Blogs from Iceland, Europe
Of trolls, elves, the purest blue and cold asses
Published: May 19th 2012Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík
May 19th 2012
What an amazing last couple of days, let me tell you. Yesterday we went over and went river rafting on some 2+ rapids, no worries, you have probably survived more horrifying waters in your bathtub!! But it was incredibly beautiful and buttass cold people! We had on wet suits and such, but still, it started to snow on us a bit and well it is all glacier water here so thangs tend to get a bit cold you know! We then had a bit of a tour around the Golden Circle, which is comprised of a pretty impressive waterfall, some hotsprings and geysers as well as a good look at the site of Icelandś first parliament location, which is just adjacent to active plates of the earth, plates that are busy as hell pulling the earth ... read more
May 17th 2012
I have made it to the island of fire and vikings! I was brought in on the red eye and have had today to try and recoup the sleep deprivation and to enjoy the city. The city is quite similar in feel to Helsinki, the port is right to the south of my hostel and the church is,of course, right at the top of a big hill. The church is really quite fantastic, with columns reaching high into the sky. I have assigned myself some homework though as I could not discern which religion it belongs to. I usually stop into churches to say a prayer and noticed that in this one there was no symbol of Jesus (or anyone I recognized) anywhere. The city, town really, has its own vibe. Quite peaceful actually. Stores sell ... read more
April 16th 2012
Greeting All This is Part two of my Iceland Blog We arrived in Reykjavik after a long 400km and slow (I couldn’t afford another speeding ticket) drive along the south coast. It had been drizzling most of the day and as we got closer to Reykjavik it started to get a lot heavier. Our first impressions were that is was a ghost town, there was hardly a car on the road or anyone on the streets. We had to double check that this was a Saturday and not a Sunday. We subsequently learnt that on the Easter weekend the majority of the population like to get together as a family and east a meal of lamb at home. After we found our hostel and dropped our gear off we headed out into the rain to explore. ... read more
April 12th 2012
An American contacted me early January 2012, said he and his daughter of 30+ were going to be in Iceland for about 4-6 days and could I be their guide. I picked them up at the airport on March 28 and we started the tour on the 30th. First we went over to the area where the parliament of Iceland was founded back in the year 930. This is also the site where the North American tectonic plate is drifting away from the Eurasian tectonic plate. A good example of ropy lava is seen all around. After that we took a quick look at the geyser called Strokkur, gushing every 5 minutes or so and now we were in a hurry to get to the second largest glacier in Iceland for a snowmobile ride. Such a ... read more
April 12th 2012
Hello fellow travellers This is part one of my two part blog from our recent 6 day trip to Iceland. We arrived into Keflavik airport at 9:30am looking forwards to our first taste of Iceland. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t in as happy a mood as we were and were greeted with a thick overcast fog and a drizzle that was like a fine mist. Although this looked like light rain after a couple of minutes of exposure to it you were actually soaked to the skin, sadly this was the most frequent weather that we encountered on our trip. We picked up our hire car and headed out to explore the Keflavik peninsular and our first taste of Iceland. The weather wasn’t looking like it would improve and viability was down to less than a hundred ... read more
February 23rd 2012
Golden Circle tour, this is the tour that I recommend for everyone who comes to Iceland. If you only stop for a week-end, this tour is ideal. If you come for a week or ten days, this tour is the first one to do, I recommend. If you ask why then the answer is: this tour has diverse landscape and the major events in the Icelandic history have taken place in the areas we go through. Often I am asked if I can pick people up at the international airport and do a daytour before going to hotel. In such cases I usually start the tour with going to a bakery in a town called Hveragerdi. A pretty little town by the roots of a mountain full of hotsprings. One such tour I did at the ... read more
February 8th 2012
The always changing trip to Iceland, just to drink. Not much to say other than alot of eating and drinking in a 48 hour period. Going back enroute to DC on 22 May. ... read more
February 1st 2012
Nú hef ég orðið að beiðni margra og stofnað ferðablogg. Ég veit ekki hvort ég muni endast hér eitthvað eða hvort facebook verði minn helsti samskiptaháttur. Hef ekkert bloggað að viti síðan 2006, hvað þá skrifað dagbók.. svo við skulum sjá til hvernig fer. Það eru ennþá alveg 2 mánuðir og 5 dagar í SA-asíu reisuna.. en hver er að telja? (ÉG!). Nú er semsagt bara í gangi svona undirbúningstímabil, einnig þekkt undir nafninu "ég hlakka svo mikið til að ég er að springa - tímabilið". Við Raggi pöntuðum ferðahandbók um þetta svæði frá Lonely Planet og ég geri lítið annað þessa dagana en að lesa mér til um hina og þessa staði sem væri gaman að ferðast til og vinna (safna - safna - safna!!) Já, ég held að þetta sé orðið gott í bili, ... read more
Whirlwind trip to Reykjavik and Stockholm
Published: January 30th 2012Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík » KopavogurJanuary 25th 2012
To book my flights and hotels a week before departure, to get travel-books 24 hour before my flight, and to read them for the first time during my flight has become the hallmark of my travel. This was no different. Manan and I decided on this trip a week before. I had always wanted to visit Iceland in winter. We flew Iceland Air from JFK airport in NY. I started on time in the morning, but after an hour, I realized that I had forgotten my passport back home. So I had to turn back, and that put us about 2 hours behind schedule. In the end, we managed to reach aiport on time, only to be told that the filght was delayed by 2 hours because of weather in Reykjavik. Bummer .. I thought, because ... read more
November 13th 2011
And so we face......the final curtain! Time to go home, folks! I know many of us are ready to go home. The World Tour was phenomenal for many reasons - but, there really is NO place like home. Our last day in Iceland was a quiet one - up and at 'em at the hotel - a yummy breakfast and then an enjoyable bus ride to the Blue Lagoon. This is a world-famous location, particularly for people with skin disorders and ailments (such as psoriasis, which I have). There is a hotel and a full spa located at The Blue Lagoon - lots of changes since I was there 4 years ago, too. As we rounded the corner on the highway, people were quite amazed to see that the water really IS BLUE! It's gorgeous - ... read more
