Iceland

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In hindsight going to Iceland in late December might not have been the smartest thing, however it was just as great as it could be expected. A few things to note on Iceland in going before I start my post:

1) Renting a car is a great idea though make sure you have Waze or another GPS on the phone as the GPS given to us by the rental car place wasn't the best

2) 4 1/2 hours of sun light is as little as it sounds and when it is dark at 9AM in the morning it is hard to get out of bed

3) Charging everything is the best way as it was difficult to get a decent conversion rate on the Icelandic krona to the USD

4) The people are so down to earth and everyone speaks English. Just a great culture and clean with low unemployment, no homeless people and efficient use of energy with water power used for heating

5) Icelandic Air is the most disorganized airline with not a lot of information coming out when boarding is to take place or who is boarding

On December 26, my friend Mike and I took off for Iceland. We were going to meet out friend Jason in Iceland as he was flying standby. We got to the airport and check in was efficient. The security line was long and took about 20 minutes to get through. We arrived at Terminal 7 and it was probably my least favorite terminal I have ever been to. There was limited seating and only a handful of restaurants to choose from ranging from Todd English Bonfire, McDonalds, Balducci Food Market and Starbucks. The terminal was very loud and crowded. I got McDonalds for dinner which I normally don't enjoy eating fast food. The service was horrendous and very slow. The Icelandic Air terminal was very disorganized the boarding and seating was limited. There was no announcements on boarding and everyone boarded around the same time. The flight was delayed 1 1/2 hours and we arrived into Iceland only a 1/2 hour late.

We walked off the plane onto the runway and it was very windy. It was so pitch black at 7:27AM. The wind was howling and rainy. We got into the airport and went to the restroom. There was 2 in 1 washer and dryer combo in the sink. The airport was very high tech. We waited about 20 minutes outside for a car shuttle to get us. It was extremely inefficient and we had to put our hoods on to cover ourselves. It was 60 mph winds and the outside areas waiting for the bus was very crowded. There was no signs on where to go again. We got the rental car and drove into Reykjavik. We parked the car at the Skuggi hotel and walked outside. It was dark, rainy and windy. The hotel was extremely accommodating and allowed us to park the car early before check in. The hotel overall was fantastic and a big recommendation for anyone that needs a place to stay. They did offer us a reduced breakfast rate, but it was after the time the breakfast had ended and they gave us coffee, which was excellent. The front desk went through maps of where the different sites were located.

We stopped at a lunch place that we found open. Many of the places was closed early in the am, but we found a place called Durum. It was a thai, deli and pizza fusion place. I got the seafood soup with focaccia bread that had pesto and tomato on it. It was very delicious tasting. We walked to the free City Walking Tour (Citywalk). It was difficult to do some of the activities with the horrendous weather, but the tour stopped indoors and under overhang of buildings as much as possible to avoid it. We got to see Parliament building and Harpa concert hall. It was a great tour and a lot of great information. It is totally worth it and all you have to do is tip the person running the tour. It was 2 hours and saw many different sites on the tour in the city.

We went back to the room after the tour and took naps. I didn't sleep much on the plane, maybe an hour if I was lucky and neither did Mike or Jason. We got to our rooms and they had 2 beds and a cot. There wasn't a lot of space for putting our clothes into drawers, but most places in Europe are similar to that style. We bathroom was really nice. Our room had instant hot chocolate, coffee and tea. We got ready and went to Icelandic Fish and Chips for dinner. It was a 20 minute walk downtown into the city for dinner. Most the restaurants was 20-25 minute walk from the hotel. It wasn't too bad minus the wind that would act up so dressing in layers is advisable. The restaurant was the best choice of the trip. It was lit up with lights on the walls. I had an oven baked cod with a tomato sauce on top, in addition to crispy potatoes with a truffle and tarragon dipping sauce. The fish was flaky and moist. All the potatoes with the oven baked fish come with a wide variety of dipping sauces. I ordered a dessert called Skyr, which is similar to greek yogurt. In the Skyr was peanut butter, chocolate and almonds. It was very refreshing and light. Mike ordered a different desert that he enjoyed as well. It was an excellent way to end a long and tiring first day. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

We woke up the next day a little bit later than expected. We found out the day before that many of the tour groups that was going to Vik where there is a black sand beach was cancelled due to the wind and snow. We postponed our trip and had to adjust on the fly. We went to the hotel buffet breakfast. It was excellent and there was a wide variety of foods to choose from such as eggs, bacon, cheeses, fruit, oatmeal, cereal, breads as well as the great coffee. We ate and then went to the Settlement Exhibition. It was an unique experience with interactive slide shows that explained the history of Iceland and how it was settled by different groups of people many years ago. It was fascinating to learn the history and realize how far back the country spans even before the formation of the United States. We went shopping to buy gifts for family as the snow picked up along with the wind. The city itself was very pretty and still lit up from Christmas celebrations with a big tree in town. We went to the Old Icelandic restaurant for lunch. This was another great place to eat at. They give you rye bread with a cumin salt butter to begin. I had a traditional meal soup that contained lamb and fresh veggies. It was very hearty and great to eat with the cold outside.

We went back to the hotel to get our stuff and went to a public pool called Laugardalslaug It is a great social gathering where they have different variety of hot tubs ranging from cold to very hot, in addition to steam rooms. You go into the bathroom and they have an attendant who will yell at you if you don't shower thoroughly naked before going into the tubs. It was a bit awkward with men of all ages naked in the changing area. We met so many people in the hot tub from Boston, DC and even some locals from Reykjavik. It was a unique experience. When you had to go from one hot tub to the next you had to run because it was all outside. The warmest hot tubs was all the way to the left so you could go into a hot tub warm up and then run to the next one. We changed afterwards and went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We did happy hour at the hotel which had some great deals on beer. We went to a restaurant called Svarta Sveti for dinner. It was pretty tasty. I had a smoked puffin appetizer which had a unique taste and wasn't gamey and didn't taste like chicken. It was served with a cranberry sauce and arugula. The main course was a short rib and rump steak burger with bacon, mushrooms, mayo aoli and lettuce served with waffle fries. It was a delicious meal. I ordered a traditional Icelandic cream puff desert that contained chocolate, mixed berries jam and cream. It was light and fluffy. We finished dinner and went back to the hotel to rest.

We had breakfast the next morning and headed off for the Golden Circle. We made it to Thingvellir National Park. Once again the weather played havoc on our plans. We made it to the Visitor Center and saw some tour guides who warned us to not go further as the roads back into the city was getting closed. If we went further and couldn't get on the main road back to the city we would need to go 3 hours of the way or get stuck. The weather was very windy and rainy. We saw a lot of mountains along the drive as wel as Selfloss water falls. Instead of risking getting stuck on the trip we headed back to the city. We went to Old Iceland restaurant for lunch. I had a salad with blueberries, strawberries, tindur cheese and nuts. It was refreshing and clean. I also had the traditional meat soup from the day before. It was delicious as it was previously We walked around the city then relaxed in the room. We went to a place called Tapas Barron for dinner. It is a place known for different variety of tapas. It was pretty decent and decently priced. I had a serrano ham, manchego and cheese pesto, lobster tail with garlic butter and bacon wrapped scallops chili sauce. My favorite was the lobster tail with garlic butter. I had a white chocolate skyr strawberry and mango sorbet. It was very refreshing and overall a good meal. We received our check in a jewelry type box which ended the experience in a unique way. We went to the Public house bar for a drink. We saw the weather outside change from a clear weather to a snowy wintry mix. We finished up the night and went back to the hotel.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast. We went shopping and checked out of the hotel. It was the first day that it was mildly warm and didn't have rain/snow. Of course on the last day the weather was perfect. We went to Hallgrímskirkja church. It was this huge beautiful church. There was a big Leif Ericsson statue in front that was given to Iceland from the United States. Inside the church there was huge organ pipes and really tall cities. We waited about 15 minutes to go up but the view of the city was spectacular. You could see the mountains in the horizon and the city of Reykjavik looked magnificent. We left to go to the airport. The GPS overall for the trip was terrible and thankfully Waze was great to use to get us around. As you leave the city, the traffic lights turn yellow to warn you before it changes to green. Reflecting on the trip back I was amazed that traffic was minimal and a lot of people spoke English. In addition, it was a geothermal heating friendly city and very clean. The drive out mountains are all over which sort of reminded me of driving in Colorado. The weather changed as we approached to the airport where it began to snow heavily whereas in the city it was sunny. The check in at the airport was quick with many kiosks available. There was no security line and was able to get through with ease. The gate itself was very crowded once again with nowhere to sit and no announcements made on boarding of the flight. We had a lengthy delay and finally got to the shuttle to take us to the plane. We had to wait forever to board the plane as we sat on the runway while the snow came down quickly. Our delay in total was about 2 hours and on the flight the power went out temporarily to the entertainment center so it had to be rebooted. We got into NY and the customs line was insanely line. There was some minor annoyances on the trip, but the memories of going to such an amazing city overtakes it all. I would recommend to visit Iceland, but to not go at the end of December. It would be better to have more sunlight and less unpredictability of snow. The citizens of the country are amazing and will forever change your perspective of visiting such an amazing place.

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