It all started with the dream of waking up to the stunning and spectacular/breathtaking fjord view, crossing the magical Arctic Circle to meet Santa Claus, experiencing Swedish “Fika” culture at a Swedish café and hunting for aurora borealis in the northern region of Norway. What a luxurious dream, right? Yes indeed, but we did it in an economical way by travelling across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia for only RM11,800 per person (ALL IN). Stay with us as we share our money-saving tips, what to eat and what you need to know about these countries.
Check out our breakdown expenses below:
We actually spent quite a lot on food because we wanted to try all the local delights as much our stomach could take. Of course, we also cooked ourselves (breakfast and dinner) especially in Norway. Our mindset of spending for food is to be reasonable (not too expensive, but try what we should try especially the local food) since these countries are a little too far for us to visit again.
Apart from that, we would also like to highlight that getting a cheap flight ticket is very important. We were really lucky to get a super good deal of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Oslo (Norway) return flight for RM1,805.90 from Thai Airways (one of the best airlines in the World for 2017). This was our first flight experience with Thai Airways and they did not failed to provide us comfortable seats, great services and most important, delicious flight meals and entertainment program to assure we would not be bored throughout the 16 hours flight time (per journey). We certainly had a pleasant flight experience with Thai Airways.
We actually spent a few months of hard work to plan our first trip to Europe. Check out our brief itinerary below, the detailed itineraries by countries would be available at their individual blog posts.
Some highlights of our trip to Scandinavia and Russia:
#1 Norway
Most Famous Activity: Aurora Borealis
Most Magnificent Viewpoint: Stegastein Viewpoint
Address: Bjørgavegen 83, 5745 Aurland, Norway
Most Beautiful Fjord Landscape: Fjord Cruise Nærøyfjord (Flam – Gudvangen)
Most Value for Money Food: Fish cake
#2 Sweden
World’s Oldest Open Air Museum: Skansen Museum
Address: Djurgårdsslätten 49-51, 115 21 Stockholm
Opening hours: 11.00am – 4.00pm (varies by season)
Website: http://www.skansen.se/en/
Stockholm’s Most Beautiful Building: The City Hall
Opening hours: 8.00am – 4.00pm (varies by season)
One of the Stockholm’s Best Swedish Meatball: Meatballs for the People
Address: Nytorgsgatan 30, 116 40 Stockholm, Sweden
Opening hours: 11.00am – 10.00pm
Website: http://meatball.se/en-se
One of the World’s Famous Cakes: Swedish Princess Cake from Vete-Katten
Address: Kungsgatan 55, 111 22 Stockholm
Opening hours: 7.30am – 8.00pm (Mon-Fri); 9.30am -7.00pm (Sat-Sun)
Website: http://www.vetekatten.se/
#3 Finland
Official Hometown of Santa Claus: Santa Claus Village
Address: 96930 Rovaniemi, Finland.
Opening hours: 9.00am – 6.00pm (Varies by season)
Website: https://www.santaclausvillage.info/
One of UNESCO’s World Heritage: Suomenlinna
Address: 00190 Rovaniemi, Finland.
Website: https://www.suomenlinna.fi/
One of the World’s Most Unique Church: Temppeliaukio Church
Address: Lutherinkatu 3, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Opening hours: Varies weekly
Helsinki’s best fish soup: Soppakeittio Tapaste oy
Address: Hämeentie 1a , 00530 Helsinki
Opening hours: 11.00am – 4.00pm
#4 Russia
Moscow’s Most Famous Departmental Store: GUM Department Store
Address: Red Square, 3, Moskva, Russia, 109012
Opening hours: 10.00am – 10.00pm
Website: https://gumrussia.com/
Signature Landmark: St. Basil Cathedral
Address: Red Square, Moskva, Russia, 109012
Most Visited Palace: The Peterhof Palace
Address: Razvodnaya Ulitsa, 2, St Petersburg, Russia
Opening hours: 10.30am – 7.00pm
Most Value for Money Caviar Pancake: Teremok
Certainly, this is not the end of our Scandinavia + Russia trip updates. We will continue to share more of our money saving tips, accommodation experience, unique experience, foods to try, places to go, souvenirs to buy, etc. Stay tune for our next update!
Don’t forget to follow our footsteps at Facebook and Instagram too!
Post a Comment