Reykjavik, Iceland
Trip Start
Jan 28, 2010
1
Trip End
Jan 31, 2010
Where I stayed
Reykjavic, Capital Region, Iceland
Monday, November 30, 2009
You might ask yourself "Iceland in January?" and the only response I can think of is "How "COOL" is that" get it? :-) It was quite cold during my brief stay, but to my amazement it was warmer than the last three weeks I spent in Holland, and we had zero snowfall during my stay.
I had four colleagues that had agreed to join me, but three of them decided to postpone their travel dates at the last minute, and I had long ago made an agreement with myself that once I set off to make a trip of this sort that I stick to my plans because if you postpone it once you will do so again and again. Maricarmen Aviles and her husband Angel met up with me there.
I had originally planned to travel from Miami to Iceland and back, but then I was asked to go work out of my companies head office in Holland for three weeks so I ended up visiting Iceland on my return home from Holland. I arrived in Iceland on January 28th and departed on January 31st. Flying time from Amsterdam to Keflavik was 3 hours, and from Keflavik to Boston 5 hours. I traveled Icelandair (http://www.icelandair.com/) to and from; service onboard was very good.
The first thing one might like to know about Iceland is that when you arrived there (by air) you land in Keflavik (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keflav%C3%ADk), which is where the international airport is located. In Reykjavik (the capital of Iceland) there is only a domestic airport. The commute from Keflavik to Reykjavik (http://www.visitreykjavik.is/) takes about an hour. Just about everyone in Iceland speaks English so it is very easy to get around and communicate with the locals.
To get from Keflavik to Reykjavik I took the Flybus (http://www.re.is/Flybus//). Excellent service on comfortable buses that drop you off at your hotel. In Reykjavik I stayed at the Park Inn Island (http://www.reykjavik.rezidorparkinn.com/). This hotel was located a little further than I had thought from the downtown Reykjavik area, but overall was a perfect hotel, at the perfect price, for a 3 night stay. Bed and breakfast price was around US$70 and I would rate this as a 3 star property.
Sooooo what did I do while I was there? I took lots of tours and saw all I could in the short time I had. On the top of my list of things to see was The Blue Lagoon. Funny enough many people who I mentioned this to automatically think of the movie with Brooke Shields ... you know the one where she was still hot :o) and therefore thought I was going to an Iceland somewhere in the Bahamas - LOL. No, this Blue Lagoon (http://www.bluelagoon.com/) is a geothermal lagoon oasis amidst a tundra of lava rock. As you drive into the area where it is located you never expect to encounter this facility. The warm waters are rich in minerals like silica and sulfur. The water temperature in the bathing and swimming area of the lagoon averages 104°F. That white stuff on my face in my pictures at the Blue Lagoon is silica; its like a mud mask. For those of you with dirty minds ...... yes I happened to be swimming too close to two mating whales and kaboom !!!! Ok ha ha ha - get it out of your system :o) Although the outside air temperature was around freezing (32°F) once you stepped into the steaming hot waters it just felt heavenly. The steam rising off the water was so thick that at moments (many of them) you could not see 5 feet infront of you. At moments this was frightfull because you have to keep in mind that I was swimming around on my own while all around me where couples making all kinds of noises. I could not see them but from one end I heard grunts (uhhh uhhhh uhhhh), on the other side "oooooohhhhhssss" and then a "yes yes yes go for it" ....... ummm scrap that last one - that was my head talking :o) All joking aside it is a fantastic place to visit and if you have the chance to go you should.
Other than visiting the Blue Lagoon I took an ATV 4x4 tour (www.atv-adventures.com), which was allot of fun eventough it was quite cold. Our tour guide "Kjartan" was very infomative and kept up the pace on our tour. All necessary gear was provided to us.
I also took the Golden Circle Classic tour (http://www.icelandtouristboard.com/index.php?page=the-golden-circle) which was also very nice. Some of the highlights of this tour included the Skaholt chapel (http://www.icelandguest.com/highlights-in-iceland/nr/620/), the Gulfoss waterfall (http://www.exploreiceland.is/main_attractions/south_iceland/gullfoss/), the geysers of Geysir (http://www.geographia.com/iceland/geysir.htm) and Thingvellir National Park (http://www.thingvellir.is/english).
Another must see item for me was the Northern Lights (http://www.iww.is/art/shs/pages/thumbs.html); also known to many as the aurora borealis. This was one long night (8pm - 2am) where we drove around looking for the best vantage point from which to hopefully see these. On one stop at a lighthouse where we were for almost an hour when all of a sudden some light green colors started appearing in the distant sky, but it lasted all of 3 seconds and then was gone again. This was a huge disappointment, however you would have thought that money was falling from the sky because 15 or so Asians, that were on the tour with us, made more noise than a Harley Davidson motorcycle parade during those 3 seconds.
Lastly I took a city tour of Reykjavik that was very informative. Reykjavík is believed to be the location of the first permanent settlement in Iceland, which Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established around 870. Around 320,000 people live in Iceland and 200,000 of those are in the greater Reykjavik area. Reykjavik means "Smokey Bay".
I booked all my tours with Gray Line Tours Iceland (http://www.grayline.com/Grayline/destinations/europe/iceland.go) whom I highly recommend. Their prices are very good. They pick you up and drop you off at your hotel on schedule. Buses are very comfortable and the tour guides are very knowledgeable. Make sure to present your AAA card (www.aaa.com) for a 10% discount on each tour you book.
So there you have it. That concludes this trip and now it is time to plan the next adventure. Will it be an African Safari? A trip to Australia or Hawaii? Another insane motorcyle challenge with my brother? Stay tuned and you will soon find out.
Thanks for visiting my blog and please keep leaving me your comments that I very much enjoy.
Comments
:)
Sounds fun!!!
Maybe next summer you can come visit me in Abu Dhabi (You'll wish you were in Iceland!)
get ready to freeze your but...