On my way to and around Iceland

I’m on my way to Iceland! No this is not a scheduled post, I am physically at the London Heathrow airport, waiting for my flight to Reykjavik.

Boarding to Iceland!

These days have been crazy, I had a flu and zero time to pack and buy the stuff I needed, so most of you didn’t even know I was planning to visit Iceland. Well, now since I have good 5 hours to wait, I can finally update my blog!

The itinerary

In total, I am spending seven full days in Iceland. Today and the 14th of February I will be traveling all day so they don’t count!
What counts is that I will land in Reykjavik around midnight so I hope to see the aurora from my window seat (I reserved a north facing one for this!). I know this will probably remain just a dream but it’s not forbidden to hope, is it?

Tomorrow morning I will pick up my 4×4 car from SADcars – they deliver! I will meet one of their representatives downstairs from the building where I am sleeping. Cool, huh? I didn’t feel like driving tonight, so I will jump on a Flybus (with free wifi on board… yes please!) and comfortably reach my destination in town.

I booked my stay in Reykjavik through Wimdu, and I found this website simply genius. I will sleep in two different places throughout the week, both are apartments owned by locals who rent out an extra room. Does it get any more “authentic” (yeah I know this word is hideous but still appropriate!) than this? Nah.
Expect a review or two!

What else? Oh yep. Tomorrow night the Reykjavik Winter Lights Festival, aka “Amazing Darkness”, is starting with concerts (free hot chocolate for everyone – me likes) and suggestive events all around the city. So tomorrow is my “Reykjavik exploration day”. For now I only plan to buy a simcard and see where my heart takes me…

I won’t spend the weekend in Reykjavik – I am not into pub crawls or anything like that so I will miss the runtur with pleasure. I am going to a place called Höfn í Hornafirði, in the eastern part of Iceland, for 2 full days. And I will also make sure I learn how to pronounce it, promise!
I decided to go when I saw the fantastic photography by Runólfur Hauksson (aka the Aurora Photo Guide!), a professional photographer I stumbled upon on Facebook. When I realized how amazing the surrounding areas are, I decided to go. Lagoons, glaciers, icebergs, wait for me!

Icebergs: amazing photography by Runólfur Hauksson

Rainbow: amazing photography by Runólfur Hauksson

Aurora: amazing photography by Runólfur Hauksson

I won’t be going by car as I am alone and don’t feel like driving on icy roads, especially because my arm is still very weak and hey why should I stress myself out? Lazy-bum-me is flying to Höfn í Hornafirði with Eagleair. Compared to the bus, it takes about a tenth of the time, and costs just about €20 more. To me it sounded like the perfect option. Then again, if I had a group of friends with me I wouldn’t mind the 5 hours drive at all, but you know what I mean.

Two days of inspiring landscapes and hopefully good photos wait for me in and around Höfn í Hornafirði (Jökulsárlón, glaciers). Please, cross your fingers for me, I need to see at least an Aurora before I fly back!

After that, I will go back to Reykjavik and spend the remaining nights there: I found a ride back to the city. Hitchhiking is very common in Iceland, and there’s even a very popular website for carpooling, called Samferda. It makes sense, because long drives divide the cities of Iceland, and sharing the ride is always a good idea. I am so excited!

The last three days will see me jumping on and off buses and my car all the time to explore the Golden Circle, go swim in the Blue Lagoon, and explore the southern coast of Iceland all the way to Vik.
I am having a pretty “classic” itinerary, and whatevs! I love it!

Of course, all of the above days will involve lots of feverish weather and aurora forecasts research, and sleepless nights waiting for the green wonder of wonders: the northern lights! Please please please.
But you know what? If I don’t see any, I will go back. What’s the matter after all?

Did you guess how excited I am? I hope so! I still can’t believe I will be in Reykjavik tonight… I’ve been dreaming of visiting Iceland since I started thinking about travel, and I wonder why it took me so long to finally go! Well here I am. Updates soon!

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