If you’ve never traveled across multiple time zones before, my biggest piece of advice is to get a flight that leaves in the evening and arrives in the morning. You can sleep on the plane and when you wake up in your destination it’s morning. That way you don’t lose any time that could be otherwise used for planned parts of your trip, and you can pretty much beat the jet lag before it happens.
We flew into the Reykjavik airport early in the morning, and had to kill a little bit of time before KuKu arrived to shuttle us to their main site. We spent some time getting through customs, found a little café/sandwich shop, and abused the built in phone chargers and free wi-fi.
When we booked our van, one of the extras we selected was transportation from the airport to KuKu (and drop off at the airport on the last day). It ended up costing a little extra, but we really didn’t want to mess around with a taxi or other shuttle for the 30 minute drive into the city, especially when we were not at all sure where we were supposed to go. Two guys from KuKu showed up right when they were supposed to with a sign displaying our names, we piled all of our luggage into the vans along with the two other groups that were picked up, and off we went.
We were dropped off at the main office for KuKu, and from there it was just a simple process of signing the last few papers, paying the remaining balance, and picking up our extra options. They made sure we could turn the van on, knew how to shift it and to remember that the parking brake was essential, and how to work the heater in the back, and we were on our way.
It was a short drive down to downtown Reykjavik, where we managed to find parking right next to Hallgrímskirkja, which worked out well because that was our first stop. Two years ago, when Ashley and I did our Euro trip (posts on that to come later!), we decided that we would try to find a vantage point for a bird’s eye view of every place we went to. In Reykjavik, Hallsfrimskirkja is the place to do it from. Going into the church is free, and if you want to take the elevator to the tower, it’s 900 ISK (about $9). It’s a fantastic 360-degree view of the city, the water, and the surrounding mountains. Afterward, we just wandered up and down the streets of the city, stopped at a few cafes, and investigated shops until we knew which ones we wanted to go back to. As far as gift shops go, Reykjavik is pretty much the only place with good options. We made sure we got everything we wanted for ourselves and our friends and families while we were there, and then safely carted it all in the bin meant for dishes for the rest of our trip.
Hallgrímskirkja
Reykjavik from above
Before leaving the city, we made a stop at a Bonus grocery store to stock up for the duration of our trip. We had brought a big jar of peanut butter and a huge amount of granola bars with us, but wanted to get bread, fruit, and some pasta things for us to cook at our campgrounds. Side note – the Icelandic people are apparently very intense and very particular about the speed and method by which they shop. We of course had no idea where anything was and were wandering aisles for a while, and definitely got some not-so-pleased looks from the locals. Think of Target or Best Buy on Black Friday, and translate that to a grocery store. It was actually a little terrifying. Luckily, that was the only grocery trip we needed to take.
Once we made it back to the van and recovered from our grocery-store trauma, we set off on the 40-minute drive down to the Blue Lagoon. This was one of three things that we booked ahead of time for the trip, and pre-booking there is actually required – you pick an entrance time, and must be there at that time. We booked tickets at the Comfort level (~$80), which included entrance to the lagoon and everything else on the compound, a locker in the changing room and a towel to use, a silica mud mask and an algae mask that we put on while we were in the lagoon itself, and our first drink free from the lagoon bar. It’s well worth the detour to one of the only “semi-man-made” touristy places in the country. I’ve never seen water that color blue before, and for a geo-thermal lagoon, there’s not really a strong smell that goes along with it. This was another huge perk for going at the time we did – there were very few other guests there at the same time we were.
The Blue Lagoon
Stacy and Ashley with silica mud masks on
We hung out at the lagoon for a few hours, and then drove to our first campground of the trip (1 hour and 15 minute drive). We stayed at the Akranes campground – one of the camping card sites which was just north of Reykjavik. It was a little bit of back-tracking, but put us in a good spot to start our exploring the next day.
