Mission Impossible in Iceland

Another weekend away from London and some more adventures on the agenda. I travelled this time with some lovely friends that I met through work. It had been a while that I travelled with some people. At some point I was a bit anxious and nervous as I wasn’t sure how everything would go and if there would be any trouble along the way. Soon I realised that all of them are well travelled and that I didn’t need to worry. I think I calmed down just before we actually took off.

A Spanish, French, Mexican and German boarded a plane….this is how a joke would start, luckily the weekend ahead was filled with laughter and not only a joke.

It all started with a lovely night at R.’s place. We decided after booking the trip it would be the easiest to get a cab from her place to Luton instead of us going there separately.

R. cooked us a lovely Mix-Mexican meal, while me and F. baked the easiest chocolate cake in the world for dessert, annoying R* so much in the kitchen that she managed to get the first round of the main burned. I thought it was delicious and very sweet of her to cook.

The night was short as we had to get up early to get the flight. R* joined us early in the morning around 4:45 am (on the dot) and together we were on our way to the airport to catch the plane that would bring us to Iceland. We had planned to see the Northern Lights, but read for yourself.

We arrived after just 2 hours and 40 minutes flight time in Reykjavik, the capital and largest city of Iceland. Flying into Iceland was amazing; you could see the landscape and the massive amount of ice on this volcanic Island. At the airport we bought some tickets for 2.200 Krona each for a bus that would bring us directly to our apartment. There is an Information Point straight after you leave the arrival hall and plenty of options on tour information once you get there.

We called this piece of art a Sperm and its egg

We booked an apartment (Ray Apartment) for the four us instead of going into a hostel since it would have cost around the same. Iceland for sure is not the cheapest country you could travel to, we realised that the very same day.

On the way to the city we were able to observe already the surroundings. The fog was lying flat over the land and just floated around like milk. The sun had just come out and gave the fog a special gloom which cannot be compared to the fog in London at all. The trip to the city took us around 40 minutes.

Some girls behind me in the bus made a comment that the city looked very spare and square, to which I had to agree. It largely reminded me of Denmark, which was most likely because of the Danish influence.

The apartment was spacious and had everything you needed. After we had freshened up a bit and dropped our bags we headed for a sightseeing tour through the city, or as we said, village. But first some lunch!

Thanks to an unknown good looking Gentleman we decided to go for the Sjavargrilled (Seafood Grill) on the Skolavordustigur Street. It was a great choice and we really enjoyed the Seashell Soup and our Codfish. The prices for lunch were reasonable at around 2.300 Krona each.

Butter with Salt and Pepper on Stone

Iceland itself is known for its great handcraft and you can see everywhere that they are proud of their art and poets.

The walk continues

Hallgrímskirkja, Skólavörðuholti. Mass: Sunday 11am; Church tower open daily 9am - 8pm. This can't miss attraction towers over the city on top of a hill. In front is a statue of Leif Ericsson (Leifur Eiríksson in Icelandic), the Norse explorer who sailed to North America in the 10th century. The United States gave this statue to Iceland in 1930, in honor of the 1,000th anniversary of the Althingi, the Iceland parliament. Admission to the tower: 600 kr., children (6 - 12) 100 k

Harpa, Austurbakki 2. The new home of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and regularly host to other acts as well. Delayed by the economic collapse, this building was under construction for several years before finally opening in May 2011. This marked the end of a long wait for the symphony orchestra, who had been using a cinema as their main venue the last 50 years. Today the symphony plays a concert every Thursday evening from September through June (although often at other times as well), but the building is rarely empty at other times with Iceland's lively music scene having embraced this new location

Around 4pm in the afternoon I received a call that the tour for the night was cancelled as it was too cloudy to see any Northern Lights, slightly disappointed we made a Plan B for the night. Before we continued our tour we walked back to the apartment to put some more clothes on, it was freezing!

After a round of walking we couldn’t really decide where to have dinner, since every restaurant suddenly seemed too pricey. At first we thought that it was related to the area in which we ended up walking around, however soon we realised that compared to the lunch prices everything was nearly double the price we had in mind for dinner. We decided to go back to the restaurant in which we had lunch and enjoyed a nice relaxing evening with chatting away about the world.

Tjörnin (The Pond)

Puffin, Seabird and Whale, a plate to taste

Classic Icelandic cheese fried with Strawberries

Fuzzy Apple Cocktail that tasted like a Milkshake

That what Puffin looks like

There was no fight on where to go or what to do, no argument about shower time or food, no disagreement. Overall it was a pleasure traveling with these 3 girls and I would do it anytime again!

The next morning we got up early for our Classic Golden Circle tour on which we would see some amazing sites from Iceland. There is so much more to see and explore, but you certainly would need a car to get around, as there are no trains in Iceland. Personally I would rent a car during the summer time instead of the tour.

We had booked with Iceland Experience (Grayline). The tour overall was great; however I could not really enjoy listening to the tour guide. She talked from the point we started the tour until the end, with no break in between. I like hearing information about what is happening around us and the country history, but her voice and accent was terrible. After a while the annoyance disappeared, I just tried to blend her out while watching the scenery we were passing.

The Golden Circle is covering about 300 km looping from Reykjavík into central Iceland and back.

The three primary stops on the route are the national park Þingvellir, the waterfall Gullfoss (meaning "golden falls"), and the geothermally active valley of Haukadalur, which contains the geysers Geysir and Strokkur.

Other stops include Kerið volcano crater, Hveragerði greenhouse village, Skálholt church, and the Nesjavellir geothermal power plant. The admission for the power plant is 500 krona and so not worth it if you are not actually interested in power plants.

Not so yummy lunch at the waterfalls

Alþingishúsið — the Icelandic parliament

Iceland left a great impression on us and we certainly recommend visiting when you get a chance. At the end of the tour the kind of expected announcement came that again the Northern Light tour is cancelled because of vivid winds and clouds. So the mission to see the Northern Lights failed, however the visit was worth it regardless.

We returned to our apartment to freshen up. On the way we saw a bar/restaurant which looked promising and offered Live Music. We decided to have dinner there. We were one of the first guest and overall the place made a good impression, but unfortunately not good enough for me to remember the name of it.

While we had dinner we were informed that you actually had to pay in order to see the live band, we decided to give it a miss and headed back for some late night talks but pretty early sleep.

The next morning we got ready, packed our bags and waited for the bus to pick us up and to bring us to the Blue Lagoons. This is a Spa located just 10km away from the airport and even though fairly pricey with 38 Euros absolutely worth a visit. You can get away a bit cheaper if you bring your own towel.

After a relaxing nice swim in the hot geothermal water full of minerals, a facial with the free available Silica and a quick visit at the steam bath we were led by our hungry tummies to the restaurant. Personally I would recommend eating a quick snack at the café next door and eat somewhere else something nice. The restaurant only offers great looking meals, however the taste was rather average.

This was followed by a return to the airport and the end of a great weekend. The time just flew by and we are now planning the next trips. I could have told a few more anecdotes on what exactly happened on this trip, however I do think some things should stay untold and just be a nice memory. And for the girls that are reading this, feel free to let me know what I have missed to mention!

My next visit will be to New York, I am already very very excited. I hope everyone of my family and friends out there are well. I miss you all very much!

Happy Travels!