The great mysterious land that no one knew about, although it has always been there. Well we went there in 2016. We being my sister and I. It was a goal I had to take a trip with my sister in 2016. It took us a while to plan and make decisions, but we just made the 2016 cut, booking our trip in November. It was between Seattle and Iceland and we both decided we would rather go to a foreign country when we could head over to seattle at any point and I would rather go there in the summer months. It being November that was not really a possibility anymore.
So we did some research. Found a cute Airbnb to stay at and booked a flight and a rental car. We made a list of things we wanted to do while we were there from looking up excursions and tours and blogs about things to do on your own and things to do on a tour.
Reykjavik is the main city and you fly into Keflavik. It is about a 45min drive. We wanted to stay close enough to downtown to walk and I am so glad we did. So I want to bring you along as much as I can and the best way to do that is through highlights and lowlights, which ultimately make for a great adventure.
Lowlights.
Some of the quirky things that happened on the trip:
As I mentioned, we booked an Airbnb right outside the city cute little place. It was perfect. The host was great, the place was sweet, it had a kitchen where we made a few meals to save some money, and parking which was a must since we rented a car and a decent size living and bedroom. The lowlight was not the Airbnb at all. It was the fact that I only booked it for 3 nights instead of the 4 nights that we would be needing before we left Iceland… My bad. Figured this out on the morning of Day 4 when I was looking through my emails and it said thank you for your stay… oh no. Panic moment. In a foreign country with no where to stay for our last night.. Frantically we scoured Airbnb for another place to stay for one night and between the two of us, we FOUND ONE! One thing to learn about my sister, she loves nice modern bathrooms; you know rain head shower tile walls cool faucets and this place had that neat bathroom.. So she was pumped and I was too. I mean who doesn’t like a clean and new bathroom? So we packed up and moved to our next ‘home’ until the next morning.
Another lowlight. We didn’t get to see the northern lights :(. This we booked on a tour bus. That is what we read as a recommendation. They know the spots and it was late at night (has to be to see the northern lights) and they would let you go again for free if you didn’t get to see them. So we booked this our first night and went a couple more nights after that, but the sky was never clear enough to see.. Bummer, but I would say worth trying if you go.
Design + food
Everything there was well designed. From the cute bakery down the street to the restaurants, homes, boutique shops, and the concert hall. Every design detail matters to the Icelandic people. Beautiful interiors. Along with that came delicious and delightful drinks and meals. The food there was expensive as people say, but if you appreciate food, like we do, it is worth it.
I saw more waterfalls in one day than I have my whole life. We took a drive down the south Coast of Iceland with a destination of the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon. On our way there we made many stops. One to a beautiful black sand beach and another to one of the most scenic waterfalls, Seljalandsfoss. Not only was it beautiful we were also able to to walk behind it which was an amazing experience.
Glacial lagoon
Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon was our final destination on our 10hr round trip drive down the south coast of Iceland. As mentioned before, warning there are not many options for food during this long ride. But, oh was it worth it. As we were approaching we got to see the most beautiful scenes of moss filled fields and large glaciers melting down mountains. The Glacial Lagoon was seeing all of that up close and personal. The Glaciers melt and create giant pieces of Ice that float in this lagoon area as they make their way out into the ocean and then they wash up on the beach. Pictures don’t do it justice.
Tomato Greenhouse
We stopped by the Friðheimar on our trip around the golden circle. We decided to drive this one ourselfs just like the 10hr south coast trip. This way we could stop where we would like and take as much or as little time are we liked at each stop and even add some stops like this one! This Green house was living a tomato soup dream. Drinking bloody marys with homemade tomato soup and fresh homemade bread with the tomatoes growing all around us. It was really a special experience.
All in all I would absolutely recommend it. One of my favorite things about traveling is making memories with people that you love. So blessed to have taken this trip with my sister.
love is where you live,
