I haven't been on a nice long ("long" to me means over 1 week) trip since Costa Rica in February so I'm getting a little antsy. I've realized that probably about 7-8 months without a long trip makes me tired of my commute, the ridiculously hot and humid DC weather (which we are in the height of right now!) and the general frenzied news cycle- especially with the presidential election season. I really like the freedom of going somewhere and not paying attention to politics and the tragic events that never seem to stop.
Anyway, unfortunately that's not happening anytime soon for me! I'm saving my vacation time (and money) because we have a bunch of stuff coming up next year so I'll just talk about that. I probably mentioned these trips in passing but here are the details.
January 2017 - We're going to the Galapagos with Brandon's family. I think we will only actually be on the (very small) cruise boat for 7 nights then we will have a night or two on one of the islands and then 2 nights before/after in Quito.
March 2017 - I'm going to Paris for 5 nights on my own! I'm very excited since I haven't ever traveled internationally alone and I can't wait to do all the stereotypical tourist stuff like visit the champagne bar at the top of the Eiffel Tower. On a whim a few months ago I bought a super cheap flight with WOW but then a few weeks later they lowered their Fall 2016 prices (which would have been the perfect time to go) but of course they have a huge change fee that I wasn't willing to pay so I'll just wait. Reading through my old Iceland entries I see that I swore off WOW for future trips but my annoyance can be surmounted for a $400 round trip flight to Paris!
October 2017 - We are going to northern India for 3 weeks! Oh man I am so excited. We worked with a local travel agent who was endlessly patient and helpful (and if he thought it was weird I was planning a trip a year in advance he didn't say so!). Initially we were going to go in September 2017 but a lot of things aren't open then so I moved the trip to October (mostly so we could go to Ranthambore National Park and see tigers). The cost for a 3 week trip is ridiculously cheap (and working with a local travel agent is so easy) so I wish I had looked into traveling to India sooner! When the time comes I'm going to try to get a 10 year visa for Brandon and myself so that we can go back easily.
That's all I have planned coming up and I'm not going to let myself plan anything until at least after I get back from Paris. I learned my lesson with buying my WOW plane ticket way too early! I think planning travel early is helpful but there is a line that's TOO early. I do have some ideas for our next big trip after India though. I really want to go to Africa and I'm thinking Madagascar would be perfect! There are also other places in Europe I would love to go to on shorter trips like Italy and Spain.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Fourth Day in Reykjavik and the Flight Home
Fourth Day (Tuesday April 19th)
Our flight home was at 3:30pm so we were taking the bus to the airport at 12:30pm so we really only had a few hours in the morning to kill. We slept in a bit then showered, packed and headed to breakfast with our bags.
For breakfast we went to Tiu Droppar. This was the wine bar that I tried to go to the night before but it closes at 9pm or 10pm I guess? Regardless their breakfast was really good and it was a really cute and cozy place. We chilled out for a bit and set out for the bus station. We decided to walk but slowly make our way there since we hadn't checked out many of the cool stores on the main street. Once we turned off the main street there were lots of cute houses to see. It was only about a 15 minute walk so it wasn't bad at all. We would have taken a cab but we never actually saw one which I thought was odd.
Below are some street art pics from Reykjavik. We saw some of it on our walk to the bus station but I'll just group them all together here. I would say the street art rivaled what we saw in Berlin. I had no idea it was so popular in Reykjavik.
When we checked in we were given seats in row 5 which I thought was nice since on the way there we were in row 32 and it took FOREVER to get off the plane. I didn't realize until we were on the plane though that first few rows with WOW are seats with more room (and significantly more expensive) it was really nice getting these for free!
Anyway we basically walked through security and it took no time at all. I have no idea why they tell you to get to the airport 2 hours early since I'm sure an hour would have been enough. We shopped a bit at the duty free store and tried some samples of the different Icelandic liqueurs. I got a rhubarb liqueur and Brandon got Brennivan which seems to be everywhere. Then we got food for the plane and sat around and waited! They don't open the US passport control until about 30-45 minutes before the flight so we couldn't even get to the departure gate. Once that's open people basically just wait in a line to bet their boarding pass scanned, then you get on a bus to the plane which is out in the middle of nowhere. They are still doing construction on this portion of KEF so I imagine eventually when the gate is done the plane will be right there.
The flight back felt long and annoying but I'm sure that's just because it's the end of vacation. Our larger seats and leg room were pretty great though I doubt I'd pay more for them. Coming back into the US through customs I have Global Entry so I answered the duty free question "yes" because I thought you had to say yes if you bought any alcohol from duty free. I got a big huge STOP AT BAGGAGE CONTROL on my Global Entry slip but the CBP Officer was nice enough to explain to me that you only have to declare more than $800 of duty free alcohol. Now I know! Other than that Global Entry rules and I recommend it for everyone.
That's it for Iceland! We definitely want to go back and rent a car and drive around a bit. I'd like to go whale watching possibly up north out of Husavik.
We don't have anymore trips planned until the Galapagos in January. We'll see if anything comes up before then!
Our flight home was at 3:30pm so we were taking the bus to the airport at 12:30pm so we really only had a few hours in the morning to kill. We slept in a bit then showered, packed and headed to breakfast with our bags.
For breakfast we went to Tiu Droppar. This was the wine bar that I tried to go to the night before but it closes at 9pm or 10pm I guess? Regardless their breakfast was really good and it was a really cute and cozy place. We chilled out for a bit and set out for the bus station. We decided to walk but slowly make our way there since we hadn't checked out many of the cool stores on the main street. Once we turned off the main street there were lots of cute houses to see. It was only about a 15 minute walk so it wasn't bad at all. We would have taken a cab but we never actually saw one which I thought was odd.
Below are some street art pics from Reykjavik. We saw some of it on our walk to the bus station but I'll just group them all together here. I would say the street art rivaled what we saw in Berlin. I had no idea it was so popular in Reykjavik.
When we checked in we were given seats in row 5 which I thought was nice since on the way there we were in row 32 and it took FOREVER to get off the plane. I didn't realize until we were on the plane though that first few rows with WOW are seats with more room (and significantly more expensive) it was really nice getting these for free!
Anyway we basically walked through security and it took no time at all. I have no idea why they tell you to get to the airport 2 hours early since I'm sure an hour would have been enough. We shopped a bit at the duty free store and tried some samples of the different Icelandic liqueurs. I got a rhubarb liqueur and Brandon got Brennivan which seems to be everywhere. Then we got food for the plane and sat around and waited! They don't open the US passport control until about 30-45 minutes before the flight so we couldn't even get to the departure gate. Once that's open people basically just wait in a line to bet their boarding pass scanned, then you get on a bus to the plane which is out in the middle of nowhere. They are still doing construction on this portion of KEF so I imagine eventually when the gate is done the plane will be right there.
The flight back felt long and annoying but I'm sure that's just because it's the end of vacation. Our larger seats and leg room were pretty great though I doubt I'd pay more for them. Coming back into the US through customs I have Global Entry so I answered the duty free question "yes" because I thought you had to say yes if you bought any alcohol from duty free. I got a big huge STOP AT BAGGAGE CONTROL on my Global Entry slip but the CBP Officer was nice enough to explain to me that you only have to declare more than $800 of duty free alcohol. Now I know! Other than that Global Entry rules and I recommend it for everyone.
That's it for Iceland! We definitely want to go back and rent a car and drive around a bit. I'd like to go whale watching possibly up north out of Husavik.
We don't have anymore trips planned until the Galapagos in January. We'll see if anything comes up before then!
Third Day in Reykjavik
Day Three (Monday April 18th)
Today we booked a Golden Circle day tour with Reykjavik Excursions. We did the extended tour that also stopped at Fontana Wellness Spa (more hot springs!).
I'd never done a big bus day tour but it was actually really fun. I was worried the drives would be long and boring but our guide (Albert) told stories and gave us cultural and geographical tidbits along the way. He was funny and entertaining and made the drives go by quickly. The bus has huge windows and they give a great view of the countryside.
We were picked up really early (8:30am!) so we got a quick breakfast at Bakari Sandholt again and then were on our way. Our first stop on the tour was this weird horse theater thing that was just a half hour stop for the bathrooms and to pet some horses. It didn't really add much to the tour but the horses were cool. I'm assuming the only reason for the stop is so we aren't on the same schedule as the other Golden Circle tours that Reykjavik Excursions does.
Next we drove through Geysir to get to Gullfoss waterfall. We walked down to the waterfall and it was like the coldest I've ever been in my life. I didn't bring my gloves and I was pretty miserable for a bit but there was a small part of the trail hidden from the wind that was nice. It was a really amazing view and I'd definitely go back to spend more time there (but with a heavier coat!). There were also TONS of people with selfie sticks (like most major tourist attractions these days).
Afterwards we went back to Geysir park to see all the little geysers and watched the big one erupt a few times (FYI it smells like farts!). Then we got lunch at the cafe there. The food was super expensive but not too bad I guess. We had sometime to browse through the shop and I send my parents a postcard.
After lunch was a 2 hour stop at Fontana Wellness Center which has 5 hot spring pools and some saunas. It was pretty chill and a lot of fun. All the pools are different temperatures so you can make the rounds a few times. It was a little crowded with the whole group there at once but it was still fun. I liked the comparison of this smaller, local type place to Blue Lagoon which is a major tourist attraction. Two hours seemed like the perfect amount of time. After soaking for awhile they had a little cafe and I got a glass of wine. I also inexplicably lost one of my socks there so spent the rest of the day with just one sock which was weird.
Our last stop was Thingvellir national park which was probably the coolest stop. It's where the Icelandic parliament was formed in 930ad and you can still see the earth foundations where they met IN TENTS for two weeks each year! This is also the stop where the American and Eurasian plates meet and are slowly drifting apart so you can see huge cracks in the ground.
We had a short half hour walk on a trail along the edge of the American plate and that was a really cool thing to see.
So all in all it was a lot of fun and a great way to spend the day. The Golden Circle is basically must-do thing when you're in Iceland and I thought this was a great way to see it for the first time!
After the tour we went to a Nepalese restaurant that had great reviews. It was a little pricey ($25 entrees!!) but we thought why not since we're on vacation and haven't had Nepalese in a long time. The entrees were actually pretty big and I think 2 people could easily split one but the food was really good (maybe not $25 good though!). Brandon started not feeling good so I finished my food while he went to lay down.
Brandon wanted to rest a bit more when I dropped off his food so I went to find a cozy wine bar to read in which proved really hard to do. I had a few recommendations from a friend but one was closed (it was about 9:30pm by now) and the other I couldn't find. I walked into a gastropub type place and waited at the bar a few minutes but the bartender was totally fangirling over someone (who I didn't recognize at the time but later I found out he was Conor McGregor the MMA fighter who recently retired) so I never got a drink and left to find a new place. I even found Le Bistro which was cozy and chill so I read for a bit and then Brandon met me and we hung out until they closed at 11pm.
When we got back to our room we found out the other room on our floor had people in it and they were SUPER LOUD and SUPER DRUNK and stomping around. It bothered but it was our last night so I wasn't going to complain. I think after about an hour or so they left (or passed out?) and we fell asleep.
Today we booked a Golden Circle day tour with Reykjavik Excursions. We did the extended tour that also stopped at Fontana Wellness Spa (more hot springs!).
I'd never done a big bus day tour but it was actually really fun. I was worried the drives would be long and boring but our guide (Albert) told stories and gave us cultural and geographical tidbits along the way. He was funny and entertaining and made the drives go by quickly. The bus has huge windows and they give a great view of the countryside.
We were picked up really early (8:30am!) so we got a quick breakfast at Bakari Sandholt again and then were on our way. Our first stop on the tour was this weird horse theater thing that was just a half hour stop for the bathrooms and to pet some horses. It didn't really add much to the tour but the horses were cool. I'm assuming the only reason for the stop is so we aren't on the same schedule as the other Golden Circle tours that Reykjavik Excursions does.
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| This was about 10 seconds before this horse got snot all over Brandon's pants. |
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| Icelandic horse #2 |
Next we drove through Geysir to get to Gullfoss waterfall. We walked down to the waterfall and it was like the coldest I've ever been in my life. I didn't bring my gloves and I was pretty miserable for a bit but there was a small part of the trail hidden from the wind that was nice. It was a really amazing view and I'd definitely go back to spend more time there (but with a heavier coat!). There were also TONS of people with selfie sticks (like most major tourist attractions these days).
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| Gullfoss waterfall |
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| Gullfoss |
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| Brandon looks much happier than me. I was freezing! |
Afterwards we went back to Geysir park to see all the little geysers and watched the big one erupt a few times (FYI it smells like farts!). Then we got lunch at the cafe there. The food was super expensive but not too bad I guess. We had sometime to browse through the shop and I send my parents a postcard.
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| Geysir #1 |
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| Geysir #2 |
After lunch was a 2 hour stop at Fontana Wellness Center which has 5 hot spring pools and some saunas. It was pretty chill and a lot of fun. All the pools are different temperatures so you can make the rounds a few times. It was a little crowded with the whole group there at once but it was still fun. I liked the comparison of this smaller, local type place to Blue Lagoon which is a major tourist attraction. Two hours seemed like the perfect amount of time. After soaking for awhile they had a little cafe and I got a glass of wine. I also inexplicably lost one of my socks there so spent the rest of the day with just one sock which was weird.
Our last stop was Thingvellir national park which was probably the coolest stop. It's where the Icelandic parliament was formed in 930ad and you can still see the earth foundations where they met IN TENTS for two weeks each year! This is also the stop where the American and Eurasian plates meet and are slowly drifting apart so you can see huge cracks in the ground.
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| A good example of the large cracks the shifting plates create. |
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| Thingvellir |
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| Thingvellir |
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| Thingvellir |
We had a short half hour walk on a trail along the edge of the American plate and that was a really cool thing to see.
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| Me standing in front of the American plate. |
So all in all it was a lot of fun and a great way to spend the day. The Golden Circle is basically must-do thing when you're in Iceland and I thought this was a great way to see it for the first time!
After the tour we went to a Nepalese restaurant that had great reviews. It was a little pricey ($25 entrees!!) but we thought why not since we're on vacation and haven't had Nepalese in a long time. The entrees were actually pretty big and I think 2 people could easily split one but the food was really good (maybe not $25 good though!). Brandon started not feeling good so I finished my food while he went to lay down.
Brandon wanted to rest a bit more when I dropped off his food so I went to find a cozy wine bar to read in which proved really hard to do. I had a few recommendations from a friend but one was closed (it was about 9:30pm by now) and the other I couldn't find. I walked into a gastropub type place and waited at the bar a few minutes but the bartender was totally fangirling over someone (who I didn't recognize at the time but later I found out he was Conor McGregor the MMA fighter who recently retired) so I never got a drink and left to find a new place. I even found Le Bistro which was cozy and chill so I read for a bit and then Brandon met me and we hung out until they closed at 11pm.
When we got back to our room we found out the other room on our floor had people in it and they were SUPER LOUD and SUPER DRUNK and stomping around. It bothered but it was our last night so I wasn't going to complain. I think after about an hour or so they left (or passed out?) and we fell asleep.
Second Day in Reykjavik
Day Two (Sunday April 17th)
We slept in a bit, showered and went for brunch at a cafe a few blocks away. Brunch was very uninspiring but edible and then we just walked around and explored for a bit. We ended up at Hallgrímskirkja church and decided to go up to the tower. I think it costs $7 per person to go up? Initially I was skeptical since it seemed like a tourist trap but Brandon wanted to check it out so we went up. It was actually really beautiful and a fun experience when the church bells ring right above you! It was so clear and beautiful and the weather was absolutely perfect to get a great view of the city and mountains on the other side of the harbor.
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| Hallgrimskirkja |
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| The view of Reykjavik from the tower. |
Once we got back down the service was ending so we were able to go in and see the organ which my dad would have loved. I got him a CD in the gift shop though!
After that we stopped at Reykjavik Roasters a few blocks down the street and bought some coffee to take home (by this time we had decided to pay for 1 checked bag on the way home so we were less concerned about weight) and had a cup of coffee there.
Our hotel was just a few blocks down on the same street so we stopped back there to drop off our stuff and make sure we had everything read for the Blue Lagoon trip that evening. Then we tried to go for a walk along the harbor but it promptly started snowing, sleeting and hailing and it was really miserable and painful when it's that windy and the snow hits so we ran back to our room! Once we waited for it to clear we went to Bakari Sandholt to get a small/quick bite to eat before the bus came to pick us up for the lagoon.
We were initially planning on going to the Blue Lagoon on our way to the airport but the opening time and bus times didn't really match well so we made a seperate trip out there. The bus ride is about an hour but it isn't bad at all- mainly because there's wifi and the scenery is absolutely beautiful! We took the 3pm bus, got there about 4pm then swam/soaked/chilled until 6:30pm and had dinner reservations at 7pm then took the last bus back to Reykjavik at 9:15pm. That seemed like the perfect amount of time for everything. We didn't feel rushed or bored at all and it was a really lovely evening. The food at Lava was reasonably priced and really good. In some ways it was better than Fridrik V because it was less experimental if that makes sense? I had the cod and Brandon had the steak and he said it was some of the best steak he's had. We had the cheese plate and pears for desert. All the cheese was from Iceland and it was wonderful!
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| Brandon enjoying the cheese plate. |
On the way out the sun was setting over the lagoon and I think this is one of the best photos I've taken with my phone! I would totally recommend going in the evening and staying for dinner. It was not crowded at all and we will probably go back next time we're in Iceland.
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| Sunset over the Blue Lagoon |
Our bus ride was pretty funny. When the first bus was leaving the driver drove about 6 feet, said there was a problem with the bus so we were going to get on a different bus. Inwardly I thought "Oh god this is going to take an hour or more us just sitting here" because WMATA in DC would do that! But no this is Scandinavia and they are nothing if not efficient so another bus pulled in literally a minute later and we all hopped on and drove off. After about 3 minutes of driving the second bus driver said he had to turn around and pick up the driver of the first bus! It was pretty funny when we got there and he was just waiting in the parking lot. The second driver also had lots of funny quips and anecdotes as we drove through different neighborhoods to drop people off in Reykjavik.
When we got back to our room it was pretty late so we drank the wine we got in the duty free store and went to bed early. We were getting up very early the next day for our Golden Circle tour!
First Day in Reykjavik
Alright despite my aspirations I am not a very good real-time trip blogger so I'll be publishing mini updates with pictures now that we are back!
Day One (Saturday April 16th)
We slept a few hours and then got lunch at a Thai place on the one main road in Reykjavik. One of the reasons we chose this weekend to go was that a band we really like (Foxing) were playing at Hurra. Brandon is friends with Jon in the band we met up after lunch to go to the Icelandic Phallological Museum which is basically a museum with a bunch of animal penises. It is as weird as it sounds but it's only $10 a pretty fun. Would recommend!
Afterwards we walked down the main road for a bit and went to a pretty big flea market. There were a lot of junk stalls but also some great ones like the stall that sells lots of metal shirts and another that sells whale bones. I bought some lava rock earrings for my mom and sister.
Then we headed back to shower and change before our fancy dinner at Fridrik V. I'm going to go on a mini rant here about hair products that will be probably be of zero interest to anyone but me so skip to the next paragraph if you don't care! I didn't bring any bath stuff (other than toothpaste) since I assumed our hotel would have them available and we were trying to not pay bag fees to WOW. They didn't but he brought us some shower gel when we asked. We bought this 2 in 1 conditioner from the Bonus supermarket that my hair hated so my hair was a frizzy tangled mess the whole time. Next time I'll just check and bag and hopefully my hair won't get so angry!
Our dinner at Fridrik V was really one of the highlights of the trip I think. They have a surprise 5 course menu every night and we got the wine pairings. Each ingredient had a cute story of origin (like the reindeer was shot by the restaurant's lawyer in sector 7) and the waiters point to the map of Iceland on the table to tell you where everything comes from. I found out about them from their Trip Advisor page and I feel fortunate that we were able to get a reservation since they're closing in June.
Here are the courses we had:
Amuse bouche: tomato soup, smocked mackerel, dried orange slices, cod jerkey, assorted biscuits
First: Reindeer filet and pate, beet chips and beet jelly/reduction type thing
Second: Cod ravioli
"Break": Lobster cappuccino - this was really strange but fun. It was lobster soup/liquid served in a cappuccino cup garnished with nutmeg
Third: Ribeye with grilled carrots and mashed potatoes
Fourth: Cheese plate with rye bread, pomegranate seeds and marmalade
Fifth: Chocolate cake with Icelandic strawberries and strawberry ice cream
We finished the meal with espresso. Our reservation was a 6pm and we were the only ones there until about 7 and even when we left around 8pm there were only 5 tables filled. We saw them turn multiple people aware without reservations so I assume they only seat a limited number of tables each night due to available ingredients.
Also we tried to leave a tip but one of the servers wouldn't let us. She saw the money sticking out of the bill holder thing and literally pointed at it and said "DON'T TIP it is not a tradition here" so that was very helpful! We tried because we had such a great time and felt the price was very reasonable but she was insistent.
After dinner we rallied and headed to the show. A couple of Icelandic bands opened for Foxing which were actually pretty good. I had listened to their stuff on Spotify beforehand and wasn't too impressed but live they seemed much better- each band had 5+ people in it so they were fun to watch. Foxing was the best of course and I was so busy having fun that I didn't take any pictures or video. Sorry!
Afterwards we took a cab back to our hotel (I keep saying hotel but it was really just like a house with a few rooms for rent) because it was freezing cold and went to sleep. All in all I was up about 24 hours with only a few hours nap when we landed. It was fun though!
I think the staying up for 24 hours thing was too much for me since I promptly got a cold Saturday night/Sunday morning. It was super annoying but I felt fine and we were able to do everything we wanted so whatever! The hotel caretaker probably wonders why we went through like 5 rolls of toilet paper in 4 days though.
Day One (Saturday April 16th)
We slept a few hours and then got lunch at a Thai place on the one main road in Reykjavik. One of the reasons we chose this weekend to go was that a band we really like (Foxing) were playing at Hurra. Brandon is friends with Jon in the band we met up after lunch to go to the Icelandic Phallological Museum which is basically a museum with a bunch of animal penises. It is as weird as it sounds but it's only $10 a pretty fun. Would recommend!
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| I think this is a sperm whale penis? |
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| Jon and Brandon |
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| I do not remember which animal this penis belongs to. |
Afterwards we walked down the main road for a bit and went to a pretty big flea market. There were a lot of junk stalls but also some great ones like the stall that sells lots of metal shirts and another that sells whale bones. I bought some lava rock earrings for my mom and sister.
Then we headed back to shower and change before our fancy dinner at Fridrik V. I'm going to go on a mini rant here about hair products that will be probably be of zero interest to anyone but me so skip to the next paragraph if you don't care! I didn't bring any bath stuff (other than toothpaste) since I assumed our hotel would have them available and we were trying to not pay bag fees to WOW. They didn't but he brought us some shower gel when we asked. We bought this 2 in 1 conditioner from the Bonus supermarket that my hair hated so my hair was a frizzy tangled mess the whole time. Next time I'll just check and bag and hopefully my hair won't get so angry!
Our dinner at Fridrik V was really one of the highlights of the trip I think. They have a surprise 5 course menu every night and we got the wine pairings. Each ingredient had a cute story of origin (like the reindeer was shot by the restaurant's lawyer in sector 7) and the waiters point to the map of Iceland on the table to tell you where everything comes from. I found out about them from their Trip Advisor page and I feel fortunate that we were able to get a reservation since they're closing in June.
Here are the courses we had:
Amuse bouche: tomato soup, smocked mackerel, dried orange slices, cod jerkey, assorted biscuits
First: Reindeer filet and pate, beet chips and beet jelly/reduction type thing
Second: Cod ravioli
"Break": Lobster cappuccino - this was really strange but fun. It was lobster soup/liquid served in a cappuccino cup garnished with nutmeg
Third: Ribeye with grilled carrots and mashed potatoes
Fourth: Cheese plate with rye bread, pomegranate seeds and marmalade
Fifth: Chocolate cake with Icelandic strawberries and strawberry ice cream
We finished the meal with espresso. Our reservation was a 6pm and we were the only ones there until about 7 and even when we left around 8pm there were only 5 tables filled. We saw them turn multiple people aware without reservations so I assume they only seat a limited number of tables each night due to available ingredients.
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| Each table had a map for the server to show you where the food came from. |
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| The cheese plate at Fridrik V. |
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| Dessert! Wish I had remembered to take pics of other courses. |
Also we tried to leave a tip but one of the servers wouldn't let us. She saw the money sticking out of the bill holder thing and literally pointed at it and said "DON'T TIP it is not a tradition here" so that was very helpful! We tried because we had such a great time and felt the price was very reasonable but she was insistent.
After dinner we rallied and headed to the show. A couple of Icelandic bands opened for Foxing which were actually pretty good. I had listened to their stuff on Spotify beforehand and wasn't too impressed but live they seemed much better- each band had 5+ people in it so they were fun to watch. Foxing was the best of course and I was so busy having fun that I didn't take any pictures or video. Sorry!
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| A picture of the show's flyer since I have none from the actual show. |
I think the staying up for 24 hours thing was too much for me since I promptly got a cold Saturday night/Sunday morning. It was super annoying but I felt fine and we were able to do everything we wanted so whatever! The hotel caretaker probably wonders why we went through like 5 rolls of toilet paper in 4 days though.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Flight to Reykjavik
Note: I wrote this during our trip and apparently it never uploaded. So here it is a few days late!
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We left Friday for BWI and traffic was terrible on 95 and the BW parkway so it took us almost twice as long to get there as it normally would. Luckily we left plenty of time to get there.
This was our first time flying with WOW Airlines and booking the ticket I did notice that carry on bags had super strict weight and size limits but I thought 11 pounds (5kg) would be more than enough for 3.5 days. Of course the night before we were packing and weighing our bags and 11 pounds fills up really quickly. If you don't pay for your checked bag over 24 hours in advance it's about $75! So we were very determined to make it work- which we did but it was really frustrating and time consuming and one of the reasons we won't fly WOW again.
The check in desk was in a quiet deserted terminal (E) that I'd never been in before. There were zero security lines since I think our plane was only one of two leaving that day. There was one overcrowded restaurant where I got a mediocre grilled cheese for the flight.
The flight left about 30-45 minutes late which was pretty lame. There was a lot of turbulence but the length (about 6 hours) wasn't bad. I thought it was also pretty lame that you had to pay for everything (even water) though I knew that in advance I guess I didn't realize how annoying it would be.
We were sitting next to a man from Reykjavik on his way home from visiting DC and Pittsburgh. It was really interesting hearing his observations about how different Iceland and the US were. I think my favorite thing he said was that while he was in Pittsburgh people were "hanging out on their porches like in the movies!" Also in Pittsburgh he went to a gun range to shoot an AR15 and showed us a video of him shooting it which seemed super weird to show while on a plane. He was very surprised by gas heating because everything in Iceland is heated by radiators.
Anyway we landed around 5:30am and basically just walked into Iceland. There were zero lines at passport control and then there wasn't even a customs area to go through. So, I thought we would be in Reykjavik soon but we got on the bus to the city and just sat there for half an hour. Then we got to the bus depot and switched to a smaller van and pretty much everyone was dropped off before us. I was very tired and annoyed. We didn't even get into our room until about 8am and I was so thankful we had a room to go to!
Okay that's about it for the flight and getting to Reykjavik. I'll make a separate post about the marathon first day!
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Reykjavik Changes
As we come closer to leaving for Reykjavik I was getting more and more nervous about arriving there around 6am and not being able to get into our AirBnB until 3pm. I tried to find things to do in the early morning but almost nothing is open until 9-10am other than coffee shops and I really did not want to be sitting in a coffee shop for 4 hours after an overnight flight.
AirBnB sent me a generic confirmation email about "Your stay is coming up soon!" and I saw our host had a flexible cancellation policy and it suddenly dawned on me that oh wow I could cancel this and stay somewhere else where we could check in at 6am! I had seriously never even considered that before. (If I didn't mention it someone had reserved our AirBnB for the night before so we couldn't check in earlier and when I made the reservation I just never thought about how we should reserve it for Friday night too).
I messaged our host and told him what I was doing and he was very understanding and nice and then I found an Apartment House on booking.com that looks perfect. It seems like there are a lot of these apartment houses in Reykjavik that seem more like condos than hotels?
So now the plan is to check in around 6am and get some sleep THEN get some breakfast and check out some museums or something.
We are putting the finishing touches on our India itinerary for next summer! I am beyond excited- did I mention that yet? We're up to 17 or 18 nights there (not including flying) and we're basically just staying in Rajasthan with a few nights in Varanasi tacked on to the end. I will never understand people that try to see a whole country (or more than 1 country!) in like 10 days or less.
AirBnB sent me a generic confirmation email about "Your stay is coming up soon!" and I saw our host had a flexible cancellation policy and it suddenly dawned on me that oh wow I could cancel this and stay somewhere else where we could check in at 6am! I had seriously never even considered that before. (If I didn't mention it someone had reserved our AirBnB for the night before so we couldn't check in earlier and when I made the reservation I just never thought about how we should reserve it for Friday night too).
I messaged our host and told him what I was doing and he was very understanding and nice and then I found an Apartment House on booking.com that looks perfect. It seems like there are a lot of these apartment houses in Reykjavik that seem more like condos than hotels?
So now the plan is to check in around 6am and get some sleep THEN get some breakfast and check out some museums or something.
We are putting the finishing touches on our India itinerary for next summer! I am beyond excited- did I mention that yet? We're up to 17 or 18 nights there (not including flying) and we're basically just staying in Rajasthan with a few nights in Varanasi tacked on to the end. I will never understand people that try to see a whole country (or more than 1 country!) in like 10 days or less.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Reykjavik Itinerary
We leave for Reykjavik on Friday! I finally put together our itinerary so here you go. We are really only there for 3 nights so it's pretty quick but it's a relatively cheap/short flight from DC so we can always go back for something longer if we want to.
Now that I have more vacation time at work I'm looking for more long weekend international trips that aren't an expensive flight. I'm really surprised by how expensive it is to get to Western European cities like Madrid or Paris! It seems like the flights are $1,000+ which seems silly since we can fly to Thailand or India for less. I'll keep an eye on flights though and hopefully get something cheaper.
Anyway here are our plans for Reykjavik. I'm a little nervous about landing at 5am and not being able to check in until 3pm but we will make it work! I am excited about getting a dinner reservation at Fridrik since it's closing soon. According to Trip Advisor it's the #1 restaurant in Reykjavik. It's a 5 course "surprise menu" with wine pairings. I can't wait!
In other trip news, we are putting a deposit down for our Northern India trip in August/September 2017 in a few weeks. I am ridiculously excited!
Now that I have more vacation time at work I'm looking for more long weekend international trips that aren't an expensive flight. I'm really surprised by how expensive it is to get to Western European cities like Madrid or Paris! It seems like the flights are $1,000+ which seems silly since we can fly to Thailand or India for less. I'll keep an eye on flights though and hopefully get something cheaper.
Anyway here are our plans for Reykjavik. I'm a little nervous about landing at 5am and not being able to check in until 3pm but we will make it work! I am excited about getting a dinner reservation at Fridrik since it's closing soon. According to Trip Advisor it's the #1 restaurant in Reykjavik. It's a 5 course "surprise menu" with wine pairings. I can't wait!
In other trip news, we are putting a deposit down for our Northern India trip in August/September 2017 in a few weeks. I am ridiculously excited!
Friday April 15th
Depart BWI 4/15 7pm
Saturday April 16th
Arrive KEF 5am
Dinner
6pm
Fridrik V
Laugavegur 60
101 Reykjavik
101 Reykjavik
Foxing Show
Hurra
Tryggvagata 22
Reykjavík 101
Reykjavík 101
9pm
Sunday April 17th
Blue Lagoon with dinner
Monday April 18th
Golden Circle and Fontana Spa Tour
Tuesday April 19th
Departure Flight 3:30pm
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Costa Rica wrap-up and Upcoming Trips
So after talking about Costa Rica with a few people I realized what I liked and disliked about the trip. I liked how it was a really beautiful country with almost no resort-type areas. It really hasn't been developed that much yet (as least the areas we were in). What I disliked was how I didn't really feel challenged or put out of my comfort zone at all. So, on that note I've been in the preliminary planning stages for India in August 2017!
I'm getting potential itineraries/quotes from local travel agents for a two week-ish trip. I think this will be better than researching hotels/activities on my own like I did with Cambodia. I'm still doing my own research and telling the person a general idea of what we'd like to do but I really like the idea that there is a local person choosing things that I may not have found on my own. Below is an example of one potential itinerary I've gotten so far. Some of the drives look a little too long for my liking but we have awhile to work it out!
We will be leaving for Iceland in a few weeks. Unfortunately I didn't think to book our AirBnB for the night before our arrival so we will be getting in around 6am and are unable to get into our room until 2pm-ish. That will be a (sleepy) adventure!
After Iceland we don't have anything planned until January 2017 when we will go to the Galapagos with Brandon's family. I am super excited for that and I'm sure something fun will come up in between.
I'm getting potential itineraries/quotes from local travel agents for a two week-ish trip. I think this will be better than researching hotels/activities on my own like I did with Cambodia. I'm still doing my own research and telling the person a general idea of what we'd like to do but I really like the idea that there is a local person choosing things that I may not have found on my own. Below is an example of one potential itinerary I've gotten so far. Some of the drives look a little too long for my liking but we have awhile to work it out!
We will be leaving for Iceland in a few weeks. Unfortunately I didn't think to book our AirBnB for the night before our arrival so we will be getting in around 6am and are unable to get into our room until 2pm-ish. That will be a (sleepy) adventure!
After Iceland we don't have anything planned until January 2017 when we will go to the Galapagos with Brandon's family. I am super excited for that and I'm sure something fun will come up in between.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Costa Rica Part 5 - The Trip Home
Day 11 - February 13th
We had planned to leave for the airport around 10am. We were about an hour away and figured dropping off the car around 11am would get us to the airport at 11:30am, two hours before our flight.
After eating breakfast and packing we were ready about 20 minutes early so we decided to head out anyway which was good because a bunch of things went wrong!
The drive to the car rental place went fine until about 200 feet away. We had planned to get gas at the gas station literally right next to the car rental office but that gas station was closed. We looked on the GPS and there was one about a third of a mile around the corner but in front of us there was a wreck involving a cement truck and a car so the road was blocked. We sat in traffic a good 10 minutes or so until we could turn then we had to inch by the cement truck which was really precarious because there was a HUGE DITCH on the side of the road that I guess is a sewer or something? Anyway regardless of what purpose it serves it is the perfect size for a tire to get stuck in which is what almost happened.
After getting gas we had to sit in that mess on the way back to the car rental place again.
Dropping off the car was really quick but then we just kind of waited around for the shuttle for a long time. When it finally came we all hopped in and were driving off but then the driver got a call on the radio and we had to turn around and wait for a bunch of other people to drop off their cars too. I think we were all super annoyed and next time we rent a car I will try to make sure we get a rental office closer to the airport.
We get to the airport finally and go into the Southwest line but are turned away because have to pay the departure tax. At this point I think the tax is included in most airline tickets but we bought ours soon after Southwest started selling them and I guess that wasn't in place yet. I was pretty annoyed at this too since I had spent almost all of my cash and had to put it on my debit card and pay yet another foreign transaction fee. My credit card doesn't have foreign transaction fees but the sign at the desk said credit cards transactions would be processed as "cash advances" and I wasn't too clear on what that meant.
After that we finally got in line at Southwest and despite diligently checking in the MINUTE we could yesterday neither our check in nor our friends had worked so we ended up at like C 25 or something horrible like that and none of us could sit together. I was seriously annoyed AGAIN since I think this was an issue with the Southwest app. It's always worked for me before but I've never tried to check in internationally with them so maybe that's the issue? I have no idea why it wouldn't work for me or my friend.
Then we had to wait in line in security forever- it seemed like at least an hour!
Once we were finally through security we got some seriously overpriced airport food, spent our last colones at a store where I bought a few bottles of water for the flight and went to the gate. We were promptly told that you can't take ANY liquids onto the plane- not even a sealed bottle of water so I drank what I could and threw it out. They even have people searching every single person's bag! It was a little silly.
Once were on the flight everything was fine. I paid for the wifi which is how I found out Justice Scalia died and I wanted to talk to everyone around me on the plane about it but I didn't. I just went and found my friends and told them.
We landed Saturday night at BWI and the windchill was about 10 degrees and we were all very underdressed but happily stopped at Taco Bell on the way home where we knew our tacos wouldn't come with french fries and mayonnaise on top.
I think I'll do one more post about Costa Rica and kind of a lessons learned wrap up! There's no pics in this post since I was grumpy most of the way to and in the airport so I didn't take an pics.
We had planned to leave for the airport around 10am. We were about an hour away and figured dropping off the car around 11am would get us to the airport at 11:30am, two hours before our flight.
After eating breakfast and packing we were ready about 20 minutes early so we decided to head out anyway which was good because a bunch of things went wrong!
The drive to the car rental place went fine until about 200 feet away. We had planned to get gas at the gas station literally right next to the car rental office but that gas station was closed. We looked on the GPS and there was one about a third of a mile around the corner but in front of us there was a wreck involving a cement truck and a car so the road was blocked. We sat in traffic a good 10 minutes or so until we could turn then we had to inch by the cement truck which was really precarious because there was a HUGE DITCH on the side of the road that I guess is a sewer or something? Anyway regardless of what purpose it serves it is the perfect size for a tire to get stuck in which is what almost happened.
After getting gas we had to sit in that mess on the way back to the car rental place again.
Dropping off the car was really quick but then we just kind of waited around for the shuttle for a long time. When it finally came we all hopped in and were driving off but then the driver got a call on the radio and we had to turn around and wait for a bunch of other people to drop off their cars too. I think we were all super annoyed and next time we rent a car I will try to make sure we get a rental office closer to the airport.
We get to the airport finally and go into the Southwest line but are turned away because have to pay the departure tax. At this point I think the tax is included in most airline tickets but we bought ours soon after Southwest started selling them and I guess that wasn't in place yet. I was pretty annoyed at this too since I had spent almost all of my cash and had to put it on my debit card and pay yet another foreign transaction fee. My credit card doesn't have foreign transaction fees but the sign at the desk said credit cards transactions would be processed as "cash advances" and I wasn't too clear on what that meant.
After that we finally got in line at Southwest and despite diligently checking in the MINUTE we could yesterday neither our check in nor our friends had worked so we ended up at like C 25 or something horrible like that and none of us could sit together. I was seriously annoyed AGAIN since I think this was an issue with the Southwest app. It's always worked for me before but I've never tried to check in internationally with them so maybe that's the issue? I have no idea why it wouldn't work for me or my friend.
Then we had to wait in line in security forever- it seemed like at least an hour!
Once we were finally through security we got some seriously overpriced airport food, spent our last colones at a store where I bought a few bottles of water for the flight and went to the gate. We were promptly told that you can't take ANY liquids onto the plane- not even a sealed bottle of water so I drank what I could and threw it out. They even have people searching every single person's bag! It was a little silly.
Once were on the flight everything was fine. I paid for the wifi which is how I found out Justice Scalia died and I wanted to talk to everyone around me on the plane about it but I didn't. I just went and found my friends and told them.
We landed Saturday night at BWI and the windchill was about 10 degrees and we were all very underdressed but happily stopped at Taco Bell on the way home where we knew our tacos wouldn't come with french fries and mayonnaise on top.
I think I'll do one more post about Costa Rica and kind of a lessons learned wrap up! There's no pics in this post since I was grumpy most of the way to and in the airport so I didn't take an pics.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Costa Rica Part 4 - Grecia
Day 9
For our last 2 nights we stayed about an hour from the airport in Grecia. We drove there through the same mountains and cloud forest that we did to get to Arenal but luckily it was a little less foggy than on the drive there.
Once you cross over the mountains the change in weather is dramatic. It was warm and sunny! It was only a few hour drive from Arenal but for some reason the air conditioner decided it didn't want to work so the car was stuffy and I was worried if the insurance covers the AC but luckily the next time we got in the car it magically worked again.
Our hotel, which was really just a bunch of small cabins, overlooked a valley with coffee bushes in it. The view was absolutely beautiful and seeing all the clouds and rain over the mountains was a friendly reminder of where we came from. A rainbow formed over the mountains every day around 5pm. The afternoon we got there we spent a few hours by the pool then got dinner at a small restaurant that had a pretty impressive karaoke set up. Somehow I only took pictures of the view and didn't take any of the cabins but you can check out the hotel's website if you're interested.
Day 10
This was really our only day in the area to do anything since we had to leave for the airport the next day. We were hoping to go to see the Poas Volcano especially since we couldn't see Arenal but the owner told us it was too cloudy and the volcano would be closed. We decided to go on a tour of the Doka Coffee Estate. The GPS took us a strange back way but we eventually ended up in the right place. The tour was interesting but I guess it was the end of harvesting season so there wasn't anyone doing anything. I would have liked to see the different machines at work but I guess it was interesting hear the guide talk about what everything did.
The landscaping at Doka was especially beautiful so that was nice.
On the way back from Doka the GPS led us astray (the one time!) and we were going down a dirt road with a steep drop off that just dead ended with no notice. Eventually we made it out the correct way. We tried to find a market the hotel owner told us about but the directions were super vague ("turn left at the soccer field after the church" - I think those are the two most common landmarks in Costa Rica!) so we never found it. We spent a few hours by the pool, saw a beautiful sunset and then went to get what we thought would be burritos. Our burritos turned out the be chimichangas covered in french fries with ketchup and mustard. They were.... interesting and certainly an unintentionally adventurous last dinner!
Our trip to the airport was kind of a fiasco so I'll make a totally separate entry for that soon.
For our last 2 nights we stayed about an hour from the airport in Grecia. We drove there through the same mountains and cloud forest that we did to get to Arenal but luckily it was a little less foggy than on the drive there.
Once you cross over the mountains the change in weather is dramatic. It was warm and sunny! It was only a few hour drive from Arenal but for some reason the air conditioner decided it didn't want to work so the car was stuffy and I was worried if the insurance covers the AC but luckily the next time we got in the car it magically worked again.
Our hotel, which was really just a bunch of small cabins, overlooked a valley with coffee bushes in it. The view was absolutely beautiful and seeing all the clouds and rain over the mountains was a friendly reminder of where we came from. A rainbow formed over the mountains every day around 5pm. The afternoon we got there we spent a few hours by the pool then got dinner at a small restaurant that had a pretty impressive karaoke set up. Somehow I only took pictures of the view and didn't take any of the cabins but you can check out the hotel's website if you're interested.
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| The pool at Mango Valley |
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| View with a rainbow! |
Day 10
This was really our only day in the area to do anything since we had to leave for the airport the next day. We were hoping to go to see the Poas Volcano especially since we couldn't see Arenal but the owner told us it was too cloudy and the volcano would be closed. We decided to go on a tour of the Doka Coffee Estate. The GPS took us a strange back way but we eventually ended up in the right place. The tour was interesting but I guess it was the end of harvesting season so there wasn't anyone doing anything. I would have liked to see the different machines at work but I guess it was interesting hear the guide talk about what everything did.
The landscaping at Doka was especially beautiful so that was nice.
On the way back from Doka the GPS led us astray (the one time!) and we were going down a dirt road with a steep drop off that just dead ended with no notice. Eventually we made it out the correct way. We tried to find a market the hotel owner told us about but the directions were super vague ("turn left at the soccer field after the church" - I think those are the two most common landmarks in Costa Rica!) so we never found it. We spent a few hours by the pool, saw a beautiful sunset and then went to get what we thought would be burritos. Our burritos turned out the be chimichangas covered in french fries with ketchup and mustard. They were.... interesting and certainly an unintentionally adventurous last dinner!
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| Our last sunset in Costa Rica! |
Our trip to the airport was kind of a fiasco so I'll make a totally separate entry for that soon.
Costa Rica Part 3 - Drive to and Arrival at Arenal
Day 6
We got up and ate breakfast at our house then hit the road to Arenal. We were expecting a 5 hour drive but it turned out to be about 6 hours. We crossed over some mountains in a cloud forest and visibility was terrible and the road was really curvy so that added a lot of time.
I was a little worried about getting lost. Did I mention there are no addresses in Costa Rica? We had the GPS coordinates of our AirBnB in Arenal but the owner said the route the GPS gives takes you on a very bad dirt road so he sent turn by turn directions. It was challenging comparing that to the way the GPS was taking us but we made it without any hitches. The road up to the AirBnB was what I would deem a very bad dirt road so I'm really curious what the "very bad" dirt road we didn't drive on was like!
On the way we stopped a vegan cafe to get coffee and take a break from driving. We didn't eat since I thought the AirBnB owner was going to have food ready for us but there was a miscommunication at he was making dinner for us later that night so we were all pretty hungry when we got there!
The AirBnB in Arenal was definitely our favorite place in Costa Rica. The house was built recently and everything was new, modern and really well done. Of course once we got there I put on my bathing suit and got ready to jump in the pool but then it started POURING and didn't stop for the next 3 days! Unfortunately it was cloudy most of the time so we couldn't see the volcano.
Day 7-8
Despite the rain we had a wonderful time in Arenal. We went whitewater rafting the second day and the third day we went to the hanging bridges and Volcano Arenal National Park with a guide. She was wonderful and definitely pointed out lots of animals we wouldn't have seen and told us a lot about the area's history.
We didn't go to the hot springs in the area. After being in the rain all day we didn't really want to hang out in more water but there's so much to do in the area I would definitely go back and hopefully we can see the volcano this time!
Our favorite part of our stay was the delicious food that the owner, Paul, made. We ate breakfast and dinner there all three nights we were there. The food was amazing and much higher quality than we had anywhere else in Costa Rica. CiCi the cat was also a lovely perk. At breakfast, Paul would put fruit in the bird feeders and I loved seeing all the different birds. I think we saw more there in his yard than we did in the parks/hanging bridges with a guide!
I don't have any pictures of whitewater rafting since I didn't take a camera with me but we had a great time. The rafting was relatively short and most of the harder rapids came first but it was still a lot of fun in the rain. After rafting the tour company took us to a farm where we had a great lunch of beans, rice and yuca. The grew coffee there was that also very good and we bought a pound. They grew sugar cane and gave us a shot of sugar can liquor which I warily took a shot of an was not surprised at how strong and intense it was!
We got up and ate breakfast at our house then hit the road to Arenal. We were expecting a 5 hour drive but it turned out to be about 6 hours. We crossed over some mountains in a cloud forest and visibility was terrible and the road was really curvy so that added a lot of time.
I was a little worried about getting lost. Did I mention there are no addresses in Costa Rica? We had the GPS coordinates of our AirBnB in Arenal but the owner said the route the GPS gives takes you on a very bad dirt road so he sent turn by turn directions. It was challenging comparing that to the way the GPS was taking us but we made it without any hitches. The road up to the AirBnB was what I would deem a very bad dirt road so I'm really curious what the "very bad" dirt road we didn't drive on was like!
On the way we stopped a vegan cafe to get coffee and take a break from driving. We didn't eat since I thought the AirBnB owner was going to have food ready for us but there was a miscommunication at he was making dinner for us later that night so we were all pretty hungry when we got there!
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| The horrible visibility on the way to Arenal. |
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| A cat at the vegan cafe on the way. |
The AirBnB in Arenal was definitely our favorite place in Costa Rica. The house was built recently and everything was new, modern and really well done. Of course once we got there I put on my bathing suit and got ready to jump in the pool but then it started POURING and didn't stop for the next 3 days! Unfortunately it was cloudy most of the time so we couldn't see the volcano.
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| Our AirBnB in Arenal |
Day 7-8
Despite the rain we had a wonderful time in Arenal. We went whitewater rafting the second day and the third day we went to the hanging bridges and Volcano Arenal National Park with a guide. She was wonderful and definitely pointed out lots of animals we wouldn't have seen and told us a lot about the area's history.
We didn't go to the hot springs in the area. After being in the rain all day we didn't really want to hang out in more water but there's so much to do in the area I would definitely go back and hopefully we can see the volcano this time!
Our favorite part of our stay was the delicious food that the owner, Paul, made. We ate breakfast and dinner there all three nights we were there. The food was amazing and much higher quality than we had anywhere else in Costa Rica. CiCi the cat was also a lovely perk. At breakfast, Paul would put fruit in the bird feeders and I loved seeing all the different birds. I think we saw more there in his yard than we did in the parks/hanging bridges with a guide!
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| Birds at breakfast! |
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| Dinner with CiCi. |
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| Skinny high five at the hanging bridges. |
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| An eyelash pit viper at the hanging bridges. |
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| At Arenal National Park... there's a volcano behind the clouds I think? |
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| My favorite bird in Costa Rica, the oropendola has a funny sounding call and bows when looking for a mate! We saw them at breakfast and in Arenal park. |
I don't have any pictures of whitewater rafting since I didn't take a camera with me but we had a great time. The rafting was relatively short and most of the harder rapids came first but it was still a lot of fun in the rain. After rafting the tour company took us to a farm where we had a great lunch of beans, rice and yuca. The grew coffee there was that also very good and we bought a pound. They grew sugar cane and gave us a shot of sugar can liquor which I warily took a shot of an was not surprised at how strong and intense it was!
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