Travels With Clo

Our trip to Iceland was very impromptu. We originally had plans to go to Bratislava for the Christmas markets, but these flights were cancelled by the airline. With annual leave and dog sitting arrangements made, and a week before travel, we didn’t have many options.

Luckily, I found some £40 flights to Reykjavik that were almost the same timings as our old ones.

Armed with our underseat bags and the biggest coats we could find, we boarded our EasyJet flight after work, and were in the land of fire and ice just before bedtime.

As it was December, it was dark when we arrived, and it was dark when we woke up. There was only about four hours of daylight per day during our trip.

Before our activities of the day, we had a coffee and a pastry, and then met our local guide beside the Hallgrimskirkja for our South Island tour.

We could have hired a car and done our planned activities by ourselves, but the snow was quite bad, and I felt safer with someone used to the roads and weather conditions.

Both day’s excursions were booked via Get Your Guide, and I will link them below.

The excursion on our first full day was: https://www.getyourguide.com/reykjavik-l30/premium-southern-iceland-tour-in-a-minibus-t93666/?utm_source=getyourguide&utm_medium=sharing&utm_campaign=activity_details

After Ninety minutes in the minivan, we arrived at Seljanlandsfoss. This waterfall is famous for its path behind the falls, but because it was the middle of winter, this was closed. It was still wonderful to appreciate from the front though.

Next on the itinerary was the Solheimajökul Glacier. We walked approximately fifteen minutes from the minivan to our viewing point, where we had an excellent vantage point of the glacier. You can do ice cave tours here from November-April.

Our lunch stop was in the costal town of Vik. We were taken to an outdoorsy shopping centre full of hiking equipment and souvenirs, and it had a food court selling lots of Icelandic dishes including goulash.

With full stomachs, we made our way to the highlight (for me) of day one, Reynisfjara beach, also known as the black beach, and to some, death beach.

The beach is famous for the basalt columns, which featured in Game of Thrones. It is also illusive for its sneaker waves. Reynisfjara beach is so dangerous, because if you were to draw a straight line from the shore, the next point of land you’d hit is Antarctica. Becuase of this, the waves can be very powerful, come out of nowhere, and you have very little chance of getting back out if you are caught up in them. The beach is prepared with a traffic light system and plenty of warning signs to deter people from going close to the water, or turning their back on it, but sadly this doesn’t stop people. We were there for thirty minutes and saw a few people almost get taken by the waves. From a safe distance, it is a beautiful place, as long as you respect nature.

Our last stop of the day was Skogafoss, a 60 metre tall waterfall, with water flowing from the glacier we visited earlier.

The walk from the minivan to the falls was difficult due to the frozen ground. We had studs on our shoes, and still almost fell on our backsides multiple times. There were stairs to the top of this one, but I wasn’t brave enough to attempt them when I barely made it to the bottom in one piece.

When we arrived back in Reykjavik, we grabbed some Icelandic hot dogs, and enjoyed them in front of Hallgrimska, before departing on a northern lights tour.

Our guide stopped at a service station for everyone to stock up on snacks, and we spent five hours away from the city, learning how to track the northern lights. We were all wrapped up in blankets and full of hope, but even when the band reached our location, we sadly couldn’t see anything.

Luckily, on the drive back to Reykjavik, our driver spotted them and we were able to get out and take some photos, which made the trip for me. I have been lucky enough to see the northern lights a few times, but this was my first glimpse of them, and it was magical!

Our final day in Iceland was another whistle stop tour, this time of the Golden Circle.

Our first point of call was Thingvellir, the national park where the North American and European tectonic plates meet. I would have liked to spend more time there and actually enter the park, but as it was early and still dark, we just got to look at the views from the observation area.

We then spent an hour at the Geothermal hot springs, enjoying watching the hot springs, boiling mud pots, and steam vents up close

The final stop on the tour, Selfoss, will always hold a special place in my heart. Not only was the waterfall absolutely breathtaking, but it was where Callum decided to propose to me!

When we arrived back in Reykjavik, we caught our transfer back to the airport and slept on our flight, ready to go back to work the next morning.

Iceland is somewhere I can’t wait to go back to. Becuase of time constraints, we didn’t get much time to explore Reykjavik itself. Because of volcanic activity, we also didn’t get to visit any of the spas/lagoons. We will have to book another trip!