After such an amazing, but very tiring, two day trip down to the south of Iceland I'm ready for a lie in and a lazy last day in Reykjavik before flying home tomorrow. It feels like coming home whenever I get back to the Rekjavik Downtown Hostel now. What a great choice it turned out to be. The staff are lovely, it's in such a good location and really quiet so you actually get a good night's sleep. I'd highly recommend it to anyone wondering which youth hostel to pick in Reykjavik. Saga Museum So what to do on my last day? There are still a couple of museums I haven't checked out so I decide to go back to the harbour area and take a look at the famous Saga Museum. Basically it's a series ... read more

So today I begin my 2-day trip to the south of Iceland with EXTREME Iceland. I'm hoping the tour company's name provides the exciting trip it seems to promise. I've been looking forward to this trip more than any other so expectations are high. I'm picked up at my hotel and taken to Extreme Iceland's base where Bjorn our tour leader for the trip is waiting for us in a minibus that quickly fills up with people among whom are lots of excitable young Chinese girls! As we set off we have problems with Bjorn's headset mike - he's on his own so needs to be driver and guide as he's going along so this is kinda important equipment. We even have to go back to base to sort it out which isn't a good start, ... read more

Arriving back in Reykjavik I find that Oskar's assertion that when it's sunny in the north it's the opposite in the south of Iceland is actually true - today at least - as Reykjavik is pretty overcast and a slight flurry of snow is falling as I step outside the domestic airport. But what the hell, I'd planned to do a spot of geocaching around the shoreline footpath and over towards the Perlan on a massive roundabout route back to my hostel, so that's what I set off to do despite the less than perfect weather for it. I have to throw on all my layers and pull my scarf up over my face as the wind is bitingly cold on this exposed walk. But thankfully the snow stops and the sun breaks through the clouds ... read more

I wake to a new day in Iceland and find that the promised sunshine prompting my booking of an Icelandic horse trek was nowhere to be seen. Instead there are soft, fat, fluffy snow flakes dusting the pavements and decorating the pine trees outside my hostel. I have a lovely lazy morning catching up on blogging, reading, snoozing and after a quick trip to the Bonus supermarket - yes, finally a shop is open! - some treats to trough on. My lift to the stables arrives and I find it is the owner, a lovely lady in the coolest jumper/cardigan/coat I've ever seen. It is twisted over making a kind of snood, cowl cloak effect - brilliant design effort and something she just chucks on to get from house to car (I asked her!). When we ... read more

Another sunny day. What can I say! I'm lucky with the weather on this trip. Today I am off on a long tour to have a look around the Myvatn area with SBA Norðurleið. Akureyri Tour I have a long walk to the meeting point from my new hostel which is on the other side of town. It's pretty early and there's virtually no-one about. I hope I'm not the only one on the trip. I picked this company because it specifically didn't penalise solo travellers by cancelling if no-one else booked; most other companies need at least two before they'll go ahead with a tour. I meet my tour guided Oskar and we have a bit of a chat. It turns out we are to be joined by a family who are flying in from ... read more