Halló! Let’s journey back to early 2019, shall we? One of the most eye opening vacations I have ever been on was to the country of Iceland. In preliminary discussions for this trip, the following were the few things I thought I knew about the country coming from the USA. Iceland is/has:

• Cold Weather
• Cheap Flights
• Viewability of the Northern Lights
• Some lagoon that is in a lot of photos
• Volcanoes

For real. Coming from someone with “decent” geographical knowledge, there was much I did not know about this particular country. However, I knew that it was supposed to be THE place to travel right now. I am happy to share that Iceland 100% lived up to the hype. It was a phenomenal adventure and I am happy to share my perspective in a brief overview.

The first thing to determine was when to visit. My friend and I ultimately chose late January for several reasons. This was supposed to be the peak of opportunity to see the Northern Lights. Additionally, it was during the off-season, meaning it was a lot cheaper to capitalize on everything we knew we wanted to do. Sold!

Reykjavik was used as our lodging homebase for the entire vacation duration. Each of our daily tours picked us up near our hotel. I will do a separate post that dives deeper to this city itself, the restaurants, and the overall vibe. But just know that this is such a quaint, beautiful and walkable area!

Something that is important to me and that I have learned the hard way on with past vacations is finding the right place to stay. Should you do hotel or rental? How do you know where to stay? It costs how much? Of these three questions, I find that most people lead by cost. I don’t blame you! However, it is worth starting this discovery and research process by looking at all of the noted factors. I want to be in the right area at the right price with the right ambiance. From that point I then look to determine if that leads me down the path of a hotel or AirBnB. Things that come in to play are transportation accessibility, rental parking (if applicable), charm, and amenities. 

For this particular trip, we chose the hotel route and determined the Canopy by Hilton Reykjavik in the city center was our best bet. This was a super cute hotel with a very millennial vibe in the design choices made. There was an area bus pickup just outside the door which made transportation very convenient. It was also a block from the main shopping street and a short walk to destinations from each direction.

I have found that sometimes better deals can be found from the hotel site itself (as opposed to a third-party site), and that was the case with this one as well! Three amenities that made me very happy with my experience here was the speaker in the room that had Bluetooth connection to play music from my phone, the lobby walls adorned with vinyl records that could be picked up and played in cute seating areas, as well as the separate elevator that went directly to the restaurant (of which had a phenomenal breakfast buffet)!

With the hotel booked, the next step was in determining and booking the flights. Okay, so from being in Kansas City, I knew that Icelandair was now flying direct out of my airport and it was definitely the way to go for cheap and convenient airfare. Perfect! Well, what I didn’t know was that it only flew out of KCI from May-September. Welp! I ended up using credit card points to get me to Washington DC, from where I then flew direct to Reykjavik. It was still an insanely cheap trip. Something to note though, is the basic fare is just that… basic. Don’t be looking for a complimentary international meal or alcoholic beverages, something of which is standard with most travel. With that said, It was a very nice experience and I had no issues whatsoever. My credit card allows me access to select airport lounges, so we made sure we got our bellies and soul full prior to the flight at the stunning Turkish Airlines lounge.

The Keflavik International Airport was beautiful. For being in a different country, this airport was very easy to navigate, had easily accessible and wide range amenities, and felt very fresh from its renovation. Something to note is that the city is about 31 miles from the city. A means of transportation must be utilized to get you to the actual city center. Upon researching the different options, we ultimately chose Flybus as our to/from transportation. Signage was clear and instructions were easy enough to follow to ensure we got off at the right place!

The most important thing to note is that buses are not allowed within the city itself. There are set bus stops that must be used for any pick-ups or drop-offs. Being that EVERYONE is doing the same, it can be an interesting process standing around watching and waiting each of the buses that pass through to your particular stop as to ensure you are getting on the right one… and hopefully don’t miss. I think for the next time I visit, I will get a rental car. But for this particular trip, we only used the transportation as part of the tours or our 2 legs in walking around the city and did just fine!

In regards to activities, we narrowed down to four different tours, each taking us to a different part of Iceland and had pick-up right at the block corner outside the hotel. A lot of research went to the options that were there for us, customer ratings, and overall price point. I will go in these tours specifically at a later date, but I will speak to each of these at high level to help give an idea of what we experienced:

• Northern Lights
• Golden Circle
• Blue Lagoon
• Southern Coast

Northern Lights: Okay, so as mentioned I was there at the right time of year to see this dang thing. However, what that does not account for is the weather that we are dealing with, of which may prevent you from actually seeing it. It’s a gamble, for sure. Wouldn’t you know… it decided to snow the week we were in town. What stood out to us about our particular tour was that it was that we were in a jeep with limited quantity of people. This allowed us to go off-road where the big buses couldn’t go, in search of viewability of the Aurora Borealis. Our guide was texting, calling, and emailing others to receive tips to where it could be seen, or based on the cloud movement had a chance of potentially being seen in the near future. We would boot, scoot, and boogy to those locations with each given tip. At the end of the night, we finally had about 5 minutes brief viewing at the top of a windy mountain at almost 1am. It was dang cold but at least I can say that I “saw it”. What you see is the best I could do with the rare break in the clouds. You’re welcome.

The Golden Circle Tour: This was amazing! Highlights for this small group tour included a visit to the Thingvellir National Park (a Unesco World Heritage Site), the Geysir geyser, the Gullfoss Waterfall, as well as a stop at the Kerid Crater Lake. Experiencing this Golden Circle sight-sightseeing route of some of Iceland’s most famous attractions is a must-do in shape or form. There are many tours that take you on the day-trip, or some that also include the Blue Lagoon (though I recommend doing separately). I would say my favorite highlight was being able to stand in between where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet and seeing the geyser shoot up to 100 feet every few minutes. 

The Blue Lagoon: Is it touristy? Yes. Is it overpriced? Yes. Are there other spas? Yes. Are there a lot of rules and regulations? YES. With all that I just shared, is it still worth going to? Yes. The Blue Lagoon is a well oiled machine and definitely a unique experience to be a part of. We booked the package in advance that included the transportation from the city as well as lunch. Keep in mind that the Blue Lagoon is about 30 minutes from the city. The craziest thing about the experience is the check-in and preparatory process to get in to the therapeutic lagoons. It is REQUIRED to shower and cleanse prior to setting foot in the water. This process is confusing, vague and weird to say the least. I am glad I did enough research in advance or arriving to at least know what we were in for. Furthermore, it is recommended to keep the conditioner in your hair for your entire time in the water, as to not have the minerals ruin your hair. While not a big deal for a guy with short hair, it is more cumbersome for a woman with long hair.

Southern Coast: This was a pretty rad tour and honestly was probably my favorite day. After boarding a bus, we made the 1 ½ hour journey to the southern coast. Our first stop was to take in the beauty of the Skógafoss waterfall. We then made our way to the Sólheimajökull glacier by hiking to near the icecap. Next up was to explore the stunning Reynisfjara beach. With its black sand and powerful waves, this location has become a popular filming location. 

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As I look back, the country absolutely exceeded my expectations. In addition to the absolutely stunning and diverse landscapes, I was surprised at the options of local produce that were available, due to geo-thermal capabilities. This led to some exciting culinary experiences of varying price points. Additionally, I am a fan of craft beer and was pleasantly surprised to find some fun micro-breweries in the area to test out. Locals were very welcoming to interact with and had a strong appreciation for showing off and preserving what their country has to offer.

Two big questions that I had coming in to the vacation was the cost of the trip as well as the language barrier. From traveling to different countries, I can say that this was not the best location for US dollar conversion in January 2019. With that said, by knowing this in advance and pre-booking a majority of our experiences prior to the trip, we knew what we were in for (based on what already had been spent). It is very important to me that while I want to do what I can to save money where I can, I do not want, however, to use that as a crutch for my vacation and shave off quality aspects of a vacation experience that I may look back on years from now and regret. It is a very fine balance for sure.

Additionally, and by using the app XE Currency (available for free on all mobile devices), we were able quickly run conversions from the local Kronin currency based on what we were seeing on menus. I can say that it was not as outrageous as what I thought it would be, though still a reasonable increase. The average beer was around $10 and the average cocktail was around $20, and the average dinner being $30-$50. The biggest tip though, which I am grateful for discovering prior to the trip, was taking advantage of the happy hour timeframes around the city to menu items at cheaper prices. Additionally, I would recommend purchasing snack and libation from the airport itself upon arrival. This allowed us to pre-game properly prior to hitting the town and save a bit of money.

As it relates to any language barriers, there were NO concerns whatsoever. There is indeed an Icelandic language but I didn’t learn a lick of it, to be honest. The English language was very prevalent and all menus that we encountered included. Locals were very kind and did not express any frustration or attempt a cold shoulder by speaking English. 

The fact of the matter is that Iceland is an area that absolutely relies upon tourism. Reykjavik is a relatively modern city with most of the experiences coming from the last 10 years since the volcanic eruption in 2010. I actually liked being there during the off-season as it does sound like it can be a LOT busier when the weather is warmer. So then you might say, listen Tyler, why would I want to escape winter by traveling where it is still winter? Great question, but here’s the deal; it was actually a bit warmer there during that given week than it was in Kansas City in late January. The temperature was quite manageable in the upper 30’s fahrenheit and I had no complaints. Let’s also be clear too while we are it it that it is warmer in Iceland than it is Greenland. So, it really just depends on the type of experience that you would like to have when you are visiting.

Photos were stunning with snow on the ground, though (and as similar to Colorado) it is a very different visual experience by seeing that area in the summer and seeing the green grass. I would have been able to properly see the crater, for example. Oh, and there would have been more hours of sunlight in the course of the day.

Overall, Iceland is definitely worth adding to your bucket list and at some point down the line, I would love to visit again. There is SO much more to be seen from this relatively small country of 40,000 square miles that I did not get a chance to explore. What would you like to learn more about? Specific restaurants? Stories from the tours? More details in tips and suggestions?

Have a great week everyone!

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