My Week In Iceland

Iceland, the land of fire and ice, had been on my bucket list for a while. When my initial plans to start in Portugal fell through, I heard Iceland recently opened up to US citizens with no need for negative test results to enter (if fully vaccinated). That was all I needed to hear to book my flight! Slowly making my way east, from Portland, to NYC, to Iceland, I didn’t deal with jetlag.

My first impression of Iceland: holy fuck, everyone is white! Lol no, but really… what a stark contrast from super-diverse NYC.

I’m bummed I didn’t have time to properly research or plan for this trip because I definitely missed out on other parts of Iceland that were too far from the capital, Reykjavik. Iceland is so damn expensive, I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever return. But if I could redo my trip, I would rent a car and drive to different parts of the country instead of booking my entire stay in Reykjavik.

All in all, everything worked out well and I still had a very memorable week!

Day 1: Exploring Reykjavik

If you were subscribed to my newsletter in June, I shared about the hassle of my first day in Iceland. I didn’t know (until I landed) that everyone was required to take a (free) COVID test upon arrival, even if you’re vaccinated, and quarantine until you receive negative test results.

In a nutshell: the morning was spent taking my COVID test, waiting, and quarantining until I received my negative test result about 5 hours later. There were some suspicions about the legitimacy of the test results, but who knows.

Once I was freed from my quarantine, I ventured outside to walk around, explore the city, and look for some food. The streets of Reykjavik are quite colorful! It helps lift the mood when it’s cold and a bit gloomy.

On my walk I offered to take a photo for this lovely Mexican couple from Texas. We ended up chatting on the sidewalk for a while in the misty rain. The conversation was so pleasant and lovely; I knew they were the kind of people I want to be friends with. We exchanged contact information before we parted ways.

As I was walking around, I was in a state of pure joy. I was smiling because here I was, in Iceland, doing the damn thing. Living my fucking dream of traveling the world solo!

I settled on a vegan café and had a nice bowl of warm curry. After I had enough of the cold, I hurried back to my room and started planning my Iceland trip. Last minute much?

I was in and out of sleep during my planning, waking up at various times throughout the night, and was dazed to see it never got dark. Even at 5am, it was still light out. This was my first exposure to the the Midnight Sun and it was weird.

Day 2: Food Tour and A Night Out on the Town

I was so exhausted from the constant on-the-go weeks leading up to Iceland, I took a much-needed nap.

When I woke up, I met the other girl in my dorm named Alex. An extroverted girl from NY, she was alone in the room her entire stay so she was so excited to have someone in the room for a change. It was her last evening in Iceland, so we made plans to do something together later in the evening.

My least favorite? The fermented shark. It was a tiny cube smaller than a cubic centimeter and it tasted like rubbing alcohol. I will usually eat anything, but this? I guess I’m glad I tried it? But never again *throw up emoji*.

After the tour, Alex and I met up and we went out on the town. Turns out, we share the same birthday! We got ice cream, rode scooters around the super cold windy city, and ended up at the KEX hostel (I didn’t realize at the time the connection to the KEX Hotel in Portland). It was amusing to witness my first Icelandic party. The music and the dancing was new and quite interesting.

Alex walked right up to a random group and started chatting with them. Oh, the balls. It was a group of mostly Americans, including a couple Asian dudes. It was pleasant meeting other Asians as there were basically zero in sight. I hung out until I couldn’t hang anymore. On my walk home, around midnight, it was still BRIGHT as day and it was so trippy.

Day 3: Golden Circle & Blue Lagoon

Starting in Reykjavik, our route included Thingvellir National Park, Geysir Geothermal Area, Strokkur hot springs, Gulfoss waterfall, and Kerid Volcano Crater. Finally, we relaxed at the famous Blue Lagoon.

We saw a woman bake bread in the ground, an active geyser, and the most insane waterfall I’ve ever seen.

We had an awesome group on this tour and we bonded over laughs and deep talks throughout the day. You don’t always get so lucky on tours, you never know what you’re gonna get.

People love the Blue Lagoon for the healing benefits of its mineral-rich water and soft white silica mud. We all enjoyed hanging out getting drinks and mud masks together inside the warm geothermal water.

As our tour guide was making the rounds dropping everyone off, we asked him to drop us off at the hot dog stand (that I visited the day before on my food tour) because we were starving. We all had at least two servings.

Day 4: Snæfellsnes Peninsula

We visisted Ytri Tunga, the Snæfellsjökull glacier, Djúpalónssandur (a black lava pearl beach), and finally, Mt. Kirkjufell — where Game of Thrones was filmed. Everything was simply breathtaking! Iceland is like a bigger grander version of Oregon.

Day 5: Snorkeling!

Normally when I snorkel it’s in a bathing suit in a tropical place where the sun is shining and the water is warm and salty. But on this day I went snorkeling in a dry suit in glacial water between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates!!!

I was a bit apprehensive since I didn’t pack specifically for this activity so I wasn’t sure if I was equipped. But I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to snorkel between two continents, so I signed up and showed up anyway. Luckily I was fine, but it definitely was cold!!

Remember that group of people we joined at the KEX hostel on my 2nd night? Well just so happened that one of the guys was on my tour! How fun having someone I knew on the tour. We had a fun little group, including two brothers and a funny couple, all of us from the States.

Day 6: Southern Coast

We visited Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Reynisfjara black sand beach, Sólheimajökull Glacier, Skógafoss Waterfall, Hestavaðsfoss waterfall, and finally a secret waterfall.

The weather was so shitty that part of our tour got cancelled. I was really bummed to miss the ice cave hike *sad face emoji*. But despite the extreme winds and very wet and freezing cold day, we got to see some pretty epic waterfalls.

On the tour I met Tami, an Israeli girl, and Chariane & Matt, a super sweet couple from LA. Another lovely group!

On this day I learned that when lava meets ocean that’s when black sand is created. That’s why you’ll find black sand beaches in both Iceland and Hawaii!

Day 7: Sky Lagoon & Active Volcano

My last full day in Iceland consisted of foodventures, a trip to the new geothermal spa in town, and a hike to the Fagradalsfjall Volcano. I woke up early to pick up some pastries at the highly-recommended Brauð & Co. bakery.

I was told to go early as they can sell out quickly, so I got there around 7:30am. I don’t mess around. And neither do they — wow, the raspberry tart and the croissant were both insane!!

What I wouldn’t do for another raspberry tart right now *drool emoji*.

Then I got a bagel sandwich at DIEG. Maybe I ordered the wrong one but it wasn’t anything to rave about.

Samara, my new dormmate, and I ventured to Sky Lagoon via the public bus. It was not an easy route because of bus transfers, unmarked stops, and a bus driver who didn’t speak English and was confusing as hell. Thankfully, with the help of a local, we made it to the spa right as they opened. Turns out, she is an employee there. Lucky us.

Sky Lagoon is a new geothermal spa that opened earlier this year, and I’m so happy I made it there because this place is absolutely incredible! Everyone raves about Blue Lagoon, but Sky Lagoon is personally my favorite. They take you through 7 steps starting with 1) the lagoon, followed by 2) cold plunge > 3) sauna > 4) cold mist > 5) body scrub > 6) steam > 7) back to the lagoon before showering.

Every step of the way is amazing — my favorite was the sauna! The largest and most gorgeous sauna I’ve ever been in, with panoramic windows for a 4th wall, overlooking the beautiful ocean. Just stunning!

After returning from the spa, we had a final meal together, before Samara’s flight, at the famous Café Babalú owned by a Jewish-American from NY.

We said our goodbyes, then I went looking for Lilja; a super sweet woman who handmakes and sells her beautiful jewelry in the city. Samara had bought a cute ring from her and told me a little bit about her inspiring story, so I had to go meet this woman and buy a ring myself.

I love my new ring, and she was so sweet to gift me a little angel pendant to protect me on my journey. I immediately hung it on my purse zipper to remind me of her daily.

You can find Lilja’s jewelry stand on Austurstræti St in front of Sbarro! She makes a variety of super cute jewelry! Go find her and tell her I sent you!! 🙂

Later that evening I went on a hike to Fagradalsfjall. It’s not everyday that there’s an active volcano accessible to us, so I was pretty lucky to have witnessed this rare phenomenon. Unfortunately, days after my arrival, the lava had flown onto the hiking trails, blocking access and cancelling tours left and right.

Search & Rescue worked quickly to create an alternative route, so by my last night I was able to go; but the only accessible side had pahoehoe lava, AKA pillow lava, meaning this side did not have lava that was actively flowing like it was on the side that was accessible to us just days before. Damn it. Wouldn’t that have been a sight to see.

On the tour I met Lindsay, a girl from Texas, traveling alone for 37 days all over Eastern Europe. Yay for solo women travelers! We hiked the volcano together and exchanged information so we could keep on touch in hopes of meeting up at another point in her trip!

Worth it

Welp, that was my week in Iceland. Overall, the country is insanely magnificent, the people were nice, the tour guides were all funny. It was a very expensive week but I’m grateful to be one of the lucky ones to visit Iceland. I met soo many amazing people, saw a LOT of incredible nature, and had a blast. I will always remember the people I met on this trip.

I wish I got to visit Diamond beach (Google it! So cool), along with some other spots, but maybe I’ll go next time when I return for those raspberry tarts. Lol. There’s also a lot of really nice restaurants I didn’t have time to check out because I was away on day tours everyday. Soo who knows, maybe I’ll be back one day *wink emoji*.