A Spontaneous Four Days In Reykjavic, Iceland
I had just returned from a work trip in Hawaii, my house was still rented and I had not done one of these spontaneous trips in a while. Iceland had been on my mind. On Thursday, I woke up and said to myself that if I could find a flight using miles, that I would go. So yea: by noon I found a flight from Cleveland to Reykjavic for 46,000 miles and $45…leaving that day. Four hours later I was on my way to the airport.
During my connection at JFK in New York, I used my phone to book a hotel room for the first night. I landed Friday morning, and immediately started exploring.
In short, it was as beautiful as I’d imagined.
I saw the Blue Lagoon (but didn’t go in); drove through the Þingvellir (or Thingvellir) National Park and looked out over valley that separates the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates; looked down into the Gullfoss - the ‘golden waterfalls’ inside a canyon; and watched the Strokkur geyser erupt.
I took a tour on the Ring Road to the southeast. I stood behind the amazing Seljalandsfoss waterfall, climbed the 500+ stairs to the top of Skógafoss falls, had a typical Iceland soup in the town of Vik. I imagined the mystical stories as I walked along the Reynisfjara Black sand beach. I hiked to the amazing Sólheimajökull Glacier, which runs from the famed Myrdalsjokull glacier and sits between the Kalta and Eyjafjallajökull volcanos. It was wild to see this huge ice mountain, and at the same time sad to see how fast it’s been melting. I soaked in the less famous Secret Lagoon, took a walking tour of Reykjavic, took an evening swim in thermal-heated city pool, and walked to the Laugardalsvöllur - Iceland’s national soccer stadium - and tipped my hat for their incredible EURO run and for tying Argentina at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
I took a night tour to look for the Northern Lights. And while I never saw them, the experience was still cool, and left me excited for when I return.
