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Published: March 29th 2013
Icelandair flies into Keflavik International Airport. The airport is about 45 minutes away from Reykjavik by bus. When I arrived at 6:30 AM (2:30 AM by my biological clock) I had no local money and only a vague sense of where I needed to go. The passport check and customs was a joke. I am not sure if the boarder officer even looked at my passport, instead just passing it through his scanner and asking me when I planned on leaving. Customs appeared voluntary and I just walked through the “nothing to declare” line without so much as filling out a statement or anything. There wasn’t even a guard that I could see, although there were several cameras. This is not what I expected.
As soon as I left the duty free area (turns out that is the only place to by booze this weekend - and I missed my opportunity) I found the bus dispatcher and purchased a ticket with my credit card. VISA is really useful during these moments when you don’t have the local currency. My particular credit card doesn’t charge any fees on international transactions and it gives me the standard exchange rate - none of
this horse shit with lower exchange rates at the airports. Along these lines, I also pulled money out of my Schwab account once I got into town. Again, no ATM fees and no exchange rate fees. Killer deal in my book.
The sun came up while we drove into Reykjavik. The stage coach was operated by Greyline / Iceland Excursions and in good condition for the most part. At first glance the ground resembles Alaskan muskeg. After actually seeing the ground, I discovered that all of the ripples were actually lava formations. The entire area surrounded by the drive into Reykjavik was once an active lava bed. According to locals, the volcano responsible for this enormous lava flow is supposed to erupt every 800 years. The last time it erupted was 836 years ago...
Moving on.
The KEX hostel is pretty sweet. This is my first hostel experience outside of Alaska and I must admit I feel spoiled. The facility is very clean, the staff is very friendly, and the food is very good. It’s a
very good experience. The price per night for the 16 bed mixed dorm is also reasonable, only $21. I arrived around
7:40 AM, but they wouldn’t give me a room key until 2:00 PM. This was a little annoying since I still hadn’t slept. I ate their traditional Icelandic breakfast (1,250 ISK, not included in the room fees), which was tasty but light. I left the hostel for a walk around the immediate area.
Downtown Reykjavik is definitely a bit touristy. The main streets to the south of the hostel (north of the hostel is the ocean, great view) were filled with shops and restaurants catering to foreign, but especially American tastes. Pizza places and burger joints are everywhere. Occasionally I found a place touting its fish selection, but even then it wasn’t the traditional Icelandic dishes I had heard about. I made it back to the hostel a little after 10:00 AM. If I was self conscious about sleeping in the common room before, my reservations were completely gone at this point. I found an unoccupied couch (unoccupied because it was very uncomfortable) and crashed. When I woke, the place was buzzing with activity. I checked into my room and took another nap.
8:00 PM - Finally ready for some fun, I headed down to the bar. The
Reykjavik Lake
Lots of bird feeding.hostel’s pub was packed and it took me a while to find a seat at the bar. The room smelled of coffee and beer. The roar of conversation overtook the music. Everyone was speaking in Dutch, German, or Icelandic. Apparently KEX is a hangout for locals as well as travelers. I started with a jack & coke, which costed 2,000 ISK. Adding insult to injury, the size of the shots here are similar to the size I found in Biddy’s. I thought they were pricy at $7 a hit. At $16 (current exchange rate applies), I felt like punching myself in the face. Ironically, I did punch myself in the face, in a manner of speaking, when I switched to beer. At the urging of one of the off-duty staff members I tried the local stout. While the beer was very tasty and the conversation / explanation of it’s origins was entertaining, the beer had an affect on my nose that felt like a snot explosion. Back to whiskey, this time straight!
The night continued forward with some good conversation and some light flirting. Eventually this Icelandic beauty wondered up to the bar with her three friends. Feeling a
Apparently a Point of Interest
some local public art near the view from the hostel little drunk and adventurous I struck up a conversation. I’ll be damned, but she reciprocated and became awfully touchy-feely. I offered to buy her a drink and ten minutes later, when it was finally poured, she left to find another poor unsuspecting foreigner to tease into buying her another round... Crafty minx these Icelandic women! The local I was sitting with, your classic “angry fisherman” Icelander, erupted with laughter. “Ya they do that,” he said. I couldn’t help but feel cheap and used. A fellow hostel occupant would comment that there are only two types of Icelandic people, the Victoria Secret supermodel and the angry fisherman. Turns out the supermodels are just angry fisherman with an eating disorder and long legs. No, I am not bitter at all!
That same person, a student finishing his last semester of medical school named Sam, also commented, “Icelandic women are like iceland, cold and beautiful.” Seems true enough to me, but what the hell, I chase the dream.
Thursday was foolishly spent at the Blue Lagoon. I say foolishly because Friday would have been a much better choice, seeing as how everything else in Reykjavik is closed for Good Friday. The
lagoon itself was pretty amazing. Anyone can read about the history of the lagoon and the area, so on the bus ride out (about $30 if booked online) the driver avoided the usual touristy crap and decided to mention random facts he found interesting, such as: Reykjavik Lake was frozen last weekend and he got to skate on it, which is rare because they pump it full of warm water from the geothermal plant so that it doesn’t freeze; there are only 370 police officers in the whole of Iceland; their largest criminal problem is with traffic violators; both of their airports were built courtesy of the USA and the British armies during World War II; the mud the Blue Lagoon people sell in the tourist store is free if you bring a bottle and scrape it out of the lagoon yourself; the mud is difficult to get through customs because it looks like plastic explosive... and so on. Admittedly, he began the drive by stating, “This isn’t a guided tour, but I like to talk, so that’s the way it is.”
Entrance to the lagoon costs 5,400 ISK. The locker rooms are nice and they give you a
bracelet with a microchip, which you use to lock your locker and purchase items in the various stores / bar. They have the system down to a science and you don’t need to bring anything with you. That being said, bring your swim wear, your towel, your robe (if you are one of those people), your lunch, and your booze. It’s either that, or bring a big wallet, because they are very proud of anything found inside the lagoon area. I only purchased lunch; for the sandwich, soda, and chips it cost 1,740 ISK, or about $12 . I think I got out of the lagoon for less than $100 (bus ride, entrance, meal, etc.), but it still felt like highway robbery for what amounted to a hot tub in blue water. Crafty Icelanders, getting us to pay for a warm muddy pond full of power plant discharge. Still not bitter.
The lagoon is beautiful. The water is a silty blue, which is the result of the geothermal power plant’s discharge. The water has a high silicate concentration and it helps heal many skin conditions, or so they say. Shower well when getting out of the pool - I
mean it. Just rinsing off isn’t going to cut it. I felt like a chalky messy an hour after drying off. Having said that (and taken another shower), today my skin feels great and my morning shave was the closest I have had in a while. The lagoon is basically one big warm pool hovering around 100o F. The hot water is pumped from the geothermal power plant to the lagoon and dispensed into the pool courtesy of several discharge points. The hot water cycles through each discharge point so that every 10 minutes the discharge boxes get super heated, up to 105-110o F. It feels great. I recommend hanging around the discharge box at the end of the little spit in the center of the lagoon. I found that you could sit within the box’s heating area on some lava rocks covered in silicate (very smooth) and float at the surface without drifting. The resort also has a couple steam baths and a sauna. There was a special area for VIPs that I didn’t sample - clearly they don’t know who I am... little joke.
I was tired of soaking and swimming by noon, but I stayed until
3:00 PM to make sure I got my money’s worth. Exhausted from the swim I came back to the hostel, did some shopping at a grocery store and called it an early night.
A couple quick thoughts on the grocery store... at least 25% of the store was dedicated to candy. This wasn’t a fluke either. All of the stores I have been in have substantial shelf space dedicated to candy. Also, their selection of meats is a bit limited. Don’t look to find a plethora of steak cuts in Iceland. The same can be said of cheeses. Aside from one specialty meat and cheese store (along with their specialty prices), I have only found about a dozen types of cheese available and limited meat selection. When I say meat, I am not just talking about beef. Surprisingly, their selection of fish is also a bit on the sparse side. In preparation for the Good Friday city shut down - no, I am not kidding at all - I found it a little annoying to setup a menu. I couldn’t find a good bag of lettuce at all. Still, with my meager crackers, orange juice, cheese, pickled herring, sandwich meat, and bread, it cost 3,700 ISK! What’s with this place?! I mean I know I am in Iceland, and that everything here has to be barged in, but prices here are worse than in rural Alaskan villages. (Ironically, it seems like Iceland is similar to the villages in more than one way - I still haven’t been able to find an open liquor store.)
Between the Easter holiday and the prices in the pubs, I am not holding my breath for the Icelandic party fest I was hoping to find. I thought this place was supposed to be all about house music and lingerie clad supermodels. Expectations averted, not bitter.
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I was laughing out loud at the situation with the Icelandic chick and the booze. I mean really? Come on...she was looking for booze. Guys do the SAME thing but always looking for sex...I guess that would be the drastic difference and what really counted. :-) Guys getting touchy feely at the bar looking for sex....ya I'm not bitter either. ;)