My most recent travel was to Reykjavik in Iceland. Let me just say that Iceland really is an amazing place but it's not always what you've typically expect. I'd most definitely recommend a trip there but maybe go there for more time than I did as I don't think 3 days/4 night quite did it justice. I will say now that I have pictures of the beautiful place to follow once I am at home as sadly I am working night shifts over the Christmas period and I am currently on my break writing this.
Day 1: So on very few hours sleep (as I'd been on a Long Day at work the day before) myself and my best friend Jemma had landed in Reykajavik and so our adventure begins. Well, that is after almost an hour and a half spent at the airport waiting for our bags due to a bag blocking off the baggage conveyer belt and breaking it. There's always some sort of drama. After arriving at the hotel we headed off on a tour of the city. We visited most of it over the 2 hour tour which included landmarks such as the Harpa Music and Drama Venue, Hallgrimskirkja Church and Perlan Glass Dome Dinning centre with super views of the city.
After we arrived back at the hotel we had a quick nap and shower before heading out on a Northern Lights Tour with hopes of seeing the Northern Lights which was our main driving force behind our visit to the country. Now, this is where the biggest surprise of the trip came from. We DID get to see the Northern Lights which is a great thing to be able to say. However, all is not as it seems. You'd expect the Northern Lights to be a bright spectacle of light but due to the clouds and our luck the lights were only visible as a very dim green blur and only truly identifiable through a professional camera lense. And so that was our first day in Iceland.
Day 2: The day of the Golden Circle Tour around some of Iceland most idyllic landscapes in the UNISECO World Heritage Þingvellir National Park. This is a vast and beautiful national park consisting of a range of wonders from views of Hot Spring Geysers, Waterfalls, Glaciers and Wild Icelandic Horses. It really does have it all and that's why we spent the entire day exploring the miles of landscape. The highlight has to be the Geysers which reach boiling temperatures of 100 degree Celsius and then explode water up to 20 feet in the air on a 5 minutely basis. The strangest thing we saw was some guy walking around in shorts! Shorts in Iceland .. in 0 degree weather!
After a busy day sight seeing in he National Park we headed to the Blue Lagoon Hot Spring Baths in the evening for some relaxation. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is essentially a big public 'mud bath' made in the volcanic rock. This is a really lovely place to relax as the hot water is gorgeous on the skin and you can literally just float for hours. However, getting in and out of it isn't particularly pleasant due to the cold temperatures outside. Additionally, when getting out caution is advised as not 1 but 2 people passed during our visit due to the extreme and quick change in temperature. Caution is also advised when walking through the shop as products that look cheap are so expensive.
Day 3: For our last day we wanted to leave with something unforgettable but going on a Whale Watching boat trip. Sadly, we didn't see any Whales on the trip so there isn't much to say except we'll try again some other time somewhere else. You can't win them all. So our final day consisted of sitting on a freezing open deck of a boat in the middle of the North Atlantic which is pretty funny now you think back.
So, that concludes our short Icelandic Adventure. It really was amazing and I wholly recommend it but please note my top tips for Iceland:
Photos to follow when I can access a Computer to upload without getting sacked
