I need to right some wrongs here.
Before now I had never been to Iceland. I’d heard so many horror stories of the exorbitant prices, I was too fearful to go.
I was also under the impression that it was a 4 - 5 hour flight away. So what with the rip off prices and longish flight I’ve sacked it off all these years.
Until, that is, my fantastic travel agent Jane from Travel Counsellors, advertised this super cheap trip on her Facebook page at the beginning of 2021.
This trip was originally booked for November 2021. But we pushed it back to now due to covid restrictions being in place back then.
Well, it turns out it’s only a 2 and 3/4 hours flight from London to Reykjavík. So that’s the first myth busted already!
We flew with Icelandic Air. I was really nervous about ‘such a long flight’ on what I assumed was going to be a super budget plane.
Okay, we were in economy, so obviously it’s not going to be top tier first class, but if you’ve ever flown Ryanair it will seem like it! ;)
The seats are roomy and comfortable. The plane feels spacious. It doesn’t feel like they actually resent you flying with them…(I’m looking at you Ryanair!) hahaha
We arrived at the very pleasant airport. We picked up our very nice hire car. And headed to our very very budget hotel.
If it wasn’t for the fact this was such a cheap holiday I’d have walked straight out and booked in somewhere else.
Our hotel was on a grim industrial estate. With views of more industrial estate.
Have you ever read any Jack Reacher novels? You know the sort of dives he’d check into? Well, basically we were staying in that. Hahaha
The room was clean (ish). It was warm, dry and nondescript. The bed was comfy enough. The pillows were not. But again, we have to remember this holiday was very cheap. An absolute bargain in fact.
Besides I was brought up on camping holidays (I am not one of life’s natural campers).
I didn’t stay in a hotel till I was 19, and I’ve never looked back. So at least this hotel was better than staying under canvas.
But, a hotel stay on a city break is a base to sleep in. It’s not the destination as such. So it was adequate.
Reykjavík itself is lovely. Absolutely lovely. It’s not been the money pit of our expectations either.
I’d say, London prices for food. I don’t know about drink, because, well, we don’t.
There are no McDonald’s, they pulled out after the 2008 financial crash. But there are plenty of fast food places if you want to spend a bit less on food.
The first night here we did as the Icelandics do and went for a Indian curry, in this quaint little city.
It’s very inviting in Reykjavík. The people are lovely too.
We found a gorgeous little restaurant in the centre of the city for breakfasts and a really nice Italian restaurant for evening meals.
My porridge for breakfast was £4.50 , which set me up for the day.
Chris had the most expensive breakfast on the menu, which consisted of flat breads, meats and sweet pancakes, with Skyr (Icelandic yogurt) and a coffee, with a flask of refill coffee was £9.50.
And the toast and jam and cheese was £3.50.
All very reasonable and filling.
The food was very good. The prices not scary at all.
Possibly because we eat in London a lot so we are used to highish prices? But I found Reykjavík very reasonable.
One trip I really have always wanted to do was go to the Blue Lagoon. Again, I had heard it was ridiculously expensive. We bought the premium tickets and even that wasn’t outrageous.
There is a cheaper package that does pretty much the same thing as premium, you just get a bathrobe to wear for the session with premium.
Not sure I’d bother to book premium again to be honest. It was nice to skip the queue to get in but not vital really. And once you are in the pools there is no difference in the packages at all.
I had some very ‘will I - won’t I’ go in the water debates with myself. I don’t go swimming very often. And if I do actually go, I never change my stoma bag in a public bathroom.
I decided that I would indeed go in the lagoon, but my intention was to change my stoma bag back at the car. Something I have done many times before.
But unfortunately the weather was definitely against me on this idea.
It was blowing a gale and hail stones and torrential rain. Which did kind of put paid to me changing my bag at the boot (trunk) of the car.
But first let’s talk about the lagoon experience itself!
It’s amazing! Incredible! A life dream and definitely going to be a core memory.
I can’t recommend it enough. It’s wonderful.
It was blowing a gale on the way in, and didn’t ease up the whole time we were there.
So in I go, bold as brass. I was able to relax and enjoy myself without thinking too much about the ‘now what do I do?!’ bit.
We spent over an hour and a half in 38 degree water. And I am happy to report the bag - the filter and the adhesive behaved beautifully.
Then it came time to get out. I did struggle to find my locker again, it’s like a rabbit warren in there.
I finally found it and took myself off to the singular, changing cubicle, because although I am European, I’m not quite European enough to be comfortable changing my naked bod in public.
Not like the young, carefree and utterly gorgeous Scandi girls that were merrily walking about naked as the day they were born.
No, I’m British, and most of us like to hide away. :)
Anyway I got half way changed and realised I had hit a cross roads.
Do I leave the wet bag on and just towel dry it to the best of my ability, and hope to the universe that the filter wasn’t too badly damaged by the water…OR…change the bag, in a public toilet??
I have had a stoma for 12 years now. And I have changed it in public probably once, maybe twice in that time. At this point anyone with an ilesostomy will be shouting their dismay. “What! You haven’t had to change it in public?!”
Nope. Not in public toilets anyway. I’ve changed it in the car a few times, and it a forest once. But no. Not public indoor places.
I have a colostomy. And my output is solid. There is less chance of leaks.
Well, I decided to go for it! I took myself off to the nearest cubicle and took plenty of little black sacks, to dispose of it in, and room spray.
I had a totally successful bag change. Which meant I was all fresh and completely comfortable for our meal in the very fancy Blue Lagoon restaurant. I would definitely recommend that too.
I wrapped my bag in eight disposing bags. And sprayed the cubicle with Ostomy room spray and left. Not a care in the world.
*********
The food in the restaurant was amazing.
Four, 3 course meals came to £280. Which may sound a lot but that’s probably cheaper than Chutney Mary in London.
The restaurant is optional of course. There is a cafe if you’d prefer.
All in all, it was an incredible experience. I’m so glad I braved it. I appreciate there are people out there every day doing things that are actually brave. But this felt brave for me.
In all honesty, changing it at the car wasn’t an option, even though I’ve done it many times before. The weather was so abysmal that I’d have never have got the bag to stick on.
Back to the hotel to dry, and for a quick rest. Then off out to go Northern Lights hunting. To no avail unfortunately. But I’m planning on coming back so who knows.
The next day we had a big adventure planned. We were taking ourselves off for a self guided tour of the golden triangle, square…rectangle, actually I can’t remember the key shape they call it, but it’s definitely golden.
The car Chris hire had a brilliant satnav, so off we went. On the rainiest day I’ve ever been outside for in my life.
Usually in torrential rain you’d just sit home and occasionally look out the window. But when you’ve flown all that way you can’t really sit the day out.
Oh be still my beating heart. I have fallen in love with beautiful Iceland…
Today’s itinerary;
*The tectonic plates where the American plate meets the European plate. Might as well say plate one more time.
And for the sake of correctness, this is not a photo of the actual tectonic plates crack. That’s just a near by crack, because the actual bit where they meet is boring AF.
Then on to:
*the absolute diamond geyser. Haukadalur hot springs.
One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. I had my camera filming at the most perfect time and caught a massive explosion/expulsion…what’s it called when a geyser goes off?
And then on to;
*Gullfoss waterfall
It was pissing down. It was freezing cold. And it’s still amazing! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It is absolutely stunning. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.
I thought I’d seen a nice waterfall in Wales. But compared to this, it looked like a leaky tap.
Waterfalls don’t really photograph very well. But believe me when I say it was indescribable.
(there are photos and videos of all this on my Instagram Suzannedore73).
I FaceTimed Zak so he could have a look too. I just wanted to share it with Sam, Milly and Zak.
It was then straight back to the hotel to wash off the rotten egg smell of the rain of the day, in the rotten egg smell water in the shower.
It makes me retch, it’s so horrible. Not sure if it’s because of the quality of the hotel. I’ve no idea if higher star hotels filter their water.
Okay, so I didn’t find Iceland criminally expensive, nor far away. But it does truly smell of sulphury rotten eggs. A lot…a lot a lot!!
Back in dry warm clothing it was time to go to the covid test centre for our flight on to New York. Oh yes, this trip has been incredible, but it’s going to get even better. :)
(the covid testing requirement to get into NYC has had Chris and I in a right flap. I don’t think we’ll do a twin destination holiday again until the testing is all over. It was so stressful to think of what would happen if it came back positive. We wouldn’t be able to fly to NYC legally. And morally we wouldn’t be able to fly home. It felt very discombobulating. Thankfully Chris, Ben, Kaitlyn and I were all negative, which felt very positive. ;) )
After the covid tests we headed into Reykjavík to a museum that caught our eye the other day.
I can’t say I’d recommend the penis museum, (Yes, you read that correctly) but it’s certainly interesting…actually it’s weirder than interesting. It’s…? Weird. Proper weird.
A Penis museum? Of all the beautiful things that exist on this planet and someone decided on a museum dedicated to penises!
It has a bar in there if you just fancied a drink. (??)
It certainly had variety. Which is probably all I have to say about it. I’m not a prude in any way shape or form. But I just can’t get my head round a museum of penis.
It’s informative, if you were looking to be informed about them…I wasn’t to be honest. ;)
Then Chris and I headed to a romantic dinner for two in a gorgeous Italian restaurant. Very much recommend. Give Caruso a go should you be in town.
It’s cosy and romantic. The food was very good and the staff are very friendly.
The food in Iceland has been really very good.
Tonight’s dinner. Two courses and 2 non alcoholic beers came to £78. Which isn’t bad at all, considering we were in the centre of the capital city.
We have really squeezed a lot into this trip to Iceland. I very much hope to come back again soon.
We flew over it on a immersive experience. A virtual reality, simulated flight ride.
And one day I’d like to recreate the ride by driving the entire island.
It’s a fairly large island with a tiny population. The entire island only has a population of 300,000, which is about the same size of Reading’s.
But it has so much to offer. and I can’t wait to come back again.
Bring one of those very large rain ponchos too. It will save you the horror of spending the day wet through to your skin. Soggy bra and knickers are not as much fun as they sound. Hahaha
But all in all it’s been an amazing trip. I’ll definitely be coming back. :)
If you’ve never been to Iceland, it’s really one too put on the list.
Highly recommend the Flyover Iceland ride too. Really very moving. Obviously I had a cry in there because I store my emotions in my tear ducts. Hahaha