This Thanksgiving I was able to take a short trip to Iceland with my brother and some friends from work. It was a great trip and I look forward to going back someday to see more of what it has to offer.
A quick synopsis of the trip:
Thursday:
- Early morning drive to Glasgow, Scotland with 5 people crammed into my car. We ate Christmas sandwiches before the flight, which involves turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.
- Flew to Keflavik. Got stuck on the airplane for 40 minutes because the skybridge/jetway was broken.
- Went straight to the Blue Lagoon, which is a geothermally heated pool (it also happens to be the waste water from a power plant). We hung out there for a few hours. Sitting in a super warm, giant pool of water during a snow storm is so great. Maybe one of the greatest ideas ever in the history of the world. I am going to have an outdoor hot tub some day. Mark my words!
- From there to Reykjavik to check into the hotel. The studio apartment that my brother and I were sharing had a broken pipe. We got upgraded to a two bedroom place with a 7 jet shower. Nice.
Friday:
- Up early for breakfast and a start to site seeing. We left the hotel over an hour before dawn. Of course, dawn was around 1000. During breakfast the fire alarm went off. We thought it would go off on its own. Turns out it was hooked up to the whole building. All of our neighbors were outside standing in the snow in pajamas while we ate eggs. The lady that came in to tell us we were messing things up for everyone ended up being from Chicago. She told us a bunch of great places to go to and see.
- We drove around the Golden Circle, hitting all of the major sites
- Geysir (the name of a hot water spout after which all others were named)
- Thingvellir rift valley (where the continental plates are ripping apart)
- A few churches
- The place where laws were debated and fought over way back when
- A giant waterfall called Gulfoss
- Ate at Fjorubordid, the most famous langoustine restaurant in Iceland, in a small town called Stokkseyri.
Saturday:
- Up early, breakfast, including Skyr; custard like yogurt.
- Drove in the wrong direction for almost an hour.
- Got back on track.
- Crossed over a mountain
- Saw some great waterfalls; Glugafoss and Skogarfoss
- Hiked a little, but didn't make it to the glacier we were hoping to see
- Saw Eyjafjallajokull, the volcano that caused all of the air travel delays a year and a half ago
- Accidentally ate some Icelandic horses (cheapest meat!)
Sunday:
- Left before 5am for the airport; streets were packed (everyone stays out until all hours on Friday and Saturday night)
- Flew home, followed by a long drive. So sleepy. I drove 1000 miles on that trip!
Iceland was beautiful. The people weren't necessarily the most friendly, but I definitely much prefer people who don't smile or wave than the ones who buddy up trying to sell you their not-so-sweet souvenirs.
