We had a tour bus booked for 3,5 hours starting at 8.30 in the morning, which was an unusual thing for us – we don’t like tourist buses – and especially not at that time in the morning when not sleeping well, but also since we can’t photograph properly on buses. This day though it suited well to get a fast glimpse over the city without walking.

When you haven’t got enough sleep for 9 nights (very bad sleep before we went on the cruise too!), you don’t exactly have the brightest brain activity, so even though it was easy to understand our guide, I didn’t get a thing of what he said… At least I succeeded to have my eyes open and actually see everything!

We were told that after the bus tour that we could either go back with the bus to the ship or stay in the city by ourselves. We did choose to go back to the ship since we wanted to enter the Spa before dinner. (I know, we’re idiots that not wanted to see more of such a rare city!)

We were dropped off at the terminal and after a long waiting, we were told that we could board the cruise ship, but everything would be closed and we were not allowed to leave the ship again! This was not the first time we had got the wrong information at this trip or the first time something had gone wrong with it, so we were not surprised. We now had to take a shuttle bus (with a very rally-inspired driver!) BACK into the city center again.

We decided together with another nice couple to go somewhere to sit down, have a light meal and relax. We had a quick look around, but didn’t find anything local to eat. They had gotten a tip about the restaurant "The Idiot" – (yes, it’s really named that!) and an address. It should be nearby. We started to look for the street, not finding it. We asked people on the street and actually got totally opposite directions from everyone we asked!

I was joking saying that: "Maybe there is no restaurant that is named The Idiot, it’s we that are the idiots being fooled to think there is one… Maybe it’s something they’re fooling dumb tourists with?!! Ha ha…"

We even got some young girls to look up the street on the GPS in their phones and they still pointed us in the opposite direction of the street than we should take! I thought it looked like we should go in the opposite directions than they said, but I was tired and hey, they should know, they live there!

We were actually going back and forward all the way through the same long streets looking like complete idiots! What a long sightseeing walk to end up in almost the same spot all the time! Ha ha… At that time though I was determent to find the place, I’m that stubborn, I refused to give up and viola! there we found it – in the opposite direction!

If you don’t want to look like an idiot, but would want to eat at one, be sure to look up the address: Moika 82 by yourself at a GPS navigator in advance… And if you want to eat with a real idiot: just call me!

It sure is a very special place, it’s feels like coming home to someone – in an old home with books – and we got a complimentary Russian vodka on the house as a welcome drink. Very clever of them, getting guests (the idiots) in a good mood. They’re stating that "Dostoevsky loved this place", but I think we’re idiots that buys that, since they haven’t been open that long. You can read more about them at idiot-spb.com.

We did order the Idiot Lunch Special, with Borsch soup / Sauercraut soup with sour cream as starters and pel’meni – with potato / plov, since we wanted to test different dishes as usual. Then we ordered a Russian vodka for the other leg too… Ha ha…

So what did we think about the Russian vodka? It was surprisingly good. Lets put it like this: suddenly it was VERY easy to walk around until it was time to take the shuttle bus back to the ship!

The Historic Center of Saint Petersburg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and you can truly understand why when seeing all those golden domes, statues and gorgeous architecture as well as passing bridges and canals. Stockholm has a rival there for the name of "The Northern Venice".

The top attractions we did see was: Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral, Church of the Savior on Blood, The Palace Square, The Alexander Column, The Winter Palace, The Hermitage art museum, The Bronze Horseman, Old Stock Exchange, Rostral Columns and the summer palace of Peter The Great.

You can see all Lifecruiser photos of St Petersburg at Flickr. Our photos did not turn out as excellent as we hoped for, maybe we should blame the Russian vodka! Ha ha!

©Lifecruiser Love World Heritage Sites

Related Baltic cruise posts by Lifecruiser:

How we escaped from a cruise and ended up in jail… Part 1
How we escaped from a cruise and ended up in jail… Part 2
Our night in Katajanokka Jail
Baltic Cruise Stop Tallinn – UNESCO Cultural Heritage
Saint Petersburg Souvenirs
 

Funny thing is: I just saw a camping tent that is a VW Camper Van Blue Retro at Coolstuff, that is a twin to the one above!

Incredible! Oh, how I want this one, but can’t afford right now. Have to save as much as we can for our Europe trip later this year… *sigh*

Me want! Me love! I would be such a happy camper…

©Lifecruiser Love Camper Van’s
 

Travel sites and agencies tips

Besides the three largest travel agencies in Sweden, Ving.se, Apollo.se and Fritidsresor.se, there are many other sites to search for cheap travel trips, like the combined charter.se or ticket.se, solresor.se, dtf-travel.se, sembo.se, airtours.se, resia.se, resfeber.se, travellink.se, seat24.se, travelpartner.se, travelstart.se, mrjet.se, supersavertravel.se and bigtravel.se.

They have last minute (listed under ‘sista minuten’) or other deals to offer at their booking sites. For youths under 26 there is travel.kilroys.se and for general cheap coupon travel deals there is groupon.se/deals/travel to keep an eye on.

Flight sites and tips

There are better price levels now at the Scandinavian Airlines SAS.se sometimes, even though not always as low as the lowbudget companies like Ryanair.com/se, but Norwegian.com/se might be a better choice since they departure from Stockholm Arlanda Airport (arlanda.se) and not from Skavsta Nyköping (1,5 hours from Stockholm) as Ryanair does.

Also have a look at the flight comparison sites flygresor.se or skyscanner.se and don’t forget that there is a second airport in Stockholm with mostly domestic flights, Bromma (brommaairport.se).

If you want to go to Croatia and Bosnia, Scandjet.se have flights there. Croatia travel have increased a lot since they started this route. No wonder, Croatia has a wonderful climate, fabulous beaches and offer cheap holidays. I wanna go there too…

Train sites and tips

Travel by train is possible within Sweden or to Norway or Denmark and beyond, but is generally not considering to be especially cheap and takes longer time than flying, but is a more environmental friendly way of travel. The main Swedish train ticket sites are sj.se (only last minute to retires or youngsters under 26, but also sells at Tradera.se auctions) or veolia.se.

Swedish bus sites and tips

By bus: swebus.se, gobybus.se, bus4you.se (with free internet) or ybuss.se (northern Sweden). There are also scandorama.se and eurolines.se – mostly to destinations within Europe and perhaps not always so very cheap, but of course they also have special deals occasionally. Sign up for their newsletters to get them.

Cheap cruise sites and tips

Going on a short cruise from Stockholm can be a real cheap bargain, since there are extremely cheap deals sometimes – especially during the low winter season. Check up tallinksilja.se which cruise to Finland or Estonia and birka.se (favorite: artificial sundeck!) which has 22h cruises to Åland, or vikingline.se. Another very cheap is eckerolinjen.se with their 2h cruises to Åland with departure from Grisslehamn – right now 80 SEK/pp(!) with bus from Stockholm City.

Budget cottage rentals, hostels and camping

If you are more than 2 persons it might become cheaper to rent a cottage somewhere rather than staying in a hotel. There are lots of sites advertising, like stugknuten.com – direct from the owners without middlehand fees, smaland-strandhaus.com, stuga.nu, novasol.com/holiday-rentals/sweden.html, stugnet.com, fritiden.se, sverigesemester.com, southern Sweden mostly: stugbo.se (german translation), stugsommar.se (Swedish only).

The Swedish hostels are called Vandrarhem in Swedish, which means literally wandererhomes and most of them are managed by the Swedish Tourist Organisation. They have a great website which also have some inspiration of what to do: svenskaturistforeningen.se/en/Inspiration/.

There are Swedish Farmstay’s and Bed & Breakfast too, not as much as in certain other countries, but I have no favorite site. I would first search right out on the internet with the words Bed & Breakfast and the place where you want to go and do my own selection from there. Or contact the local tourist office.

You can also check the ad-sites blocket.se or allaannonser.se – or you could go camping, but make sure it’s the right season (July-August) because we do have a rather cold and damp climate over here. Great Swedish camping sites are: camping.se or campingkartan.se – a more personal created one with real reviews from other camping guests.

The nature in Sweden is excellent for walkers and other outdoorsy people and there is countless of small lakes everywhere with small local beaches to explore. All for free and really recreational.

Conclusion how to find cheap holiday deals

Now you’ve got lots of useful travel sites tips to go through, some of the tips here you would not have found if you can’t understand Swedish, so it’s authentic Swedish insider tips.

Too many sites? Well, if you want to have the cheapest holidays deals, it’s unfortunately necessary to make an effort and search widely. There are different deals at different sites at different times, making it rather impossible to recommend just one or two sites.

Nothing comes for free. It takes time, so if your time is money – go ahead and pay much more for your holidays. Your choice. I look at the trip planning as a part of the pleasure, so for me it can take many hours of searching before I finally book something.

I might even just save the research trip info for later without booking any trip at all. It’s still worth it, as I learn things during the process which may come in handy at another trip planning occasion.

Do you have any other cheap holidays suggestions? Throw it in – even if it’s not about travel in Sweden, everything is useful.

©Lifecruiser Love Cheap Holidays
 

Earlier posts about how to find cheap holidays:

Planning a holiday – search and compare prices
How to find the cheapest flights – the ultimate flights guide
How to get cheap holiday deals
Where to find late holiday deals
Why getting organised for your holiday will save you money
How to travel a lot without being a millionaire
Bargain Cruise Ships Tips

I admit, six years is a bit too long, but it was worth waiting for, was it not? *giggles*

We did not plan that trip ourselves, we got a bus-trip arranged for us. At the bus there were a lot of older people playing bingo all the way to the casinos in Niagara Falls and suddenly we felt very young…

We did play just a little when arriving there, including eating lunch and then headed down to the falls. We had some problem taking photos because it was a bit windy that day and the mist were all over the place, us and the camera.

If we ever go there again we will plan to stay for several days, see the old Fort Niagara, go on the world-famous scenic boat tour Maid of the mist, a helicopter ride above the falls and to see the falls from the Canadian side in the evening.

No Jet boats tours though, we did that at another famous waterfalls which we will tell you about in another post later on….

Lifecruiser ♥ Waterfalls

Photo by Al_HikesAZ

See the name up on the bus: High Life Cruiser? (click on the link under the photo to see it enlarged at Flickr)

When we saw that it got the text: “The Champagne of Beer” on the side, we felt that this SHOULD BE our bus – don’t you agree? I mean, both Life Cruiser AND Champagne mentioned at the same time, how close can it get?

The Miller Brewing Company’s High Life Cruiser retro design recreation above is very similar to the Flxible Raised-Roof Clipper Special that they had in 1953 to travel around the USA in celebration of High Life’s 50th anniversary.

It’s said that there is a ten foot plastic replica of the Miller High Life beer bottle that can be raised hydraulically through the roof of the cruiser.

I would change that to a Champagne bottle though if we had that bus… *giggles*

Unfortunately rumors say that they paid something around 400k for the new High Life Cruiser and that is just “slightly” above our budget!

Such a pity. We would have loved to go from coast to coast through United States with it…

Lifecruiser ♥ Retro High Life Cruiser