Iceland Family Holiday – Day Four – Last Day

Walked to town

Whale watching cancelled because of the weather Bus tour Sleep

No hurry with getting up today so no alarms or anything but we were up and out by 10.00am. We planned to be out all day so walked towards town and made our way along the waterfront. Quite bracing is how you’d probably describe the weather. Sun was out and it was beautifully clear and fresh but there was a cold wind coming through.

Saw a couple of the sights and then had breakfast at the deli we did yesterday and went down to the Old Harbour area to go to the Whale Watching area but not before popping into a flea market

Sadly, all out good luck had been used up and when we got to the kiosk there was a sign on the window announcing that our tour had been cancelled due to the weather. This was such a surprise and obviously a disappointment to all. Nothing we could do about it so tried to sort a refund and then made other plans

Walked further along the harbour to the Viking Centre they had set up called the Saga Museum. We decided to go in and it was fine. We had an audio tour through their history of Vikings settling in Iceland and then had costumes at the end for a photo opp! All a bit of fun

Left there and jumped on the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour that we had tickets for. Did the full one hour tour but we all slept through HJ it!! Everyone was shattered. We did a full circle and got off right next to the brewery and went in for a drink

That was nice and the others had hot chocolate and that. We then walked through the old harbour once more stopping at another bar for a local beer before making our way into the main shopping street where we went to the Chuck Norris Grill. Only two options in the menu, burger or double burger!! Along with beer and chips. Lovely!!

That was us done then, got a cab back to hotel and packed and crashed out. Everyone so tired. Also, because of lack of food the beer went straight to your head, I felt a bit pissed!! Anyway, as disappointing as it was to miss out on the whales we turned it into a successful day.

We’ve had a great time here. Very interesting country and very unique. Would definitely recommend other people to come and visits that’s for certain

Iceland Family Holiday – Day Three

Pouring with rain when we woke up, didn’t have anything organised until 1.30pm but were determined not to ease time so we stuck on the waterproofs and planned to walk to town centre but once outside we realised how much it was raining so we got a taxi from the hotel back to the bus terminal that we knew

That was quick into town and we walked round in a bit of a tour to the church and then the lake and back through the main area. Really nice walk although it was pouring and windy!

Stopped at a nice deli for brunch and then walked down the main road the same as last night and made our way home. Saw a really nice watch that I liked but I doubt we will get it. The walk back took about 40 mins which we expected and we crashed out for 40 Mins before being picked up for the Blue Lagoon trip. I’m on the transfer minibus now typing this and we’re not sure what to expect as it’s cold, raining and windy and we’re basically going to an outdoor swimming pool!!

So this was interesting!! Into a modern spa type facility, very nice set-up. Changed and then out to the lagoon. It seemed quite busy initially but once out there into the lagoon itself it was spacious and free.

So out we went into the cold and walking towards the water and in...bliss!! It was so very hot in there, it was amazing

Very salty water but so nice just to wade around the area. It didn’t disappoint at all. In fact the opposite, we were all so pleased and surprised with how good it was.

As part of the package we went up to one of the side bars there and applied silica compounds to our faces which was supposed to act like a face pack. It was quite amusing gliding round the pool with this white face pack on looking like Mrs Doubtfire and loads of other people exactly the same!! It caused a lot of mirth!!

The hard thing was washing it all off!

After that we then went to a bar that was located in the lagoon and we had beers and smoothies and that was relaxing.

The rain and wind didn’t affect the experience at all, what was cool was that often you couldn’t see anyone because of the steam coming off the water being so think. It really was a surreal experience.

After about 90 minutes of this relaxing we decided to make a move, there was no time limit at all and then got ready and caught the bus home

Quick change at the hotel and back into town!

We stopped at the Boston bar on the Main Street as it was just happy hour and in there we discussed other ideas for my 50 experiences which was amusing and we made some additions. Even with this pint because we’d not been eating all day I felt quite light headed. We then went down town and found a pizzeria and had a lovely dinner there. Huge great 16” pizzas that went down well

After that we found an Icelandic bar and had a couple of pints in there, I’d happily have stayed out but I think our new guy was done. We were all knackered.

Walked down the Main Street again and flagged a taxi again and got home

A great day and evening.

Iceland Family Holiday – Day One

Up at 5.45am and got everyone sorted and on the road towards Mums by 6.25am travel to Gatwick was no problem at all and we made really good time.

Through customs and a nice breakfast and then onto our Wow plane. Their service was fine even though we fell foul of the baggage size so had to pay for two items to go in the hold

Flight was about 2.5hrs and then we were here in Iceland. Had a coach organised that took us to the hotel which is basic but fine for us

We wandered around our area after a quick freshen up and found a lovely restaurant to eat. It was like a cinema club and was excellent. Really nice bloke in charge and Lewis and I had our first taste of Viking beer.

One thing about Iceland is the cost, it’s ridiculously expensive here. £8 a beer is cheap. Food is through the roof! Went back to the hotel after that and waited for pick up for our first excursion of the holiday.

We were taken out for the Northern Lights tour and we’d been told there was a good chance of witnessing them tonight...they were not wrong!!

Out we went away from Reykjavík into the wasteland and stopped a couple of times until we found a really good place to witness it happening. It was incredible to be honest.

It started in slow motion and expanded across the sky, it appears white to the naked eye but when captured on camera the blues and mostly the greens become apparent. I got pissed off with trying to take photos of it because I just could not get the right settings but I think I got two good photos out of god knows how many I took!!

We travelled round a bit more but the main place we stopped was the best one and soon the light show was no more. Since then the weather has been appalling and the trips have been cancelled so to have got the view and success we did on out very first day was incredibly lucky.

It was quite tiring in the bus travelling around and what with a long day anyway it was no surprise that we nodded off.

We were dropped back at the hotel around 11.00pm and everyone collapsed in bed in minutes.

A great start to our short break already!!