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Post by roverpup on Aug 8, 2017 16:45:50 GMT
That is disappointing about the lack of bus transport. :-(((. Dan is adamant about not driving on our trips and we don't usually like big organized tourist bus trips (for one afternoon maybe but we like to do things on our own normally).
I may have to reconsider our destination. We'll see. Thanks for your honesty. Better to find out now in the planning stages than be disappointed when we get there.
:-))
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Post by ellie on Aug 8, 2017 17:16:06 GMT
I agree with IGS. Public transport isn't abundant. But we found the organised bus tours very good. You didn't feel like you were rushed through the stops so there was plenty of time to mooch about by yourself. We even got to climb up part of a glacier. They're very easy to book and because there are relatively few things to see you find that a couple of tours will cover the highlights.
When we were there we were lucky enough to hear Mozart's Requiem performed in the cathederal. We just saw a poster fir it and wandered in. It was great.
I will say this, you will have seen enough Moss to last a lifetime by the time you leave. When you first get there you're fascinated by the sparse landscape. By the end you're thinking "oh, more moss." 😀.
Also look out for the cracks and lines in the mountains that look like faces. Icelandic Folklore believed they were trolls who protected the land. Once you look you really do start spotting the faces.
The food is nice but I had an unfortunate experience. We went into this cafe and on the menu it had, cheese and marmalade with toast. Always one to give anything new a go (so long as it's vegetarian!) I had visions of some lovely local cheese and savoury marmalade with some fresh wholegrain bread. What I got was two slices of sliced white bread lightly toasted, two slices of processed cheese and two sachets of Breakfast marmalade! We were in a hurry so I had to make do. Actually it didn't taste bad. 😀
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Post by mllemass on Aug 8, 2017 19:37:11 GMT
I don't think I've spent that much for all the hotel rooms I've ever stayed in, combined!
Hotels I stay in usually have a view of the parking lot. Although, I once attended a conference at a hotel in Toronto that had a cocktail party in the penthouse suite. The view from the floor-to-ceiling windows was amazing! And a hotel I stayed in for another conference, in Niagara Falls, had a fireplace, a tv in the bathroom, and a floor-to-ceiling view of the falls.
I'm dying to know what you get for $2000!
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Post by ellie on Aug 8, 2017 20:07:32 GMT
I'm lucky in that I sometimes get to stay in some v expensive hotels when I travel for work. I would never pay for them out if my own money as my experience has been that unless you plan to spend most of your time in the hotel then all you need is a clean room in a central location where you can get a good nights sleep and a decent shower. High end hotels mostly are just a more lavish version of mid price. The rooms are bigger, the furnishings plusher, the bars and dining rooms grander with more interesting menu options etc. There are of course exceptions, which is what I presume Roverpup is referring to, where the hotel is a destination in itself. For example www.burghisland.com/ in Devon. It's decorated entirely in original art deco furnishings and was the location for Agatha Christie's Evil Under The Sun. She and other famous people of the 1930s were frequent guests there. When you stay there you really feel as though you have stepped back in time. I adore that era and have stayed there twice. I would definitely go again.
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Post by roverpup on Aug 8, 2017 22:05:06 GMT
It was this place in Australia - longitude131.com.auLongitude 131. We spent two nights there and it was heaven on earth! Unbelievably pampered from the minute we got off the plane and they had a driver pick us up at the airport. Even checking in was done in style (they served us champagne and hors d'oeuvres while we filled out the paperwork. My husband is diabetic and they did an entire separate menu for him for every meal tailor made just for his dietary needs (even printed out his own menu for the table with choices just for him). You couldn't walk in the lounge without someone getting you a drink of something to your explicit liking. We had a bar included in the room and never used it because we had all we wanted otherwise. They provided everything for you - including lip balm, a backpack for trekking, the most comfortable slippers I have ever tried on, you mentioned it and it appeared instantly. I am still using the lotions they gave us! And not only that - there was so much care and knowledge that went into their cultural programmes. We had wonderfully skilled and knowledgeable guides on all of our treks to Uluru and to Kata Tjuta. The experiences there were unforgettable and life changing. We had gourmet meals all included in the cost. One was held out in the desert (again Dan had his special menu) with a cultural show and an after dinner star talk with a naturalist (he used a laser light beam to point out the constellations). Amazing time! We also got a chance to go for a camel ride in the desert. Loads of fun and both of us LOVED it thoroughly. The luxury "tent" room was unbelievably beautiful and was like being in a dream. You could lie in the bed and see a direct sight of The Red Rock - right in front of you... nothing in the way! It was the thing you fell asleep to and the first thing you saw as the sun hit it in the morning. I am not religious in the least but it was the most spiritual experience I have ever had. Everyone knew you by name and were so kind and friendly. We had a brilliant time and met some amazing people. We even found out the the camel wrangler had a cat named after our hometown and that was because her hero right from childhood actually came from our city and she named her cat after his hometown. When she found out Dan had actually interviewed him the gal treated Dan like he was a rockstar!! We have a picture of her in our photo album. It was worth every penny we spent and we had a once-in-a-lifetime adventure there. :-))
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Post by ellie on Aug 8, 2017 22:11:35 GMT
Wow that looks fabulous Roverpup. I stayed in a hotel near Uluru and saw the stars but it was just an ordinary hotel. That place looks incredible.
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Post by mllemass on Aug 8, 2017 23:12:05 GMT
That's amazing! I guess if you're going to go all the way to Australia, you might as well splurge on luxury!
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Post by igs on Aug 9, 2017 16:24:26 GMT
That place does look amazing! I could never stay there, I know this sounds like such bullshit lol but luxury makes me super uncomfortable. I don't even like regular hotels, I don't think I've stayed in anything but a hostel since I went to Spain with my mum in 2011 (except for work trips and once in Bolivia cause I was traveling alone and had such a bad case of altitude sickness that I needed a place where someone would bring me water and meals to bed for a couple of days.) My Aussie experience was somewhat different from yours, especially when me and my friends went to Sydney for New Year's but the city was booked solid so we couldn't get accommodation anywhere. Hence we dumped our stuff with a hotel receptionist who was kind enough to store them for us and decided to sleep on the streets after ringing in the New Year, until we met some random people who took us in and let us stay in their house somewhere in the suburbs. It was really nice though, we had a good after-party and they had a pool and made us BBQ the next afternoon. And yeah, I'd love for everyone to experience Iceland but better to know beforehand than be disappointed. Icelandic people do have some weird foods. Hákarl is by far the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten in my entire life, no contest. Anthony Bourdain agrees, apparently. Lutefisk is absolutely dank, but I'd still eat it any day over hákarl.
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Post by roverpup on Aug 9, 2017 16:42:29 GMT
Well, like I said, we have run the whole gamut as far as accommodations go (from sleeping in our car to Longitude 131) over the years, so going luxury is just one element of our travel repertoire. :-))
We've slept in hostels before and quite enjoyed ourselves. If we are in a place for the events and what's going on around us I don't care if there is luxury where we lay our heads down for the night. Dan and I have even roughed in the wilderness of Canada with nothing more than a poorly prepared backpack and a pup tent. Oh, boy! Let me tell you, you really get to know if you are suited as a couple if you spend a solid week in a tiny pup tent and it rains every DAY!!! LOL! We didn't even have a stove to cook any food on and no dry firewood. I think we ended up eating granola bars every meal and just watching the skies for some signs of clearing so we could pack up the canoe and escape!!! We could hear the wolves in the distance howling at night and hear black bears sniffing around our tent looking for "food" as well.
When we finally got home I don't think I enjoyed a shower any better than I did that night!
Good times! 😂
:-))
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Post by ellie on Aug 9, 2017 16:51:48 GMT
Wow. I've stayed all sorts of places across the entire spectrum from hostel to 5 star but I have never and will never sleep in a tent. Camping does not hold any appeal for me. Well not unless the tent is like the one you stayed in in Australia Roverpup!😀
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