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Before our trip, I’d read a lot of DIY Sydney Tours or Sydney Walking Tours but I didn’t want to drain my energy on walking or commuting so I chose Hop-On-Hop-Off Tours so we could have a glimpse of Sydney while comfortably sitting on the bus. 

I purchased the 48-hour Essential Ticket so we have more time to explore both routes; the Sydney Route and the Bondi Route. I also downloaded the Big Bus Tours app so I have an idea of the places we can visit, things we can do, and bus information. 

We can also buy tickets on the bus and here are the rates but I want to avoid the foreign exchange rate so I chose Klook. 

Adult 65AUD 

Child (3-15 years old) 45AUD 

Adult 85AUD 

Child (3-15 years old) 55AUD 

Digital Audio Guide/Earphones 

Hop on - Hop off Tour 

Audio commentary is available in English, Spanish, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Italian, and Mandarin 

Big Bus Tour App 

Big Bus Tour Guide Map 

Free Wifi on the bus

The Sydney City Bus Tour operates every day between 9AM and 4PM. The first bus departs at Circular Quay so even though there is a bus stop near Hyde Park Inn, we still went to Circular Quay because we want to start our tour at Bus Stop 1. Bus Frequency is 30-45 minutes. 

Bus Stop 1 is just several minutes away from Museum Station via train and a few minutes walk from the Circular Quay train station. 

We just presented our voucher, and the driver scanned the QR code and gave us the ticket, guide map, and earphones. The bus departed on time. There are 24 stops on Red Route but we did not get off and we finished the first loop. Travel duration is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. 

After our Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour, we got off just to eat snacks and got in again. Good thing that we already visited the other tourist spots during our Day 2: Museum Station Walking Tour. So among the 24 stops, we just wanted to explore 3 tourist spots, the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the Royal Botanical Garden. Well, from Circular Quay we can already walk to reach these places but we want to save our energy so we still rode the bus. 

When we reached the Sydney Opera House, we had a light lunch first at the House of Canteen. We ordered 2 plates of Grilled Salmon Nigiri 15AUD/order, Chicken Katsu, Chips 16AUD, Chips 12AUD, and soda 6AUD/per can. My hubby and son enjoyed the Grilled Salmon Nigiri. The Chicken Katsu Chips is a kid’s meal pero nabusog na ko dito. Sana nga hindi na ko nag-add ng Chips. Buti na lang I had zip lock bag, binaon ko na lang yung leftover chips so we have food at the Botanic Garden.

The advantage of joining the Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour is I don’t have to Google each place, I will just listen to the audio commentary and if I need more information I can check the Big Bus Tour app and read the attraction details. So I’m sharing some trivia from the app about these places.

Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world’s largest steel arch bridge. It is also known as a "Coat Hanger". The bridge is designed to withstand expansion or contraction due to heating or cooling. 

Of course, visiting Sydney is only complete with seeing the Sydney Opera House. This building symbolizes Australia. It’s a world-class performing arts center that welcomes around 2 million visitors annually. The sails of the building are made from over a million tiles in glossy white and matte cream.

The Royal Botanic Gardens contain a stunning display of flora from all over the world, including native Australian species. The 30-hectare garden has no entrance fee and has been open to the public since 1831. The oldest trees here are the hoop pine and giant watergum - planted around 1820. There are 36 sculptures, 4,000 trees, 8.900 plant species and over 3.5 million people visit the garden.

We spent most of our time here, just enjoying the view of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

There is an ice cream kiosk where we bought a Chocolate Top Sundae 6AUD, Vanilla Sundae 7AUD and Iced Coffee 9AUD. 

It was only 3PM but we decided to end our tour, maybe because of the time difference (DST), 3PM in Sydney is 6PM in Manila time. And knowing us, maaga magdinner and matulog. 

We were left with two choices which are Taiwan and Australia, but we took a risk with Australia even though we don’t have visas yet. My husband even called Mabuhay Miles while he was in Jakarta so we spent thousands on that international call because we had no idea about a toll-free number. But at the end of the day, we were still happy because even though we added the phone bill, mura pa rin yung airfare namin, kapresyo lang ito ng Davao trip ko.

After purchasing our plane ticket, I bought our travel insurance and started searching about “How to Apply for Australian Tourist Visa” in the Philippines. 

Two months before our flight, we booked our hotel and I chose Hyde Park Inn because of the good reviews, location and it has its own kitchen. 

When I applied for our visa, this is my submitted itinerary 

Day 1: Manila to Sydney Flight 

Day 2: Explore Chinatown 

Day 3: Sydney Tour 

Day 4: Bondi Tour 

Day 5: Blue Mountain 

Day 6: Taronga Zoo + Luna Park 

Day 7: Sydney to Manila 

But during our trip, there are a few changes. We did not go to Chinatown anymore because we discovered that there were few tourist spots that we could visit near our hotel. We no longer visited Luna Park because we were so tired already. 

On the day of our trip, our internet connection was fixed after one week of no connection so I was cramming. This was the only time that I purchased our tour tickets via Klook. I printed our vouchers and off we went to NAIA. We checked in, ate dinner, and waited for our flight. The flight is on time.

As of this writing, I couldn’t find the exact links of the activities I purchased and Klook is giving me these options. 

After 8 hours of traveling, we arrived at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport; we went to immigration, got our luggage, and went to customs. Then we went straight to the Airport Train Station and purchased our Opal Card here. 

We went to Hyde Park Inn to drop our luggage, ate lunch, and went back to the hotel for check-in. We took a rest and started to explore the tourist spots near the hotel or Museum Station like Hyde Park, Anzac Memorial, Australian Museum, St. Mary’s Cathedral, and from afar, we can see the Sydney Tower. 

I purchased a Big Bus Tour Sydney Hop On Hop Off ticket via Klook. This tour has 2 routes, Sydney Route and Bondi Route so I bought the 48-hour ticket to cover the two routes. 

For Day 3, we traveled to Circular Quay via train, and from the train station we just walked to the Big Bus. The duration of the Sydney Tour is 1 hour and forty-five minutes so we enjoyed the view while listening to the pre-recorded commentary. 

Australia is the third continent that I have visited. 

Even though I did not plan anything, yesterday we had a Day Trip to Stugudalen and as usual, I will blog about that next time. Flashback Friday, so I’m just going to reminisce about our past Holy Week trip. Our Scandinavian trip, started in Elverum Norway, next is Copenhagen, Denmark and our third stop is Stockholm Sweden. There are different ways to travel to Sweden from Denmark, we can drive, we can fly, or we can take the bus or train. This time we chose train because I wanted to experience traveling to another country via train. Travel time is only 5 hours and 20 minutes so it is still time and cost-efficient. 

We took a taxi from Stockholm Central Train Station to reach Generator Stockholm Hotel because according to the map, it is almost 1 km away from the station. This hotel is also near Arlanda Express, restaurants, and some tourist spots. There is no guest kitchen but they have a restaurant, cafe, and bar. A convenience store is just in front of the hotel and there are restaurants within the area so you won’t starve.

Since we arrived late on our first day, we no longer have time to roam around. We just went out for dinner after our check-in and we immediately went back to our hotel to sleep. 

I have limited time in planning for our Scandinavian trip so I have no itinerary for Stockholm Sweden. Just like in Copenhagen, we availed of the Stockholm Pass, which includes free admission to 45 popular tourist spots and free use of tourist buses and tourist boats. The sightseeing card includes Stockholm Pass Guidebook, which I also use to plan for our next day's trip. 

We took the first boat trip to Drottningholm Palace and the first boat trip too to go back to Stockholm City Hall. The travel time is one hour per way. The place is big so if you want to maximize the trip, you need to take the first and last boat trip. But since we wanted to explore other places, we went back early. We did not bother to check the Stockholm City Hall since we wanted to avail the Stockholm Panorama Bus Tour. This tour gave us an idea of what to see and what to do in Stockholm Sweden. 

Our Stockholm Pass includes the free tourist bus but unfortunately, the bus did not arrive on time and we waited for over an hour. We wasted a lot of time waiting for the complimentary bus and we couldn't wait anymore so we just took a taxi so we can start our tour. At this moment, iniisip ko na sana hindi na lang ako nag-avail ng Stockholm Pass kung mapapagastos din naman pala kami sa taxi. And because of that, we only visited two tourist spots, Vasa Museum and Skansen. 

Skansen is an open-air museum and it is also big so we haven’t explored the whole place but we still enjoy our time in this museum. But if you have kids in tow, it is better to spend more time here so you can also join different activities for kids. 

Day 4 was our last chance to explore Stockholm and we did not want to waste it anymore so we decided not to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus. It was a good decision because we were able to do a lot of activities.

You can travel to Oslo Norway from Stockholm Sweden via car, plane, bus, or train. We chose the SJ train again, unfortunately, there are only two train schedules so we chose the morning schedule which is 9:10AM. Travel time is around 6 hours. Since we’ve been walking a lot for the last few days, we did not take a taxi anymore and we just walked from Generator Stockholm to Stockholm Central Station with our luggage in tow. We had breakfast at McDonalds and went to the boarding gate to wait for our train.

Sweden is the first country where we did not use any cash, we just use our credit cards for everything even for the paid comfort rooms. For our Free Stockholm Tour, we gave different currencies for tips since the tour guide accepts any currencies. 

For this reason, let me continue my Trip to Stockholm Sweden series. I started this series in year 2019 so here are the links to my previous blog posts. 

We only visited a few tourist spots during our first three days so we were not able to maximize our Stockholm Pass. And because of what happened on our Day 3 Trip, we decided not to ride the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus anymore so we will just visit the tourist spots where we can travel on foot. Since we are not familiar with the place we took advantage of the FREE STOCKHOLM TOUR, yes the tour is free but don’t forget to give a tip for the effort of the tourist guide. 

There are several groups that offer free Stockholm tours but during our visit (2019) we availed of the Free Tour Stockholm because one of their meeting places is Generator Stockholm lobby where we stayed. But now, it is better to book online to reserve your slot since they are now limiting the number of people per group. The tour is available in English, Spanish, and Deutsch language. 

We booked a morning tour, tour pickup at 9:30AM so we had a quick breakfast at 7-11 which is just in front of our hotel. We joined the Old Town or Gamla Stan Tour, of course, the English language. The tour is 90 to 120 minutes long so make sure that you have the energy to walk about 2km. 

Free Old Town Tour 

Learn the chilling stories of the Stockholm Bloodbath 

The tragic tale of Crown Princess Margaret’s death Vikings stories 

Discover the smallest statue in Stockholm 

Sights of The Royal Palace, a real runestone, St George and the Dragon statue, Stockholm Cathedral, and more. 

It is a really long walk on the cobblestone streets and narrow alleyways so it is not PWD-friendly. We even walked down to the famous Mårten Trotzigs Grand, which is the narrowest street in Stockholm with 36 steps and just 90 cm (35in) width. It was named after one of the richest merchants in Stockholm. 

Other popular tourist spots in Gamla Stan are Royal Palace, Royal Chapel, Swedish Parliament Building, Storkyrkan Cathedral, Nobel Prize Museum, Stortoget Square, and Medeltidsmuseet. During the walking tour, you will only pass the popular tourist spots so if you want to explore more, you can visit those places after the tour. 

I took note the tourist spots that we can visit using our Stockholm Pass para hindi naman sayang ang binayad namin. First on my list is the Nobel Prize Museum, which is located in the old Stock Exchange Building at Stortoget. This museum showcases Alfred Nobel, Nobel Prize winners, and Nobel Prize Laureates. 

They have an activity for kids too, my son received a Nobel Prize coin after he finished the task which he immediately ate. Hehehe! 

Storkyrkan Stockholm Cathedral 

Storkyrkan or The Great Church is the oldest church in Stockholm and the venue for so many historical events like coronations, royal weddings, military victories, Reformation in Sweden, and others. It also houses important works of art such as Saint George and the Dragon, Parhelion, Vädersolstavlan, and other well-known artifacts. 

It is one of Europe's biggest palaces and the Swedish Royal Family’s official residence. Discover the banquet hall, hall of state, royal apartments, state apartments, and the apartment of the Orders of Chivalry. 

This museum is dedicated to the old palace which was destroyed in 1697 by a violent fire. It features the different objects that were rescued. 

They have activities for kids too but my son is no longer interested. The Royal Palace is really big and we only visited two spots because we were already tired and hungry. We skipped The Treasury, Gustav III’s Museum of Antiquities, and The Royal Chapel. 

For our late lunch, I can’t remember the name of the place but it houses different food stalls like the Sen Street Kitchen, Panini, and Fattoush. 

On our way back to the hotel, even though we didn’t have a plan to shop, we visited H&M. Hennes & Mauritz AB a famous Swedish multinational clothing company. It is a fast-fashion company that operates in 74 countries including the Philippines.