Iceland

I look forward to the Travelzoo top 20 to be delivered every Wednesday during lunch.  My co-workers around the lunch table are not excited about all the good deals that I share with them as I am reading the list.  Most of them think I am a bit crazy and they might be right, but at least I am crazy with some really cool passport stamps!!

 Late last year on a non-descript Wednesday afternoon Travelzoo published a bargain trip to Iceland.  It caught my attention but as usual I put it aside thinking I have too many trips planned already.  This deal stayed in my head.  I kept thinking how cool that would be to see Iceland, but Iceland in January or February??  Sure, why not.  Maybe I would even be lucky enough to see the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights).  How could I pass up round trip airfare, direct from Seattle to Reykjavik, 2 nights in a hotel and an afternoon soaking in the Blue Lagoon for only $499?  The more I thought about it the more I realized it was too cheap not to go!!  It would cost me more to stay home than to go to Iceland, well… not really but it sounds good, so I booked it and added an extra night.  As is the plight of every single traveler around the world, I paid more for single occupancy but even so, air fare and 3 night’s hotel came to $700, still cheaper than going to Anchorage. 

I knew absolutely nothing about Iceland so I put the word out on Facebook for suggestion on what to see and do.  Everyone who has visited or lived there has really liked it so I got a lot of great suggestions.  In my research I found tour companies who provided very affordable tours on great big tour coaches.  All I could think of is being stuffed in a coach with 100 strangers while we were herded like cattle in, out and about.  UGH!  That sounded terrible.  Then I came across Superjeep.is with the Range Rover Defender big as day right on the front page!!  I was sold right there.  The Defender is the best safari vehicle on the planet and I would do anything to relive the safari days in East Africa so I booked a Golden Circle Tour and a Northern Lights Tour with Superjeep. 

The holidays came and went and in early February I hopped the plane to Iceland.  It was a 7 hour flight up and over the Arctic Circle, typical boring flight until we were over Greenland and the Northern Lights made an appearance!!  How cool to see them from 35,000 feet, they were just out the window.  In order to see them better I covered my head and window with my wrap so I could block out the interior lights.  They glowed green and moved ever so slowly, in fact, they moved so slowly that I did not see the motion; I just realized they were all of a sudden in a different pattern.  Then a few minutes later they were gone.  I wondered if some villager in the blackness that was Greenland below was looking up at the same green glowing river.

Blue Lagoon

I arrived early in the morning before the sun came up and caught a bus to the hotel in Reykjavik.  It was dark so I saw nothing of the land during the 40 minute drive between the airport in Keflavik and Reykjavik.  I arrived at the hotel just as the sun was coming up to a gray winter morning.  I had time for a short nap before I had to catch a bus for the Blue Lagoon; a huge geothermal pool and spa.  By the time I arrived it was snowing and blowing sideways, so the walk (really a half run/trot while trying not to slip on the ice) from the door to the pool in my bare feet and swimsuit was a bit cold.  Down the stairs as quick as possible into the warm water, ahhhhhhh, soaking in the warm water while keeping my back to the wind that was trying to sandblast me with snow.  There is only so much you can do by yourself in a hot pool.  There were not too many people there, which was nice, but it was quite boring just floating around by myself.  At one point I had floated so far from the entrance and the weather had closed in even more limiting my visibility so that I could see no other person or the building.  Typically I would prefer that type of serenity but for some reason this freaked me out a bit so I made my way back closer to the entrance.   I was now very tired, from the combination of the all night flight and the hot Jacuzzi type water so I went in and caught the bus back to the hotel.  I was sound asleep by 8 PM. 

The next morning I had scheduled the Golden Circle Tour with Superjeep.  The driver picked me up and off we went.  I had the pleasure of being grouped with three ladies from the UK.  It had snowed all night so we were driving through snow that was 12 or 18 inches deep, there was no way some large motor coach would have traveled thought this snow.  We spent 8 or 9 hours hearing great stories about Icelandic history and folklore and seeing beautiful scenery.  Superjeep dropped me at the hotel for some dinner and picked me up about two hours later for the Northern Lights hunt.  Off we went in another wonderful Range Rover Defender that was so high I had to hop up on the running board to get in.  There was a group of 4 or 5 other vehicles in the caravan and our guide was very knowledgeable about the aurora.  We did not see any lights that night but it was not for lack of trying, those Superjeep guys took us all around and were very informative and entertaining.

The next morning I had a South Coast Tour scheduled with Superjeep so again they picked me up at the hotel and we headed south.  This time there was a British couple with me.  I love traveling with Brits!  They have a reputation for being stuffy but I find that once you get to know them a bit, they warm right up and are great fun plus they are not obnoxious like some of my fellow countrymen can be.  This turned out to be the greatest day!  It was one of those gray northern winter days, with that eerie northern winter light that I find very comforting, for a short time.  Too long and I would need a sanity check trip to the Caribbean for some sun but for a few days it is a nice experience.   We saw more beautiful snow covered county, drove out to a glacier, saw the location of the Eyjafjallajökull  (No I can’t pronounce that, I tried but was laughed at) Volcano that had halted European air traffic almost a year ago.  I really loved the tranquil snow covered farms with colorful homes, barns and outbuildings.  They were so serene, covered in a perfect blanket of snow.  I would like to return in the summer to see the same farms with fluffy white sheep in deep green fields.  We made it almost to Vik that day and had lunch on the greatest rocky beach with pebbles as smooth as a baby’s tush and giant block shaped basalt cliffs that jutted out into the angry ocean with big rolling breaking waves. 

Back at the hotel, I only had time for dinner again plus adding a few more layers to my winter wardrobe, before Superjeep picked me up for tonight’s Northern Lights tour.  This time we had 7 or 8 vehicles in the caravan but our guide was the leader of the group so we felt privileged to be the head of the pack.  We traversed some dark mountain road in a blinding snow storm with drifts 2 or 3 feet deep along the road.  We went through some really scary spots and a couple of times I thought we might slide right off the road but I was never scared.  These guys are professionals when it comes to driving in adverse conditions!!  I told our driver I could tell this was not his first blizzard and he quipped back with a grin, “This is not a blizzard.”  After some really exciting 4-wheeling through the “non-blizzard” we came to the Thingvillar National Park, site of the first national government in 930 AD.  There the Northern Lights made their appearance.  They were not large but they were clear and bright, plus we saw one small show of a reddish color which they said was pretty rare.  I tried to take photos with my cheap camera but they did not turn out.  Thankfully the guides had great cameras and they shared their photos with us on Facebook.  I could have stood there all night (with something warm to drink) and watched.  I am sure the locals get tired of the lights; it might be annoying to have them shining bright in the bedroom window when you are trying to sleep. 

I found Iceland to have a magical feeling about it.  They have a rich history with a lot of folklore and wonderful stories full of trolls and fairies.  The people are warm and friendly and the country has a volcanic beauty that reminded me a lot of Adak, Alaska.  I did not want to leave, not unusual for me, I could have stayed for a week and taken a different tour with Superjeep every day!  I plan to go back sometime in the summer to see the land without a blanket of snow.  In a perfect world I would be able to have our Superjeep driver pick me up at the airport and escort me on a personal 10 day tour completely around the country on the ring road; showing me his lovely home, introducing me to the friendly people, and experiencing the beautiful culture.  Hmmmm wonder what that would cost???