Iceland The Redo

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I had some hesitation coming up to my partner and I trip to Iceland. It was the first International trip for me since October 2018 in Greece. A lot had happened since then with leaving a job I didn't love, moving to North Carolina, COVID and cancer. In addition, I was leaving my current job that has been going through scandals and fraud. In addition to starting a new role when I returned from my trip. We dropped off our dog at Chloe's mom. We picked up Jersey Mike for dinner. It was easy to check in the bag at the RDU airport with not too many people on the line. It was easy to get through security. The airport was very crowded. We tried the Getreef Virtual Food Hall. We split fried rice and Thai donuts. The donuts were decent with a nice cinnamon flavor and a nice dipping sauce. The rice was quite bland and needed flavor or spice. On the plane, a child wouldn't stop screaming on and off the entire flight. It was hard to sleep peacefully. I surprisingly got 1.5-2 hours of sleep with a 5 mg melatonin. I usually don't sleep on the plane so that was refreshing to see. I spoke to a nice couple that was headed to Munich. It brought back a lot of nostalgic memories of my adventures there. The flight down was bumpy.

It was a longer airport than I recalled walking through the airport. The trip Chloe and I booked was a package deal through Iceland Air. It was hotel transfers, 3 tours, hotel, Volcano Lava Show and direct flight for $1000 each with tax included in that rate. We got the baggage and went to the Flybus counter. A gentleman at the counter was quite rude and told us to get to the bus quickly as it was ready to leave. It was a crowded bus as we made our way to Reykjavik. On the drive there were beautiful mountains and a lot of sunlight. It was quite different from the last trip where it was very dark, rainy and very windy. The bus was within a short distance of seeing crystal clear water. It was a 45 minute ride from the airport to the bus stop. There were beautiful trees and modern homes as you entered the city. We got dropped off at a bus stop and had to go through the terminal to the other side where a smaller blue bus would drop us off 3 minutes from the hotel. This would be a constant theme on the trip where you would get picked up at a bus stop especially for larger tours and then go to the bus stop walk through and get on another larger bus minus the small tour we did.

We stayed at the Center Hotel Plaza and asked ahead of time for an early check in. For a fee they would accommodate us if there was room. Thankfully we got checked in early and had breakfast. The breakfast was consistent each day with jams, marmalade, hard boiled and scrambled eggs, waffle fries, bread, yogurt, cereal and other items. We took a nap in the room and walked to Main Street for brunch at Kol. We made a reservation and most Iceland restaurants would recommend to do so. It was very cold out and layering was a key theme throughout the trip. The city was beautiful walking through with mountains surrounding and clear water. The shops were modern, clean streets and no homeless people on the street. We got the deluxe brunch. It was 5 courses of small tastings like chicken/waffle, duck/pancakes and three other dishes. There were a lot of rich dishes with not much relief. There was a bruschetta dish that was the tastiest out of the course dishes. We sat downstairs and had cool decor. It was better than upstairs where it was very loud. We had the open kitchen behind us and some of the chefs didn't look the happiest working there.

We went to Hallgrímskirkja. We went up to the church top and saw the beautiful views like I did last time. You can see the mountains, all over the city and the water. It is definitely a big highlight. The only issue was it was so windy and cold on the top. We went back downstairs and walked into the church to check it out. We popped into Cafe Bablou for a cappuccino. and espresso macchiato. It was a kitschy place with a lot of fun nostalgic and unique decor. We went to cool looking wool clothing store where Chloe got an authentic wool sweater. We saw Rainbow Street and went to Jungle Bar for happy hour. They have great specials during happy hours, cool decor and great drinks. We went to Messin for dinner. It was easily the best food we had in Iceland. We split the Icelandic Plokkfiskur with Bearnaise sauce. It tasted like a fish cod stew and was so comforting with the cold outside. We started off with a bread basket and I had a delicious crisp Einstok white ale beer. It was a delicious meal especially the fish dish with a huge platter in a communal type sharing rather than traditional plates. We got an Apple crumb dessert that was excellent that had fennel balls with nice textures. It was more of a mousse than a traditional apple pie with creme fraiche whipped creme. It broke the mold of a traditional apple pie in your head but tasted like apple pie. I had a cappuccino with a delicious milk chocolate served on the side called Chaqwa.

We went back to the hotel to layer up for the Northern Lights tour. We each had three layers of clothes on with a hat, gloves and heavy coats. We took a small bus to the larger bus and the tour guides explained about how the Northern Lights forms. We went to Thingveiller National Park. There were a lot of buses and people outside to see it. You have to go and adjust your eyes to the darkness for awhile in order to see it. Flash photography was strongly discouraged. There were so many stars outside. It was probably the most stars I have ever seen. We had to go in and out of the bathroom area to keep warm as it was in the teens for temperature with very strong chilling winds that made it feel like it was in the negative teens. Before the trip, someone had mentioned to Chloe to get a new phone with the nightmode which was smart because if you put it in a tripod type angle the photos come out for the Northern Lights. After 40 minutes, you saw a little light then it got stronger and longer and went across the sky then it would dim down and then start up again like a rollercoaster. It was one of the most beautiful things I might experience in life and so fortunate to have seen it. We got back to the hotel after a long day of travels and went to bed.

The next morning it was cold and clear outside. We had the standard breakfast downstairs and had booked a separate tour called Fire and Ice. We had a funny knowledgeable tour guide named Simon. We got picked up and saw beautiful mountains covered in snow, steam coming off mountains, ash from volcanoes, and heard about the active volcano and earthquakes. We saw some active rivers and iced over rivers. We saw a lot of waterfalls all over. The following was the tour that we did from Hidden Iceland: https://hiddeniceland.is/south-coast-fire-ice/. We stopped at a piazza for Americano and a crepe filled inside with whipped cream. We stopped at a variety of the famous waterfalls in the tour. We went to the black sand beach in Vik. There was dramatic cliffs and rock formations with very strong waves. It was such a surreal site to see. At one point the tour guide told us to run to get underneath this cave area so we can get photos. We went to the famous church and saw so dramatic views. There was a great lava show that we loved. Everywhere we drove there was dramatic views of mountains and cliffs. We got to walk up to a glacier and walked right next to it. You could see the ash from the 2010 lava incident in Iceland. In addition, you can hear the glacier moving slowly. We went to Selinjsfoss which offered 3 total waterfalls to see and one of them had a rainbow that formed behind the waterfall. We made our way back into town in a 1.5 hour beautiful trip. We ate at Saeta Svind for dinner and each got an Icelandic tasting menu with a variety of food ranging from minke whale (tasted like steak) and puffin to name a few. We also had delicious barrel aged gin and tonic. We went back to the hotel to rest.

We had breakfast at the hotel. It was very windy with 20-30 mphs. We saw the Super Mario mural. It was a combined Iceland display on a wall. It was so much fun to see. We tried to go to Iceland flyover however it was mostly sold out. Tickets should definitely be purchased ahead of time. We found a cute coffee shop nearby called Hygge Coffee and Micro Bakery. I got a delicious cortado and Chloe got a Swiss Mocha. We walked near the pier to Seabarron for lunch. It was a charming marina area. We got the soup, bread and Wolffish. The fish was in a garlic sauce and had a nice char on the fish. It was a unique flavorful white fish. The restaurant was a cute little sea shack place that felt like it could be in the Northeast. We stopped at a cute jewelry store in town and I got a ring for myself to wear on my right finger and some gifts for our families. We headed back to the hotel to relax then went to Sky Lagoon. We got our stuff and headed to the bus stop then transferred to the other bus stop similar to most of our excursions except Fire and Ice tour. We did the Pure pass rather than the Sky. There was a bathroom and shower area for each of us and this time no one watched us intently as we showered as opposed to last time. We did the Seven Step which included salt scrub, cold plunge, cold mist, hot steam dry and wet. It was a ridiculously chilly wind when going in and out of the water and you had to dip down to keep warm. It was pretty crowded but there was lovely views of the islands. You can see cold stream come off the water. We did find areas to enjoy a drink as there was a bar inside. There was snow and ice on the rocks. The big recommendation is to get into the front of the hotel tour bus going there as there will be a huge line if you aren't arriving first. It was pretty rushed since we only had 2 hours there. Many people in the water weren't present and had phones out the whole time and didn't note the beautiful relaxing situation going on. It was also noisy at times.

A general observation was that most tour buses we did take you back to your stop so don't need to go back on the 2 bus situations which was nice but had to communicate to them ahead of time where you were staying. We went to Chloe's coworker's family friend house before dinner. It was a mother and daughter that we got to hang out with. It was a great conversation and we got to try a variety of Icelandic delicacies like sheep's heads. We went to Lamb which was a street food type restaurant. We got a delicious mezze and flatbread. After dinner, we got an excellent driven tour by the family to see Perian wonders of Iceland, barracks, lighthouse and other cool sites. We went back to the hotel to rest. We had breakfast at the hotel. We went to a bakery before breakfast. It was called Baka Baka which meant idiot in Japan. We got pastries for the bus.

We went to Te Og Kaffi for a cortado and a flat white. It was kind of like a local Starbucks chain with multiple stores in the city. We did the Golden Circle and Secret Lagoon tour. It was a crowded bus with a lot of talkative people that was talking over the tour guide. It was extremely rude. We went to Thingveiler National Park and saw a divide between ice and fresh water, old church, mountains with snow and stunning views. We saw an extinct volcano on the drive. We went to Geyser and Strokkur. We did see it spew up as we got there and there was a small geyser. At the rest stop at Geyser, we had two meat soups for lynch but got overcharged for it. The workers was quite apologetic and I did get my refund when I got home. We had 2 soups and 2 coffees and it was between $50-60. It was such a ripoff. Many of the rest stops was very crowded with a lot of tour groups. We saw wild Icelandic horses on the side of the road and some people paid money to get a photo with them. We stopped at Gulfloss and it was so majestic to look at. The cold weather was especially freezing near Gulfloss. It was beautiful flowing water that was so clean and clear.

We stopped at Secret Lagoon. There wasn't a lot of people that showered before going into it. It was a huge hot tub with nice views of woods nearby and saw springs shoot up behind blowing cold ice on you which felt good in the hot water. It was cold when you stood up and we enjoyed it a lot more than we expected to do. Some of the walls you would try to lay against were slimy. We enjoyed the tour a lot and made our way back to the hotel stop 1.5 hours away. We stopped at a frozen river near the hotel and saw a lot of ducks and birds on the river. There were some people that walked on the ice which didn't seem to be the smartest of ideas. We went to Le Kock for dinner. I got a Sam Panapoulous Donatella Versace with Parmesan potatoes and Flying Kock Beer. It was a delicious burger and so decadent. I would highly recommend the food. We got chocolate sea salt donuts that were decent, but not mind blowing In addition, we got Dulce De Leches milkshake which was delicious but very sweet. We found out from a waitress that the restaurant name was inspired by weed and alcohol.

Chloe has an app that tells you when the Northern Lights will be strong and she saw that it would be strong that night. We left dinner and tried to find a dark area that would block the lights. We found by the harbor a truck that hid some lights and got to see the Northern Lights over Harpa Hall. it was amazing to see it twice in one trip. The night time mode on the new Iphone was how it allowed us to see it. We went back to the room to relax. The next morning we went to Sanholdt for breakfast. We got a Kaffi and Cappuccino. In addition, Chloe got shakshuka and a loaded waffle. We reserved a spot ahead of time which was smart because it was packed there. We spoke to a nice couple from Toronto next to us. It was tasty and hearty food. We got pastries for the plane. We went to a couple of stores to get extra receipts because the cleaning people got rid of the other ones in the room. You can get 12-15% VAT back on certain items that you buy in Iceland.

We went to Kaffi O Le for americano and cappuccino. It was a nice place to hang out near the hotel. We got back to the hotel and had done a late check out of the hotel. It was a 1 hour shuttle back to the airport. We saw beautiful snow covered mountains on the way and blue crystal clear water. We checked in with a very rude attendant. We went to Nord restaurant at the airport and got an avocado toast prawn and egg sandwich with 2 for 1 mimosas. It was all good though avocado toast was better than prawn and egg. We got Barrells Aged Gin at the duty free shop Chloe and I both got randomly screened which reminded me of Amsterdam with all items swabbed and had to take out electronics like Ipad out of case and take off jackets and fleeces. We had to walk far to the gate and then take a bus to airport. It was very chaotic with no real ordering to the plane. The flight was great and I was so happy to finally be able to do everything I wanted to in Iceland with Chloe.

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