Icelandic Itinerary

Iceland is almost upon us.   My flight leaves Wednesday night at 11:40 and if all goes well we should be in Reykjavik by noon on Thursday (their time).  I still have to pack and purchase a few last minute items, but for the most part I’m ready to go.

I came back to NEPA Friday and my sister and I spent the night hammering out a rough Icelandic itinerary for ourselves.  I’ll post a “weekend trip idea” tomorrow or Wednesday but then I’ll most likely be going radio silent on the blog for a week since I will be traveling sans computer.  If possible I’ll try to upload some pictures either here or to twitter, and if not I’ll post as much as I can when we get back on the 30th.

One thing I always have to remind myself when traveling is that I cannot possibly see everything.  We’ll be in Iceland for eight days, enough to get a feel for the country but not possibly enough time to see everything I want.  Due to the time and budget restraints we’re restricting ourselves to the southern part of the country, which is where most of Iceland’s population is centered.

We also tried to keep in mind when scheduling the trip to give ourselves room for last minute options and any changes we make once we get there.

Here’s what we came up with.  I’ll let you know next week how much of this we ended up following.

Icelandic Itinerary 2013

Thursday-

Our plane is due to touch down in Keflavik at 9.  Keflavik’s an hour bus ride from Reykjavik so we’re hoping to check into our hostel,  Reykjavik Backpackers, by noon.  The hostel looks really awesome and has great reviews.  You could also rent bikes which we’re considering or else just exploring Reykjavik by foot.  Iceland’s capital is small and manageable and there’s a lot of interesting architecture and museums to check out.  I’m sure we’ll be all sorts of jetlagged so probably will end up calling it an early night or else partaking in the happy hour at the hostel bar.

Friday-

Friday is one of our “free” days.  We don’t have a ton planned.  Our two options are to hike Mt. Esja, located directly outside of Reykjavik or else take a bus out to Hvegageroi and hike amongst the geothermal hot springs and rivers.  Friday we’re taking it easy as we have a big day on Saturday and plan on going on an Icelandic brewery tour.

Saturday-

I think Saturday might be the crown jewel of our trip.  We’re going on an all day excursion through Arctic Adventures.  In the morning we’re going snowmobiling on a glacier and white water rafting on the Hvita River in the afternoon.  It’s a full day affair and we plan on coming back and going out hard Saturday night.  Reykjavik’s weekend nightlife is legendary and we don’t have much planned for Sunday so are going to take advantage of the all day sun and rage hard.

Sunday-

Sunday’s going to a bit a little bit of a recovery day.  Iceland is full of geothermal pools or “hot pot’s” where the locals go to relax or socialize.  We figured that’d be a perfect cure to the hangover we’ll almost undoubtedly experience.  Some other Sunday options are sea kayaking in Reykjavik, going whale watching, or a haunted Reykjavik tour.

Monday-

Monday is our second day with Arctic adventures.  We’re horseback riding through lava fields in the morning in snorkeling in Pingvellir National Park in the afternoon.

Tuesday

Tuesday I think we’re going to rent a car and travel the south Ring Road (the ring road encompasses the island’s entire coast) to the Jokursalon Glacial Lagoon.  Google image it.  It looks amazing.  The South Ring Road also passes the small town of Vik with black sand beaches and glaciers and volcanoes of its own.

Wednesday

Wednesday’s more or less our last official day in Iceland.  On Thursday we fly back early in the morning.  We’re traveling back to Keflavik to visit the Blue Lagoon, arguable Iceland’s most famous tourist attraction.  If time, Keflavik also has a Viking museum.