As you know, Sean and I recently returned from our honeymoon in Iceland, and since we have several stories, I decided to create a blog post so you can read them at your leisure rather than listen to me blab on for about 25 minutes.
Most of you know that we decided on taking a road trip around Iceland instead of staying in one or two cities. Below is the Google maps snapshot of our journey. We started off in Keflavik airport (the bottom left corner) and headed east, working our way around (you can see a faint yellow line to track our trip).
We left around 9pm NYC time on August 8th, and landed at 6am Iceland time on August 9th, and since my fear of flying kicked in, I didn't sleep at all. Instead, I drank. A lot. Sean, however, slept like a baby the entire flight.
We had reservations at 2pm at the Blue Lagoon, so after we picked up our bags and rental car, I realized I had grossly overestimated how long it would take to get our stuff and we sat around for four hours until our reservation. At least they upgraded our car after I told them it was our honeymoon.
I have to say, for a place that rains 80% of the time, we had beautiful weather in every city we visited. Sunny and mid-50s/60s was the norm for our entire trip. Here are a few pictures of the Blue Lagoon.
And yes, that's how blue the water is all over the island. Water is free and you can drink the tap without looking like:
We threw on our bathing suits and soaked in the hot springs for about an hour (which was very nice considering my slight hangover was starting to kick in from the drinks on the plane), and then drove to our first hotel, Frost and Fire. Here, we bathed in another hot tub and grabbed pizza at a local restaurant. Day 1 was a good day.
The next morning, we woke up around 5:30am because I, for some reason, decided to book 2 days worth of activities into 10 hours. We ate the bag of trail mix we had in the car for breakfast since Icelandians sleep until noon during the week, and drove to our first stop: the Kerid Crater. When we got there around 6:30am it was closed, but then a couple of locals drove up beside us. I asked them if we were able to go in, and his response "yeah, it's nature... obviously we're allowed to go in".
So we hopped the barricade, avoiding the entrance fee, and walked down a path to the crater. I do have to say, pictures do not do this place justice. Granted, this crater was on the boring side compared to all the other sights we saw, but it was pretty amazing nonetheless.
Next we hopped back over the barricade and drove to our snorkeling tour in Thingvellir National Park. First though, Sean wanted to stop to take a walk around and somehow ended up here:
Anyways, the snorkeling tour was beautiful... and cold. Here are a few pictures from the tour (this is probably the best we've ever looked).
Here's a picture of me choking on some water and coming up for air to breathe:
And here's one of my favorites:
Next, we drove an hour to the Strokkur Geysir, and luckily it erupts every seven minutes so we were able to see it a few times.
After that, we had reservations at the Tomato Greenhouse where we ate $35 tomato soup. By the way, everything in Iceland costs about double what it costs in NJ. I would compare it to NYC prices, but even here, I don’t think they would charge $25 for a street hot dog. I have to say though, tomato soup is very filling.
Around 6:00pm, we made it to the Seljalansfoss waterfall which was really fun (they let you hike behind the falls and take pictures).
We then drove another half hour to the Skogafoss waterfall, which was pretty similar but nice to see nonetheless.
Now, you may be wondering why I entitled the post "#donttakemeback". We’ll be getting into that shortly.
It was now about 7:30pm and luckily it doesn't get dark in Iceland until pretty late at night (however, not as late as I had originally thought). On our way to Vik Beaches, we saw a number of cars parked on the side of the road. Being the adventurous couple that we are...
... we decided to stop and see what was going on. We park and walk up to a sign explaining that there was a plane crash (that happened in the 70s) about 4 kilometers away and that it would take us about 4 hours to walk there and back (for some reason, you couldn’t drive to the crash site). Sean looks at me with his "yeah, ok... we can do that in an hour” face and even though I was a little skeptical, I was open to the idea. So I asked a couple on their way back how long it would take to walk there and back. They responded with a very confident "45 minutes". Looking back, I don't think this couple knew how to tell time.
Anyway, we started walking towards this plane crash. About an hour and a half of walking, and thinking we are getting close, we decided to stop and ask a group of guys how much longer it would take.
"You're about halfway there".
Sean and I just look at each other, and then back at the guy, and go "is it worth it?"
"Not really no"
So after an hour and a half of walking, we turned around. But you know what that means... there's another hour and a half of walking to go.
On this...
So after three hours of walking... to nothing... it was 10pm and starting to get dusky. We got in the car and drove to Vik Beaches. Here, we saw the black sands and the scenes where Game of Thrones was filmed.
By this time, it started to get dark (I'd say it was almost 11pm) and we still had to drive to our hotel. Unfortunately, Icelandians don't believe in street lights, so I was only able to see about 10 feet (sorry, 3 meters) in front of me. This is when I had my second panic attack of the trip. The road we take, and apparently every road in Iceland except for the one highway in Reykjavik, is two lanes - one going north, and the other going south (or west / east depending where you are driving to).
Icelandians also drive MUCH faster than I do in the dark and can get quite angry when someone is not going their speed... on their one-lane highway. I should also point out that, when you reach a bridge, only one car can cross at a single time. Meaning, if you're driving north and another car is coming south, you both cannot cross the bridge at the same time. In the daytime, this usually isn't a big deal. But at night, when you can't see, the only thing you can do is well... pray.
So after about an hour and a half of driving in darkness going 30 kilometers an hour (the speed limit is 90km an hour by the way; in other words, I was going about 15mph in a 55mph zone), we reached our hotel after I asked my wonderful husband several times if we were in the right place. When we knocked on the door after spending 20 minutes figuring out where reception was (it was in a house on the side of the hotel)...
...the hotel owner (who showed up to the door in a very short robe by the way), handed us a Post-It note and our key, and closed the door.
When I say this room was special...
Here is our bed...
And here is the bathroom.
WELL... Sean had a field day because I was the one who booked the hotels. For those of you who don't remember or haven't seen the post on Facebook, Sean wrote, and I quote, "A very special thanks to my wife Michelle Cray for going above and beyond and booking the honeymoon suite. Very excited to wake up tomorrow morning for my birthday in the most luxurious bed I’ve ever experienced”.
Now let’s fast forward to today and I’ll tell you the story of how this was in fact, completely Sean’s fault (some of you may already have heard it). I had booked "Fosshotel Nupar" for our stay that night. A few nights later, we were staying at another Fosshotel in Lake Myvatn, so before we arrived at that hotel, the both of us were like "crap, we have to stay at another Fosshotel. I bet Fosshotel stands for 'piece of shit'". HOWEVER, when we got to the Fosshotel in Lake Myvatn, it was beautiful. It took me a little while, but then it hit me... "are you SURE we stayed at the right hotel that night?" Sean looked at me like “of course”... but then decided to Google the name of the hotel I had originally booked, when he found this picture:
"Oh"
We also realized two things that night in Lake Myvatn. One, if you look at the Post-It, it says "Maurin Lopez Varilla", whose name we clearly skipped over, and who also did not get his hotel room that night. Also, when we arrived in the room, there was a welcome book that said "Hostel (something in Icelandic)".
So we slept in a bunk bed...
The next day, we woke up to head to the Jokusarlon Glacial Lagoon Boat Ride. This part of Iceland is absolutely gorgeous and we had another clear day. Here, we took a boat ride near the biggest glacier in Iceland and munched on some thousand year old ice from the lagoon.
After what we went through the day before, this boat ride was exactly what we needed. It ended around 3pm and we drove straight to our next hotel. Of course, we were a little hesitant and very worried about what it would look like (remember, we didn't know at this time that we had booked the wrong hotel), but when we got to House on the Hill, we were pleasantly surprised. Granted, we didn't have our own bathroom, but we did have a king-sized bed and that is all we cared about. The owner of the house was very nice and welcomed us warmly. Plus, we had a great view of the mountain and there was a pretty lake in town.
Oh, and a trampoline...
This hotel was located in Hofn, Iceland, which is well known for its langoustines... and for good reason - they were delicious!
The next day is when panic attack number three of the trip hit. And it hit hard. Up until this point, we've driven on relatively flat land. However, on our way to our next hotel, Kalda Lyngholt Holiday Homes, I realized (and only too late) that Iceland is VERY mountainous. As I should point out, in addition to my fear of flying, I also have a very intense fear of heights.
I'm starting to think that Iceland was not the best honeymoon destination for us.
Anyway, we woke up and started our trip. When I said we hit beautiful weather, we did... but only in our destinations, not necessarily on the drives there. We put the navigation into Google Maps and saw the trip was only going to take about 2 hours.
This is around the time I started to notice more mountains on the drive...
...and then the fog...
...and then I realized that we are on top of the mountain... in the fog...
When we reached our destination, I Googled the road we had driven. It is called the Oxi Pass and apparently is the most dangerous road in Iceland (oh, and it was a gravel road). Here's a short video (please excuse the techno and my language before I start to realize how dangerous this is getting).
Looking back, I think the fog actually helped because I couldn't see the 1,000 foot cliff that was four feet to my left. Actually, it definitely helped because when panic attack number four hit right after lunch that day, I realized I'd rather not see what's in front of me.
We ate at Herad Hotel in Egilsstadir, Iceland (which was very good by the way) and asked the waitress if there was anything she recommended we see in the area. She recommended that we head up to Seydisfjordur.
Perfect.
As we were following Google Maps, it took us up a mountain in clear skies. Unfortunately, before I realized where we were headed, we were already too far up for me to turn around and we had to keep going. As soon as we hit an area with enough room to turn around, we did. You can't really tell from the pictures, but we were making hairpin turns and there was a 1,500 foot cliff right off the road with no guardrails.
Let's just say, after this, I am very cognizant of altitude. By the way, we weren't the only ones who experienced this. At the airport on our way back, I had asked the couple behind us if they had driven around the island too. His face was the same exact expression I have when people ask me now.
I finally learned that driving off the main road in Iceland (Route 1, or the pubic road as Sean likes to call it for some reason), is not recommended.
I was SO happy when we finally reached our hotel. The views were absolutely amazing so we decided to go food shopping and cook instead of eating out. Here are some pictures and I would recommend anyone staying in this part of Iceland to stay here. We had our own private cabin (of only three), and there was a beautiful stream near the room too. Plus there was private hot tub and sauna for us to take advantage of. Needless to say, it is exactly what we needed.
Before I continue, I should tell you the story about dinner that night. Iceland is filled with sheep that just roam on the side of the road. Now I don’t know if maybe Sean missed the dogs or what, but every time we passed by a sheep, Sean would, in a quite high-pitched voice, announce “sheepsies!!! Aww they are so cute! Can we pet one??”
Every. Time.
Now getting to our dinner that night. As I mentioned, we decided to go food shopping and cook. At the grocery store, there weren’t many choices for meat, so Sean picks out the lamb. I’m a little confused and asked “are you sure??” Sean responded with “yeah, let’s do it”. Fast forward to dinner, I take one bite, and give the rest to Sean. As he’s almost done eating his plate, I go, “I’m sorry I couldn’t eat it”.
“Why?”
“You do know that a lamb is a baby sheep, right?”
“Wait, a sheepsie????”
“Yes, a sheepsie”
“I thought a lamb was a baby goat”
The next morning, panic attack number... what is it... five set in. Before we left for the next hotel, I decided to check the topographic map on Google. Unfortunately, we were set to hit some more cliffs on our drive to Husavik. Here's a picture (and like I said, the pictures don't do it justice).
It was the only way to our hotel, so we had to drive it. I was able to take some deep breaths and drive very slowly, so it was doable but I was definitely shaking when we reached our destination.
Before we reached Husavik, we stopped to see Dettifoss, which was the waterfall used in filming "Prometheus". As you can see, it's a pretty powerful waterfall.
A little over an hour later, we reached Husavik, which was a boating town right on the ocean. Here, we saw the whale museum and had the best experience on our whale watching tour (this town is known to have the best whale watching tours in Europe).
After our whale watching tour, we had about an hour drive to our hotel, Fosshotel Myvatn. And this is when we realized we had stayed at the wrong hotel a few nights previously.
We had a great night's sleep and an even better breakfast the next morning before our drive to see the Godafoss Waterfall, which was my favorite one.
Next we were off to the Tindastoll Hotel in Saudakrokur. On our way, we stopped at Glaumbur to see the houses in hills (or something like that).
When we got to Saudakrokur, we visited the puffin museum, which was in our opinion, the best museum in Iceland (granted we only saw three - the whale museum, this one, and the penis museum in Reykjavik, but it was still great). Our tour guide, a teenage girl, gave us a private tour of the museum and now my new favorite animal is the Puffin because just look at this:
Also, they are REALLY cute.
Ok, so I am not one to preach about global warming and saving the environment (although I do my best), but when this girl was giving us the tour, and telling us how much other people's actions around the world are affecting her and her family personally, it gave me a new perspective on what we need to do to help. It's not much, but the actions we are doing to remove plastic from the environment (which this girl was unaware of by the way), will help dramatically. So... stop complaining about your damn plastic straws!
Later that night after dinner, we decided to go horseback riding...
I had a blast for the first 20 minutes... that is, until my horse decided to take off galloping. And after the other experiences on the trip, this was probably not the best thing for my heart. Luckily I was able to hold on tightly and was not sent flying. Sean's horse also had its moments when it would just halt in the middle of the tour... and then decide to catch up quickly to the rest of us. It was also great when his horse decided to just stop in the middle of the highway and he had no idea how to move forward. Good thing only four people drive on the highway at a given time.
Our next and final stop was Reykjavik. We were just so happy to be near civilization at this point so we decided to take it easy and skip our ATV tour. We were here for two nights and in that time, we visited the penis museum...
... the Hallgrimskirkja Church...
...and the Lebowski Bar.
Actually, we visited a lot of bars (mostly rooftop bars, because again, the weather was beautiful). At one, we made friends with a couple locals and heard some of their stories. After that, we went out for a 9-course dinner, drank a few more drinks, and went to bed.
During the beginning of our relationship, Sean kept telling me he wanted to have experiences with me. And we definitely had an eventful trip! We had a great time but it made me realize something. No matter where I am in this world, be it on top of a mountain in Iceland, or cuddled up on the couch at home, I’m happy as long as I’m with my best friend.
