. If you are a history pervert then this will be your favorite day of the trip, you will be satisfied with what the museum has to offer!
Afterwards you are heading back home to freshen up then the plan is to wine and dine at the Gordon’s Ramsey restaurant! The demand is so much that we have already booked a reservation for this group, 4 months post the date. You will get to experience probably the best meal you will ever have this evening, mark my words. When everybody is full and a little intoxicated you will head back to the hotel with a taxi. You will remember this day for a while..

 

Sunday – last day!
The group is going to start the day with a  brunch at the Aqua Shard it  is a great idea to have a full of energy before the flight. I picked Aqua Shard so you can experience a great food and a fantastic view at the same time!  The restaurant is at level 31 at the shard so you can imagine the view over London. When the clock is 12 am , you’re taking the train back at the hotel and everybody is going to get ready to take off. The departure time is at 04:25 PM so we have to get to the airport about 2:25 PM so we will have enough time to browse the airport and check in our luggage. It’s a short flight back home, and the arrival time should be about 7:30 PM. The travel agency want to treat you a little so you will go with a taxi to airport. It will be a short ride like in the beginning, only 12 kilometers from the hotel.

Tips and advice

* The emergency number in London  is 999, so if you are in a need  and not with the guide please call this number.

* In London tip is a great way to show that you are happy with the service.
It is customary in restaurants to leave 10-15 % of the bill. You don’t have to do it for take-away or fast food.

* It is courtesy to tip taxi driver 10-15 % off the far price, but it’s not necessary.

* Don’t go out by yourself at night , you should always take someone with you.
We are not saying that London is a dangerous place but we want you to be as  safe as you can.

* Over 8.000 people live in London, so it is a really big place. You should not carry a huge amount of cash on you, it could get stolen.

* We recommend you to take the train if you are going somewhere without the guide because you have a train pass.

* The number for the taxi is +44 20 3695 283

The price

88.486.- kr for hotel
22.997.-kr for flight
111.483 total for hotel and flight

Only 42.562 for activity and food which is a gift not a price! 

Interesting links

http://park-plaza-riverbank.londonhotelsuk.net/

 http://www.chinolatino.eu/assets/pdfs/LDN_TASTING_JAN_16.pdf
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g186338-d187555-Reviews-British_Museum-London_England.html

http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/the_museums_story/general_history.aspx

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g186338-d553603-Reviews-The_London_Eye-London_England.html

http://www.theatrepeople.com/shows/thriller-live

My favorite place in the world - Bali!

My favorite place in the world would be Bali which is an island and province of Indonesia. When you think of Bali you would probably think that it is a small and remote island. It is maybe small but the population is 4,225,000 which is a lot more then Iceland!
Bali is so astounding that I fell madly in love with the island right away.
Me and my friend decided to go on a little trip after we had finished college.
We travelled to many beautiful places but Bali was the place that topped all the others            

                                      
The island is beautiful, with so many natural feautures.
We  went on a 2 day  excursion to see the most talked about places in Bali which was ultimately most mind blowing excursion I had ever been on. We went to Elephant Safari Park ,Taro Ubud and tried riding a elephant in addition visitors got to feed them also. My friend really wanted to acquire one.

 

Later that day we also visited Goa Lawah which has a bat temple which was really impressive! There is something about bats that is really enigmatic.

                                  

On the second day we spent the morning at the Padang Padang bach , that day it was really populated there. We got a nice tan after these 3 hours there which resolved our problem being that white that people noticed we were not locals..
We also went to see the Sekumpul waterfalls, it’s unbelivable how impressed I got only by a waterfall.. You would be too


                                   
As you can see Bali has so much to see but other places also do. What is special about Bali is their culture, 85 % are Hinduism. People who live in Bali are so nice and polite. You can feel their kindness even though some of them can’t talk english because Indonesian is their mother language.
Their cooking is really different then from Iceland and I loved their food when I tried out a cooking class there!
Bali is also known for their dance Barong & Keris which is really exotic in my opinion.
(click the link ,and watch from 3:10 )
I can ensure you that I will visit Bali as soon as I have enough money!

Holiday or a nightmare?

My family decided to treat ourelves in August 2015 therefore we went to Marmaris which is in Turkey. I was really excited to get to spend 2 weeks with my great family. My mom, grandma, aunt, her husband and my little cousin went with me to Marmaris.
I thought this would be a perfect holiday for us, however it turned out to be horrible..
                                   

                                      

            We decided to try out the cheapest airline and a 3 star hotel because we were on a budget. We came at the airport really excited but a little disapointed when we found out that the flight was delayed for 1 hour. We didn’t let that get to us and were still in a good mood. We were informed that this plane was just being used temporarily because it was so old. I was not comfortable flying for about 8 hours in this old and small plane. We  were so happy to get to touch the ground after this horrible bumpy flight. I have to admit that for the first time I was scared that the plane would crash.
                                             

Next mission was to collect our bags, unfortunately my mom’s bag did not show up. She talked to our airline and there had been a mix up. The bag went with another plane to Spain. My mom was furious over this incident, she had no bathing suit or nothing. The airline informed her that the bag would come to her after 18 hours. She had no other option then to try to be positive and find a new bathing suit.                                   
 

We arrived at our hotel exausted , the hotel looked alright on the outside.

The accommodation were on the other hand really bad, the room was so small and the bed were clearly to old.
We thought to ourselves you get what you paid for and it did not bug us that much. Instead of letting these things ruining our holiday we decided to resolve our problems and enjoy Turkey.
We went scuba diving, shopped, and tried many restaurants.
The trip had been alright inspite of these things until one night we were walking among the beach and a man ripped my aunt’s bag of her. The bag had a small amount of money and all her cards. She called the bank and they closed all of her cards. She couldn’t use any card in Turkey so we borrowed her money.
                                   

The worst incident that happened in the trip was when a man tried to steal my little cousin. We are so extremely lucky and thankful that my mom saw this soon enough and screamed. The man ran away when he got to much attention. After this we decided we would take the next flight home. This was supposed to be a great holiday to a remote place, but in fact it was a nightmare. We all went over the budget because we switched hotels and booked an earlier flight.