Being a visible minority and all, my caucasian friend recommended it as a definite stop over for a Friday and Saturday night, where apparently they absolutely love visible minorities over there.
Really?
I'm heading to Europe in just over a week and combination of Icelandic women and openness to visible minorities has me tempted to add a stop.
Oh, and the rest of the Iceland seems pretty beautiful too... but the women
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
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Tourism is getting pretty crazy here, its pretty cheap to fly here still, but the biggest challenge is booking a car and getting a hotel, those you have to book WELL in advance now.
Not sure if you were going to see the band Low perform at ATP Iceland but evidently they are having passport issues with 2 band members. May not be able to get there!
Great band.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
Tourism is getting pretty crazy here, its pretty cheap to fly here still, but the biggest challenge is booking a car and getting a hotel, those you have to book WELL in advance now.
We got back from your unbelievably beautiful country Thursday night after a fantastic 11 days. How great was the trip? We were planning trip #2 on the flight back to the US and we've never ever done that with our vacations. It's the type of place that suits us. We hate resorts and that mentality. We love driving around countries and randomly stopping when something grabs our interest. In Iceland we found something was grabbing our attention every 5 minutes that it would take us a full 14-16 hour day to drive a few hundred km. So many little hikes, climbs to scenic viewpoints, waterfalls (oh how I love waterfalls), wildlife etc.
Anyways....booking a car wasn't difficult but if you don't want to pay completely through the nose you want to hunt around and book early. At least that was what we found. We booked early and had a much better car for much cheaper than many we talked to. Though much cheaper does not equal cheap (especially when gas is factored in!)
We had booked our hotels well in advance but we ended up changing 4 of our 11 nights after getting there and realizing the areas we wanted to spend more time in (we ended up avoiding the tourist conveyor belt until the last couple of days and instead spent more time in the western fjords and area). We had no issue finding rooms on short notice but admittedly we were not in the tourist heavy areas for 3 of those 4 nights. Also plenty of areas to camp if you want to reduce costs.
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We got back from your unbelievably beautiful country Thursday night after a fantastic 11 days. How great was the trip? We were planning trip #2 on the flight back to the US and we've never ever done that with our vacations. It's the type of place that suits us. We hate resorts and that mentality. We love driving around countries and randomly stopping when something grabs our interest. In Iceland we found something was grabbing our attention every 5 minutes that it would take us a full 14-16 hour day to drive a few hundred km. So many little hikes, climbs to scenic viewpoints, waterfalls (oh how I love waterfalls), wildlife etc.
Anyways....booking a car wasn't difficult but if you don't want to pay completely through the nose you want to hunt around and book early. At least that was what we found. We booked early and had a much better car for much cheaper than many we talked to. Though much cheaper does not equal cheap (especially when gas is factored in!)
We had booked our hotels well in advance but we ended up changing 4 of our 11 nights after getting there and realizing the areas we wanted to spend more time in (we ended up avoiding the tourist conveyor belt until the last couple of days and instead spent more time in the western fjords and area). We had no issue finding rooms on short notice but admittedly we were not in the tourist heavy areas for 3 of those 4 nights. Also plenty of areas to camp if you want to reduce costs.
Awesome! Yeah you did it the way I would, just drive around and stop when you find a neat place, you can plan every day but ultimately you need to be flexible. Too bad the weather this summer has sucked, way too much rain and its been cold, I think our June was the worst in 80yrs, last summer was even worse though.
Thanks for sharing, and by all means if you want to share some pictures I'd love to see some
A friend of mine just returned from a trip over for the Secret Solstice music festival and she had an amazing time. She also did quite a bit of camping and her pictures look stunning. I might have to make the trek over next year....
Thanks for sharing, and by all means if you want to share some pictures I'd love to see some
One of my favourites...the album thus far (some good...some not so good but hey they are memories) can be found at http://imgur.com/a/YGPPz. I apparently put everything in reverse order to how the trip was taken. Oh well.
Spoiler!
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What is the best time to visit? I am trying to figure out when I am going to make the journey. Also, is Greenland a quick, affordable jaunt you can tack on the front or back for few days? It is bizarre, my entire life I can remember, I have been absolutely fascinated with the idea of visiting Iceland.
One of my favourites...the album thus far (some good...some not so good but hey they are memories) can be found at http://imgur.com/a/YGPPz. I apparently put everything in reverse order to how the trip was taken. Oh well.
Spoiler!
Nice! Also there is a neat back story to those plans you now see everywhere around Iceland. They are not a native species, in fact they were chosen and planted here to help create more soil, these plants are happy to sprout in lava fields and over a period of time will help create soil and allow eventually for more usable land. There are parts of the country where they are out of control though, as is with all experiments like this.
What is the best time to visit? I am trying to figure out when I am going to make the journey. Also, is Greenland a quick, affordable jaunt you can tack on the front or back for few days? It is bizarre, my entire life I can remember, I have been absolutely fascinated with the idea of visiting Iceland.
Best time is always July, but these last 2 summers have been pretty awful, way too much rain and rather cool for here. If I were a betting man, I would choose July, mid to late.
You can get an idea of costs for flights from Reykjavik to Greenland, from this website http://www.airiceland.is/
Take 2 weeks if you can here, its a lot of travel to get here and its a must if you love nature to do the ring road, rent a vehicle and just see whatever you feel like, guided tours are nice for short trips, as are adventure tours, but more fun if you just do it on your own and at your own pace.
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Would it be a place to bring two young children (9 months and a 3.5 year old?)
Absolutely, Iceland is a very big family place, people take their kids everywhere, and of course it depends on what kind of trip you take but unlike the US and Canada a long road trip in Iceland is considered 2-3hrs, when people drive far east which is about an 8-9hr drive they usually break it into a few stops because of the extreme distance
One of my favourites...the album thus far (some good...some not so good but hey they are memories) can be found at http://imgur.com/a/YGPPz. I apparently put everything in reverse order to how the trip was taken. Oh well.
Spoiler!
Some incredible pictures! What kind of camera did you use?
Some incredible pictures! What kind of camera did you use?
A few were taken with the GoPro Hero 3+ Black including the one I put in the spoiler tags. In general I took those ones though my wife took it with her snorkling and we have some screen capture from that video (I don't think I put any of those in that album). The bulk were taken by my wife with just a Nikon Coolpix P510 16.1MP with whatever filters and what not she was using at the time.
I really have the GoPro mentality when it come to picture taking...point and shoot and hope I didn't get my thumb in the way.
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__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
I went to Iceland for 10 days around mid June. For years, Argentina has always topped my list as being the country with the most spectacular awe-inspiring natural beauty that I have been lucky enough to visit. But Iceland now co-shares that spot!
10 days was enough time to drive the ring road around the country (~2,500 km?) and check out the sights around Akureyri (lava fields, craters), dodge icebergs in a zodiac in the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon, do some amazing hikes (Fimmvorduhals), go whale watching in Dalvik, ride an Icelandic pony, search for puffins, check out a million amazing waterfalls, check out the golden circle, take in a few nights of the crazy Reykjavik nightlife, and relax in the Blue Lagoon.
Would have loved to have another week to check out the Westfjords. And the interior. And hike Landmannalaugar. And take a tour inside a volcano. There's just so much to see!
Iceland is also definitely the most expensive country I've been to. The two best accommodation deals of our trip were...
http://www.booking.com/hotel/is/lang...ydisfirdi.html
$120/night - NE corner of the island, near a town named Seyoisfjorour. This town has an incredible setting. Set in a bay with green mountains surrounding it, all with waterfalls streaming down everywhere. And these cabins with hot tubs have a great view of it all. Not a ton of other sights in this area, but it's a great place to stop for a night or two and recharge as you're making your way around the island.
If you're a couple considering traveling to Iceland, try your best to convince another couple to go with you. Splitting things 4 ways makes the Icelandic rental car, gas, and accommodation prices a lot less painful.
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