Recently, the small nation of Iceland has been under the tourist’s eye. Because of its seemingly friendly nature and seclusion from current world issues, it is the new “it” vacation spot. On August 6th of the year 2016, my aunt, cousin, and I boarded a plane to the small country. We sat on a packed Icelandair plane with three tourist books, an itinerary, and heaps of notes. We had read up on the place we were visiting, prepping for anything that could occur while we were visiting. We were ready. We landed five hours later at 11:45 pm Icelandic time. Immediately our first challenge had appeared. Iceland has 16 hours and eight minutes of daylight. Before we were able to fall asleep, dawn breached the mountains.
Our first excursion was to the Blue Lagoon. A natural hot spring that thousands of tourists flock to. The goal, if you don’t want to wait over an hour in line, is to get there before 10:00 am. Even then, it’s packed. There are a few important things about Iceland that you will find out before and after the blue lagoon. A representative of the Blue Lagoon spa will stand on the circular desk and give the low down of what is expected while in the Lagoon. It’s like being instantly transported back in time to a school field trip. It is considered rude not to bathe before going in any pools or hot springs. Iceland uses less chlorine in their pools to make it healthier. You will be expected to use the shower gel and conditioner and scrub down in the showers before you are allowed in the hot spring. They will also tell you to leave conditioner in your hair. The Silica in the hot spring is natural, and will leave your hair brittle. The second thing you will learn is that Iceland is expensive. This is because everything is imported. Lastly, if you wanted to see the Icelanders in their natural habitat at the lagoon, good luck. Icelanders, since tourism has picked up, do not go to the lagoon. You’ll be lucky to see one there.
After a relaxing soak in the lagoon, we drove the couple hours to the capital. If you want to observe Iceland, walk the streets of Reykjavik. Most of the streets are cobbled and blocked off with heavy foot traffic. If you are American, the cars all travel on the right side of the road, so there’s no need to obsessively look left. You do, however, have to be careful. Roads are narrow and occasionally cannot fit two cars. Exercise caution around heavy traffic. One spot to go to is the Cathedral. There you can buy tickets to go to the top. From that vantage point, you can see for miles. Outside of Posthusstraeti, there is a small hot dog vendor. It may seem insignificant, but this one is famous. Their hotdogs are delicious and relatively cheap by Icelandic standards. Not only that but Bill Clinton himself ate there when in Iceland. Once the sun has set for a few hours, head out to watch the nightlife. Icelanders swarm the streets, heading to the many bars to enjoy a drink and listen to the music. Iceland has the best live music playing after 10:00 pm. Definitely set aside some time to go out and listen.
The next best thing to do is grab a rental car and drive around. I recommend the South shore. You can see the black sand beaches, stop at several small diners to enjoy the fresh cuisine, see waterfalls, geysers, and hoards upon hordes of sheep, cows, and Icelandic horses. Some other activities that are beneficial for a full submergence in Icelandic culture are exploring lava tubes, climbing into a volcano, kayaking into the ocean, and taking a super jeep tour. Exploring in such a lunar place is absolutely necessary. But, this is not the kind of relaxing vacation spot, there is a lot of physical activity involved to see all that Iceland has to offer. The most important things to keep in mind are that there are paths for a reason. Because of a number of active volcanoes, Iceland doesn’t have a lot of grass and fields. Instead, there is a specific type of moss that grows to cover the lava. It takes 60 years to grow fully, and once stepped on, it dies and turns gray. So please, if there is a marked path, stay on the path.
Iceland is a fantastic place to visit for a vacation. The residents are very kind and hospitable but dislike loudness in public. The key to fitting in is being reserved in public, polite, and always remember you are a visitor in their country. The opportune times to visit are during the winter if you like skiing or snowboarding and want to see the northern lights, or in the summer to see all of the nature in action and if you don’t want to freeze. Going to Iceland fanned the flames of my desire to explore. It was one big adventure after another. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice to come home, and the 12 hours of sun doesn’t hurt either.
