The Blue Lagoon

Yes, this is the place that was featured on The Bachelorette. And, yes, it’s a big tourist spot. But you absolutely cannot leave Iceland without a visit to The Blue Lagoon.

It is extremely easy to coordinate a visit. I booked my bus passage to the airport to include a stopover at the Blue Lagoon. My luggage was conveniently stored while I went in for a pre-flight swim. Inside you are given a bracelet with which you can make charges to your account at the spa, restaurant, bar (swim-up!). You are also able to rent towels and robes (I did) and even swimsuits (umm...no thanks). A large sized locker will hold all your things in the large, modern change rooms while you lounge about in the milky blue waters. Unfortunately my underwater camera was not charged up for my swim but I did take a few snaps of the incredible pools – heated naturally to a perfect temperature (warmer than a pool and cooler than a Jacuzzi). I had a cold beer (or, maybe two) at the swim up bar and purchased a lava scrub for my face. And, I met a couple of guys from Seattle who didn’t mind having a beer with a girl with black stuff all over her face. It was a very nice time but after a few relaxing hours it was time to get back on a plane and head for my next destination. I truly loved Iceland….but London was calling so it was time to move along.

Green Iceland

It is said they named Greenland “green” land to encourage people to go there and Iceland “ice” land to keep people away.
Don’t stay away. Iceland is very green. And very, very beautiful. It has some of the most diverse landscapes you can find – volcanoes, glaciers, lava fields, waterfalls, mountains, exploding geysirs and natural geothermally heated pools.

To make sure I saw some of this natural beauty before I left I joined a half day tour (called the Golden Circle Afternoon) that would take me to some of the key sights. After a drive through the rolling green hills, past grazing Icelandic horses and stone farmhouses we reached our first stop, a lookout point with a beautiful view of a river and church. So pretty, like something straight out of The Shire in Lord of the Rings.

Our next stop was Gulfoss – the “golden” waterfall. It would be very hard to explain the scale (and beauty) of this place so I will let my photos do the talking on this one. I climbed all the way to the top and should point out that there are no barriers, only “Icelandic fences” (i.e. ropes) protecting you from the water’s edge.

After feeling the cold spray of the falls, I decided to have a warm bowl of traditional Icelandic stew of vegetables and lamb in the visitors centre café before we headed on to our next destination – Geysir. All geysirs happen to be named after this particular blow hole which is called Geysir. Surrounded by several other smaller blow holes, Geysir is really something to see. Every 5 -7 minutes or so, boiling hot water blows up a good thirty or forty feet in the air. I took a video to explain it properly. I hope you appreciate it because I had to stand perfectly still for 5 – 7 minutes in the cold waiting for the water to spurt…

I would recommend this tour (and any of the day tours in Reykjavik) but be sure to get a window seat to see all the beauty in between the destinations – beautiful horses, Hekla volcano in the distance, and the small painted houses in the lava fields for the fairies (or, as Icelanders call them, The Hidden People).

Welcome to Reykjavik

I flew through the night to Reykjavik via Icelandair. The flight was 5 hours long and fairly smooth with decent service from the flight crew. With it being a night flight, I reserved a window seat so I could sleep and see the rising sun as we landed. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sleep and it was still pitch dark when I arrived. And although it was 7 AM in Reykjavik, it was still 3 AM in my brain so I prayed that by some miracle my room would be ready despite my early arrival. And it was! The 101 Hotel, located in the city centre, is a stylish little boutique hotel with fluffy, white beds, modern bathrooms and a gorgeous view of the harbour. After checking in there was a little part of me that wanted to forget sleep and get exploring, but that fluffy, white bed had me at hello.

After a short but deep sleep, I ventured out to the Kaffe Solon for a light lunch of salad and pasta with roasted root vegetables and then set out exploring downtown Reykjavik. The best way for me to describe Reykjavik is Amsterdam-meets-Halifax. It's a compact, Euro-style city built on a hill with cobblestone streets, colourful buildings and cute shops. At night, cozy cafes have candles lit in their windows to welcome you in from the cold. It's also an artistic place with lots of colourful graffiti, galleries, sculptures and unique architecture. It's a small city - housing a good portion of Iceland's only 300,000 inhabitants - and it can be conquered on foot in a single day. I started out at the waterfront near the beautiful new Harpa. Later this month, Bjork will be playing a series of shows here in support of her new record. You can check out some unique travel packages for it here if that's your thing. I also visited the Solfar sculpture of a viking ship by Jon Gunnar Arnason at the waterfront and followed that up with a visit to the Hallgrimskirja church. Here I took an elevator to the eight floor for a magnificent, colourful view of the city.
Iceland is extremely organized and it is quite easy to participate in organized tours, so I elected to do a Northern Lights tour that nght. Typically you learn whether the tour is a go by about 6 PM and are picked up at you hotel by coach at 9:30 PM. Once aboard we were warned that the significant cloud coverage over the island might pose a problem in seeing the lights. Still, the tour operator had some excellent intel that there were breaks in the clouds in the countryside. And where did they get this intel? Fancy computers? Satellites? No....they just called some local farmers and asked about clouds.  Unfortunately the Northern lights and I were not meant to be that night. We spent many hours chasing away clouds in the pitch dark, only to arrive back at my hotel at around 1:30 AM without seeing so much as a star. We were advised that we were welcome to join another Northern Lights tour free of charge. Which, to be honest, felt very fair. They aren't in charge of the lights. And, seriously, who could ever be miffed with an Icelander? They are the nicest, most genuine of people. I will see the Northern Lights some day...perhaps I just may have to visit Iceland on my way home in November?

The Big Trip

The weeks leading up to my "big trip" (as I like to call it) were incredibly busy, emotionally taxing and stressful to say the least. While I had hoped to be my usually organized self, things did not go as planned and I left in a bit of a flurry. It wasn't what I wanted, but perhaps it was a taste of what might come my way eventually. I will no doubt encounter more than a few hiccups over the next six weeks so I might as well get used to winging it now.
In truth one of my biggest obstacles had been solving the problem of how and what to pack. I decided from the on-set not to travel with a back-pack. In my mind I am too old, too sophisticated (hah)...and truthfully, just too lazy to haul everything around on my person. I am the kind of girl who prefers a small purse, or none at all, because even the thought of digging through it to find my keys gives me a massive headache. So, no back-pack for me. But how does one fit six weeks worth of clothing good for two diverse climates into a 20" carry-on size suitcase? For one, it requires some careful wardrobe planning - durable staples that can be layered, a waterproof light-weight but warm jacket and comfortable shoes. It certainly wasn't easy but after a few suitcase edits I still managed to pack five pairs of shoes. It may look like a small suitcase but it's amazing what can fit. Just like Mary Poppins' carpet bag. So after finally yanking the zipper closed, I made my way to YYZ (Thanks Lynds), checked my bag (an amazing 14 kg) and readied myself for the first stop on my adventure - Reykjavik, Iceland.

New York City

This was a great trip but I have not had the chance to write about it yet. Stay tuned.