Michi Photostory

Whenever we travel, most of the time we stay in a hotel because we’re used to it. But when we are planning for our Scandinavian trip, hotel is not an option because I know how expensive it is. So for our Copenhagen trip, we planned to stay in AirBnb or hostel but I chose the latter because most of the AirBnb that I’ve seen is outside the city center.


I'm looking for an accommodation that is near the central station so we can save money on transportation. I searched for an affordable hostel in Copenhagen and among my list, we booked at Urban House Copenhagen by Meininger.

view from our room

Urban House Copenhagen by Meininger 

Urban House Copenhagen by Meininger is only 200 meters away from København H or Copenhagen Central Station. We traveled by Ferry Boat from Oslo, from Copenhagen DFDS Terminal Seaport we took the train From Nordhavn St to Copenhagen Central Station then we just walked from the station. Going to the hostel is not difficult, you can check the map on their website.

Read: Cruise to Copenhagen: Oslo to Copenhagen via DFDS Crown Seaways

Train Ticket Cost 

24DKK - one way/one adult
12DKK - one way/one child


We arrived past 11AM and check-in time is still 3PM. No early check-in but you can stay in the hostel, they have a library, pool table, kitchen, and lounge where you can kill your time.




If you don’t want to waste your time, you can store your luggage in their locker area for 5DKK per hour and start exploring the city. It is quite expensive because the locker can only fit one luggage and we have 4 big pieces of luggage. Lockers only accept coins.


Family Room or Quad Room

Urban House Copenhagen by Meininger offers dormitory, single, double and family room. We are a group of 3 adults and 1 kid so we booked the family room. The rate is 3109.35 DKK for 3 nights or PHP2000+ per person/per night. It has 4 beds; beddings and towels are provided.



The pillows, duvet, and bed are comfortable. There is a small table, bench, side table, and storage.


For the bathroom, it provides toilet paper, hair, and body soap, sanitary bag, and hairdryer. No bidet. The room and bathroom are clean.

Food and Drinks 

Foods and drinks are not a problem because they have a bar where you can eat breakfast buffet, buy snacks or order packed lunches. The buffet breakfast is not yet included in the room package.

Breakfast 6:30AM to 10:30AM
Bar 11AM to 12AM
Check-in is 3PM
Check out is 11AM

Guest Kitchen 

Traveling to Europe is expensive because foods and drinks are so costly. So one thing I like in this hostel is the Guest Kitchen, we can prepare and cook our own food. We saved money because we eat breakfast and dinner at the hostel.


They provide the cooking and eating utensils, cooking stove, microwave, kettle, fridge, and even storage. You can buy your own food and store it in the kitchen but don’t forget to label your food. The most important thing is clean as you go. Yes, you are free to use the kitchen but no one will clean or wash the dishes for you.


You can also check the shelves for FREE FOOD, guests can leave their leftover food like rice, herbs, salt, sugar, cooking oil or other grocery supplies that you don’t want to bring home and you think other guests can use. There are labels that you can put so guests will know your departure date.


Washing Machine and Dryer Room 

If you run out of clothes, they have a laundry room. I just have no idea about the fee since we haven’t tried it.


Overall, we liked our stay in Urban House Copenhagen by Meininger. The room and bathroom are clean, there is a guest kitchen, it is near the Copenhagen Central Station and some bus stops, restaurants, convenience store and tourist attractions like Tivoli, City Hall, Ripley’s and more. The most important thing is FREE WIFI.


Note: They don’t accept CASH payment so make sure you have a credit card or debit card that you can use in Europe. Payment upon arrival. They provide an access code for the door.

Urban House Copenhagen by Meininger 
Colbjørnsensgade 5-11,
1652 Copenhagen, Denmark

Few years ago, I’ve learned that I can ride a Ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen or vice versa so I already took note of it. So when we’re planning for Copenhagen - Stockholm and Oslo Trip, I suggested it to my mom so at least we can experience riding a ship even for one night. In my mind, it is better than riding a plane, train or bus because we can move around. One more thing, the cheapest way to go to Copenhagen or Oslo is by Ferry.

Booking is easy, just go to DFDS Seaways website and purchase a ticket. You can ride the ferry with or without a vehicle. They have different destinations not only Oslo to Copenhagen to Oslo route. They are sailing to Norway, Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, and Belgium.


The price of the ticket depends on the cabin that you will choose; Standard Cabin, Sea View Cabin or Premium Cabin. The price may vary too depending on the season or date but during our trip, the lowest price of the cabin is ₤83 good for 4 persons. We chose the Seaview Cabin for ₤119 because I want to have a window so I can see the view.

My mom booked our ticket and we got a better price because she used Norwegian Kroner as currency. She only paid NOK996 for our cabin without breakfast. When I learned that, I told her to book all our transportation ticket and I will just pay na lang so I can save for the foreign exchange currency fee. Hehehe!

Elverum to Oslo via Nettbus 

We stayed in my sister’s house for four days in Elverum so we need to travel back to Oslo to ride the Ferry to Copenhagen Denmark. We have two options, bus or train and we chose the bus so no more transfer. The price of the ticket varies too so it is better to buy your ticket in advance. Just check their website so you will have an idea which is cheaper. My sister is the one who booked our ticket back to Elverum, I think 3 weeks prior to our trip kasi magmamahal pa daw pag malapit na.

Oslo to Elverum via NSB Train NOK650 (2 adults and 1 kid)
Elverum to Oslo via Nettbus NOK637 (2 adults and 1 kid)

From my sister’s place, we just walked all the way to the bus stop. There is no waiting shed so you can just go there few minutes before the schedule para hindi matagal ang tayo. The bus is on time. We put our luggage and my mom showed our ticket to the bus driver. Free wifi on the bus but I decided to take a nap for our 2 hours bus ride. Travel Time: 11:30 to 13:25


Oslo to Copenhagen via DFDS Crown Seaways 

15:15 - Check-in
15:45 - Boarding
16:30 - Departure

From Oslo Bus Terminal, we walked to DFDS Ferry Terminal, it is a long walk. We reached the port after 50 minutes including our quick snack at 7-11.


Upon entering the Ferry Terminal, you will see a lot of Self-Check-In kiosks and the staff told my mom to use the kiosk but when we used it, there was a note that we need assistance. My mom went back to the counter. The staff who told us to use the kiosk, siya din naman pala ang magprocess ng check-in namin. Nagpabalik-balik pa kami.



I’m not sure if it is because we have Philippines Passport so we can’t use the self-check-in kiosk. Anyway, they gave us our boarding card which serves us our key card too. Then we proceeded to Boarding Area. The staff checked our passport, Schengen visa and boarding card.


For foot passengers, you can check-in as early as 11AM but boarding time is 3:45PM but we are lucky because our room is already ready at 2:25PM so we went straight to our room.

4 Beds - Seaview Cabin 

As expected the room is small, it had 4 beds and 1 small bathroom. Pillows, blanket, and towels are already provided. For toiletries, they only provide liquid hand soap and toilet paper. And because of the limited space, it is hard to open our luggage so it is better to put your stuff on your hand-carry.






Travel time is 17 hours and 15 minutes. Most of the time, we just stayed inside our cabin but there are so many things that you can do inside the ship. There are restaurants where you can eat and drink, duty-free shops, and there are entertainment rooms too, some are free and some have a fee like the swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi, and cosmetic massage. There are also events or activities that you can join but we chose to sleep.







Restaurants and Cafes 

Sjø (A la carte Restaurant)
Explorers (Steakhouse)
7 Seas (Buffet Restaurant)
Little Italy (Italian Restaurant)
Blue Riband (Banquet)
Espresso House (Coffee Bar)

Bars 

Mermaid Bar
Sky Bar
Sky Club
Navigator’s Bar
Red+White
Columbus Club

Entertainment and Facilities 

Commodore De Luxe Lounge
Conference Center
Conference
Sea Shops
Amusement Games
Bubble Zone
Wellness Relax Centre

Overall, I did not have any regrets in choosing DFDS Seaways, we enjoyed our cruise experience even for one night. If ever we go back to Europe, I will check other cruising destinations.

Watch the video here.


DFDS Oslo Port Office 
Open from 9am - 5pm.
Akershusstranda 31, 0150 Oslo, Norway

Read: Day 1 in Copenhagen
Day 2 in Copenhagen
Day 3 in Copenhagen
Day 4 in Copenhagen

Since March, we’ve been seeing the trailer of Avengers: Endgame so my son was excited to watch it but the excitement was gone when my husband told him.

Hubby: Ethan, wala ka sa April, I will watch Avengers.
Ethan: No, you can’t do that. It’s a family movie. 

Fast forward to Avenger: Endgame showing

Hubby: I thought it’s a family movie, why did you watch Avengers?
Ethan: I’m with mommy.

We don’t normally watch a movie because I find it expensive so most of the time, hihintayin na lang namin sa TV but there are times that we splurge too. I can’t remember if we watched the Avengers movie in the theater but one thing is for sure, after my son watched Avengers (2012), he became a fan. So my husband and son watched The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) in the cinema and we watched the Avengers: Infinity War last year.

I’ve said before na bitin yung Infinity War so I really want to watch the Avengers: Endgame. In addition, ito na yung last Avengers movie so I don’t want to miss it too. We’re supposed to watch the Avengers: Endgame on the first day but the first showing which is 17:15 is already sold out, the next schedule is 20:45. Masyado ng late ang tapos so mapupuyat kami, lol.

So we checked the movie schedule and I was surprised when I saw the schedule, hindi siya everyday na may palabas and kung meron man one per day lang.

April 24, 2019 - 17:15 and 20:45
April 25, 2019 - 19:30
April 26, 2019 - 19:00
April 28, 2019 - 16:15
April 30, 2019 - 18:00

I’m not sure kung ganito rin sa city but in my mom’s place since konti lang daw population sa Norway, ganun lang talaga ang schedule nila. We agreed to watch on Friday and we did not reserve any ticket. We arrived 20 minutes before 7PM and dun pa lang kami bumili ng ticket, so good thing there are still available seats, hindi nga lang kami magkatabi ng nanay ko and front seats na kaming mag-ina.


Since the movie is 3 hours, I told my son na bawal umihi ha so wag ka gaano uminom. Natawa na lang ko kasi hindi niya na ininom softdrinks niya hanggang matapos movie. The movie is long but we did not feel it, parang gusto ko pa nga ng mas mahaba. I felt sad sa ending ng movie, masakit sa puso but what can I do, ganun talaga.


This was our first time to watch a movie abroad and good thing my mom treated us. Kahit never pa siya nakawatch ng Avengers movie so I don’t know kung nakarelate ba siya. Hehehe! We left the movie house past 10PM and for the first time nakita ko rin na padilim ang sky.

My sister lives in Elverum which is 2 hours away from Oslo, the capital of Norway. So when we planned to revisit Norway, I did not book Manila to Trondheim anymore because we could stay in my sister's house before we started our Copenhagen - Stockholm - Oslo Trip. Elverum is a city and municipality in Hedmark County. It is named after the old Norse “Alfarheimr” which means river and farm. The population is less than 15,000.

I don’t have any itinerary for Elverum Trip because, in my mind, we are there to visit and to recover from jetlag. But since we were already there, my mom decided to visit some tourist spots. If ever you are planning to visit Elverum, you can visit the Norwegian Forest Museum, Glomdal Museum, Elverum Church, Elverum Park, and Glomma River.


Among the list, we were able to visit 3 tourist spots. Anyway, we started our tour after breakfast. We left the house at 9:30AM and we just walked all the way to the Glomma River, more or less 20 minutes walk.

Glomma River 

Glomma River is the longest river in Norway. The total length is 621 kilometers from Aursund to Oslofjord. It used to be the log-floating river but now they already transport those logs through trucks. The river is really long, and we saw four bridges during our walking tour. I even saw some love locks in one of the bridges. There is also a bridge that connects the Glomdal Museum and the Norwegian Forest Museum. Some parts of the river are still frozen.

Glomdal Museum 



From Glomma River, we went straight to Glomdal Museum. If you want to save money, avail the joint ticket for Glomdal Museum and Forest Museum which we did. Glomdal Museum is one of the largest open-air museums in Norway. I think this is our first open-air museum, most of the time kasi nasa isang building lang yung museum na napupuntahan namin. But this museum is so huge where they display different buildings and living traditions in Østerladen and Solør. You can see the different houses, cottage, farmhouse, or establishments that was used in the past four centuries.

Few weeks ago, the snow welcomed us in Oslo and Elverum and we’re freezing. But the cold never bothered us anyway. In fact, we’re still happy that we were able to experience snow again. When we went to Copenhagen, Denmark, we also experienced snowfall but as days go by, the temperature kept on increasing so when we went back to Oslo, Norway, we no longer need thick jackets.


Spring is here and it is really hard to predict the weather. My Facebook memories reminded me that two years ago, we were still wearing thick jackets and there was still snowfall until the first week of May but now the temperature ranges from 11C to 19C, it hit 20C last Tuesday so off we went to the beach.

My mom’s friend invited us to visit their house and my mom suggested having a picnic at the beach. It was just 10 minutes drive from my mom’s place and it’s been two decades already since my last visit. This is the same place where we picked mussels during my first visit to Norway. We were not able to experience it during our second visit and this year too because it is no longer in season. But I’m happy to be back and this time with my son.

I haven’t posted anything for the last two weeks because our family went to Elverum, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo for two weeks vacation. Honestly, I have so many travel stories to share but I don’t know where I’m going to start. But before I share our Scandinavian trip, let me start with Easter Monday.


Yes, you’ve read it right “Easter Monday” (Påskedag), if you remember this post, I mentioned that Norway has 5 days Holy Week holiday so from Thursday to Monday, there are no work, school classes and expect that malls, supermarkets, banks and even the majority of the restaurants are closed. There are also changes in transportation schedule so it is hard to travel during Holy Week. Some stores are open for limited hours during Black Saturday.



When in Norway, you will notice that every Easter, they will also decorate their homes. Yellow is the color of Easter and you will see a lot of chickens, Easter Eggs and Easter bunnies. Kids receive Easter Eggs filled with candies, chocolates or small treats. My son was able to decorate his own Easter Eggs when we went to Glomdal Museum in Elverum. My aunt also gave him Kinder Surprise Eggs.


Since Monday is still a holiday, my aunt invited us for dinner. My uncle prepared Turkey, Potato, Salad, Bacon Wrapper, Fresh Orange Juice and Ice Cream for dessert. I noticed some Easter decorations too like chickens, bunnies, and eggs. The weather was good so we enjoyed our Easter Monday celebration but part of me was worried too because of the earthquake in the Philippines.



P.S. 

While preparing for Easter Monday dinner, my husband and my friend messaged me that there was an earthquake in the Philippines. And I when I opened my social media account, I’ve seen a lot of status about earthquake but what caught my attention is the photos and videos of Clark International Airport. Nagoosebumps ako because few weeks ago, nasa Clark Airport din kami and day before the earthquake happened, my husband arrived at Clark Airport.


I remember, I even suggested to my husband to stay in the hotel na lang near the airport so hindi siya mapagod pauwi kasi for sure traffic sa Pilipinas at Easter Sunday so uwian ng mga tao. But my husband wanted to go home na, buti na lang hindi niya ko sinunod so wala na siya sa Pampanga nung nag-earthquake. I was thankful for God’s protection, my husband, family and friends are all safe naman. Nakakaparanoid whenever I see the photos of CIA, I can’t imagine kung ano gagawin ko if we were there, yung time kasi ng earthquake, yun din ang time na waiting for boarding or waiting for baggage kami.