Fire & Iceland

Iceland feels like another planet, or maybe the moon!  The landscape is truly spectacular, and without trees you can see for miles.
I flew overnight on Wow Air https://wowair.us/ direct from Boston. It was an extremely inexpensive flight. No frills. No tvs. They charge a lot for baggage, even for a carry on, but it was still the cheapest flight option, by far.  I saw the green dancing northern lights from the plane and felt like my trip was already worth it, before I even arrived in Iceland!

I got off the plane in the pitch dark November morning hours, jumped on a shuttle from the airport and checked in at the Northern Light Inn. http://www.nli.is I loved it here. It was super cozy, with free delicious waffles and even an honesty bar. Dinner was great! This inn is a good option if you want to stay near the blue lagoon. They even give you a wake up call if the northern lights are visible!

The Blue Lagoon https://www.bluelagoon.com is a really cool experience. Buy your tickets in advance as they do sell out. I heard the lines can be long during the day. We went at sunset and it was not too crowded. The mud masks were great and my skin felt moisturized for days, which helped protect it from the wind and cold on my face for the rest of the trip. 

The next morning we took a cab from the Blue Lagoon to Reykjavik to meet our tour. Cabs are extremely expensive. Try to book shuttles in advance or the fly bus option to and from the airport to Reykjavik instead.

Our tour was called Extreme Iceland https://www.extremeiceland.is/en/ We did the 2 day south coast tour.  I highly recommend this tour! It was a small group of 15 people and a very chill guide.  Lots of travel, but a stress free way to make sure you see everything, especially if you go in the winter with limited daylight. 
We saw the Gullfoss waterfall and walked underneath it. This was a wet icy walk but really cool experience.  Then we went to the Skogafoss waterfall (take the big, fun climb up to see the waterfall from the top).  Next was Reynisfjara black sandy beach and pillars rising from the sea. I’ve never seen anything like it! 

But my favorite sight in Iceland is Crystal Beach, with huge chunks of ice on the ashy beach. Amazing! 

Next was Glacier Lagoon- Jokulsarlon- where we took a super jeep to an ice cave.  The ice cave was small but cool, and the snowy, icy ride on the glacier in the super jeep was really fun! 

We stayed at a different hotel every night. All were basic, but clean and nice. The last night we went out in Reykjavik and checked out the quaint, safe and very European feeling city. 

Some notes about Iceland: 
Food and drinks are very expensive, but the flight there was cheap, so I feel like it all evens out.  You will find mostly seafood and lamb on the menus. The people are friendly. The landscape is so unique, as long as you don’t mind the drive to each beautiful place. It was cool to see in the winter, about 5 hours of daylight, but the sun rises and sun sets are a few hours long so it prolongs the day. I bet it is an entirely different experience in the summer when daylight is so long. It was amazing to check into a hotel in the dark and wake up to see the beauty of where you stayed the night before! Prepare before you go. There is no bad weather in Iceland, only bad clothing choices.
Happy planning! – Molly