Iceland in Winter by ferry and plane

[FrankC]

Sorry about some blurry photos: I don't see that they are bad in the preview, only when I post them and then it seems too late. I'm not sure how to delete a photo: even when I try it still seems to appear. Would like to know how to do it properly.

For those of us that have never been there, blurry photo is still better than no photo at all
Thanks

 

[Glider_]

Magnificent! I have been keeping an eye on the Finnair J sales for the last 12 months or so with a feint wisp of an idea to do something similar... but your report has blown me away and given me a much different (and better) direction. Thank you.

Did you have many issues with a language barrier?

 

[Cossie]

Magnificent! I have been keeping an eye on the Finnair J sales for the last 12 months or so with a feint wisp of an idea to do something similar... but your report has blown me away and given me a much different (and better) direction. Thank you.

Did you have many issues with a language barrier?

Not sure about the OP, I don't want to highjack the thread, I can't comment on Iceland, but in my experience you'll have no problems with English in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

 

[markir]

Great photo's and the country too.

 

[burmans]

Sorry about some blurry photos: I don't see that they are bad in the preview, only when I post them and then it seems too late. I'm not sure how to delete a photo: even when I try it still seems to appear. Would like to know how to do it properly.

They don't look that bad to me. Great photos, Stockholm is a lovely city but photography in winter light would be difficult at best!

 

[24601]

They don't look that bad to me. Great photos, Stockholm is a lovely city but photography in winter light would be difficult at best!

Luckily, there wasn't that much winter light - that problem only lasted a few hours each day . Then winter darkness kicked in.

 

[24601]

Magnificent! I have been keeping an eye on the Finnair J sales for the last 12 months or so with a feint wisp of an idea to do something similar... but your report has blown me away and given me a much different (and better) direction. Thank you.

Did you have many issues with a language barrier?

Firstly thanks for the feedback!

Secondly, no language barrier except a bit in the Faroe Islands, but not even there really. Everywhere else no problem at all, English is widely spoken. Also Danish and Swedish have some words which when written down on a sign at least, can be deciphered. Icelandic and Finnish are utterly incomprehensible in every way, on the other hand. I love the sound of spoken Finnish though, it has a kind of subtle lilting quality that reminds me of Italian.

I booked my ticket through JL, found a good price. Flew SYD-NRT - HEL [o'night stop @ Narita Town Mercure for a comfy bed and nice meal to break up the flight]. Return was HEL-NRT on AY metal and then HND-SYD on QF metal. Regional legs were booked separately, because I only decided what I was going to do after I had booked the main "positioning" flight. Flew SAS and Icelandair for those.

I highly recommend travel it, it was a fantastic trip, and I'd love to return although USA beckons right now - currently en route and doing battle with super-sluggish VA wifi in MEL..

 

[RooFlyer]

Sorry about some blurry photos: I don't see that they are bad in the preview, only when I post them and then it seems too late. I'm not sure how to delete a photo: even when I try it still seems to appear. Would like to know how to do it properly.

Not saying you should delete the pics, but to do so:

* Click 'Edit post' down the bottom (you can only edit for 24 hrs, I think)
* Delete the pic from the post by clicking on it and hitting 'delete' - but don't stop there. If you do, the image will still appear attached by a 'paper clip'
* Now click 'Go Advanced'
* At the bottom, click 'manage attachments' (your attachments should be listed immediately below that)

A new window should open up. The attachments to the post in question should appear as little thumbnails along the bottom, like this (I've gone into one of my own recent posts to bring up the manage window):





if you hover your mouse cursor over the attachment thumbnails, a little box with an 'x' in it should appear on the thumbnail's RH top corner. Click the 'x' of the pic you want to delete, then confirm when it asks you if you are sure. Close the manage window.

* then 'Save' .

 

[24601]

Not saying you should delete the pics, but to do so:

* Click 'Edit post' down the bottom (you can only edit for 24 hrs, I think)
* Delete the pic from the post by clicking on it and hitting 'delete' - but don't stop there. If you do, the image will still appear attached by a 'paper clip'
* Now click 'Go Advanced'
* At the bottom, click 'manage attachments' (your attachments should be listed immediately below that)

A new window should open up. The attachments to the post in question should appear as little thumbnails along the bottom, like this (I've gone into one of my own recent posts to bring up the manage window)...

Wow, thank you Roo Flyer for that! Very helpful indeed and just what I needed.

 

[24601]

Just a few more pictures of Stockholm including around the Royal palace, and a random day trip out to Lidingo.

The palace was very interesting and is well worth visiting, I think. It is very opulent! Lidingo is one of the islands near the city. I just picked one of the subway lines at random and took a train to the end of it, to Ropsten without any idea of what might be there. It wasn't very nice, industrial and grimy, but although the subway ended there, there was a light railway that continued over a causeway and onto the picturesque island. I took the light railway, stopping at a spot that looked nice and went for a wander, then got back aboard and on to the terminus at Gashaga Brygga.

I enjoyed myself anyway.

1. The Palace (you can do a guided tour - I didn't - or just pay admission and look around)

 

[24601]

More palace. Did I mention the opulence?








Hall of mirrors, based on Versailles


the "white room", possibly not the same one mentioned in the Cream song (you can tell because the curtains aren't black)

 

[24601]

A little bit more Palace









In the cellar:

 

[24601]

Some going on near the palace. I used a "batch convert" plugin to resize a whole bunch of photos so they were small enough to upload to AFF. Unfortunately, it looks like I got a setting wrong and it has also reduced the resolution. Sorry about that.

Here are some (too-low res) photos of some goings on around the palace. It turned out not to be in my honour (in fact one of them shouted at me when I stood in the wrong place), but a regular event. Guards need to be changed fro time to time, especially when it is freezing cold.





Lucky his lips didn't stick to the metal mouthpiece:

 

[24601]

Last little bit of Stockholm, this time Ropsten and beyond.

Ropsten, not so nice. But keep going on the light rail after the subway ends, and it is very pleasant:









This is at the end of the light rail line:

 

[24601]

Tokyo

Time to finish of this TR with a few days in Tokyo en route back to Sydney from Helsinki. I stopped one night there on the outward journey too, staying overnight at the adequate Mercure Narita in the town of Narita. That hotel is nothing special, but is fine for an overnight and is well located in Narita. It is a short, easy subway ride a few stops from the airport station. Narita is a nice little town that others have described elsewhere. Has some nice temples and streets lined with very old shops. There are lots of places to eat and I enjoyed a great meal.

Homeward-bound I stayed at the Mercure Ginza. It is a nicer hotel than the one at Narita. I took the airport limousine bus to Ginza station and then walked the couple of blocks to the hotel. The room was fine but, as you'd expect with a Mercure, nothing special. It featured an alarmingly-elaborate electronic toilet.

My main interest in Tokyo was exploring some of the extraordinary guitar shops there. A highlight included a day browsing (and buying) on "Guitar Street" at Ochanomizu. It is two blocks with almost nothing but guitar shops on either side of the road. They are huge and far beyond the scope of anything in Australia, or probably anywhere in the world. I also visited some other stores around Shibuya.

I flew QF26 from HND to SYD. As a solo traveler seat 5J was excellent: aisle with no window seat next to it, but extra storage/table space instead. And unlimited legroom. The flight was uneventful. I worked the whole way back to SYD catching up before I got home.

Room at Mercure Ginza:



Scene at Ginza:



Guitars!



Cheap "junk" guitars on display out on the street at Ochanomizu:



More guitars, interesting shapes:

 

[24601]

Tokyo 2:




A kawai character at Shibuya:



The Hachiko statue outside the "Hachiko Gate" at Shibuya station. Hachiko waited for years for a dead master who was never to return, or something like that.



Everyone takes a photo of the busy crossing at Shibuya. So I took a photo of a video of the crossing. I think I'm in the picture.



Sign at a station:

 

[24601]

Tokyo 3

Lots of mobile billboards like this one cruise around Shibuya, music blaring, advertising various pop groups:



Recorded music is still a "thing" in Tokyo. They even have CD shops. This Tower Records store is the last remnant of a once-great empire:



Another ad for pop:



5J on the QF 747-400:



Want legroom?



And that concludes this report, thanks for reading! As I write, I'm in the Alaska Boardroom at T6 LAX in the midst of a truly ridiculous status run. Hope to be able to report on it before too long. Cheers.

 

[RB]

I have totally enjoyed your report & photos. I am interested to know the name of the "batch convert" plugin

 

[kermatu]

Great report - thanks for taking the time to post.

One very minor query - the 5J seat on the return. Did a FA ever sit in the crew seat in front of you?

 

[Steady]

Fascinating TR - thanks for taking the time 24601