Most people go somewhere warm on vacation, but that wouldn't be me. I took off last night for Iceland. Who needs warmth when you can get snow and glaciers?? Ironically, it's actually warmer and sunnier here than in London.
The trip in itself was quite the experience. My flight was out of Gatwick airport, which I didn't find out until late yesterday is way out in the boonies of London. I budgeted about an hour to get there and that was certainly not enough. I planned to take the express train, but when I got to Victoria Station, the express train was cancelled and I had to take the slow train to the airport. I got on the slow train without realizing that you can't use the Oyster Card (equivalent of the el pass) on it (you can use it on the express train --- I checked). So, I'm sweating the timing as the train is making what seemed like 100 stops and then I realize that I don't have the paper ticket that everyone else has. I got to the airport and couldn't get out the gates without the paper ticket. Fortunately, the little worker dude must have seen how frazzled I was and took pity on me and let me buy a ticket there without the extra penalty fee of 20GPB.
I got to the check in with literally 1 minute to spare before check-in cut off. For someone who likes to get to the airport a little early (especially for an international flight), this was not comforting. Thankfully, security wasn't very long, so I got to the gate with 4 minutes to spare before they closed the doors. Way too close for comfort.
The flight itself was uneventful, thank goodness. The trip from the airport was mildly eventful. The airport is about an hour from downtown Reykjavik. Taxis (like everything else on this island) are super expensive, so I took a bus. The big bus takes you to a smaller bus in the city, which then takes you to your hotel. As I was going from the big bus to the small bus, one of the bus drivers was trying to give directions to someone and accidentally punched me in the face. He was a young guy and really apologetic. I couldn't do anything but laugh. He didn't draw blood, so no harm, no foul.
My hotel is fine. It's clean and that's all I care about (yes, Kelly, I did the bed bug check. And yes, Mom, I'm using the sleep sack.). I didn't get in until after midnight, so I just crashed.
This morning, I got up and went to the Blue Lagoon.
The trip in itself was quite the experience. My flight was out of Gatwick airport, which I didn't find out until late yesterday is way out in the boonies of London. I budgeted about an hour to get there and that was certainly not enough. I planned to take the express train, but when I got to Victoria Station, the express train was cancelled and I had to take the slow train to the airport. I got on the slow train without realizing that you can't use the Oyster Card (equivalent of the el pass) on it (you can use it on the express train --- I checked). So, I'm sweating the timing as the train is making what seemed like 100 stops and then I realize that I don't have the paper ticket that everyone else has. I got to the airport and couldn't get out the gates without the paper ticket. Fortunately, the little worker dude must have seen how frazzled I was and took pity on me and let me buy a ticket there without the extra penalty fee of 20GPB.
I got to the check in with literally 1 minute to spare before check-in cut off. For someone who likes to get to the airport a little early (especially for an international flight), this was not comforting. Thankfully, security wasn't very long, so I got to the gate with 4 minutes to spare before they closed the doors. Way too close for comfort.
The flight itself was uneventful, thank goodness. The trip from the airport was mildly eventful. The airport is about an hour from downtown Reykjavik. Taxis (like everything else on this island) are super expensive, so I took a bus. The big bus takes you to a smaller bus in the city, which then takes you to your hotel. As I was going from the big bus to the small bus, one of the bus drivers was trying to give directions to someone and accidentally punched me in the face. He was a young guy and really apologetic. I couldn't do anything but laugh. He didn't draw blood, so no harm, no foul.
My hotel is fine. It's clean and that's all I care about (yes, Kelly, I did the bed bug check. And yes, Mom, I'm using the sleep sack.). I didn't get in until after midnight, so I just crashed.
This morning, I got up and went to the Blue Lagoon.
The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal lagoon that holds 6 million liters of water that is a combination of 2/3 saltwater and 1/3 freshwater. It is about 98-102 degrees. I've been to geothermal pools before and it didn't smell as sulfury as some other places, but there was definitely that tinge. The water is also known for having some healing properties due to the algae and silica in it. That is healing in the skin condition way, not the laying-on-the-hands-and-making-walk sort of healing. Anyway, that is why the water is the crazy color.
The whole thing was cool. They have steam baths and saunas alongside the lagoon and you can get a massage right in the lagoon. I've not had luck lately with my massages (Schmuddle!), so I bypassed that, but I did take advantage of the free mud mask they were offering. (They sell it in the shop for the equivalent of $75! I'm nothing if I'm not frugal.)
I'm not good at relaxing, but I did my best to embrace it.
Not too bad of a morning. :)
I'm off to hopefully see the Northern Lights tonight. It's kind of a lottery to see if you can see them, but the timing is supposed to be ideal. Keep your fingers crossed that Mother Nature cooperates.
More later!
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