Where have I been? Iceland, all together four nights in Keflavick, the delightful harbor village near the airport, one night on an Island that is a volcano, one night in Geysir. Lots and lots of driving back roads, stopping on a whim, only a little terror. Saturday night back to BWI, and home. Then back to the office on Monday and Tuesday.
What is the best thing I have eaten? A reindeer pate, at the Hotel Geysir.
What have I heard? Waves crashing the rocks, and a gale force wind - a wind so strong I was warned to park facing into the wind, so the door would not be ripped off when I went to open it.
Who have I seen? Lots of tourists, my sweet bear.
What have I bought? A nice small ceramic bowl with a volcanic glaze, and just a little tourist junk.
What else happened? Things did not go entirely to plan. When we woke up at Geysir, there was an inch or so of snow, we were driving east then north that day to Vik. As we drove, the snow kept getting deeper, then there were cars sliding off the side of the road, then trucks stuck in a round-about, then deeper blowing snow. I checked the "drive safe Iceland" app, and it said snowy for the next long segment. I found a place to turn around, emailed the hotel in Vik to cancel (thank you Hotel Kira, for waving the late cancel fee) and headed back toward Reykjavik, and Keflavik. We returned to the Courtyard by Marriott near the airport, free of snow, easy driving.
What did we do then? Well if we were not going to see the black sand beaches of Vik, what to do. We went to the Blue Lagoon. There will be a post or two on this adventure. It was a great way to spend the day, and yes there are reasons for us to return to Iceland again. I am going to make it to Vik someday.
How was the travel? IcelandAir was having a sale, when I booked I splurged for first class on the overnight flight out, and booked coach for the return. First or Saga Class was nice. Wider seats, better service, great food, I could get use to traveling like that. A couple of days after we arrived there was an email from IcelandAir asking if we wanted to "bid" on upgrades to first class for the return flight. With comfort fresh in mind, I came up with a number, less than what I paid for the upgrade outbound, a little more than I wanted to pay, and for $181 a seat extra, we upgraded to first class on the return flight. Bliss!
What next? We will return. For now back to the office. I will need to take more time off this year, but at this point I don't have any firm plans.
7 mo 28 days
This sounds like a great quick adventure. The photo of you in the steam is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI need to figure out how to have more time to explore.
DeleteDo I spy a penguin in a thermal spring! Heavenly wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteAh yes, can't wait to go back.
DeleteOh no ... " reindeer pate"
ReplyDeleteRudolph????
Quick trip, but jam packed and fun from the sounds of it.
We asked; the reindeer was no one we knew.
DeleteYou were wise to turn around and not proceed further into the snow storm.
ReplyDeleteI should have turned around sooner
DeleteThat snow was a bit of an adventure. It's been a very, very long time since I've driven in snow and ice.
ReplyDeleteIt was surprising, more snow than we had all winter here
DeleteHere goes word nerdy me...Reykjavik, Keflavik, Vik. Going to do a little resesarch on Icelandic suffixes, unless you know what -avik or -vik means. Wonderful photos...thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what Vik is, sloss = waterfall
Delete“Vik” is both an Icelandic and a Scandinavian word and it means an inlet, firth or a cove at coasts. Iceland and the Scandinavian countries has lot of “vikar” where Vikings could hide with their longships. “Vik” is both an Icelandic and a Scandinavian word and it means an inlet, firth or a cove at coasts.
DeleteThank you so much!
DeleteI would like to experience first class at least once.
ReplyDeleteSassybear
https://idleeyesandadormy.com/
It was a great value on this trip.
Delete