In the middle of March, most New Yorkers are dreaming of an island vacation to escape the cold. My girlfriend and I had other plans. We decided to visit Iceland for a snow-filled adventure. We packed our suitcases with sweaters, boots, extra coats and even our swim suits (we'll get to that later).
We decided to stay at two different hotels throughout our stay--Fosshotel and Silica Hotel. The hotels were an hour away from each other and gave us two different experiences of Iceland. Fosshotel is located more closer to the city and is clearly a hot spot due to the amount of people present at the breakfast buffet haha.
Silica hotel is located next door to the infamous Blue Lagoon. Silica hotel is more of a private and upscale hotel, with mostly couples. The hotel also has its own private lagoon that is available for guests only. The cool thing about the lagoons is that they are all naturally warm which means you can whip out your favorite swimsuit and relax in the warmth of the lagoon despite the cold weather.
Me enjoying Silica's private lagoon
There are a couple of must-sees that everyone should attempt to see when they go to Iceland and my girlfriend and I were determined to do it all. We first went to go see the Northern Lights, or Aurora. The Northern Lights are natural displays of colorful lights that appear in Iceland's night sky. What we didn't know is that you aren't guaranteed to see the Northern Lights--it's dependent on the the sky being very dark and clear of any clouds. Needless to say, we didn't get to see the lights that night.
We also went to the Gullfoss Waterfall which is an amazing thing to see in person although the strength of the wind almost blew my girlfriend away. After the waterfall, we hopped on a snowmobile and made our way through the coldest mountains. New York's winter has NOTHING on this. The entire snowmobile trip was probably 30-45 minutes, but it felt like forever and our fingers were numb for hours after.
Gullfoss Waterfall
Snowmobile fun
Throughout our crazy adventures in Iceland, my lady and I found time to put on our fancy clothes and have a date night. We had dinner at LAVA Restaurant at the Blue Lagoon. Iceland is really big on seafood so the menu mostly consisted of different types of fish, oysters and more. Although I wouldn't write home about the food in Iceland, the overall experience is one that we won't forget.
Dinner date with my Leading Lady
