The Munchkin's Notebook

Londrangar Now that my trip to Iceland is over, and I had time to reflect on the experience and edit all my photos these are my final thoughts on the trip.  In general it was a good vacation, have I had better yes; was it an experience, definitely.   Over the course of the trip, we found Iceland is not ready for an influx of tourists, and in not a luxury destination. We found many of the accommodations outside the two major cities were basically bed and breakfasts, which backpackers would consider luxury accommodations. I’m sorry but having to squeegee the bathroom floor because there is no shower stall, does not say upscale or classy accommodation to me.  I’ll grant many of the rooms were nice, it was always just little things that would catch you off guard, like the squeegee.  I also recommend getting use to the smelling like sulfur after your shower, because most of the hot water in the smaller locations smells heavily of sulfur.  Also, be prepared ...

Today was our last day in Iceland, we fly home tomorrow.  We capped the trip off with an hour snowmobiling ride on a glacier.  We were picked up at the Gullfoss visitor center, by a Mercedes off road van, it had really big tires. Think jacked up pickup truck with monster tires. It was a thirty minute drive on an “F” road (mountain dirt road requiring 4 wheel drive, actual 4 wheel drive not AWD).  They are serious about the “F” roads, regular passenger cars on them can get fined, they don’t really plow them, and the snow can be several meters deep.  So after the bumpy thirty minute drive we arrived at the shack to suit up into snowsuits suits and get on the snowmobiles. We had new four stroke, bright red snowmobiles, the handle bars were even heated to keep your hands toasty. When we started I was leading then was passed by my husband because I wasn’t going fast enough. It was interesting riding because there was a thin crust with snow underneath, very differen...

Husafoss Today we traveled from the northern area of Iceland past Reykjavik to the Golden Circle area.  It is about a 4 to 5 hour drive without stops, but we made several stops along the way.  Our first stop was at Husafoss to see two waterfalls. One of which comes out of lava rocks from underground rivers.  The second stop was at a point of interest which had a bunch of little cairns. The third stop was at Þingveller, which is a national park and was the location of the Viking Althing. We did a little bit of light hiking there, to a waterfall.  Then we headed up to Geysir, before heading to our hotel.  The Geysir was not as impressive as I hoped, especially after being at Yellowstone.  The Geysir area is small little cluster of geysers with one that erupts about every 10 to 15 minutes.  It was cute. Little Cairs before  Þingveller Waterfall at Þingveller Our hotel seems rather old; at least the furnishings make it feel that ...