One week before the due day, that’s when it hits me, my Marniversary is around the corner! #Panicked, what will I do this year? At the same time, my sister is currently in Germany so the thought of celebrate it with her + Schwager + Moti appears naturally. My original idea was like this, I went to their place on 25th of August for the weekend, work from home on Monday-the Marniversary.
Shortly before the weekend comes, I decided to cancel it as they are having family time while me… busy with my own event. I’d be back to Dortmund on Sunday instead. What, where, who? Haven’t plan any of it!
One by one, email the Cupcakes store, texted the 3 friends I gained in Dortmund haha definitely in the thema! 3 Years in DE = 3 friends. Hmmm… what could be the decoration for the photo purposes? let me bastelt something 🙂 #DIY
My family always says when you have a birthday you need to eat noodle as it represents long life usw. I couldn’t think of other place other than Ippin Ramen. Few reasons: Located in the city center, Silvia for sure will be lost if the restaurant is not in the center. Felicia works there, it’s easier to request something like “can you please put this cake on the fridge”. Andrea loves Ramen. OK! the where is safe.
One important detail is missing, MY CAKE!!! I called the cupcake store, wrote to other places, receiving no reply. Googled the cake shop that opens on Monday…only to receive… so many closed! Damn!
However, I’m not despair, near my home there’s a place called Oma Rosa. I could come on Sunday right before they closed. One of their Menu interest me, it’s called Törtchen Tapas. It’s a small portion of a cake, precisely 1/4 portion from a 12cm diameter cake. There were 6 different cakes left on the Theke so I took all of it.
Fiuhhh! Planning took quite a toll on me or Felicia haha as I consulted her many times about it but everything is manageable in the end 😉 Cakes + Decorations + Place are all gesichert.
What next? Feli asked if there will be a dress code, yaissss! Let’s do this! Totally! Informed the group the night before only if they want they should dress in any color that exists on a German Flag. Silvia suggested a red lipstick, acceptable too! I have all colors on me, they do too! all come with a German color-ish. Andrea wore red + black + blonde hair + German accent haha she’s a complete package. Silvia had a yellow shoulder bag #on point! Feli wore red top. Me so Happy!!!!
We started before Felicia arrived otherwise we all be Hangry, not good to start Marniversary #wink
She arrived when we were on the middle of our Ramen eating 🙂 cakes + picture time!
Won’t be a Marniversary without a Marniversary thing 🙂 I really called it like this, it has a name in my own dictionarlyn 😉
After we finished with the food and cakes, we went to Hbf. Why?!?! as long as my face still there, it’ll be a tourist spot!
Thank you Girls for spending my 3 years birthday in Germany! See you in my 4 years 🙂 yes girls! we will do it every year now, it’s always something to celebrate. Adding one more beautiful day in a year is not bad heyyyy.
P.S: the Sombrero from Andrea now serve the purpose als one of my wall decorations 🙂
I couldn’t join Andrea’s birthday in Portugal as her birthday was in May where the Brückentag ist and everyone in Nordwest already booked their holiday. I was the last woman standing, guarding all the office belongings, colleagues should be grateful I didn’t trash it #devil laughs.
The Nachträglich celebration happened on a Saturday 10th of June. She loves Ramen, it goes without a say, the where is clear, our Little Tokyo. Thanks to Anu, I got some more recommendations on where to eat. I can trust her judgement, she’s the type of person who knows exactly where + what to eat.
We planned to arrive at lunch time for our Ramen experience. Took the RE Bahn at 11:09 which delayed to 11:14ish #no surprise. I forget on which stops came a man with his dog sitting on the other side from our seat. We were sitting in a 4 sit kind of chair bzw. in the middle area. This man always talks, thankfully not to us, rather to the person next to him #bless their heart.
Then the train got fuller, one girl sitting next to me with a rainbow bag. I noticed there was many people with Pride make up or dressed up colorfully. This man, out of nowhere ask her if she is a lesbian due to her Regenbogen Tasche. Before I could grasp, Andrea tilt her head, saying some sentence to confront him. I knew, right there and then I understood the question correctly. Seeing my friend stood up for her, I don’t want to feel FOMO, showed him my Phone, proudly said “ich habe auch Regenbogen Bildschirm, und?” he came with another question “bist du auch Lesbisch?” “was für eine Frage ist das? wenn ja, was ist das mit dir zu tun?” “ich habe nur gefragt, meine Mutter immer sagt, immer fragen immer fragen” we didn’t continue the conversation anymore. It was my first experience on confronting someone’s 🙂 #i am proud of myself for doing it.
There is really something going on! I saw a boy holding a “Free Hugs” sign, ofc I rushed to hug him, followed by asking “what happening here?” He said “Christopher Street Day” It’s indeed a Pride, only they called it CSD. We chose the right date Andrea! #So HAPPY!
Back to our Ramen Lunch, I provide 2 options for each eating section. Andrea will have to choose one, yes people! it is like a TikTok Challenge which doesn’t involve any challenge, there is no ZONK options as I also want to eat.
First place, she chose Takumi, yeay! it’s my favorite! We went there during lunch time…meaning one hour waiting in line is expected…heyyy we are not in a hurry! We witness a potential date for the two people in front of us. They came by themselves, he turns to her “are you from here?” während they small talked, we eavesdropping 😉 in the end they speak Mandarin to one another aha! now I’m the only one who do the job hihihi
There was only one table available outside, makes matter worse, this potential date was in front of us, Verdammt! I asked Andrea “should I speak to them in Chinese to not take that table?” Thankfully they were pointed to the sit inside, ours too! but we asked for that outside table. We have a German here who really want to feel the sun 😉
Since we are not ready for the next station, we went to Altstadt to join the Pride crowd. We liked it! There is a guy with glitter on his face, I asked “where did you get the glitter?” “there is one lady who sold it for 2 Euro, oh wait wait” he tried to rub the glitter to my face haha #didn’t work I saw a guy gave another guy a sticker, eitss! me too! me want that, gimme gimme gimme.
Not gonna lie, at some point, the heat starts to strike us, we need to separate from the crowd for a while to go to our next desert station. Andrea chose Soboro, sadly, it was closed T.T , the second options was 850 meters away. But she found the Frozen Yoghurt place called Tenten right next to Soboro, let’s go! not bad ehhh! We definitely need to sit and refresh ourselves 🙂
Andrea remembered the Alt Beer which her Oma still drinks every evening. Yais! we need to have that too! Off to Uerige Beer, had one glass each then proceed to take the Schnapps in the Window thingy. There is no Rhabarber Schnaps, only one type, Killepitsch. 10 minutes after, I could feel, I was definitely under the influence.
Ooopsss what time is it? Dinner is around the corner 😀 Remember when I said Anu knows what to eat in each Restaurant? Andrea chose Hitchoq, they had one special Menu only on Saturday called Chicken and Waffle. Little did I knew, it was only from 12-17 PM, Anu didn’t informed me 🙁 well, to be honest, I also didn’t check it. We arrived there around 19PM. Verdammt!
Okay, not the end of the world, we chose another menu to share. A lawyer and a supply chain manager, yet both of us don’t understand what’s the meaning of 1,5kg of Drumstick chicken thighs. Hmmm that sounds good, we could do that +3 Beilage, bring it! In short, we couldn’t.
We skip the cake from Hitchoq because there was only Cheesecake and Andrea doesn’t really like it so we didn’t have any cake, we only have Toffifee from Rewe. She said I should make an ice cube out of Toffifee tray haha that’s why the tray now is lay low on my fridge 😉
We ate the Toffifee on the other side of the Rhine, saw the sunset then took the train back to Dortmund.
From the time we eat lunch until we finish dinner it was more or even more than 8 working hours but we can handle this kind of “working” 😀
I really had a good time planning this TikTok Challenge, choosing the restaurant and enjoying the food with you.
We are our each other first friend in Dortmund back to year 2020.
To a never ending friend. Cheers to us!
I hope you like my nachträglich birthday arrangement #another memories to cherish between us 🙂
She’s On The Money book for Irina – checked and checked 1000 times or else she would reject my arrival! #I have no doubt #It’s foreseeable
Food during my at least 4,5 hours DB Journey to Amsterdam – checked. Why at least? Because DB Bahn ist genau bekannt für die Pünktlichkeit.
Was my train delayed? certainly! there was some Chemical thingy happening in Venlo (btw Venlo is already Amsterdam) while I had to take another train from Venlo to Amsterdam. A glimpse of hope appears when ICE train on the next platform also stopped there. That ICE bound for Amsterdam from Frankfurt, perfekt! Hop on to that train thinking they could have taken another track, hoping I could have arrived earlier #innocence
That exact ICE has no clue when it will continue the journey, had to wait inside for about 1,5 hours before everyone started to panic. The guy sitting next to me called a Taxi from Amsterdam asked if they will be able to pick him up in the train station. There was a couple, she is a German while he….somewhere from EU, Spain or Italy or so, she was very active in searching a way out. She thought to take Uber to Roermond as it’s a bigger station then took any train to Amsterdam. I, on the other hand, stand by…. well, honestly not really stand by, I was more eavesdropping 😉 30 minutes later, the girl said according to Twitter, the firefighter already cleaned Venlo’s track hence all trains are able to departs again. Yeay!! Without further due, the machinist only blew the whistle once dann los geht’s! #no warning #no waiting time
I was so hungry when I finally reached Amsterdam Central. Irina was still working anyway, I got to eat yo! Indonesian food it is! What else other than Warung Made 🙂 back to Sarah!
I really felt like home in this Warung, chilled for a long while until the rain is somewhat bearable to continue my journey. Truth: it’s never bearable, welcome to Amsterdam 🙂
She got cat sitting job right after her normal job therefore I had to be at home alone, decided to take shower, put all my equipment at her bathroom. I brought my own shampoo, conditioner, face wash, basically everything except soap. I saw her soap was put upside down, lift it, felt empty…hmmm… doesn’t matter, shampoo works perfectly fine as a soap too.
Finished, made myself comfy at her armchair with Fatty, wrote her via WA “btw you soap is dead” she asked if I finished it up. No, it’s already dead that’s why I had to use my shampoo.
Long story short, it was only an illusion, there was still some left had I tried open it. Not forget to mentioned, Irina is the type who always have a back up after another back up, there is still a hidden soap behind the closed cabinet. I took shower with a soap for the rest of me staying at her place 😉 #just so everyone conscious.
Perhaps Salem had to do revenge during my soap drama, he throwed up while I was sleeping, not literally on me, rather on the blanket. It was around 3AM, for some reason I felt Salem on my thigh (100% it was him, if it was Fatty I would got up as he is very very heavy) then I heard some choking noise. I’m not a light sleeper, I was only half aware by the time I knew some food already out of his mouth. “Irina, Irina” she woke up immediately and told me, you take the other side of the bed, I directly went asleep again zzzzz
On the weekend, we were fully book with brunch! Saturday we met with her friend, Diana at brunch Cocotei. Our agenda is to go to Amsterdam Dungeon even though I’m not a fan of horror. I went to the one in London when I was 16 or 17 yo boy oh boy! it was amazing! I still remember it so well, that scared the shit out of me, except now I’m older I wanted to see if that shit still scares me or not, thus I agreed on it.
We arrived earlier than our admission ticket, we were waiting in the supposedly creepy room. The waiting is the one that kills Diana and I. Long story short, we went in with 20 other people, it wasn’t so scary, the act were more screaming in a way that supposedly shocked us, sometimes they succeed, most of the time they weren’t. Hate to say, it wasn’t really successful #imo I think the one in London was much better, less communication.
Diana need to go but our next bitch come, Terezaaaa! with her, what did we do? cake-ing! #sweet tooth gang! Live from Amsterdam.
I bought 2 cakes to go, guys, I have no idea what went wrong in the whole conversation:
“I want to have 2 cupcakes please, 1 red velvet, 1 carrot cake”
somehow she took out a big box with 4 holes on it, she put 2 red velvet in the hole…..
caught her in that action, I said “No, I meant 1 and 1”
Her action after it was even weirder, she took 1 box for 1 cupcake so it will be 2 boxes.
before it went too far, I need to say another “No, No”
out of the blue, she put 2 red velvet in one box and 1 carrot cake in one box to me.
I clearly have no idea where her logic coming from, what kind of illusion it is. I…. had to say…. again….”I meant, 1 red velvet and 1 carrot cake in one box”
she changed the box unhappily.
Girl…seriously… you coming from another planet? Tereza and Irina waited in H&M next door. I told them the story, they said “don’t worry Marlyn, it’s a Dutch service”
Although we were not too hungry, we went to Warung Made again hahaha! I want to introduce them the new Indonesian restaurant I discovered 😉 I know Sara would be there however when I get in there was a white blonde lady….oh! Where is Sara? haha very polite ehhh!
Irina went for cat sitting right after dinner while I went to her place to feed Salem and Fatty, they must be sooooo hungry! They lead me to the kitchen as I opened the door. Yes Salem I know! We’re sorry, Fatty you’re always hungry anyway 😉
On an Easter Sunday we decided to go to Utrecht. In my opinion it’s a mini Amsterdam. Sadly it wasn’t so alive due to it was on an Easter Sunday. We still can see something, it was enough for the grasp that Utrecht is beautiful.
Our destination is to reach the famous Gelato ice cream, did we take a straight way? No way in hell #got distracted. One of them is by getting in to Kelly Expat Store #We are an expat yo! It sounds fancy but basically it’s a shop selling American food brands hahaha. What other shops that opened on the holiday? Souvenirs shop! Magnet for mother – checked.
Reached the famous Gelato Roberto, I had a Broodjes with 2 scoop of Ice Cream. The place is small, there isn’t a proper place to sit outside of this shop, there was only a “bank” (auf Deutsch) attached to the wall so we sat there having a view of other people waiting in line to get the ice cream. Fuck no I ain’t leaving the bank, my ass need some rest haha
Utrecht is the origin of Miffy, there are many of this statue around city center. In one specific red lights they have Miffy as their icon. Just like Ampelmann in Berlin, here is Miffy in Utrecht.
On the way back the train didn’t stop at Tereza’s station so she need to get out from another station. Yeay! more time with you!
On my last day, we finished Jeffrey Epstein Series. There were still some time before my train, clueless what to do? While I tried to re-heat the bagel, Irina screamed with joy “Marlyn, Netflix understand us! there is a movie about Ghislaine Maxwell ! let’s watch it!”
Wait, back to the bagel story. I was informed there is a bagel in the kitchen, I can cut it half, put on the air fryer facing up then spread the Frischkase. I’m so lost in life, I spread the Frischkase first so I can’t put it again into the air fryer otherwise I’ll messed it up more than I already am….pfffff what can I do without her.
Once the movie ended, my gut told me to go to the train station. It was too early, more than 2 hours from my real ticket. When I just arrived the Dam, I got notification that my middle train, the one that is from Venlo to Germany got cancelled hahaha! Am I surprise? honestly no however it didn’t meant that I’m calm. I’m still panic #not at the disco. Since I was there earlier I just took whatever train available, most important it will take me to Dortmund. I reached home one hour later than I suppose to be, bottom line, made it!
Although it’s not a Lake Como holiday like our bitches Anu and Louise, I still had my fun! Looking forward pho next time bitcheeessss!
I have more or less one year Covid’s anniversary which reminds me of my failed trip to Keukenhof in 2022 with my GGI bitchessss 🙁 Fast forward one year later, Miley Cyrus appears with her iconic “I can buy myself flower” inspired me to go this time, alone!
Call my bitch Irina, “bitch I’m coming over Easter”, it was a bit unplanned as there was always DB Streik once a week, I waited until I knew there won’t be a Streik during Easter, only then I contacted her confirming my arrival. Thanks God the flower ticket are still available as they do sold out heyyyy!
I had to stand on the bus from Europaplein to Keukenhof, why? a. it was full and b. I don’t want to wait on the station while rain pour down. When I arrived the destination, Zeus’ still operating, after a while, he put Zephyrus in control 🙂 Because of him, all pictures aren’t so bright, no worries, it still didn’t change the fact that the flowers are very beautiful.
There are many people, like manyyyy! Sarah from Warung Made Indonesian Restaurant already mentioned about humongous Chinese and Indian tourist, bulls eyes!
I visited the important places #completed successfully. I can (not) proudly say as I do thought everyone who went there would have the same opinion haha. In my view, the most beautiful is the Mill! Save it for later 🙂
Allright, back to the beginning!
As you entered the garden, you can get your map from the basket that just lay there. Additionally there is a beautiful lady in the middle of the garden, wearing a fashion which I believe was the Era back in the day, who welcomed you and having a knowledge about the garden itself #you’ll know what I meant by it later on. My first impression was “whoaaa this is so big how can I go see all?” Relax, it’s walkable, besides… at some point you will feel its enough haha 😀
Then there is a bunch of tulip arrangement with word Keukenhof on it which I had to took a Panoramic picture otherwise you can’t catch the full words.
Oranje Nassau is the first flower shows I visited, there is a flower mosaic, decoration’s idea for garden, everything there smell so fresh 🙂 me like it!
Afterwards I walked to Juliana / Tulpomania, passing through a very interesting music from Irene fountain. In the Juliana there is a myth about a black tulip. Ooooooo I also did a photo where I “christened” my first tulip, it happened to be Thorben’s birthday so I got to make one for him 🙂 Thanks for the knowledge Juliana, next!
I thought Wilhelmina would be some special flower too however it’s only a shop. Nevertheless, in front of Wilhemina is good view 🙂 Bottom line, still can’t skip it!
Beatrix is good since they displayed the flower decoration as an idea for you which for sure it’ll never come to my mind #me not creative
And you’re the place my life begins, And you’ll be where it ends I’m flying without wings
Cherry on top, the Mill! oh Mill! Had I knew it earlier I will stayed in this area longer before Zeus re-appears…
The Mill is a big area, you can either took the stairs to get to the observation deck from the windmill or stay on the ground as they have the so called picnic area or there is a cafe close by. What did I chose? Obviously all of them!
During Zeus’ show time, I chose to get inside to the Willem-Alexander. Here, you found OMG countless of tulip flowers, among all there is Uliana! haha I also had a very long lunch there as my feet cannot take it any longer. What I can take in during my sitting time was, tulips is so underrated, they have more than my brain could contain, the color, the way it blossoms, the sizes, WOW! unbelievable! I am beyond amazed!
I read the map again making sure I checked all the list until I stumbled into “Historical Garden” hmmmm where is it? Went to the shop to ask the lady who works there just in case if she knew, she didn’t. While I’m asking her, there is an Italian or Spanish family asked her questions too about “black tulip” the real one, someone said it’s in the Willem-Alexander, she didn’t know it either. I, on the other hand, don’t want to miss it, for sure will ask about it too!
Yes ofc the open area along the way is beautiful too, the way the flower arranged is really mind-blowing.
I have no idea why the flowers outside are mostly yellow, it matched with my jacket haha everywhere I see, most of it, it was all yellow, maybe the one who plant those are fans of Coldplay hihihi #clever balls
There is also one more Mill view, if you managed to get through the Maze to reach a cottage by the end of it 😉 did I manage? ja klar! The previous Mills area was better in my opinion consider the view from this one is quiet far.
Back to find the vintage dress lady at the entrance, asked about the Historical garden and black tulip, she said there is no black tulip, it’s just a myth, in reality is a very dark purple, see! she’s very smart! no need to wonder anymore #You’re welcome.
I left Keukenhof with satisfaction knowing I didn’t miss anything haha oh not forget to mentioned, got coronated, earlier than King Charles 😉
FYI if you want to know the bus ticket + entrance’s cost, its Euro 36,00. I was there from 11 – 14:00, give or take. The opening time was on 23 March – 14 May. I went there on 7th April, there are not all blossoms, yet I already satisfied, will I go there again next time? Maybe only under one condition, if it’s in the beginning of May as I perceived it shall have be blossoms more than in April. I’m so already eingedeutscht eh, need to complain about anything. Okay back to Indonesian, I’m satisfied with my own experience 🙂
Did I buy flower in the end? Nope, but I do know “I can buy myself flower and it was called Yellow” 😉
Why are we speaking Spanish here????? because its Irina’s mother tongue 😉 yes biatch! I went to Amsterdam for a week to visit her, on top of that, celebrate New Years Eve together woop woop! #Happy
Arrived on 27th December, directly headed to Irina’s cozy apartment, greeted by her two Kater to whom I surprised since one is very skinny and one is the other opposite, no wonder Irina called him “Fatty” so beleidigung ehhhh haha at first I thought Fatty is not overweight, he’s just fat but still within the range of good fat, nope nope nope he’s obviously overweight, even the Vet had difficulties to find his organs haha Fatty you are so adorable!
Amsterdam is really cool taking into account how many Indonesian restaurants are there! Heimweh Heimweh! Excuse my French but Dutch food are fucking horrible! what the hell was that?!?! bread? dip? fried? Indonesian food to the rescue!
First dinner, Indonesian Imbiss, Warung Barokah. We texted Tereza if she interested to join. Aaaaa panic attack, I want to eat this, that aaaaa in the end I had “Nasi Campur”. During dinner, I had a revelation. From that day on, I’ll be having “Table for One” every time I visit Indonesian restaurant hahaha Irina couldn’t handle the spiciness 😀 Next, we opt for Western Desert at Neni Netherlands.
It’s my holiday I have no timetable whatsoever, I sleep in while Irina WFH. However, her ears so get used to hear even the smallest movement was happening, due to she always stopped Fatty to eat Salem’s food. Therefore while I was moving my body from left to right, Irina said “Ah Marlyn is turning around, finally she’s waking up” haha stop commenting, I’m on holiday!
It was raining, what a surprise, perfect day to visit Museum. Irina recommended the Resistance Museum. Boy oh boy, such a good one, very interactive, I can’t believe myself I easily spent 3 hours there! in short, I agree with her, really recommended this Museum.
Next morning, we went to Irina’s cat sitting job then city center to have a sugar bomb drink haha it’s full of sweet! visited a very typical Amsterdam shop 😉 In the evening, I joined the dark side walking tour. When the tour finished, it was around the same time Irina finished her shopping. We texted where will we eat, yet decided to go apart. I went to the “Indonesian / Suriname’s” restaurant while she had Thais. I wanted to have “Soto Ayam” in a place where Sekar recommended, although Irina told me this restaurant is not Indonesian moreover, had a bad rating. I went there anyway, once I stepped in, I realized it was a mistake. Why you’d ask? I was served by a white waiter, yep this place is not authentic at all. Lesson learned!
Failed to get a ticket to Anna Frank Museum, well what to do?….. I joined Walking Tour of the Jewish Quarter, WW2 and Anna Frank Story. Apropos Leute, suddenly just remembered something, for every walking tour you got to pay “Entertainment Tax” it is not expensive like 1,50 Euro per person aber trotzdem! the hell was that?!?! I thought Germany is already bad enough with all being taxed.
Okay back to topic, after the tour I decided to go to another Indonesian Imbiss mwahaha called Warung Made, ha! from the name I knew the owner must be a Balinese plus it must be 100% authentic, yes I was right! This place is wonderful! soooo good! The owner…. Made luckily was there he also ate at the same time so I got few pieces of Rendang and Kerupuk hihihi I even took “Empek Empek” to eat at home the next day aka tomorrow aka mañana 😉
Hmmm… I need to have some Dutch food ehhh, I opt for Stroopwaffle! yais this one is impossible to make it wrong!
Once Irina heard that I am dying to have a Pisco Sour, she promised to take me to a Peruvian Restaurant. Oh Pisco Sour, my favourite alcohol drink in the whole world! I am soooo content I can drink it again. The last time was when Brendan’s birthday in one of the bar / club in Shanghai that is not even exist anymore haha in fact I already forget what the place called, somewhere in The Bund #not helping either.
I was still full after Warung Made so we took half of the food home. During dinner we discussed about what will we do tomorrow, we could go shopping in the morning for our Raclette NYE, go to cat sitting, we still have time we could take train to another city called Leon and go back home. I told her I have the Empek Empek to fried at her place. When are you gonna eat that? ask her. “Tomorrow” “When? before or between after Leon before Raclette?” “Well, if tomorrow doesn’t work then the next day haha keep postponing it to another tomorrow” hahaha just like the Spanish, relax we do it mañana if not then mañana mañana 😀
I was having a doubt what will we do next, it was still 18:30 but as usual raining, cold, windy as well as already dark. Anyhow, I wanted to go to the Red Light District. Irina warned me that it wasn’t open yet, I insist I want to see the XXX workers. She said the tariff was 50 Euro for 15 minutes whaaaatttttttt?!?!? should I consider to change my job? hahaha well, she said “Marlyn, there wont be always a hot guy” okay okay, Im keeping my job 😉 We saw some…only to my opinion they weren’t cute, we…well I need to find the cute one. Irina said “I don’t know Marlyn, I am not working here, I don’t know where the cute one” we find her eventually therefore we can move on…. to the next activity! haha
We visited Peep Show, Im so “proud” of myself, this is the thing, I have a goal, need to achieve it, although I have no coins because…… I gave it to the walking tour for Entertainment Tax. For a Peep Show we need to gave coins, I aint have cash neither does she… okay, lets ask people for 2 Euro hahaha. Hello, excuse me, do you have coins? I asked a couple on the outside of one of the Peep Show, I can give you per PayPal, the lady said “dont worry, here is for you, enjoy” haha Irina might be ashamed right there and then but heyyyy, think of the bright side we got to see it…for freeee 😉 No fotos on that area as you cant do it, privacy yo!
On the last day of year 2022, Zeus made us cancelled the plan to Leon due to disruptive wind along with many train not operates like normal, being stuck in another city on NYE is not an option at all, besides I still slept in haha by the time I officially wake up, rise and shine and ready, it was too late to go to another city so we just chill at home while Irina prepare the food. How about me? what did I do?… avoiding Fatty to step on my thigh again hihi
Rene arrived first, he brought board games. We played Pandemic while waiting for Barbara. She brought Hogwarts Pajamas, me and Irina were the “Party Animals” yes with quote while all people are getting sexy in NYE, this is our sexy! Bunny and Cats! Btw all these times the Dutch already light up fireworks, it was every damn where every damn time, even when it was still like 4 hours before midnight. Salem was scared because of it, he had so hide under the blanket, poor cat! We started our Raclette, watch TV for official countdown, watching NYE fireworks from window, forgot to eat grapes while doing countdown. Irina said “fuck!!! the grapesss!!! we need to eat 12 of it”
At around 2 AM we decided to play the wrong game at the wrong time. Rene tried to explained it and lured us into “its not that hard” yes it wasn’t a hard game but considering the time, it was! although in reality you only need to do a slight thinking yet my brain refused to work at that hour. At the end of the game probably only Barbara and Rene who played it haha I am for sure already out, Irina was half out. We called it a quit after that, Adios Muchachos!!!!
Before I headed back to Amsterdam Central bound to Dortmund, we walked around Irina’s place to see some “farm” with sheep, goat and playground. We went to Supermarket on Sunday, amen! being an adult, you realized, it’s always the little things that makes a difference like Supermarket open on Sunday! heaven! We had Sushi at home and….. Adios Amiga!
Irina said besides my sleep-in, I am a really good guest and I welcomed at her place any time. Damn yeah I’m gonna come again 🙂
Happy 2023 folks, may we achieve what we want, if not, move your ass to work it out 😀 such a motivational word to welcome the new year haha
We reach the bottom of the story! The root of why I went to Brussels is caused by a simple question from Louise triggers another question to Anu triggers another question to Irina then to Helene, it’s a domino’s effect. “Do you want to go to Harry Potter things?”
The hell I want it, my inner child is calling, so does Irinas. Great! who’s living in Brussels? maybe Helene and Alex wants to join too. Helene said yes, Alex said no as she’s not a hardcore fans. No worries! we three will make it.
Damn right we did! Irina came just for the day, I met her after I finished with Gent. We went first while Helene join after she finish working. We took the non direct bus which means, 20 minutes walk to the forest is needed. We felt like we were in Hagrid’s home 🙂 outside of Hogwarts. By the time we were about 300m from the forest we could hear some music. Run! we don’t want to be late! Professor Mcgonagall is gonna kill us!
We only arrived no more than 15 minutes before Helene, safe to say we all made it on time.
About the same time when we were there, there was a mother and her son who were so nice, she kept helping us taking our pictures. Apropos, we helped her too, just in case someone questioning our behavior 😉
Harry Potter snacks welcomed us, not for free though 😉 Without a doubt, their price were ridiculous, take an example when you’re a child you’re ripping off your parents for asking them to buy you stuff, now the circle is closing, only you rip off yourself. It is all connected #confession, I binge watch Manifest lately. Just like in the series, you had to follow the Calling, you’re inner child is having the joy of their life now 🙂 Quote from Irina “take my money!” That bitch wasn’t even a Harry Potter fans she binge watched the whole movies before going to the forest.
Here comes the introduction of the forest that I have not the slightest understanding whatsoever because it was in French…. thought they will repeat it in English, hell no they didn’t! #meh -_-
Irina wanted to borrow someone’s wand for a picture, she asked a couple “where did you get the wand” from all languages that we speak (be in mind Indonesian, Mandarin, German, English, Spanish, French, Dutch), we need to ask a Russian couple hahaha suddenly we remember the mother’s kid has a wand with him! Find them!
We were so happy when we found a Butterbeer stand! This is on our agenda, we need to drink it! They both are amateur cannot get the moustache thingy pffff
On that Butterbeer stand we made our DIY wand, actually we didn’t do nothing apart from asking “can we get this straw?” the guy on the opposite side was “yes, you can have it more too” “no we need to save sea turtles, we will take turns on our Expecto Patronum spell”. Thanks God we don’t need to use it, they provided the wand for us.
Continue walking through the forest, we met Centaur, Niffler, Buckbeak. Another interactive session that I have no clue about. Hagrid’s half brother Grawp, Aragog..Hagrid, is that you? We heard the music of Durmstrang when Viktor Krum entering The Great Hall #ugh! 很 man! I remembered I went crazy about this specific scene.
Still walking until there was a battle light between Harry and “you know who” and that bitch Irina Avada Kedavra-ing me while I’m not even ready! I shouted shut up bitch shut up bitch, she ain’t give a damn! Avada Kedavra, Avada Kedavra, dieeeee! The final scene in Harry Potter is the final scene in the forest experience. Our Harry Potter experience has comes to an end 🙁
Here is a clip videos that I can make from all videos that Irina and I took. Of course it didn’t do the justice of the whole experience in the forest but it has our memories 🙂
Because we just experienced Harry Potter, we need to Manifest it to our names….. what could be our names in Harry Potter? hmmmmm… HA! found it!
Good bye for now from: Heleres Umbridge, Draco Marfoy and Rinald Weasley 😉
You are the sum of who you surrounds yourself with. Therefore be careful about your surroundings #Remember (sounds effect of Mufasa talking to Simba please)
I had been wanting a Chicken & Waffle for a long time, ever since Anu posted the picture on her Insta Story. As matter of fact is not even that long only like 3 months, nevertheless dramatic spice were needed. There are always a lot of vivid things going on in Düsseldorf, new restaurants, good deals, more than in Dortmund although we are only 1 hour away. Which means both Anu and I are one hour apart however it was so hard to find the time to meet as that bitch is a frequent traveler, she’s constantly away, living life to the fullest hey 😉 #you have a jealous bitch on the other side
We settled on 6th of November, through rain and wind, we made it! to her place first haha had a sip of wine (second reason), first reason is because I need a scarf haha brrrr mir ist kalt!
This restaurant named Hitchcoq, their specialties is by having first Sunday each month Chicken & Waffle with 5 level of spiciness. Anu recommended level number 3 so we can taste the spice in enjoyable manner instead of number 4 which is already cross the limit and more to the direction of just hot. She’s Indian so I trust her, thanks God I did 🙂 Then we had a cheesecake Ferrero boah, mamamia, lecker, I really enjoyed both of it!
After we tank ourselves unfortunately the weather was very unfriendly and made it impossible to walk around the city. What did we do next? going back home haha purpose solved!
She posted me on Insta story that give me an idea to proof if my surroundings knows me or not haha by making a poll. I was hoping for some faith that someone will pull it out. In a moment of despair (another dramatic spice here) someone did pull it out, thank you Memel! Now I can sure that faith in humanity restored 😉
Anu gave me goodie bag full of snacks also returned the book I lent her a year ago haha she said “here is for you, it’s not something from Germany because you live here, in a way that you can buy it yourself, this is from Edinburg and somewhere else (like I said that bitch is a traveler)” my response was “this is not the one that already lay for 6 months and you don’t want to eat it anymore right?” she was like “wtf” hahaha
I’m indeed surrounding myself with good people 🙂
before you think I’m the villain here, think again… haha our bitchiness is the same 😉
Small Iceland bitches reunion! Why small? because the big reunion happened back in April for a Tulip festival where unfortunately I was Corona positive one day before the trip, thus I missed it. Where? In a theme park in Germany called Europa Park! One important truth in life, bitch always comes unexpectedly, one of our friend broke her legs about one week before the trip causing her not to be able to drive 🙁
Feel threatened that even this plan will fail…. I stayed silence during the whole discussion if the girls will still keep it, who will drive and so on. I am the only one that lives in Germany, obviously I still want to go, I can take the train therefore they don’t need to count me in on their car’s space. Odds are in my favor, my bold bitch Irina make sure the plan still on! yaiss girl! you rocks!
They started around 3PM from Amsterdam, picked me up in Köln Hbf around 18:30, arrived in Rust at 00:15, all done by Irina. While Me and Lina slept on the car, Tereza and her keep awake all the time, that is respect yo!
Mind you, I just came back from Milan, whole day on the way, arrived at the hotel at 00:15, they put our keys in the Briefkasten. My brain literally was no where near functioning, grabbed two envelopes, didn’t even bother to ask why there are two, opened one of them, took out the card key, saw the number, okay let’s go to room number 10.
Beep! door opened, saw two shoes, “oh girls I think they haven’t clean the room” to my surprise there is a girl at the bed! She was for sure shock as well however she still managed to politely say “Hi! I think you are in the wrong room”….. hmmm, my spirit starting to come back one by one….I couldn’t even remember what I replied her, should be somewhere along the line…. “how do you know?” “it’s not your name” heeee? she continued “it’s my name on the envelope” first I was amazed she can read her name written on the envelope from that 2 meter-ish distance, second my whole spirit were already back at my body, “oh I’m really sorry, I didn’t check the name” “can you please put the key back?” “yes, I will, good night! bye” We were laughing like wtf, how come the Germans put all the keys in one Briefkasten! Imagine if I’m a bad person! Irina was also puzzled when she said “it’s not your name?” well, how do you know my name? haha Little did I knew, Lina or who else I don’t know had the correct envelope with our name written on it, we were totally at the wrong floor at the wrong room at the wrong time haha the circle of mistakes couldn’t be more round than this #facepalm
We found where we should belong, into our family room (4 beds in one), arranged ourselves to rest, had a really long day #snooze out zzz zzz
Breakfast done, drove to Europa Park, the weather was bad at the beginning, but it gets better during our day there.
We literally just enter the park only to found out that I already dead! #dead inside
We tried the attractions that doesn’t have a long queue first, I thought we just need to sit down but nope we need to pedal the bicycles so it moves faster! we didn’t believe Irina at first when she said we need to pedal after few minutes of confirmation she said “let’s go bitch, don’t tell me you didn’t move faster when you pedal” woah what an exercise in the morning.
We did Moulin Rounge together then we got separated because Lina and Irina doesn’t want to ride Silver Star whereas on the opposite side, me and Tereza were waiting in line for first row! the feeling was amaaazzzinnggg!!!
We had lunch at a restaurant called Food Loop simply because they will deliver us our order via a roller coaster thingy, see this pictures and videos so cute eh!
From the website it’s written they closed at 18:00 near the closing time, we took the deceiving no waiting line roller coaster, yes no waiting line because we come out wet like wet! Credit to German efficiency, directly after we came out there is a dryer machine 🙂
Seeing people still walking around, we took one more attraction, not roller coaster, just the one where our job was to sit and enjoy the view. We could finally relax because at this point I already have a back pain haha #getting old, the struggle is real.
This Europa Park imo is very much interesting than Disneyland or Universal Studios because the place itself is not so big anyhow they really maximized all the usage, all attractions are close to each other, there are toilets everywhere. It’s not like Disney where you need to wait in line for each attraction followed by wait in line for the toilets. The attractions itself are more for adults, there are of course kids and family suitable roller coaster. We know the character of Disney and Universal studios more but Europa Park just like the name, we are in Spanish part, Italian part, Greece part, or the animal “character” that they used is like dinosaurs etc.
So, if you want to be in the whole Europe, go to Europa Park haha
Check out day, I was the last one who use the bathroom, ready to had breakfast… until…. where is my glasses? where my damn glasses! Texted the ladies if by chance they saw it even though my second thought was “how could they?”
Sure as hell I couldn’t find it that time, anyway, went to had breakfast while all the 3 ladies moved around my bed, their bed, checked their bags, went to the car, talk to the receptionist etc (they had breakfast before me, I’m not acting like a diva here hihi)
OK. I was made to believe that I lost it in the park pfffffff I still have my sunglasses though, it has prescriptions too. We were doing some sightseeing in a French city near the border of Germany, called Alsace-Riquewihr. As you can see from the pictures, we didn’t see the sun (aka ‘was raining), nevertheless, I’m wearing it haha!
When in France, have a pancakes….. don’t forget ciders! We versehen Cider at the drink menu, we all ordered Apfelschorle or sth like that, luckily Tereza saw it combined with Irina speaks French, so we all get our beloved ciders 🙂
After that Irina drove me back again to Köln, not a surprise DB got delayed so my arrival at home is the same as their arrival in Amsterdam haha! so severe ehhhhh. In the middle of no energy left, loaded my clothes to the washing machine when out of the sudden a booster energy erupted, there’s my glasses!!!
The trip that ended happily 🙂 just like driving back to Köln after Riquewihr, all through the rainbow.
I am really glad to see you again, yes you bitch with the addition of my new two bitchessss 😀 you’re the best!
I just finished a legendary 9 days in Iceland with Girl Gone International (GGI) Facebook group. To my surprise many of my friends want to go there too and seeing the Northern Lights is one of the dream for them. Therefore here what I want you to prepare for Iceland, but most important among all is MONEY! in form of debit / credit card. I don’t suggest you to exchange your Euro / USD into ISK because they accept payment with card everywhere, only though check with your bank because mine has 1% fee every time I use outside Germany.
First thing first, Iceland is VERY EXPENSIVE! For this 9 days I spend almost 3K Euro (2925,43 Euro to be exact) and I’m already flying from Germany btw, just imagine if you fly from outside Europe, the fee will be fantastic for surrreeee. Did I expect it will be this expensive? No. Did I blow it out of proportion? Big time. Did I think it’s worthy? Absolutely! We can always earn money but the opportunity to see what I saw, to experience what I did, I’m not sure I will get it again.
Here are all the Marlyn’s insight 🙂
What to Pack
Always always wear thermal undergarments as your first layer, it can be Heatech from Uniqlo (I wore this), or sth similar from Jack Wolfskin, National Geographic or other brand. Buy the waterproof hiking pants that has fleece inside (I got one from Quechua-Decathlon), mine is only waterproof hiking pants some other girls wear waterproof skiing pants. Bring 2 gloves, because even Forclaz gloves from Decathlon that is fit for skiing or outdoor activity will get soaked, you can also buy in Iceland I’ll recommend you some shop. Bring lots lots lots of socks! any thickness as I always wear double socks. Wear hiking winter boots, will be better if it’s waterproof too. Scarf, hats and the things to cover your mouth not using scarf, like a headband but for mouth or face also necessary. Use body butter, handcreme, lipbalm and eye drops because the weather will make your skin and eye dry.
For bottom part: undergarments + jeans. If the weather will be raining or windy + waterproof Quechua-Decathlon. For glacier hike only undergarments + waterproof Quechua-Decathlon is enough.
For upper part: undergarments + sweater + winter jacket (I wear the one that is blubblubblub like a Baby Michelin style you know what I mean). If you have a winter jacket that is also waterproof is even better. However I do recommend a vest from Ororo it cost around 150 USD depends on which time you bought it maybe would be wise to buy it during Black Friday, had I knew it earlier I would’ve bought it. Please use my link to buy it so I might get a points 🙂 http://ororo.refr.cc/marlynpraseli
Dana wore this, while we were freezing she was just fine and act like the cold don’t bother her, I asked her why and she explained that her vest has a rechargeable battery so it can warm your body for 8 hours.
What to Eat
Oh my, here all the foods are amazing especially fish soup, lobster soup or any seafood-food, if you don’t eat seafood I think the lamb also good but I don’t eat lamb so…… I just keep eating fish soup even though I also not a big fans of fish. However, you need to download the app Dineout because you need to make a RSVP always. Btw, they do serve water for free yeay! And they won’t judge you like cheap if you just order food and drink water 😉 Good to know that Icelandic tap water is one of the cleanest water in whole world, no need to spend money on buying bottled water.
Here all the places that I went to, I definitely force you to eat at Potturinn og Pannan and Messin. And the rest, you can just have a look if it’s what you’d like 🙂
Potturinn og Pannan. I had a Langoustine soup and Chicken breast sth, they all are good but the Langoustine soup oohhh! blew me away. Total meal I had is ISK 6400 = EUR 43,59.
Messinn. I had an Atlantic Wolffish, if you google Wolffish it is a weird one but trust me, also blew my mind! Price is ISK 3880 = EUR 26,50. Besides that fish, what is top favorite is Creamy Lobster Soup. Katey and Jemima had it, I tried but I really don’t like it because the smell is very pungent which is very strong times 1000! Other girls like it and said it is how lobster soup suppose to be….hmmmm….But Jess ordered Icelandic Plokkfiskur with Bearnaise Sauce and oh my it is delicious!!! Anyway if you don’t want to try, just eat the Wolffish and you’re good 🙂
Forrettabarrin. It is like a tapas place. Just order 2 portion and it’s enough. I had again Langoustine soup-it’s good! and cocktail shrimps & scallops-the scallops is great but I didn’t read it carefully that they put wasabi so I don’t enjoy it. The meal I had is ISK 3700 = EUR 25,40.
Saegreifinn. This place is small and not a proper dinner, the menu is only what on the display and they will just grill it. I had a salmon it’s not bad but they have a blow your mind Lobster soup! When you sit on the second floor be careful there is a “creepy stuffed man” this place is rather weird because it’s all full with stuffed animals. Total meal I had is ISK 2540 = EUR 16,9
The other food I ate was Fish and Chips, Ribs, Pizza and not a special Icelandic so it’s just OK. The other recommendation that you can try is Skal, ROK, SeaBarren, Islenski barinn. Don’t forget do it all through Dineout app.
What to Do
First, download the buss app Straeto and put your credit card there, one way ticket is ISK 490, nope they don’t have 24 hours ticket, daily ticket, group ticket or whatever ticket. Btw, you need to wave your hand, body, feet etc when your bus came because the driver won’t stop! You need to make sure the driver see you and make a sign that you wanted to get on that bus or else he/she will pass you by. Second, download Aurora App, this is the app you can use to predict if you can see Northern Lights or not! Oh yeah, the exciting part! See the green part, percentage and cloud coverage. If the percentage is 8% and above then there is a big probability that you can see it.
According to my experience, Northern Light Tour starts at 21:00 and you go to somewhere that doesn’t have a light, far from city center and what worse about it is you have to just stand outside for at least 2 hours. Why is that? Because the Northern Lights is always moving! For 15 minutes you only see one line, you were already happy then it’s gone from your sight for 10 minutes however it moves due to the cloud coverage then it’s re-appear from behind you and stays there for 25 minutes then last thing you know, it all around the sky and you are so glad you didn’t go back when it seems like the end of it. This pictures and video are taken with a mobile phone and this also how I see it with my bare eyes, maybe only 1 level lighter green but still green!
The important thing we can’t forget about Northern Lights is that it is a nature phenomenon, no matter how good the App on predicting it, it still can go wrong (not appear). So my suggestion is if you want to see it, better not make a special trip solely to Iceland-or else you might get or be ready for a disappointment, make it if you want to travel to some countries in Europe then have a stop in Iceland, be flexible with your return ticket. Let me remind you again, it is not always there. I am very lucky that I saw it 3 days in a row while the group that went before me they see nothing. One girl-Dana from the last group extend her staying by one more day and she got a chance to see it with my group on our first day of the tour.
Simply contact @nicetraveliceland, ask for a tour guide Christina or Magnus and make your deal with them. Since I went with 18 other girls we got a mini van for us. I’m not sure if you are only like 4 people group or so, for sure they can manage it only maybe the fee are different.
Here is our itinerary with @nicetraveliceland arranged by GGI. Day 1 from 21:00-Northern Lights in the evening. Day 3 from 08:30 until 18:30-The Golden Circle, including Thingvellier National Park, Geysir & Haukadalur Geothermal Area, Gullfoss – The Golden Waterfall, Kerid Crater Lake, Secret Lagoon (bring your own towel or else ISK 700 to rent there). Day 4 from 08:30 until 20:30-The South Coast, including Seljalandsfoss & Gljufrabui Waterfalls, Skogafoss Waterfall, Solheimajokull Glacier (please do additional activity Glacier Hike for 1,5 hours the cost is EUR 80, it’s a super easy hike and they gave you the safety equipment and spikes, it’s worthy!) and Reynisfjara Black Beach. Day 5 from 08:30-19:30-The Snaefellsnes Peninsula including Ytri Tunga Seal Colony, Black Church Budakirkja, Arnarstapi fishing village & sea arches, Londrangar Cliffs, Black Beach of Djupalonssandur, Kirkjufell (Arrowhead mountain, Game of Thrones). Wondering what happened with my Day 2? It wasn’t with @nicetraveliceland, we did Reykjavik City Walking Tour.
The total trip from GGI including hotel is EUR 1406. The Hotel that we stayed called Oddsson Hotel + Aurora Airport Hotel on my last day, it’s not bad, it’s a self check in hotel but if I may suggest please just look for a hotel / hostel really in downtown or walking distance to downtown. Because from Oddsson it take 30 mins bus ride and when the weather is so windy, you don’t want to stand still waiting for the bus.
What to Add
Besides the tour, I also suggest you to do additional activity such as:
Blue Lagoon. Ask them to pick you up from your hotel because the location of Blue Lagoon is really far, ofc with additional fee. Blue Lagoon is very expensive but again it’s worthy! The cost is ISK 15980 = EUR 107,89. You don’t need a towel as they provide it or even flipflops because it’s not necessary, you will walk barefoot anyway. If you are 11 people together you can book their Blue Lagoon Tour where they will explain something about it, with additional fee, you can ask their customer service for this. Book from their website https://www.bluelagoon.com/book/guests
Horse Riding Tour, I did from Laxnes. I know seems horse riding is not so special but mind you that this is Icelandic horse, you won’t see it anywhere because if Icelandic horse leave Iceland, they can’t go back. It is very special experience, the cost is ISK 14900 = EUR 100,46. Book from https://laxnes.is/laxnes-special I forget if there is additional fee for pick up or already included.
What I was disappointed is with the Whale Watching Tour, not with the tour but it’s a whale, we can’t control them if they want to jump or not. So I didn’t really see anything and it’s expensive ISK 14190 = EUR 94,35. They do their best to keep searching for the whale, dolphins etc but again I only saw the tip of the whale. Let me say it clearly, I’m not disappoint with elding, if you never do any kind of this activity before then you can make your own experience and decide if you still want to do it in the future or not. I can only recommend you to not choose their pick up service because it’s located somehow not so far from city center, you can easily take a bus that cost ISK 490 other than pick up like me that cost ISK 2200. I do it with https://elding.is/reykjavik-classic-whale-watching Attention guys you can also do Northern Lights on a boat but my suggestion is NO NO NO! You don’t want to be in a middle of ocean, with bumpy sorry very bumpy waves, cold water, nope you don’t want to get sea sick NO NO NO! Do it on the road! ask @nicetraveliceland and you’re good.
Volcano Hike. Book from https://troll.is/tour/geldingadalur-active-volcano-tour/ If I’m not mistaken it’s including pick up service, if not, just add it. You can rent a hiking shoes with them but please email them separately because they need to know your shoe size, the tour guide will bring it to you, you can’t choose on the spot. If you didn’t email them your size the guide won’t bring it for you. Happened to me and they refunded my hiking shoes fee, lucky I came with my winter boots if I came with flipflops goodbyeeee. The price is ISK 11310 = EUR 75,21. The hike imo was easy only if you don’t carry stuff, leave everything on the bus because it’s a 4 hours full of walk.
Where to Shop
Iceland can be very cold even with all the preparation you make. If the cold is very very unbearable. You can go to store 66 degree or Icewear, it’s everywhere. But, if you want to shop and do charity at the same time, you can go to Thorvaldens Bazar. It is a small boutique located in the city center and organized by a lovely 2 old ladies aaawwww, if we buy something there some portion will go for charity, I don’t want to say how many % because I forget, our walking tour Nana knew about it andddddd it’s all handmade! I didn’t buy mittens or hats because I had enough but the girls who bought it there said it’s really warm. Also if you buy ISK 6000 at one store, make sure you ask for a tax refund. Alcohol is very expensive here even more expensive then when I was in Shanghai, forget about alcohol in Germany it cost nothing. I suggest you to buy it in the Airport Duty Free before you fly there. If you want to go for a supermarkt, choose Bonus because it’s the cheapest one haha
Okay, I think I gave already what I know about Iceland, you can always reach me if more information needed 🙂
Make sure you do have at least 3K Euro for a 9 days trip! Happy saving and happy traveling 😉
I’ve just done my legend… wait for it…trip in 2021 so far in a legend… wait for it… country, the combination of ice and fire, Iceland! we were 18 girls (including me) plus one leader in total. All of us are girls that was born in one country and yet live in another country or has been everywhere so the question of where do you come from indeed became a really hard one that need a further explanation 😉 Nevertheless, I am so glad I met you all, this trip won’t be the same without you <3
Here to show what a togetherness of 19 strangers looks like 🙂
Kicking of with dinner at BrewDog. Our Northern Lights Tour scheduled for the second day but according to the weather forecast, on 30th Oct it will be better so we changed it. I remembered we were kind of in a rush of eating, just order Burger because it’s easier and faster to make, said Kimmy. No way! I ordered ribs 🙂 haha, it was confirmed by the waiter that if only one of two person order it, it won’t slow down the process. Jesslyn and I ordered it.
(right after this pic was shared, I know we have a professional photographer @tracyrusso)
Not only we have Magnus from @nicetraveliceland that took picture of us in the beginning where the lights started to appear.
We also have @tracyrusso who stays for the next two hours and took a silhouette picture with a more crazier Northern Lights!
What a relief feeling to achieved your only reason to travel to Iceland on your first day 😀 Northern Lights, checked! More story about it just click here Just Have a Little Faith-Part 2
We started our second day with chill because we’ve done the most important thing already last night 😉 Today will be solely dedicated for Reykjavik City Walking Tour.
Nana explained it all so detailed but sorry not sorry I couldn’t care less, I care more about how to not freeze to death! We finished our walking tour with a Lamb Hotdog, I don’t eat Lamb but since it’s in Iceland so I had one, it was so so, eatable. I think it suppose to be a famous lamb, I don’t know the name, just look for Radisson Blue Hotel and across that there is the lamb’s stall 🙂
We went separate way before we met up again for dinner. Anu, Helene, Alex and I stick together because we don’t want to go back to Hotel and came back to city center for dinner, so we went up to Hallgrimskirkja (the church) so see the beautiful view there. It is beautiful but the wind was also beautiful, my hands are freezing.
Right after this, we needed to warm ourselves us in Cafe Loki where I met….. a very…. interesting waiter that I couldn’t resist, I need to have a picture with him 😉 It is Halloween and he is very dedicated for it! He showed us how he showed up for work that day but his boss asked him to remove the make up. Nevertheless, I think he is still dedicated, his eyes were really shocked me. But Hey! me, Irina, Sarah and Jemima also wear something for our Halloween dinner 🙂
Our third day is my favourite, The Golden Circle Tour 😀 Not only “Down To Earth with Zac Efron” had a scene there, we also went way more than him. HA! Take that Zac! Ofc the must see Thingvellir National Park, Geysir and Haukadalur Geothermal Area, The Golden Waterfall Gullfoss, Kerid Crater Lake and Secret Lagoon.
The bonus, an ice cream stop in a remote upland farms and as if that’s not enough, we got a stop and pet Icelandic horse!
Thanks to @tracyrusso who snapped a beautiful picture for us 🙂
A good way to close this tour is with one and only Icelanders know well, diving ourselves into a warm Secreet Lagoon!
@jemimaabu@tracyrusso
Fourth day with GGI is called The South Coast tour where I translated it as the many waterfall days tour 🙂 We went to see Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrabui Waterfalls, Skogafoss Waterfall, hike Solheimajokull Glacier and entertained by Irina’s Stand Up Comedy in Reynisfjara-Black Beach.
I think somewhere before we went to Reynisfjara-Black Beach, we stopped to see the kind of house that using nature aka rocks! So the house is actually small but it located under a rock, it is very interesting but Christina said no one want to lives here because it symbolize poverty.
Oh here is the proof that we hiked the Glacier. Bravo Erin!
We’ve done many activity today, we deserved some alcohol. Did I tell you that two of our girls having a birthday while on this trip? Yes they are Anu and Sarah. This is how we celebrate it 🙂
Happy birthday to both of you 🙂
Fifth day is our last day with GGI and we went to The Snaefellsnes Peninsula. This is the day where the weather is really not compromise with us, you have no idea what is the meaning of cold and windy until you come to Iceland. This is the place where the so-called waterproof and windproof clothes really got tested 😉
We went to Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Ytri Tunga Seal Colony, Black Church-Budakirkja, Arnarstapi, Londrangar Cliffs and Black Beach of Djupalonssandur. Not that I care but I am more concentrating of how not to fall down from the cliff due to super heavy wind and rain, we were all soaked wet. Ugh, unbelievable.
Then came the sixth day, the separation day oh nooo 🙁 some of the girls will extend for few more days but some already said goodbye. Thank you girls for the laugh, food, pictures and stories that we shared together.
We were all strangers living in whole around the world who somehow happened to take GGI opportunity and create our own paradise in a country that foreign for us all, Iceland. I really had a great time and I will never feel Iceland as cold as it was before because of you all.
Thanks to Kimmy our leader who never raised her voice to any of us and never late with information of what to expect from the next day, respect! I wish I can be like Erin every time I go to my home country I will take a first class ticket! and make sure I got serve a Champagne from a silver glassware 😉 Followed by a hope that I can adapt to coldness like Susie, just got on board ready without any layers haha. Sarah as the only person who got many ISK money, I asked her “in which currency will we gave a tip to Christina?” She said “Icelandic” “do you have the cash” “a lot” whoah! haha Jessica who by the end of the trip I still don’t know why I got a feeling that I met her before, this will be my forever homework. Jesslyn my Malaysian lady who not only mistaken a fork with a chicken bones and almost put it inside a glass, she did a heroic thing such as let me know her room code so Jemima can’t stop me from getting in 🙂 I don’t like when I see Jemima is in peace I need to come and bother her haha Louise who’s not only the Viking but she has the most complete Insta-story ever, seems like nobody need to go anywhere, just follow her IG and you will know exactly what to expect from any place she visit 😉 The very beautiful Alya, look almost in every video she never realized the camera or say hi but the camera loves her, she can definitely be a supermodel. The very humble and nice Helene, I will never forget how you explain everything what we’ve done to a girl that keep pressing our elevator up to the Church, while I said “don’t press” and you just asked her to join us from Church sightseeing to Cafe Loki and to dinner. Alex, the very right person to ask what time the bus will pick us up, guys, always go for the Germans, they know everything! The very genuine person Katey who is OK with us ‘almost’ cancelling the last visit to Arrowhead Mountain due to the weather is not promising while she was the hardcore fans of GOT, she said during lunch “if I’m the only person who wants to go then we can just cancel it” no way! I’m not a fans of GOT but I objected! We have a couple of girls that has a high sense in fashion, I’m talking about Katie and Tracy, not only these two seems to change their clothes everyday, they changed it from head to toe, it’s always matching and good looking and Tracy also taken picture of us with professional camera 🙂 Ana who gave me an insight of starting my side-job doing something with the Internet such as content creator or something, I always want to do that and you challenged me for it, thank you, I’m up for it! Dami who eats a lot of protein while everyone have a light breakfast, she’s having chicken already, yes girl! Irina who always put up with my bullshit and I really think the picture will just do the justice 🙂 Anu, my demanding roomate who moved her body butter from her bed to her table-lamp so I couldn’t just use it when I needed, the one who force me to get up and have breakfast in Airport hotel, the nerve you got Anu!
KimmyAnuUsAlyaIrina
Not forget to mentioned that I thank you to Violet for bringing the idea to make a GGI trip to Iceland.
Iceland is legend… no need to wait for it anymore… dary, legendary! XOXO
