  Large Bus tours are not my thing. But sometimes when I do not jump on my planning I miss out. By the time I figured out the weather for the last two days of Iceland the tours I wanted were full. I like small mini bus tours like the ones my friends said were good, http://gatewaytoiceland.is/about-us  But with out having WiFI for 2 days this bus tour was full, and I also missed out on Horse back riding. SO book those tours you know you want. Or you end up on a Reykjavik Excursion tour of the Golden circle with 40+ other people and most of time given to the gift shops. With the other culture experience of people not wanting to get off the bus, WHAT? You took a plane to get here you spent $60 on a tour and now you want to sit on the bus or go get a coffee. You could have saved $100’s of dollars with a video of Iceland at home with your T.V. just turn off your heat, but up the air con. It would be just like being in Iceland, right……  I loved my Baklava, a warm hat, that most people speak english, everyone was very kind. The scenery is amazing, I loved the northern lights. Small group tours best. I wish I had, booked my horse trip, brought little spiky things for my boots, the ice was so bad it was difficult to walk sometimes. Would have loved to rent a car and in winter problematic you never know what will happen with the weather. The rain was really bad and driving in the dark is a bit scary. It is dark most of the time so having a organized plan for site seeing is important. Most roads don’t have a divider, there is tons of ice and no where to get over if you drive slow. But with more people sharing the cost of a 4 wheel drive with spiked tires would be so worth it to have more time at different locations, go out in the night to watch the lagoon with northern lights. Bring a good tripod if going for northern lights the wind was really bad, everything blew around, my tripod broke it was free so very bad) Know how to work your camera in the dark, Practice!  Food was interesting and expensive. Ended up making food at Kim’s a bit. Greens and vegetables were sad, wonder if you could bring in your own? Hiking would be amazing in the summer or a horse trip. I made a salad, the lettuce alone was $8, crazy. Maybe I was shopping at the wrong locations. Skor is amazing yogurt had for breakfast and desert, YUM.
Iceland was a great adventure and I would totally do it again. The design is amazing. And the artist. Would love to do a Artist in Residency. Especially somewhere with no lights in the view in the winter for the northern lights.
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 On the Ice….. 40 people traipsing around on a Glacier, sounds fun, Right? I love being in the out doors connecting with nature, exploring. But doing it with 40 others, all talking, wow. I wish I could have said “And now a moment of silence, to take in all the beauty around us” but no. How I dealt with this was to get the last spot. The end of the train, so I could walk in peace. The blue of the ice is amazing, then lines of black, ash from eruptions and dust storms. I would not have thought it but I guess Dust storms are a huge issue and entire farm lands can have the top soil removed back to volcanic lava, the top soil just blows away.  You can see that the Glaciers are receding, melting away. Global warming in action.  What I learned today…..
That wearing a skirt on the Glacier I feel like I am an women’s explorer from the 1900’s. That cramp ons are fun and jumping on Glaciers is exciting. That americans can come up with a lots of jokes about Cramp ons, because it sounds like tampon, yes it is true “can I borrow a cramp on” “Wow I need a cramp on” they went on for awhile. I did laugh. |
