Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Trip to London 2017

Now I'm recently back from a trip to London. I staid there Monday to Friday, which was a good amount of time. Of course i didn't get to explore the whole town because it's huge, but i think i saw some of the most important stuff at least =D

To get from the airport i took the easyBus option, which was the cheapest option, but took longer time. There are also trains you can take for a faster and more comfortable option.
I read a bit on the bus, and after a while i napped a bit, until we came into town where the traffic was slow and unsmooth. Then i took the underground to Edgware Road and walked to the hotel.

My hotel was Winrose Hotel in Sussex Gardens near Edgware Road underground station. I had a nice small room at the top floor with a single bed and a sink. The toilet was in the hallway, shared with the other residents which was totally fine for me. Outside my room was a road with traffic, so it was noisy when the window was open. In London there are many cars and sirens, so not so fun with all that noise xP The hotel had horrible WiFi, so the first few hours i just tried to surf on the internet, but it was really annoying when the internet fell out every 5 sec for two minutes. I ended up buying WiFi access from the hotel next door for my stay to be manageable xD (ssssh don't tell them i told this xD)



The street outside the hotel was a middle eastern street with lots of middle eastern shops and restaurants.

A friend came with me to London. We went out to eat at an Indian restaurant. The food there was disappointing. Just some small potatoes with some kind of filling. So we bought some snack in the shops and went back to the hotel for the night.

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The next day we went on exploring trip headed towards Big Ben. We started down the middle eastern road, through Hyde Park, then somewhere we went the wrong way and ended up on Piccadilly Circus xD I was the map reader so we can blame me xD


From Piccadilly Circus we found the national gallery. Then we found Big Ben finally after the detour!


We then went over the bridge to the other side where London Eye was. We also found London Dungeon that some people had recommended to visit, although we didn't enter this day =p


At this point we were hungry so we looked around for a place to eat (and got fascinated by a street artist so we stood looking at him for like half an hour xD). I found a Latin American place on happycow where i wanted to eat, but i couldn't find it in real life, so we ended up eating at Wagamama. We ordered some curry soup with tofu, noodles and veggies (yes both ordered the same without agreeing on it beforehand xD). It wasn't my favorite meal, but it was ok. Wouldn't order it again though xP


After eating we headed back north, somehow ending up in Chinatown and some other places, before finding the hotel. I was tired from walking so i chilled, watching 13 reasons why on Netflix, which is a very good and interesting series about the reasons why a girl on a high school took her own life.

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Next day i walked a bit around before my friend woke up. Seems i found Paddington not too far from the hotel. When my friend was also awake we headed to Madam Tussaud where we looked at the wax figures and took pictures with them. I met very many famous people that day haha xP The place was crowded with people x) I was surpriced how many different sections there were. Moviepeople, musicpeople, politicians, historic people, sportpeople, marvelpeople, starwarspeople, etc =D kept us busy for quite some hours xD








After Madam Toussaud we ate at Zizzi's, which is a pizzachain. There they had vegan pizza with vegan cheese =D I also wanted dessert but the pizza was too big and filling so i didn't order. Sadly i didn't make it to a Zizzi's again before i left so i never got to taste the dessert =(


After eating my friend wanted to go to the Sherlock Holmes museum. I'm not that into Sherlock Holmes, and i was tired, so i decided to go back to the hotel to rest a bit. After resting for a while with netflix and 13 reasons why i went back outside to the park. There i read a bit in the book i brought, Linnea Myhre - Hver gang du forlater meg, and walked around in the park. It was a very large park, and i only saw a little part of it. Then it got dark and i went back to the hotel for the night =)


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This day i also had time to walk around before my friend woke up. It was beautiful sunny weather =D We then went with the underground to London Dungeon. It was a lot of people in there, so we had to wait like an hour to get in. After going in we had to wait even more xP Then we walked with a large group of people and saw/experienced different settings. It was interesting, but a bit crowded xP

It was kinda nice to get outside again after it was done. The sun was still shining. I wanted to see tower bridge so we headed east along the river. Getting hungry, i started scouting happycow for a place to eat. We had found a greek place when i notice Big V on the app not too far away. Burger was more tempting so we went to try to find it. We found more or less the location with many sale stations on Borough market, but no Big V. After searching the place i found out it wasn't there, so we might as well move on, so we continued walking. Then i found a little street that seemed tempting to check out, so we went in there. There we found Big V, but they were closing down and sold out, so we couldn't buy burgers =( luckily they had some left over veggies we could eat, so we didn't have to walk around hungry anymore! =D


We then continued to Tower Bridge and finally found it!! =D I also found some cool looking buildings xD


Next stop on things to see was Buckingham Palace in a different part of London. I kinda wanted to take a double decker bus, so we jumped on the first that passed, not knowing where it would take us xD All i knew was we needed to go to the right. The bus turned left after a short while, so kinda wrong direction. We went off the bus, and i looked up on google maps how to get to the right place. We then took a normal bus to Victoria Station and walked from there =)


Then double decker bus back to the hotel and chill =D


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Next day was the day to leave London. I woke up at 5 local time and couldn't sleep again, so i watched the rest of 13 reasons why. After some hours my friend woke up too. My friend left London first. My plane was in the evening so i walked around in the warm sunshine, dragging on my luggage, doing the last bit of exploring London.

I took the underground to Kings Cross Station and went to Vx, a vegan shop/cafe!! =D There i ordered wrap, round donut filled with jam, and a cupcake that i ate outside in the sunshine =D everything was super delicious!! =D i also bought some food to bring with me to Norway.




Then i went to Tesco and bought 18 packages with Bourbon cookies!! xD Luckily they fit into my luggage xD

Because it was so nice weather and i was kinda tired i went to some small park and rested/napped. I then went to another park and listened to music. Then i went back to the Kings Cross Station and found platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter and a Harry Potter shop!! Kinda cool, but didn't buy anything xP


I then went to yet another small park and chilled for a bit and tried to recharge my phones using my laptop xD After a while i remembered i needed to get to the airport. My plan was with easyBus again so i rushed to Victoria station and tried to find the bus stop. With no luck. I called my parents in panic since it was 8 minutes to the bus went and i couldn't find it! The conclusion was to take the Gatwick Express train instead so i would have better time and didn't have to stress =p It was cheaper than i thought also, and very easy to use, so I'm kinda happy i didn't find the bus xD

After arriving at the airport i checked in, found some food to eat, and went to the gate. Then flying back to Norway, to the cold, dark, rain. And to my family who had missed me =)

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Trip to Sweden summer 2016

Earlier this summer me, my parents and my brother went on a trip to Sweden. The first day we drove from Bergen, over the mountains and arrived in Oslo in the evening. Me and my dad switched on who was driving. We also had a couple of short breaks on the way, and i slept a bit when i wasn't driving, or just looked outside the window on the pretty nature =D Me and my brother were a bit sad that no one in the car had a phone that could play Pokemon Go.

Somewhere on the mountains

I wanted to reach Oslo before Loving Hut closed, and luckily we reached it less than an hour before they were closing. We first checked into the hotel, then we went to Loving Hut St. Hanshaugen. I ordered a kebab wrap and a spicy burger, while they others ordered chic burger and falafel wrap. The kebab wrap was amazing and i totally recommend trying that one if you ever go there!!! The burger was more ordinary i though, but of course yummy that one as well.

Kebab wrap!! <3
Spicy burger

After eating we went on a trip in Vigelandsparken, where they have lots of statues of humans. It was a nice and large park =D After a while we went back to the hotel to watch the final football match in the European cup; Portugal vs France. It was a kinda boring match, and lasted for too long i thought, especially because i was tired and wanted to sleep xD I preferred the Iceland vs France match that i watched on a big screen in town earlier in the championship =p



The next day started with a breakfast at the hotel. They had some vegan food; bread with jam, fruit cocktail, and juice. After eating we checked out of the hotel, and went on a little trip to the beach next to the hotel. It was really nice there =D


Then we explored Oslo. We saw the opera house, and the castle and the shopping streets. It's a nice town =D





The weather was nice too until we were leaving. Then it started raining heavily. So then we headed to Sweden. We stopped at the Nordby shopping center close to the border. There we ate burgers at Max burger. They have a vegan barbecue sandwich burger there made with pulled oumph that i ate =D Very yummy and a bit spicy xD


After eating we checked out some of the shops there =p They have really a lot of cool stuff, and the prices are quite lower than in Norway! We bought some candy in a huuuuge candy shop, plus some Fanta types they don't have in Norway (pineapple and mango, none of them were awesome xD) and some juices. Then we drove to Göteborg where we would be staying.


The hotel in Göteborg we stayed at was Gothia Towers. It consists of 3 towers, and it's located right across the road of the theme park Liseberg =D Me and my brother got a room with view of Liseberg =D Our room also had two double beds, which was awesome! =D My parents room was more boring with one double bed and no cool view.

The three towers
My bed closest to the window =D
Liseberg!!!

After chilling for a bit we went outside, walking around in Göteborg. I ordered a red hot chorizo hot dog from Jonsborgs grill where they had a lot of different vegan options =D This hot dog was super yummy =D I'm a bit jealous on the Göteborg people who can just go and get a vegan hot dog whenever they want to =p After strolling around for a bit more we went back to the hotel to sleep.



Yummy!! =D

The next day i woke up early and sneaked around a bit in the hotel, going through the tower bridges and finding a gym that looked awesome!

View from the bridge
The gym

At the hotel breakfast i was amazed that they had vegan margarine, tartex, vegan yoghurts and plant based milks =D They also had fruits, bread, cereals and juice =D

 
After eating breakfast we drove to Ullared, which is a shopping center. They also got a TV-show from there where they follow shoppers around. They were filming when we were there, but we weren't caught on tape i think =p It took us at least 30 minutes to find a free parking spot, because there were soooooo many cars there!!! It wasn't fewer people once inside!! The place was crammed with people!!! This place is known for being cheap and they had a lot of cheap stuff there. I went around looking at fitness clothes, and i also bought a new bikini =p They had lots of different stuff there =D I also bought a vegan cooking book, and some delicatoboll which are nice choco-oat-balls, nöt-creme which is the most amazing peanut-hazelnut-chocolatespread ever!! And i bought candy, peanut curls, peanuts, cashewnuts, and some more stuff xD It was a cool place, but would have been nicer if there was fewer people there so i didn't have to stand in line to cross the queue everywhere xD Also the sizes there were "wrong", so small fitted for me, while normally i buy medium. It's a bit sad, because now some things are too big for me xD I was too lazy to wait in line to access the dressing room, so i just tried clothes on on top of my other clothes xD

After Ullared we went back to Göteborg and visited my dads uncle who lives there. It was nice seeing him again. He served us cookies and cake and we chatted for a while. He had lots of cook books in his appartment, so i looked through all of them, drooling at the recipes xD Later we went back to the hotel, snacking on candy and chips there while relaxing. I also worked out at the gym, doing jogging in New Zealand and in Utah, and testing out the different equipments =D


The next day was Liseberg-day =D We were excited, waiting for it to open at 11. We spent the whole day in Liseberg, except mom who isn't a fan of roller-coasters and stuff, so she left after some hours. It was many people there, so a lot of queues. We tried to limit the waiting time to max 30 minutes per attraction. It said on the attractions what the estimated waiting times were, and we could also look it up on internet. After some hours of fun we went to eat at the vegan buffet restaurant inside Liseberg called The Green Room. It was really cool and cheap!!! =D 159 sek for everything you could eat, and everything was vegan!! I ate really a lot because i had to taste everything, and then eat more of the yummiest things xD If you visit Liseberg, you gotta try this restaurant!!! =D Actually if you're in Göteborg or close by you gotta visit both Liseberg and the restaurant =D

So much yummy food!!!

It was a long and late day with a lot of fun!! The last hour was coolest because then many people had left, so the queues were shorter =D Down to 0 minutes waiting time!!! =p My favorite rides were Balder, Helix, FlumeRide, Lisebergbanan, Uppswinget and Mechanica =D Basically anything quick and scary xD

Balder
Mechanica
Liseberg at night

The next day me and my brother was tired. We started with breakfast, followed by a walk in the park. I had eaten too much, so i felt a bit nauseous. After the park me and my brother slept for a bit, while my parents went somewhere else. After i woke up i went to ICA next to the hotel to see if they had anything cool =p and they did!!!! So much cool vegan products that i didn't know where to start!!! They had a vegan brand called Astrid och Aporna there with vegan ham, sausages, burgers, meatballs, cheese, and a lot more, and that's only one of the cool things they had there!! In the freezer they had Anamma, Hälsans Kök, Oumph and Frys, and more!! I was really amazed how much cool stuff they had there and went around just saying "wow... wow... woowww.." xD The pictures only shows some of the stuff!!! They had A LOT more!!!!!




After checking out the shop i went to the Jonsborg grill again and bought another vegan sausage and a vegan donut ice cream =D This time i tried the curry-wurst. It wasn't as good as the chorizo sausage, but it wasn't bad either =p The donut ice cream was yummy and cool xD


I picked up my brother and we went to Liseberg again, only us two this time. It was fun today also, and maybe a bit fewer people, so we could take more of the cool rides without needing to wait for an eternity!! xD In the evening we got pizza delivery from my mom who had gotten vegan and non vegan kebab pizza for us from a restaurant called Old Corner =D It was a really nice and yummy pizza =D After the park closed we went back to the hotel for our last night in Göteborg.


The next morning we were leaving, so i bought a lot of Astrid and Aporna product in the ICA shop, and also other cool stuff like bean pasta, and some other stuff. Then we drove to Nordby and Svinesund and there i bought more vegan food =D Frys, Anamma, Oumph! etc =D Lots of frozen products that didn't like the long ride home to Bergen since everything melted xD I also ordered a last max barbecue sandwich to enjoy =p I think my family were a bit upset i bought so much and needed to enter every single store on the way kinda xD We were gonna drive all the way from Göteborg to Bergen in one day, so all my stops and shopping took time xP

After getting back into Norway again we ate, then we drove towards Bergen. Since we were driving through Drammen i told them we needed to visit Fristelse Cafe (which is now located in Oslo). My family didn't want anything from there, so i entered alone and I was really amazed by all the yummy vegan desserts they had! =D I ordered a vegan white chocolate cake with raspberry topping, and it's the best cake i have ever tasted!!!!! =D i also ordered a scoop of vegan ice cream that i think was made with carrot and orange and some other stuff =p It was super delicious!!! =D I hope one day they will open Fristelse Cafe in Bergen too! It was totally worth the visit and detour!! =D

So yummy!!! <3

We then drove the long way to Bergen, switching between my dad and I as the chauffeur and we arrived at 1 at home i think. We then took all the melted frozen products in the freezer, filled the fridge and went to sleep =p


It was a really nice trip with lots of vegan yumminess, and lots of fun =D I hope to visit Sweden soon again, because they have lots of cool vegan products there, and it's a nice and cool country =D The weather was mostly nice btw if anyone wondered x) I think i would have loved to live in Göteborg!! Liseberg access every single day, plus so many yummy vegan products in the stores, and vegan dishes at the restaurants there!!! =D <3