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Other Tidbits About Iceland

04.27.2015 by Jane // 5 Comments

Rock Formations near Hellnar
Rock Formations near Hellnar

Welcome to the third installment of my Iceland series where I’ll share other tidbits about Iceland, following my first two posts, “10 Things You Need to Know About Visiting Iceland” and “Our Experience with Nordic Visitor in Iceland.”

  • There were surprisingly few tourists, even for the end of the high season.  That’s one compelling reason you should visit soon!  I cannot see this beautiful destination not exploding in popularity.  My favorite place, Fjardrargljufur canyon, was completely empty.  The landscape is unmarred by droves of people.
  • The lack of people actually ended up being beneficial for me in particular because Iceland is pretty lax on safety.  Not in a negligent way, but in a use-common-sense-and-don’t-be-an-idiot way.  There are endless places where you could fall to your death so I was glad I wasn’t walking on the edges of waterfalls with a crowd.
  • Icelanders are nice, but not over-the-top friendly.  Americans are generally accustomed to excessively friendly service.  My husband and I speculated that it’s probably because in other countries, people in the service industry are working for tips.  To my knowledge Icelanders are paid a decent wage and don’t need to go to these measures.
  • Showering – We did not visit Blue Lagoon but instead went to the less touristy Myvatn Nature Baths.  It was a literal local watering hole – it seemed like a place for the locals to hang out on a Friday night.  I am not sure if this holds for Blue Lagoon which has more tourists but at the Myvatn baths they require a nude shower.  For Europeans this is totally normal but American women, particularly younger ones, tend to err on the side of modesty in the locker room.  Fortunately they do have a couple of shower stalls.
  • Wireless – We were able to get wireless at every hotel we stayed at which we could use on our phones.  Our phones themselves did not work – I think if you can switch out your SIM card you could buy one upon arrival.  With a map, a GPS, and the prepaid phone from Nordic Visitor a smart phone was wholly unnecessary.  We did, however, stay at the middle range of hotels offered by our travel agent which were on the nicer side.  I cannot speak to hostels and cheaper hotels.
  • Volcanoes – this was especially concerning for us because Bardarbunga was thought to be on the verge of eruption about a week or two before our scheduled arrival.  We checked it out on a map and Bardarbunga is fairly central on the island and slightly east.  The airport in Keflavik is on the southwest edge of Iceland.  When Eyjafjallajökull erupted in 2010, the ash cloud floated east towards Europe so we weren’t concerned about the flight.  We also wouldn’t be going anywhere near it.  The biggest concern was that it could melt a glacier that would flood Route 1, the main route around Iceland.  The best thing to do in this situation is to listen to the locals.  Iceland has 30 active volcano systems so they are truly the experts.  We Googled the status of Bardarbunga daily and Sigfus at Nordic Visitor offered to call us if there was a problem.  Additionally, Sigfus marked off any potentially problematic roads on our map and gave us a phone number for checking roads.  It was easy to use and we checked the status of those roads on the days we were trying to use them.
  • Alcohol – I can’t personally speak to this but I believe alcohol is highly taxed in Iceland, so I heard that you should stock up at duty-free if you want to drink more affordably during your trip.
  • Hitchhikers – for the brave of heart it is quite common to hitchhike around Iceland.  We did not pick anyone up.
  • Gas Stations – be sure to fill up on gas often because they aren’t open 24/7.  Also, at one of the gas stations we stopped at they had actually run out of gas.
  • Drinking Water – I am always worried about getting sick in foreign places.  Rest assured that the water in Iceland is clean and drinkable, which leads me to my next point.  Should you contract an illness of the stomach variety…
  • Bathrooms – they are plentiful, clean, and free.  We never had to pop a squat on the side of the road!  However…
  • I did not see any large medical facilities along our journey.  I am sure that there were doctors but I don’t know how far you’d have to travel to get to one.  Along that same vein (ha), I don’t remember seeing a lot of medication in stores so I would bring along the basics – ibuprofen, Tums or Pepto, cold medicine, etc.  You wouldn’t want to be bogged down with discomfort during your glorious adventure!

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have questions!

Categories // Travel Tags // need to know about iceland, other tidbits, visit iceland

Our Experience with Nordic Visitor in Iceland

04.27.2015 by Jane // 6 Comments

Glacial Lagoon
Glacial Lagoon

Here is the second installment of my smash hit, “10 Things You Need to Know About Visiting Iceland.”  In this post I will be talking about my husband’s and my overwhelmingly positive experience with Nordic Visitor in Iceland.

We decided to go to Iceland on somewhat of a whim.  About five weeks before we wanted to go, my husband started exploring the Nordic Visitor website which offers an abundance of different tours.  He contacted them with some questions and a man named Sigfus responded.  We actually were planning on going to Iceland two years prior but that was sidelined when my in-laws told us they were going to Kenya.  Given that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we decided to take that trip.  Interestingly enough, Sigfus was our correspondent the first time around as well.

We settled on the tour we wanted and purchased it online with a credit card.  We had to purchase our flights independently.  We paid for our transportation (rental car and airport rides) and hotel through their website.  Nordic Visitor offered three levels of hotel and we chose the middle level.  I would compare it to the Hampton Inn in the US.  The rooms weren’t large but most of the hotels were furnished in a clean, modern style with Ikea furniture.  The breakfast buffets were extensive and fresh.  The dinners were comparable to a steak house in price and atmosphere.

Sigfus then contacted us about excursions.  We told him a little bit about us – that we wanted to do a little bit of everything but nothing extreme or physically harrowing.  Sigfus recommended several and we pretty much said yes to all of them.  He then charged us for the following excursions on our card:

  • Glacier hike
  • Boat ride in a glacial lagoon
  • Horseback riding
  • Nature baths
  • Cave walk
  • Whale watching

Sigfus also charged us for a couple extra nights’ stay given that we were visiting for a non-standard number of nights (11).  Also, there did not appear to be an explicit cost for Nordic Visitor’s services.  We did not check every item on our itinerary, but at a glance they charged us the same amount as we would pay if we purchased the excursions directly.

After arriving in Iceland and getting our bags, we were greeted by a driver at the airport who gave us a folder with the following:

  • Vouchers for all of our hotel stays, transportation, and excursions. These are crucial – we had to hand them over each leg of our stay.  Nothing was digital.
  • Maps of Reykjavik and Iceland, highlighted with our trip and excursions.
  • A custom binder of our itinerary with one day per page. Each day listed all possible activities for that day as well as the hotel to get to at night with the GPS coordinates.  It also listed major attractions along our journey with pictures and descriptions.
  • A book containing most of places of interest in Iceland. If you saw a sign along the road that wasn’t highlighted on your map or listed in your custom binder, you could look it up and see what it’s about.
  • Contact information for Nordic Visitor and our hotels.
  • A cell phone with a small amount of credit on it, in case of emergencies.

We arrived in Reykjavik in the morning, checked into our hotel downtown, and spent the day wandering the city.  The next day we were picked up by a shuttle to take us to our rental car.  FYI – we did not need an international license.  Be sure to request an automatic if you need one since manuals are more common in Europe.

Sigfus offered to meet with us at the Nordic Visitor office to go through the materials and we took him up on that.  (An aside- we got a parking ticket for parking outside their office.)  No appointment was required.  He walked us through the maps and books and sent us on our way, but not before helping us with our car- reversing the vehicle was a bit tricky.  Don’t be afraid to ask for a demonstration!

Overall, working with Nordic Visitor to visit Iceland was effortless and I would highly recommend them.  Please check out my third installment, “Other Tidbits About Iceland,” and subscribe!

Categories // Travel Tags // iceland travel, nordic visitor, review nordic visitor, Travel, travel agent, visit iceland

10 Things You Need to Know About Visiting Iceland

04.12.2015 by Jane // 9 Comments

My husband and I visited Iceland in September 2014.  While researching our trip I felt there was a shortage of information on this spectacular destination, which actually inspired me to start a blog!  Here are the 10 things you need to know about visiting Iceland.

  1. You absolutely, positively have to go to there.

    Iceland Glacial Lagoon Travel Visit Need to Know
    Glacial Lagoon
  2. It’s crazy accessible. Reykjavik (pronounced “RAKE-ya-vick”), the capital of Iceland, is only a five and a half hour flight from Boston.  Technically you fly into Keflavik but Reykjavik is only 40 minutes away.  You’d never believe that this otherworldly place is practically next door.
  3. It’s easy to get around. We rented a car through Nordic Visitor but I would imagine you could easily schedule everything on your own if you wanted.   (I’ll do a separate post on Nordic Visitor’s services.)  You essentially take one road, Route 1, all the way around the island.  The sights are incredibly easy to find.  We had a GPS and a map and surprisingly, I was able to exclusively use the map despite being spatially-impaired.

    Seljalandsfoss Travel Visit Iceland Need to Know Waterfall
    Seljalandsfoss
  4. You don’t need to learn the language. In fact, some people encourage you not to because Icelandic is one of the most difficult languages for native English speakers and you’ll likely be unintelligible anyway.  I am generally an opponent of assuming your own culture is dominant and that everyone else should subscribe to it, but after studying some of the Icelandic letters and differences in vowel pronunciation, I was happy to use English.  We didn’t encounter anyone who couldn’t.

    Rock Formations near Hellnar Travel Visit Iceland Need to Know Cliffs Ocean
    Rock Formations near Hellnar
  5. The food is delicious…and expensive. Before our trip, my husband went on and on about the putrefied shark we’d be consuming so at the very least I was happy that I’d lose a few pounds during our adventure.  However, that was absolutely not the case.  Our meals were quite American-friendly with a base of meat like lamb, steak, and chicken, plus basic vegetables and starches.  The fish was excellent as well- my husband abhors the taste of seafood but even he ordered fish because it was amazingly fresh.  One important note for more frugal travelers – most meals, even as simple as a sandwich, side of fries, and a drink – cost about $20 per person.  You could certainly save by eating Icelandic-style hot dogs, sharing meals and supplementing with snacks (we did this), or making your own lunches from the grocery stores we encountered in every large town.  We also ate as much as possible at the hotel buffet breakfast.  Those were actually some of our favorite meals.  We’d load up on fresh bread and butter, cheeses, deli meats, hard boiled eggs, fresh fruit, and pastries.
  6. However, you can’t get food at night. This didn’t really become a problem until one night at the end of our trip when I was upset with my husband for [of course] some forgettable reason.  The hotel dinners were typically on the fancier side, comparable to a steak house in price and ambience.  I’d guess about a third of the hotels we stayed at had alternative eats nearby.  We were at one of the ones that did not and given my crabbiness I did not feel like sitting through a nice hotel meal.  I came to regret that shortly after 8 PM when there was nothing open and even the hotel doesn’t offer anything.  I had brought a box of Cliff bars from home but had tired of them after 10 days.  I alternately tried to manage my nausea from hunger and aversion to eating something I had had too much of (first world problems) by nibbling at Cliff bars in the fetal position and whining incessantly.  Fortunately for my husband I was able to drift off and surprisingly I lived until breakfast.

    My Favorite Place - Fjadrargljufur Canyon Travel Visit Iceland Need to Know River Hike
    My Favorite Place – Fjadrargljufur Canyon
  7. Paying is easy – we used our Visa card pretty much everywhere. Our preferred card, Discover, was not widely accepted.
  8. The weather is manageable. I can only speak to our trip which was at the very tail end of the tourist season in late August/early September.  It was never that cold, usually in the 40’s and 50’s, but it would often rain at some point during the day.  For the most part I would wear a pair of leggings or two and if it rained I’d throw some waterproof pants over top.  On top I’d typically wear a tank, long sleeve t-shirt, and a lightweight waterproof winter coat with a hood.  I also brought an umbrella along which was useful when I got tired of having a wet face.  (Just because your clothing is waterproof, doesn’t mean you want to be a direct path for the rain to the ground.)  I did wear hiking boots but I don’t believe this was totally necessarily.  A pair of sneakers with good traction would probably do the trick, but again you want something on the waterproof side, and always have extra socks.

    Hiking on a Glacier Travel Visit Iceland Need to Know Mountains
    Hiking on a Glacier
  9. You’re never that far from what you need. You don’t need special backpacks or lots of on-the-go supplies.  You pretty much drive right up to the waterfall, ocean-side cliff, or glacier that you want to see, so you don’t need to carry much.  Along those same convenience/comfort lines, for the ladies in particular, there are clean public bathrooms everywhere.

    Whale Watching Boat in Husavik Travel Visit Iceland Need to Know Ocean Sea
    Whale Watching Boat in Husavik
  10.  You don’t need to be an extreme sports enthusiast to explore the sights. I’d recommend being able to comfortably walk a couple miles with some hills.  My husband and I are pretty middle-of-the-road when it comes to athleticism.  The great thing is, the views are so stunning that you don’t notice your heart working a little harder.  The same thing goes for the weather – it’s easy to ignore to the rain when you’re in complete awe.

    Sunset in Hofn Travel Visit Iceland Need to Know Lobster Ocean Hike
    Sunset in Hofn

Thanks for reading!  For more information please check out, “Our Experience with Nordic Visitor” and “Other Tidbits About Iceland!”  Please leave a comment and subscribe!

Categories // Travel Tags // Iceland, Travel

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I am a number-loving analyst by day and couch potato by night. This blog is devoted to anything and everything that makes me happy, without apology.

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