Iceland?

I outlined in my New Year’s Resolutions post that going abroad again was one of my top priorities of 2013, but I’d need to be thriftier than I was with Ireland.  I’ve been doing some personal research on my downtime, weighing destinations, and lengths of time, and prices and have come to the conclusion that my next major travel goal will be to do Iceland this June.

I chose Iceland for several reasons:

• I’ve mentioned before that it’s been on the top of my international travel wish-list for a while now.
• Flights to Iceland, especially in June, are relatively cheap.  I’ve found that the average round trip ticket out of JFK is about $600, which considering it’s international isn’t too shabby.
• While I’ve long been interested in Iceland, it doesn’t hold the same type of allure Ireland had.  I wanted to see all of Ireland which is why we spent two weeks touring the country.  I’d be perfectly fine touring Reykjavik, the Blue Lagoon, and going on several outdoor excursions which would mean that the trip could be 5 days to a week.  Iceland’s also a small country and a majority of it isn’t developed.
• Iceland is rated high on many lists as a top party destination and homes to some of the most attractive people.
• In June (when I’d like to go) Iceland has almost 24 hours of daylight. You could day drink at night!
• I found a website that has the coolest outdoor adventure excursions.  I’ve decided that my top picks would be glacial hiking (which includes a chance to attempt to ice climb), riding horseback through a lava field, and snorkeling in the crevice where the North American and European continents are being torn apart.  Bonus excursions would be ATVing or white water rafting, but I’m trying to be realistic about this with both time and money; if it happens great, if not I’ll be pleased with the aforementioned bits.
• Icelandic social culture is dominated by geothermal pools (sometimes called “hot pots.”  People go there to relax and socialize, and because alcohol is expensive in bars, they often drink there as well.