Tuesday 18 October 2011

ICELAND...in 5 days

Icelandair offer cheap flights with stopoffs in Iceland on the way from USA to Europe and vice versa to encourage tourism and if you get the chance- go! Even if you only have a few days.. Here was my trip..

DAY 1:
Most people book the bus from the airport to the hotel.There are two buses that make the trip, the "flybus" operated by Reykjavik Excursions and the "Airport Express" operated by Iceland Excursions. I have ridden on both and there isn't a difference except that I believe Airport Express is cheaper. I had booked the "flybus" in advance but upon arrival at the airport there are desks to book either so it isn't difficult. Even if you book in advance, you still need to exchange your email confirmation for a ticket at the desk anyway. The bus takes 45 minutes from the airport. I chose to stay at a hotel in the center of Reykjavik or "downtown" as they call it as I wanted to be able to walk to get coffee or look at the shops. At the weekends, the nights were a bit noisy from the partiers on the main shopping street but the location was worth it for me. If you prefer quiet and do not mind taking a cab everywhere, then do not worry about staying in town. Most tour operators pick up at the hotel anyway. I was glad I wasn't staying at a guesthouse and some of the tour operators struggled with the locations of some of them when dropping everyone off at the end of the day. I stayed at the Centerhotel Thingholt which was well located just off the main shopping strip, clean, comfy, modern and had a great breakfast included as well as helpful front desk staff. In truth, I could have spent less and stayed at another hotel downtown (Hotel Fromm looked busy and full of travellers and CityHotel seemed good (but I heard noisy)) but I would definitely stay there again for the right price.

DAY 2:
After a yummy hotel breakfast and filling up my water bottle from water from my hotel bathroom tap (it is all drinkable and has no chemicals in Iceland) I set off on the South Coast tour to the glacial lagoon with Iceland Excursions. Tours in Iceland aren't like normal tours with packed coaches full of tourists. They feel smaller and more intimate and have a lot younger travellers including a lot of people travelling alone. The guide Dede was extremely friendly and happy to be alive and clearly loved her home country. (in fact she acted like she was experiencing it all for the first time..needless to say her enthusiasm was addictive). She told us a lot of saga tales (retold to me by many guides) and also gave some interesting titbits about Icelanders aswell as Iceland. We stopped off at some incredibly beautiful nature spots along the way, including walking behind a waterfall but as the trip was far we mainly stopped for bathroom breaks. However when you do stop at a site, and the guide says "it's just a little walk down there", none of the little "walks" the guides suggest on tours are that easy, they always involve some sort of climb or hike. However you can scale back if you want and just enjoy the view without going up close. Once at Jokulsarlon glacial lagoon, you take a 45 mins boat ride in one of those amphibean boats in the lake around the mini glaciers. It was especially windy when I went on the boat so you spend most of the trip holding on for dear life, feeling like an extra on the Deadliest Catch as opposed to leisurely taking photos. Still the views are stunning, there are plenty of photo opportunities on dry land and it was well worth the long day. It was my favourite trip by far.

DAY 3:
I took a day off and hung out in Reykjavik in the morning. Reykjavik itself only needs half a day to a day to walk around. Cafe Paris and Laundromat are cute and popular restaurant/cafes and Frau Cafe on the main shopping street looked like a olde tea room served by pretty waitresses in tiny shorts. The women in Iceland are beautiful - fulfilling the reputation of the most beautiful women in the world- apparently the Vikings went to Ireland and stole the prettiest women! Needing a beauty pick me up and to escape the freezing cold, I went to the Blue Lagoon in the afternoon. It is a giant pool, heated naturally, with steam rising, in the middle of nowhere about half an hour outside Reykjavik. The lagoon is definitely worth checking out but you don't really need more than an hour or two there, so I should have done some more exploring outside Reykjavik instead. The lagoon is near the airport so lots of buses go onto the airport after but I cannot imagine having my wet cossie in my carry on! Also note that it is also a bit of a walk from where the bus drops you off to the building where you change. The buses run very regularly from Reykjavik so you can go when you want all day. A word of warning, you don't want to put your hair in the water as apparently it turns it into cement, they suggest combing conditioner through your hair and putting it up. (they have shampoo and conditioner in the showers). You have to take a shower before you go into the lagoon and I suggest bringing your swimming costume and a towel from the hotel or you have to pay to rent one.
 In the evening, I had to check out the most famous hotdog stand in Reykjavik (frequented by Bill Clinton), near the harbour. The hotdog is the unofficial national dish. The food in most of the stops around Iceland are burgers and hotdogs, although the meat (lamb) soup is a good filling option.

DAY 4:
I took a Super Jeep trip around the Golden Circle and to a glacier. At first I didn't know what the fuss was about taking the Jeep over the bus trip.  But our driver, Jonas, was fun and took us driving onto a glacier and through rivers and to the Geysir and Gulfoss when the bus parties weren't there, which made it feel private and exclusive and of course allows you to hang out with a local all day. The Golden Circle trip is a must see and best on the first day so you don't feel like you are repeating scenery afterwards, but from what I hear it can be done in an afternoon, apparently the whole day tours go to the same places just have longer stops. The scenery on my other trip was more spectacular. Also the geysir that you see in all the photos that sprays up to 80 feet isn't active now so there is just a smaller one. Again, the trek down the the Gulfoss waterfall isn't easy (especially in rain and wind) so wear solid shoes. In fact bring a raincoat whatever trip you take as the weather tends to change quite quickly. Every tourist stop has a cafe, toilets and gift shop selling everything from reindeer fur to weird fish shaped traditional Icelandic sleepwear. The jeep went up to a glacier which we drove on which was the most fun bit. We saw snowmobiles up there but with such little snow I don't know how much fun they must be right now. I imagine deeper into the winter they are better. The Jeep tour is worth experiencing to explore nature closer up. I had booked mine through "Iceland total" and I believe it was from the company Mountainguides.
Another popular trip is to see the northern lights. Most hotels hear at 6pm if the northern lights tour is happening. They usually do not go out if there is a low chance of spotting them. There is a weather reader in Alaska which measures the likelihood and it also depends on whether the sky is clear of clouds too. A local told me that in one year, she had only seen them twice. All in all, between the northern lights tours being cancelled due to weather or the poor chances of seeing them period, I wouldn't have your hopes up.

DAY 5: My last day. Sunday seems to wake up late as most people have been put drinking til all hours. If I had had a full day I would have gone whale watching as I heard they have spotted blue whales in the last few days(ask your hotel or the tour companies if they have seen them recently to give an indication if they will see some) but I only had a morning so I went to the National Museum (a lovely walk along the swan pond to it) for a history of Iceland and the weekend flea market. The latter sold everything and anything, including putrid dried shark, fur coats and videos of 80s TV shows.

I can't recommend Iceland enough. I went in off season, alledged "wet" season and it only rained once and once you change area, so does the weather. If you like nature and the outdoors you will love it. If you like being awed by glaciers and mountains and volcanoes, you will love it. If you like proud, friendly people, who like hotdogs and a good time you will love it.