#iceland
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#wanderlustwednesday #iceland #easticeland #icelandtravel #egilsstaðir #egilsstadir #eyvindara #eyvindarariver #river #selskogur #forest #ringroad #roadtrip #nature #outdoors
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NO AL MALTRATO ANIMAL.
BAMBI… BAMBI… BAMBI… Quien no recuerda a bambi? yo amo Bambi, creci viendolo desde los 2 anos. Todo los dias me ponian la peli y hasta me compraron el cd Disney donde salia “Musica de Primavera”… sin embargo eso no cierra mi mente. Ver esta imagen me recuerda a la realidad de todos los dias con la caza desmesurada que existe por deporte o diversión. Muchos animales cuando sus padres o hijos mueren se quedan a su lado hasta por dias, los padres pierden a las manadas cuando migran por quedarse a lado del cadaver de su hijo y los hijos mueren de hambre cuando permanecen a lado de la madre. Solo veo la realidad, no destruyo mi infancia, pues tuve una buena infancia llena de conocimiento, no creyendome cuentos tontos
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Done @blackkrosstattoo
Thanks again @einarknudsen for this great spot!
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#handpoke #rose #tattoo #iceland #reykjavik #stickandpoke #handpoketattoo #stickandpoketattoo #machinefreetattoo #handpoketattoo #tattoos #inkstinctsubmission #blackworkersubmission #blackworkers #rosetattoo #facetattoo #blackwork #simple #minimal #flower #flora #punctuur #antwerptattoo #taot #tttism #tattrx #equilattera #blxckink
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpw7JfOHJ4F/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=zmw5t7huyj2o
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Done @blackkrosstattoo .
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#iceland #reykjavik
#handpoked #moon #tattoo #handpoketattoo #stickandpoketattoo #handpushed #blxckink #punctuur #handpoke #stickandpoke #ttim #xoymtaty #handmade #machinefree #nomachine #nomachine #nonelectric #blackwork #blackworkerssubmission #inkstinctsubmission #blacktattooart #black #ink #tatted #tattoos #tattrx #inked #taot #equilattera
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpi-2SZDZfL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11t5ficmepgzq
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Thanks for following along on my journey through Iceland! I’ll leave you with some of my favorite pictures I haven’t posted yet :)
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Day 7
The weather changes so quickly in Iceland, and you have to stay on top of the forecast as often as possible. The night before I was to head up to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, I checked the weather forecast from my hostel in Reykjavik, and it did not look good. A gale force blizzard was forecast to impact my route from Reykjavik to the town of Olafsvik, which was 2.5 hours away. My plan was to wake up early and head out of Reykjavik before the snow started in the city so I could avoid in-town traffic, but unfortunately, when I stepped outside, there was already at least 5″ of snow all over the road and on my rental car. Since I didn’t have a snow brush, I had to use my arms to brush all the snow off the car. As I made my way out of Reykjavik, I was concerned with how slushy the roads were. Luckily, there wasn’t much traffic to contend with, but the worst of the weather was still to come.
As I approached the town of Borgarnes, the snow began to steadily pick up. I decided to load up on gas here just to make sure I had a full tank of gas just in case. As I continued north, the snow continued falling at a steady clip, and the wind started to pick up as well. Blizzard-conditions were setting in, and I was so freaking scared. Being that I seldom see snow since I’m from Georgia, I have never driven in anything like that before. The road was only two lanes wide and snow covered the shoulders of the highway, so I had to drive extremely slowly in the middle of both lanes of traffic. Only when I saw a car coming in my direction did I return back to my lane, which half of it was icy and slushy as could be. I would have stopped on the side of the road, but there were many ditches and boulders on the side of the highway, and I didn’t want to crash my car or wreck it. There were also very few places to stop on the road safely, especially in white-out conditions. Once I got to the town of Grundarfjörður, the snow plows had tried to come through to clear the roads but were only somewhat successful. The snow pack was at least a foot and a half high in some parts, and it was like driving through a tunnel of packed snow, with maybe a foot on either side of the vehicle.
After a nail-biting rest of my drive, I eventually made it safely to Olafsvik, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I checked into my AirBnB and took a moment to relax while the snow began tapering off. I did a little exploring around Olafsvik and eventually decided to make my way to Kirkfjufell and Kirkjufellsfoss, the mountain and adjacent waterfall that, together, make up one of the most iconic photos of Iceland you’ll find. After fighting for a parking spot, I hiked in a couple of minutes in the snow to get to the Kirkjufellsfoss. It’s a small but still gorgeous little waterfall. The freshly fallen snow made for a really beautiful experience, and with Kirkjufell behind it, the view was truly breathtaking. The hike there and back to the car was really icy, and several people straight up ate it and fell into the snow. I was lucky enough to keep my footing. After strolling around for a little bit, I made my way back to the AirBnB to rest and relax for the rest of the day. After a rather stressful day, I definitely deserved it :)
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Day 6
So, after getting my ass out of that creepy AirBnB in Hella, I decided that since my plans to meet up with people in Reykjavik for lunch were postponed until later that evening, I might as well extend my drive to the capital city and take a mini detour to Iceland’s Golden Circle. For those who may not know, the Golden Circle is essentially a 300 km loop that connects to Reykjavik. It’s a super popular course for tourists to take, since it’s jam-packed with a lot to see, including waterfalls, geysers, and gorgeous views of the country. It’s especially popular for those who have a day or two layover in Iceland before continuing on to either Europe or North America via Reykjavik.
Initially, as I was planning my trip, I wanted to avoid the Golden Circle because it’s crawling with so many tourists. But, I decided to brave the crowds anyway, and it actually exceeded my low expectations. First stop was Gullfoss, a large waterfall that is fed by the country’s second largest glacier, Langjökull. Gullfoss, unlike the other waterfalls I had been to, is much more broad and expansive. And there’s a great story behind conservation of this waterfall, where people sought to build infrastructure around the area to harness its power for energy. But thanks to the hard work and dedication of Sigriður Tómasdóttir and her family, Gullfoss was eventually protected and designated a nature preserve sometime later.
After enjoying the waterfall from a few different viewpoints, I drove a very short distance to Geysir, which by the name you could guess is a geyser, like “Old Faithful” in the United States. Apparently, the English term “geyser” comes from Iceland’s “Geysir,” with accounts of Iceland’s famed attraction dating back to the late 13th Century.
About every 2-4 minutes, hot water shoots into the air. Some eruptions are more powerful than others, with many topping out at about 30 meters in the air. It was really fun to watch, and despite being crowded, it was quite enjoyable being surprised every time it erupted. After about a half hour, I hopped back in my car and made my way to Reykjavik to my AirBnB, an Eco-Hostel in Reykjavik that was only a two minute walk to the Magnusson’s with which I stayed with earlier in the week. I was planning on meeting my brother’s friend in town, Lenika. She went to school with my brother at Stanford University in California, and she and her friends just happened to be traveling through Iceland the same time that I was. So, we decided to meet at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, Reykjavik’s (and perhaps the world’s most famous) hot dog stand. Lenika was joined by her three friends, Emily, Sheela, and Kristen, who are all from Chicago. The four of them are traveling Iceland together, and three of the four are continuing to Europe, as a celebratory trip after they recently graduated from Northwestern’s graduate school in genetic counseling and English.
Back to the hotdogs. What makes them so special? The meet is a combination of lamb, beef, and pork. They put crispy onions on the bottom, fresh onions on top of that, then the hotdog itself, a teeny bit of ketchup, a relish mayo, and their secret hotdog sauce, which is a little browner than Dijon mustard.
They were really good! The best? Maybe not, but pretty darn good. We ate the hot dogs, walked around town, talked a lot, and then went back to their AirBnB, where we had some Icelandic beers and chit-chatted with some people from Croatia who were also traveling the country.
We talked for hours, and it was a lot of fun getting to know them all. We talked about everything, including celebrities we’ve met, boys and dating, and Lenika’s career as a professional gymnast. She competed for Spain in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. How cool is that?
I ended up leaving at midnight to get some rest at my hostel before my big day heading up to the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in the morning.
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Day 5
After a really restful night, I woke up and briefly hung out with some of the other friends I had met the night before. We took goofy photos and talked about what we had planned for our Icelandic excursion. I left the AirBnB and headed back westward on Ring Road, ultimately ending at Hella, where my next stay would be.
Things started off pretty well, and since I had a total of 5 hours to drive, I wanted to make sure I made a few pit stops along the way. The first was Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, which is, as it’s described, a lagoon at the base of a glacier. A myriad of chunks of ice were flowing slowly in the lagoon downstream, and people have a great opportunity to see some of these ice chunks and take pictures. I snapped a few photos before heading across the street to Diamond Beach, a sandy black sand beach right by the lagoon that gets it’s name from the remarkably clear chunks of ice that can sometimes be found on the beach. This place was really phenomenal. You’re on a black sand beach, and then you have giant chunks of ice that are 5-8 feet tall. Some pieces are tiny and small, while others are much bigger. And they come in all sorts of colors. Some of them are crystal clear (like a diamond), while others are a translucent white. Some are really blue as well and others are black and tar colored. I need to figure out how they get their colors…
After a brief stop at a smaller glacier lagoon about 15 minutes westward (Fjallsárlón), I continued my drive. I took another small detour near the city of Hof to check out the Hofskirkja Church, the last built turf church in Iceland, which dates back to 1885. I took a moment there to explore and look around the cemetery right beside the church. Each plot is a large rectangular mound of grass, almost resembling a coffin that’s above ground covered in turf. It’s really cool to see. At this point, a few snowflakes were coming down. Little did I know that later on my trip on Route 1 that the snow would start coming down like crazy…
As I continued my drive westward, my small car was beginning have some issues, as the snow continued to intensify. After about 30 minutes of heavy snow, I started to encounter slick spots on the road and slushy conditions that made driving really difficult. The snow would spin up into my tire well, causing my car to swerve every now and then. I drove slowly through most of it and thankfully stopped in Vik. I figured I’d wait for the snow to pass and explored Vik’s IceWear Factory Outlet. IceWear is an Icelandic clothing company that’s pretty much like a North Face. Everything is so expensive, including their famous Icelandic sweaters, made of sheep’s wool. They’re a little scratchy to the touch but they’re iconic, and pretty much everyone in Iceland has one. They cost anywhere between $120 – 250 USD+ which is way out of my price range.
The snowfall began to lessen, and so I made my way from Vik westward, where I made another stop, this time in Sólheimasandur, which is near my previous hostel at Skógafoss This is a site of a United States Navy Douglas Super DC-3 plane crash in 1973, which luckily everyone survived. The remains on the beach were never really cleaned up, and it’s been sitting there since. After about a 4 km walk to the crash site, you get to see a pretty cool relic surrounded by a black sand beach. It was cold and windy (but luckily no longer snowing), and the walk took a lot longer than I thought. You can’t see the plane from the parking lot, so that should be the first sign that the stroll’s going to take some time.
After a 4 km walk back to the car, I continued my drive and made my final pit stop back at Seljalandsfoss, the waterfall you can walk behind that I went to earlier in the week. I was hoping to catch it when there were less people and have more opportunity for good photography. There were only a dozen or so people there when I got there. I set up my tripod and got some awesome shots, including some of me posing all cool like on a rock adjacent to the waterfall. I put the camera on 20 second self timer and ran down to the spot, and managed to do so without falling and tripping, which is amazing. I was losing daylight and decided to head to my lodging in Hella.
After getting lost getting on my way there and showing up at someone else’s house, I finally made it to the AirBnB property with the help of the people who I inadvertently bothered. It’s crazy how pleasant my AirBnB experience was the night before near Vestrahorn versus this one. The host has several cabins, and sent me instructions and information, detailing that my cabin was the second on the left. I pulled up to the one I thought was mine, because the porch light was on and a key was in the door as she said there would be. I walked in, made myself at home. After figuring out that I had no WiFi (which was my fault for not knowing, even though it said there was no WiFi on the listing) I went to a nearby restaurant Kinslarinn, and ate a hamburger and fries. This was my first hot meal, for 1.65 ISK (16.50 USD). I used their internet and made plans to meet up with some of Huy’s friends (Lenika and Thor) when I returned to Reykjavik on Sunday.
Anyway, I get back to my AirBnB, and as I looked out the window, a car pulls up to my place. They knock on my door and I greet them. The lady says she’s on the phone with the AirBnb host and that I’m in the wrong cabin… and the lady has a husband and three sleepy kids, so I was like.. oh shit sorry. After going to the correct cabin next door, I realize it’s more like a mini hostel. It’s a humongous cabin with four rooms with four beds each in them, multiple bathrooms, and a huge kitchen area. It sounds like it would be nice, but honestly, I’m not trying to stay in a giant cabin all by myself. Shit’s creepy. So anyway, the cabin had no instructions for anything, and she didn’t give me any information before I arrived except on how to get to the AirBnB. So, from what the nice couple from Seattle with their three kids said, there was 1 bed made for me in that house. It took me forever to find which bed was supposed to be mine while. It was odd because I figured, why don’t you just make all the beds? Like of the 12 beds, there’s only 1, and I have to find it. On top of that, the place wasn’t particularly clean. There were two rolls of toilet paper, but only about a quarter of the rolls were left. The TVs didn’t work, some of the lights weren’t working. Some sinks weren’t working either. It was not the greatest experience honestly. And I’m not picky or high maintenance. It was just a weird experience all around. I was tired, so I slept pretty well, but I kept thinking that this was a creepy horror movie waiting to happen. Needless to say, I checked out of that sucker in the morning thank the lawd.
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Seljavallalaug
According to Atlas Obscura, Seljavallalaug is a pool on the southern coast of Iceland that was built back in 1923, making it possibly the oldest pool in Iceland. The 82-foot long pool was built into the hillside as a place to teach locals how to swim. The pool is fed by a nearby hotspring, warming the waters. When I arrived at Seljavallalaug, I was warned by pool-goers that there was only one single pipe of hot water that was keeping the pool warm. The weather that day was actually pretty awful. Winds were gusting 50-60 mph, with rain and sleet showers. Needless to say, it was cold AF. Was it worth it, of course! The 20-minute hike in alone was incredible. The views here are mind-blowing. Today, while Seljavallalaug is not officially maintained, volunteers do come out to clean it.
To access Seljavallalaug, you’ll be driving on Route 1 (Ring Road) eastbound from Reykjavik past Seljalandsfoss driving towards the village of Skógar. Before you get to Skógar, you’ll see a little road on your left Road 242, where you’ll turn into. You’ll drive on the paved road and then continue straight where the road becomes a gravel road with a ton of potholes. Keep driving for a good while, and you’ll start seeing cars parked after a few minutes. (I thought I was going the wrong way but kept driving and saw other people!)
Park your car, and prepare for a leisurely 20-minute hike in!
Timelapse of sunrise on Good Friday at Vestrahorn in Southeastern Iceland
Day 4
So remember that the night before into the wee hours of the morning, I was sitting in my rental car, freezing my ass off and hoping I’d see some some auroras. But sadly, the moon was too bright, and the clouds blocked a lot of the view of the night sky. At this point, it’s 2:00 AM, and I decided to move my car from the random parking lot on the side of the road to the Vestrahorn Viking Café, which is where you have to go to access this area known as Stokksnes, which is private land where you are afforded a spectacular view of the Vestrahorn mountains.
I had read online that the owners of this place own the land at Stokksnes. So, they aggressively charge you $8 USD for admission to the land. Prior to my trip, I was really worried that they may not let people onto the Stokksnes land since the café itself doesn’t open until 9AM, and sunrise is WAY before that. Obviously, I got there at 2:00 AM and was completely confused because there were boulders blocking one entrance to Stokksnes. Another area around the cafe had an electronic arm that blocked the way as well, kind of like at an apartment complex. So I was really worried by this point. I was already disappointed that I didn’t get to see the Northern Lights. And part of the reason for driving 4 hours overnight was to make sure I’d get to watch the sunrise from Stokksnes. I had a real fear and frustration that all of this was going to be for naught. But there wasn’t much I could do at that point except try to nap and see if I could figure something out in a couple of hours.
After about 2 hours of trying to sleep (but really not sleeping at all since it was 0 degrees C outside)and feeling a little sick, I decided to leave the Vestrahorn Café and try to park somewhere else to catch the sunrise somewhere else. As I was driving out, I saw two cars coming in, and was intrigued. I kept driving away from the café for another 5 minutes, and then decided to U-turn back. I got there but didn’t see the two cars from earlier. After some digging, I realized that there was a way to get through the electronic arm and get to Stokksnes the whole entire time. All I had to do was walk up to the café door, where there was an ATM-like system on the wall. You insert your credit card, and it charges you and prints out a little receipt with a QR code on it. You drive up to the gate, and there’s a scanner that scans your QR code, which then lifts the gate and lets you in. I totally should have looked into all of this earlier, but I had no idea and was so delirious. But finally, I was on my way into Stokksnes!
I drove about 1km, where I then saw the two cars from earlier parked in a little dirt area. I walked up some of the sand dunes and staked out my spot to photograph and view the sunrise along with 6-8 other photographers. They were kind of obnoxious, actually, yelling and hollering at each other trying to get getting everyone in their group to pose in the foreground and take cool pictures. When I’m in such a beautiful and natural place like Vestrahorn, I want to enjoy it without disturbance. I became extremely frustrated, but after about 30 minutes, thank the LAWD they stopped running around and got quieter, photographing the sunrise.
“Vestra” means west, and so Vestrahorn means “West Horn.” There’s also an Eystrahorn, which means obviously then “East Horn.” It’s not exactly clear what the “west” and “east” are with respect to though. But let me tell you, there’s no mystery about Vestrahorn’s magic and beauty. As I stood atop a sand dune with other small dunes in front of me and these beautiful mountains not too far away in the distance, I was in heaven. It felt like I was living a fairy tale dream. I couldn’t believe that I was right on the coast, with waves and water washing ashore, and then towering 454 meters (1489 feet) out from sea level was this picturesque structure. You know when you’re a kid and you draw pictures of mountains, you sketch a lot of dramatic triangles. In reality, most mountains don’t exactly look like a bunch of consecutive triangle shapes. This did. It was just so surreal being here and seeing this mountain and others tower over the landscape, with their jagged edges scraping the clouds above. As I watched the sun slowly rise over the horizon, there was a light pinkish and reddish hue to the sky and clouds, very subtle on the base of Vestrahorn. Clouds streamed across the sky, and peaks of sun would shine across the sand dunes, giving the yellow grasses an almost reddish glow. Sea fog would occasionally roll in and shroud Vestrahorns base for a few minutes before dissipating and continuing the cycle over and over again. As I sat perched on the dune, I just stood there, breathing in the cool fresh air and watching the sun illuminate the mountain in different ways as the sun rose higher in the sky. I decided to go for a stroll along the beach, taking my time and really milking every moment. All of the exhaustion I had from being up all night kind of just melted away. As the waves rolled in and calmly receded into the sea, it left a mirrored reflection of the sky and Vestrahorn. I really couldn’t get over how beautiful it all was.
After finishing up at around 10 or so, I made my way back to the town of Höfn to see if I could maybe pass some time before I had to go my AirBnB. But, that day happened to be Good Friday, a super religious holiday throughout the Christian world (very much so in Iceland) that happens the Friday before Easter. Everything is closed, including restaurants and grocery stores. So, I strolled around, parked my car in a grocery store parking lot, took a nap and watched some Netflix when I awoke. I walked around Höfn for about an hour. It’s a small town with a decent amount of restaurants and shops. It’s quite walkable, with sidewalks throughout the town. Eventually, I got back to my car and drove to go to my AirBnB.
Things were a wee bit awkward at first. I got there at 2:45 instead of 4:00 which is when I told her I’d arrive. There was a sign on the door that instructed guests to come in because it said she would be out with her daughter. But she was definitely there at the house, and I could hear the shower running with a woman talking to a laughing baby. I was already like.. oh shoot, she’s gonna come out naked with her daughter not knowing I’m there, and it’s going to be hella weird. And of course, that’s pretty much what happened. I had to announce myself loudly from the other side of the house so that she would know I was there.. but her daughter ran out naked and she was not clothed as she peaked out the door to say hello to me. After talking to her, she saw my camera and actually asked me to take pics of her AIrBnB so that she could update her listing. She offered my room for free for the favor but actually ended up paying me 100 Euros… like wtf.. that’s awesome. So I took pictures, and sent them to her.
I eventually took a much-needed nap, and when I woke up, there were other people coming in. I was sitting at the dinner table with my laptop, when three people came over to eat dinner. We have Jennifer, Grace, and Judd from Manila, Phillippines. They made Nongshim Spicy Ramen, which I just so happened to bring with me from Georgia as well. So, I whipped out my ramen, and ate it as well. Soon, we were joined by three other people: Garland, Jennifer and Mi-Rae from New York City and Alpharetta, GA. We all talked about our travels throughout Iceland, showed off our awesome pictures, and gave tips and advice for the rest of the trip. Judd and Garland are photographers, so we talked about that for a while too. We all exchanged our social media info, and stalked each other briefly on Instagram, of course. By that time, it was a little past midnight, so we all headed to bed.
This was by far the best night yet (and probably even the best night ever of the entire trip)! *
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Day 3
After a restless night attempting to sleep at the Hostel in Skogar, I woke up at 5:00 AM, hoping to enjoy the sunrise at nearby Reynisfjara Beach, arguably the most famous of Iceland’s black-sand beaches. The black sand and stones are a remaining pieces of the basalt lava that makes up Iceland.
It was unfortunately pretty overcast and quite chilly, but it was certainly still well worth the early rise. This beach is unlike any beach I’d ever been to, with a wide diversity in the black sand composition alone. You have smaller granules and also larger smoothed stones. What makes this beach unique are the large caves and a basalt column formation right by the water. The basalt column is a result of a process called columnar jointing, a process in which hot lava cools, contracts as it cools, and leaves behind a geometric column, like the hexagonal ones you see above in the pictures. Basalt, an igneous volcanic rock, meaning it was formed from the cooling of lava that erupted at the earth’s surface. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Something that looked almost fake was a result of a completely natural process.
In the first picture, you can see a couple of rock columns out in the water. Legend has it that these back in the day, trolls would try to drag ships into the land, crashing them. One day, two trolls were doing just that, but being careless, they didn’t realize the sun was coming up because once the light streamed across the horizon, the trolls were frozen in place.
I should also mention that the waves here are powerful and very dangerous. Many people have been pulled to sea, and tourists often put themselves foolishly in harm’s way. I heard from someone that from Reynisjfara southward to Antarctica, there’s no land mass, which means the waves here are unnaturally wild. Not sure if there’s any scientific merit behind this, but we’ll go with that..! Go at low tide if at all possible, and make sure you’re not trying to go into the caves when the waves are nearing as you certainly don’t want to get stuck in them.
Waking up early certainly has its benefits. Usually the crowds here are ridiculous, since it’s Iceland’s most popular beach. I was able to climb around the basalt columns and walked the beach until I was ready to head out around 8:00AM.
After a few hours, I headed a little east to the town of Vik because I needed groceries. They unfortunately didn’t open until 9, so I took a nap in the car at the top of a hill overlooking the town. At 9, I pulled up to the Kronan store. Kronan is one of maybe three low-end grocery stores where things are pretty affordable. The others are Bonus and Netto). I bought a bags of chips, tortillas, cheese, butter, beans, and cheese croissants, which would all come together for meal-making at the hostels I stay at. After driving back to the hostel, I cooked up a few quesadillas, at them, and took a two-hour nap.
I went out to the Skógafoss waterfall to snap a few pictures and enjoy this mighty waterfall. Then, I had to really brainstorm about what I wanted to do next. My next stop was Vestrahorn and the town of Höfn, which I was planning on heading to the next morning. I was going to be in that area of Iceland for Friday and part of Saturday, and wanted to capture pictures of the Vestrahorn mountains at sunrise, but the weather didn’t look so great for Saturday morning when I was hoping to be there. The weather did look good for Friday morning though, but I wasn’t planning on getting to that area until later on Friday afternoon. Then, in checking the northern lights forecast, my best shot of seeing the aurora was going to be that night. I made a really crazy decision to abandon my second night at the hostel in Skogarfoss and drive to Vestrahorn, where I could just sleep in the car once I made the 4 hour journey. So, I packed up my stuff, checked out at the front desk (they were really confused why I was not staying the second night that I bought…), and started my drive at about 7:00 PM.
I needed gas for the car, since I had a quarter of a tank left, and so I tried stopping at a gas station in Vik. But, apparently all cards (credit/debit) require a chip on them AND a pin number. The thing is, my credit cards don’t have any pin number assigned to them. So I was getting really frustrated because I was in need of gas but couldn’t get any with my credit cards. I tried putting in the zip code, thinking that would work, but NOPE. I decided to drive another hour to another town, where they had two gas stations. I tried using my credit cards again, but they weren’t working. Finally, I used my debit card and pin number and it worked, thank the LAWD. If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t be in Vestrahorn by morning at all. Gas stations that have attendants normally let you buy a prepaid card using a credit card. or you can pump your gas and go inside to pay. But, most of these stations close so early, that once you’re past 8, you’re screwed.
Finally, after about 4.5 hours, I made it to Höfn. I drove around the town briefly before realizing that obviously, everything was closed. I drove out of town and headed to Vestrahorn, about 15 minutes away. I pulled into a small parking lot off the side of the road near Vestrahorn and took a nap. I don’t sleep well in weird places, including cars, so I tried to pass the time in any way I could. I watched Parks and Rec on Netflix for a couple of hours and stared at the sky. Sadly, I didn’t factor in the near full moon that was out in the sky, so between the off-and-on cloudy skies and the bright ass moon, there was no visible aurora that night. This story continues!
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Day 2
March 28, 2018
After an incredibly restful night sleeping, I woke up for some breakfast with the Magnusson family. We had pepperoni, ham, different slices of bread and carbs, Swedish cheese, boiled egg, orange juice, coffee, and cucumber and tomatoes. I’m really digging how healthy breakfast is in Iceland. I don’t know if this is what a typical breakfast is like, but it’s really wonderful and filling!
I left Reykjavik heading southeastward towards Iceland’s southern coast and Route 1. This direction is incredibly popular among foreign tourists because you have a large concentration of attractions, most of which are a few hundred meters from the road. The first big attraction is Seljalandsfoss, a gorgeous 60 meter (200 foot) waterfall, that’s fed by the glacial meltwater of Eyjafjallajökull Iceland’s famed glacial volcano. This waterfall is truly unique in that you can walk behind it and get a 360-degree view of it. If you want to avoid the crowds, going before 9:00 AM and after 7:00 PM will certainly help with that. I stopped by at 11:00 AM, and there were tour buses and several hundred people there.
A few hundred meters to the left of Seljalandsfoss sits Gljúfrabúi, another gorgeous waterfall that cascades from a 40 meter (~130 foot) cliff. There’s a paved walking path from Seljalandsfoss, and following that, you’ll reach this gorgeous waterfall. This one is a little less popular, and you’ll need to get a little wet to get right up to it. It’s partially shielded by large rock cliffs, so you’ll have to crawl in between the rocks through a small crevice that only fits one person at a time. Once you get through the rocks, you’re rewarded with this amazing and powerful waterfall. If you didn’t get wet from hopping across rocks in the stream, you’ll definitely be blasted by the fall’s mist.
There actually another vantage point from which to view Gljúfrabúi. To see the waterfall from high up, you’ll need to complete a short but strenuous climb that was actually pretty dangerous. Once you get to the end of this hike/climb, you’ll encounter a large rock, where you have to really pull yourself up so that you can see Gljúfrabúi. Make sure you put your feet in the right places! I was struggling a little bit with that, especially on the way down. But I made it!
After enjoying these two waterfalls, I continued on Route 1 heading eastward. The wind started to really pick up at this point, gusting to 40-50 mph. About 30 minutes later, I arrived at my next destination: Seljavallalaug, which is where there’s a warm thermal pool that sits in a beautiful valley with a spectacular view of lush mountains all around. You have to park your car in this gravel area and hike in for about 15-20 minutes, and the views are spectacular. Except for the fact that when I tried getting out of the car, the wind made opening the door really difficult. I should have known right then and there that this was probably not a good idea to hike into a valley to swim in a pool… but whatever. After about 20 minutes, I came across the pool and a large concrete building that’s the changing room for visitors. Honestly though, it was a giant concrete building with three rooms that were pretty nasty and disgusting, with mud, old clothes, and underwear sitting around. And as I stood in that room with a couple from Chicago, I really debated if stripping and wearing a bathing suit in 30-degree weather with 50 mph winds and sleet was something I really wanted to do. But I mean, when in Iceland…
So of course, I did. I put on my boardshorts, took off my many layers, and walked out there shirtless like a total boss. There were maybe 5 other people in the pool. I turned on my GoPro, and quickly descended the steps into the pool. I was told before I got in that there’s only one single pipe that feeds hot water to the pool. Apparently, other pipes over the years have been redirected to other locations, so the pool is lukewarm at best but comfortably warm by where the pipe discharges geothermal hot water. I sat in the water, and tried swimming around a little bit. I managed to swim a few meters before my muscles started to cramp up from being so cold. After maybe 10 minutes, I decided I probably had enough. I admit though that after getting out, I felt really refreshed and recharged. Was it the minerals in the water? Was it my body being shocked by the cold? No idea…
After hiking back to my car, I drove on for another 15 minutes and arrived at my AirBnB, which is actually a hostel (Hostel Skogar). It sits right next to the Skógafoss waterfall, which is also about 60 meters high (200 feet tall). The cliff from which the water cascades used to be the sea cliffs for this part of Iceland. The coastline has since grown and moved about 5 kilometers, but the seacliffs remained at this height, which is crazy when you think about it. I decided to rest in the hostel for a bit and then head out to the waterfall after dinner. It was really fun to sit by the waterfall, with only a handful of people (unlike Seljalandsfoss earlier in the day). After taking some more photos, I went back to the hostel, and talked with some new friends I met. One girl was from Germany, two cousins were from Canada and England, and a few more people were from California. Finally, after a long day, I fell asleep.
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Day 1
March 27, 2018
After my flight was delayed for about 3 hours from Newark to Keflavik because of bad weather in Iceland, I hopped on board the WOW Air flight to begin my journey to Iceland! The plane was incredibly hot and uncomfortable, but it was only about a 6 hour flight, so I sucked it up and dealt with it. I purposely chose the window seat on the left side of the plane in hopes that I’d see the Northern Lights. After about 3-4 hours into the flight, I peaked out of my window, and saw a very faint but visible green glow moving across the sky. It was too faint to get a decent shot with my camera phone, but it was pretty exciting! Sadly, that would be the only time I would see the Aurora the entire trip :(
After arriving at the airport and stepping out of the airplane, I was blasted with wind and rain. It’s not like I didn’t expect the weather to be terrible, but it was insanely windy, at least 40-50 mph in 30-something degree temperatures and rain showers.
After I picked up my rental car from Avis/Budget, I made my way to Reykjavik. My brother put me in touch with the Magnusson family. He was friends with their son who went to Stanford, and they were gracious enough to offer me housing for a night.
So off I went to their home. And once I arrived, Kristin had a nice breakfast spread waiting for me, which consisted of a large block of swedish cheese, colorful breads, tomatoes and cucumber, cereal, and a liquidy yogurt that was tasty AF.
I talked with the husband, Sveinn, and he told me about the line of work that he does. He’s the Director General of the Ministry of Health, which is maybe loosely equivalent to the second in charge of the Department of Health in the United States. He’s well connected with the Icelandic government, and when he heard that my line of work deals with meteorology and emergency management, he called a few people up and arranged a meeting with me and several people that run Iceland’s emergency services and operations center…!
Here’s a quick (and hopefully accurate) crash course in Emergency Management in Iceland
Sveinn and his friends showed me around the 1-1-2 and emergency operations center in Iceland today. (1-1-2 is the equivalent of 9-1-1 in the United States.) They have a call center that takes emergency calls for fire, police, and Coast Guard (all three different call centers in the same building). They also have a Emergency Operations Center that functions like one would in the U.S. People with different responsibilities will come in and put on a vest and contribute however they can to assist in a disaster. This includes sectors like resources and management with representatives from health, media, police, and other areas that would all stage in that room during disaster.
Something else I learned was quite intriguing. The search and rescue operations in Iceland are primarily volunteer-based. People throughout the country volunteer to help and may be called upon to assist in rescue and recovery at a moment’s notice. Everything is coordinated from Reykjavik, and they have GPS trackers on all emergency vehicles and even can tap into locations of utility company vehicles and DOT vehicles, as they may function as emergency responders.
People get emergency management training here a lot more than they do in the United States. And if they choose, they may receive specialized training for diving, helicopter rescue, ice rescue, and other technical skill areas. Iceland has no standing military, national guard, or large law enforcement agency, so the work of volunteers is essential to everything that they do.
Their 1-1-2 call center in Reykjavik receives roughly 300,000 calls a year. About half of those calls requires an emergency response (fire, EMS, etc).
Their Coast Guard has detectors on all boats and crafts that are 6 meters or more in length. They have transponders that can be tracked by the Coast Guard at all times. If a transponder isn’t beaming back a signal, Coast Guard can call on other ships to see if a boat is in distress if it doesn’t show up on radar. Other boats and ships account for 80% of rescues of other ships.
There’s also a cool program where travelers in Iceland who are traveling alone can set up their positions and check in to let law enforcement know where they’re located. If they fail to check in, then emergency crews may go out to that area to see if they need help. Form more info on this, you can visit safetravel.is
Funding can also be an issue for something that is so dependent on volunteers. Firefighters and EMs make money by selling fireworks and figurines (Christmas collectibles/etc.) to people throughout the country. It’s become a tradition for people in Iceland to buy this stuff to support their emergency services!
After a nice tour, I returned to the Magnusson home to take a nap. I had slept maybe an hour in the last 36 hours, so I was quite sleep-deprived and jet-lagged.
After my nap, I walked around Reykjavik for about a couple of hours, taking in the sights and sounds before returning home.
I had dinner with the Magnusson’s and a Ph.D. student named Adam, who is studying anthropology and the beginnings of the Icelandic Healthcare system. We all ate dinner, which was so delicious. Kristin made salmon with olives and other vegetables. We actually started out with half of an avocado with boiled shrimp (cold) and feta/mozarella cheese in oil as a spread. It was really delicious, especially with a squeeze of lemon. We also had baked potato slices, salad with red bell pepper, onions, and other sauce. And chocolate cake and fresh whipped cream for dessert along with a giant hollow Easter egg. We talked for 5 hours that night, and finally I hit the hay and passed out hard.
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SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT PRO TIPS ABOUT DRIVING IN ICELAND
How does one get around Iceland? Well, if you’re trying to get around Reykjavik, you can certainly get around quite easily with their bus transit. But if you’re hoping to explore the country, you have a few options.
You can either book tours that will take you around in charter buses or vans. You can rent your own car and drive around. Or, you can hitchhike around, which is apparently extremely safe and commonplace in Iceland. I’m not one to hitchhike, and I hate organized tours, so I opted to rent my own car.
I rented from Avis/Budget at the Keflavik Airport, and they gave me a small little Hyundai, which was perfect for travelling alone. They’ll recommend you get all sorts of insurance for sand/ash protection and a ton of other things. It’s up to you, but I got the basic insurance, which still ended up costing me nearly $400 USD for 9 days. Pro Tip 1: Buy insurance for your vehicle online before you get to the airport, and do it at least 24 hours before you’re scheduled to pick up the vehicle because it costed 5x more for the insurance when I got it at the counter. It would have been around $8 a day but ended up being $40 a day for the car I had.
Pro Tip 2:To get around Iceland, I recommend either getting a mobile hotspot internet for your car (a MiFi device), or you can do what I did and download offline maps on my Google Maps app and then use that without ever needing internet on the road. The only downfall is you don’t get road closure or traffic information, but that’s not too necessary when you’re driving around Iceland.
Pro Tip 3: Before you get on the road, here are two extremely important websites you should look at when you have wifi.
The thing about Iceland is the weather is insane. It will change in a matter of seconds, and you may not see it coming. Safetravel.is is a great website because it gives you a lot of practical safety advice on traversing the country. You can also upload your travel itinerary, and in the event that you’re lost or something happens to you, rescue parties can find you based on your plans you’ve sent to them.
Road.is is super awesome because it tells you about road conditions and road closures. The main highway in Iceland is Route 1, also known as Ring Road (Þjóðvegur 1 or Hringvegur). This road is normally open and okay to travel on when it’s NOT winter, but the other roads in the country are often affected by the weather. I used this website a lot when I was traveling through snowy parts of the country on the northern peninsula. Many roads were icy and impassable, so I made a detour and chose roads that were in good condition.
Last website. Check out the weather forecast and aurora borealis forecast on en.vendur.is. The weather is erratic in Iceland, but the forecasters are pretty good 1-2 days out. Always check the weather the day and night before you have big plans!
Ok, anyway, as far as roads are concerned, you’ll likely be on Route 1 for a large chunk of your trip. Near Reykjavik, the road is maybe 4 lanes wide with 2 lanes in each direction. But the large majority of Ring Road is 2 lanes, and many bridges you’ll encounter are 1 lane, so you’ll have to yield to oncoming traffic pretty often.
Even if it’s a sunny day, you are likely to encounter windy conditions. For me and my tiny Hyundai, we were blowing around like crazy in 60 mph winds on the southern coast of Iceland. And when a huge semi would come in the opposite direction, my car would wobble on the road and almost be uncontrollable. So, definitely be careful driving, and check road conditions before you leave!
Pro Tip 4: Getting gasoline can be a challenge because you could go for hours without seeing a gas station. Most gas stations you encounter will have a self-service option where you can use them 24/7. However, you need to be careful. To use a self-service pump, you need to have a credit or debit card with a chip AND A PIN NUMBER. My credit cards all have chips, but I never set up a pin number for my CREDIT cards. My DEBIT cards however have a pin number. After trying my credit cards unsuccessfully and freaking out thinking I would be stranded, I gave my debit card a try, and it worked! Unfortunately I got whacked with bank fees, because my debit card isn’t really meant to be used internationally. C’est la vie…!
Also, besides Ring Road, you’ll probably encounter a lot of gravel roads with potholes. Drive slowly and carefully through these to avoid damage to your undercarriage! Your rental car company will charge your ass for that!
Alrighty, now that we got that all out of the way, happy driving!
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