When Asia meets Europe - My Christmas break adventures! - Part 2
We rarely get snow back in Azerbaijan and even if we do, it melts during the day and I never manage to wake up early to feel the snow crunching under my feet. Seeking for a magical snowy winter my friend Joanne and I decided to visit Iceland over the last days of our Christmas break.
I think I'll start this blog post by giving advice on how to reach London Heathrow Airport from Norwich in a fast and stress free manner. I won't lie, it's a long journey, but if you are an international student, trust me, you will get used to it very soon. There are two routes you can take :
1. Take a 2 hour train ride from Norwich Railway Station to London Liverpool Station and then use the tube to reach Heathrow (Terminals 4,5 and 1,2&3).
2. Take 5 hours 40 min bus (National Express or Mega Bus) from University of East Anglia bus stop to Heathrow (Terminals 4,5 and 1,2&3).
It's completely up to you which one of the two routes to pick up. Consider the time you have and the number of suitcases/bags and don't forget to arrive to the airport 3 hours before your departure! London Heathrow Airport is huge and very busy.
We've booked our flight tickets using www.budgetair.co.uk and chose Icelandair airlines. The flight duration was 3 hours and the service (both before the departure and on the plane) was quie satisfying. When you arrive to Reykjavik (KEF) Airport everything is easy, fast and straightforward. We bought bus tickets and the bus took us directly to our hostel ( about an hour duration time).
Well, I have a quite sad experience with staying in hostels because the customer service in hostels is usually very low and you end up staying in one room with random people, sharing toilet and bathroom and all you want is just go back to your clean and warm accommodation room in UEA. But the Reykjavik City Hostel was absolutely amazing! En suite, well heated room, clean bed sheets, friendly and helpful staff and many international guests!
To be honest, there's nothing much to do in Reykjavik itself, so you definitely should book some tours before coming to Iceland. From the very first tour that we have taken it was obvious that the booking system is built very well: while booking online you write down your hostel/hotel name and on the day the small bus arrives to pick you up and deliver to the bus station where you change your small bus to the big tour bus with free Wi-Fi! :)
Me and my friend booked three tours and all of them were AMAZING! We went to the Golden Circle Tour (apparently the most popular one), The Northern Lights Tour and The Blue Lagoon Tour. The Golden Circle Tour included visiting Iceland's waterfalls, lakes and geysers. It was freezing but it was definitely worth it!
On our last day we went to The Blue Lagoon Tour and oh my God it was the most relaxing place I've ever been to! It was -8 degrees outside and around +37/+40 degrees in the water. The venue is well equipped, hot showers, free washing liquids and hair conditioners, towels, slippers and even waterproof phone cases! In two words - MUST VISIT!
I think I'll start this blog post by giving advice on how to reach London Heathrow Airport from Norwich in a fast and stress free manner. I won't lie, it's a long journey, but if you are an international student, trust me, you will get used to it very soon. There are two routes you can take :
1. Take a 2 hour train ride from Norwich Railway Station to London Liverpool Station and then use the tube to reach Heathrow (Terminals 4,5 and 1,2&3).
2. Take 5 hours 40 min bus (National Express or Mega Bus) from University of East Anglia bus stop to Heathrow (Terminals 4,5 and 1,2&3).
It's completely up to you which one of the two routes to pick up. Consider the time you have and the number of suitcases/bags and don't forget to arrive to the airport 3 hours before your departure! London Heathrow Airport is huge and very busy.
Well, I have a quite sad experience with staying in hostels because the customer service in hostels is usually very low and you end up staying in one room with random people, sharing toilet and bathroom and all you want is just go back to your clean and warm accommodation room in UEA. But the Reykjavik City Hostel was absolutely amazing! En suite, well heated room, clean bed sheets, friendly and helpful staff and many international guests!
To be honest, there's nothing much to do in Reykjavik itself, so you definitely should book some tours before coming to Iceland. From the very first tour that we have taken it was obvious that the booking system is built very well: while booking online you write down your hostel/hotel name and on the day the small bus arrives to pick you up and deliver to the bus station where you change your small bus to the big tour bus with free Wi-Fi! :)
Me and my friend booked three tours and all of them were AMAZING! We went to the Golden Circle Tour (apparently the most popular one), The Northern Lights Tour and The Blue Lagoon Tour. The Golden Circle Tour included visiting Iceland's waterfalls, lakes and geysers. It was freezing but it was definitely worth it!
As we only had 2 full days in Iceland we had The Northern Lights Tour in the evening after The Golden Circle one. So we were pretty exhausted and cold. On our way to see the Northern Lights the guide was telling us not to expect a lot from this tour because generally the Northern Lights depend on different nature conditions and that usually in real life it doesn't look as bright and big as it does on the pictures. On the good side, the company offers a free tour for those who couldn't catch the Northern Lights during the first tour.
So it was a 1.5 hours bus ride and around 2 hours waiting outside for the Northern Lights to appear. It was -6 and me and Joanne created "shifts" when one of us was outside waiting for the Northern Lights and another one was heating up in the bus. After two hours of seeing nothing but the moon we gave up and left the spot super upset. On our way back everyone in the bus was sleeping and no one was paying attention to the sky except our guide. And at some point he said loudly in the microphone : "Guys I can't believe how lucky we are today" and then couple seconds later the bus has stopped and the guide told us to leave the bus and look at the sky. Well, usually people say " you can catch with your eyes something that you can't with you camera". In this case it was completely opposite :) Here's the picture from Joanne's camera and the guide was right - it didn't look the same in real life :
In addition, I would love to recommend eating as much fish as possible while you are on the holiday in Iceland because it's very fresh and tastes amazing! Also Iceland is quite expensive, keep it in mind when buying Icelandic Krona. And the very last fact about Iceland - they sell strawberry cheesecake Oreos!!!
If you are reading this line it means you are my loyal reader as this blog post happened to be quite long :) Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to leave you comments :)
International Student Ambassador from Azerbaijan - Kamala Hajialibayova
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