Goodbye Iceland, Home Sweet Home

Goodbye Iceland, Home Sweet Home

4/26/2023

Apparently I bring the rain. Arriving in Iceland, it was cold. But it was like a refreshing cold. Once I remembered I was raised in these kind of temperatures, I was fine. The wind was brisk but just....... different.

The landscape of this side of Iceland is pretty barren. No trees to the point I had to look it up - apparently the Nordic first-timers came and cut down a significant amount of them to herd sheep. So much so that there are none left! The only actual native animal of Iceland is the artic fox. Imagine that. They brought over the horses and sold to the UK (even though there was a political mess about UK working them to death in coal mines).

Surprise surprise.

Flybus Transportation

DO NOT take a taxi from the airport!! It'll cost you upwards of 200 euros. Even locals take the Flybus. It runs you about 30 euros if you want the second shuttle from the terminal to drop you off closer to your hotel. The way Reykjavik works, there are numbered stops for public bus transportation. The bus agents will know which stop is for you. The process is pretty easy overall. It takes about 45 mins to get from the airport to the capital city, but I unfortunately missed my 'Viking Walking Tour' so when I got to the hotel and dropped off my stuff, I took out a map and started outlining a path to explore!

That exploration lasted about 15 mins and then came the rain and snow!

Reykjavik

This place is small, but large. There's a lot going on in there similar to my hometown of Providence, RI. From the hotel, the central area was literally 2 blocks away and there is nothing but cocktail bars , restaurants, jewelry shops and clothing stores that you ACTUALLY would want to visit. No typical souvenir shot glass-keychain-tshirt stores. Here, you buy warm stuff - if you ever wanted clothes that will actually keep you warm, this is the place to shop, especially if you were ever interested in buying wool from lamb and hide from reindeer!

And the general cocktail scene here is pretty good. Even my hotel had a bar restaurant that advertised at least 15 not-so-normal mixes.

Well, I got to see a brief view of the city and then the rain slowed it down. Locals don't seem to use umbrellas, just hats or wet hair. So I ate the local's fish soup which was incredible and then followed up with the lobster soup and cheeseburger at the hotel along with one of the drinks. I ended up getting full and couldn't finish off with another drink or dessert and the cheeseburger was nasty anyways.

Reykjavik Marina - Berjaya Iceland Hotels

Hotel was cool - I really like the set up which is made for socialization - they have a cinema, the bar, a library and some other common areas. I'd recommend Berjaya Marina Hotel if you came to visit and would certainly make this my mainstay.

And everyone in the city pretty much speaks English so language is not an obstacle.

They also love cats! Most roam outside and have a collar on. There are statues and cat cafes around the city to look for - there is even a CAT LOVER'S TOUR! I love cats, but not enough to do a tour like that- and I was leaving too early to go to the cafe anyways.

Morning Adventures

The sun rises around 6am and goes down around 10 pm during the spring. That's a lot of sun! They do have almost 24 hours of darkness on the other side of the calendar so. Anyways, I naturally woke up and decided to go ahead and continue on with my own tour while everyone was sleep and so I could take photos without too many disruptions. Ended up taking another scooter which happened to be conveniently left in the front of the hotel from some bar-returning patron. I was able to get beautiful pics and enjoyed the walk that took me through the center of the city and to the water's edge where I enjoyed the coastline and snow capped mountains on the other side.

Stopped at a little restaurant for breakfast and headed back to get my luggage and head to the bus stop for the infamous Blue Lagoon.

Blue Lagoon

Now when you book with 'Destination Blue Lagoon' bus, they give you an arrival time AND a take off time. They are ON TIME so you HAVE to be there at the arrival time, not 5 mins later. The take off time means they picked up everyone else from the city and will drop you off at the main station to take THAT bus.

It takes about 45 mins to get to the Blue Lagoon and it's a pretty smooth and nice drive. Blue Lagoon is pretty well organized once you get in. They take your suitcases at the front (for 800 IK or $6) and then they give you a wristband. Make sure you get the PREMIUM package if it's cold outside - you do NOT want to be caught out there without that bathrobe!!! You only get one drink inside and one in the Lava restaurant (SUPER expensive food, I had the lobster soup for 30 euro and passed on the wolf fish for 50 euro). Once you get in and change (flip flops optional), you find yourself staring at the supreme cloudy blue warm waters of a pretty large pool and natural rock enclosure covered in mist and quietness. Today, it was snowing!!! Perfect time since there were not a lot of visitors at this time of the year (Northern Lights ended a few days ago too) and so the pool isn't overran with random bodies. You step in the lagoon and are just taken away. There should be better signage for the bar and mask stand though - there just a lot of fog and hard to navigate depending on the elements. There are not many options for alcohol here since everything is given in a bottle form- but you can take your drink in and around the lagoon. Also note! Yes, everyone is taking pictures and videos! If it was busy, that would be really hard to do but I was super lucky! And if you bring your phone, IT WILL GET WET with either the outdoor elements or even worse, the silica residue from the water - BAD BAD BAD idea to bring a phone without the waterproof case and even better if you have a tripod! Silica is terrible for your hair too, not sure what will happen with my edges and a few strands of my sister locks that got hit but I think it just dries out the hair in general. Locks are dry already so might actually help in my situation :)

Anyways, it was a great experience - something to do once in a lifetime. I did the 3 masks, which are done in a specific given order. It's a paste and you leave on for a certain amount of time before washing off. If you are interested in buying the products, they are hella expensive. The blue waters are therapeutic by themselves - used for the treatment of psoriasis - doctors actually send patients here from all around the world. My joints alone feel so much better - had a total reconstruction of my Left knee to the point of my muscle being grafted and the right is now bad with pain from compensation but also all this damn walking. Did I say how one day I maxed over 20,000 steps! And most days were 15k. I don't have any pain right now! Will have to consider steam treatment at home, they just made me a believer.

Got to take a shower and once I went outside, my body retained that heat so well that the weather didn't affect me anymore. I WANTED to be outside.

Waiting for the bus was interesting - one driver told me the incorrect bus so here everyone is standing outside of it, but then finally the Destination Blue Lagoon one pulls up exactly on time (not the 10m earlier as they said). Brought right to the airport refreshed and ready to return back stateside - mainly because I'm not sure how much money I still have left in my bank account after this expensive European adventure!

Until next time- happy travels! I'll see you on country #31 in a few months.