Iceland, anyone?

[justme]

Mar 12, 2015 14:02:08 GMT -5 spartan7886 said:

Mar 11, 2015 21:47:06 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

Is it correct that merchants only / mostly accept the Chip & PIN cards? My Capital One has no foreign currency conversion fee, but it's not Chip & PIN. My BofA Visa is Chip & PIN, but I'm not sure of the fee (I'm sure there is one). 

Chip & PIN or chip & signature? Pretty sure my BofA Visa is chip & signature. Shouldn't make a difference most places, just sometimes at automated kiosks.

The new card I got from BofA is chip and signature. PenFed has a chip and pin that has zero foreign transaction fee.

[aprilleigh]

Mar 12, 2015 14:02:08 GMT -5 spartan7886 said:

Mar 11, 2015 21:47:06 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

Is it correct that merchants only / mostly accept the Chip & PIN cards? My Capital One has no foreign currency conversion fee, but it's not Chip & PIN. My BofA Visa is Chip & PIN, but I'm not sure of the fee (I'm sure there is one). 

Chip & PIN or chip & signature? Pretty sure my BofA Visa is chip & signature. Shouldn't make a difference most places, just sometimes at automated kiosks.

I could be assuming, here. My card has the little chippy, and online there's a spot to request a PIN. So I'm hoping that would work! From the blogs and whatnot I've been reading, it could be a problem at gas stations. Which would be a REALLY big problem! But I will look into my BofA card further, thanks! 

[Deleted]

We didn't have pin and chip, and did ok. They can still run both types. At least they could in October of last year. 

Blue Lagoon will be fun. You are right about having to do it once anyway  Don't let the locker rooms worry you. Lots of naked people, but if you don't want to be naked in public you don't have to be. 

I understand wanting to do the Golden Circle on you own. I'd do some research before then. There is just so much info i never would have gotten but for the tour. Might not have felt comfortable stopping for the ponies (iceland hasn't allowed horses to be brought in since pre1800s or so, so they are a breed apart)... the new greenhouses... they used to import much of their veg, but have learned to use the natural heat to grow their own now. etc. etc. Also history, its such a unique history. Anyway, pick up a good book  

As for language, we spoke English and it was not an issue much. The tour guide said though, if you want credit for trying, translate everything you want to say into Shakespeare and talk with a Scottish accent

And have fun!

[Deleted]

Thanks for all this great insight, oped! We're headed to Iceland for a week in August and I booked just about everything today- still need to get a rental car. We're excited!

[aprilleigh]

Mar 16, 2015 19:07:57 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Thanks for all this great insight, oped! We're headed to Iceland for a week in August and I booked just about everything today- still need to get a rental car. We're excited!

Athena, would you mind sharing what you'll be doing? I'd love to hear! 

[Icelandic Woman]

Here is an article for you about a place you might want to visit while in Iceland.

link

[aprilleigh]

Mar 20, 2015 12:19:44 GMT -5 Icelandic Woman said:

Here is an article for you about a place you might want to visit while in Iceland.

link

That looks amazing! ... and a little terrifying!  

[Icelandic Woman]

aprilleigh
I was wondering how your trip was?

[aprilleigh]

Icelandic Woman,

OH MY GOD, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!

All 3 of us are so looking forward to going back ... and we've never really wanted to re-visit a destination before. Our 8-year-old son wants us to buy a summer house there!  

I can't even pick a favorite part. Ok, my favorite view was Hraunafossa, but we didn't get to stay there long. Let's see...

We flew in at 6:15am Saturday. I didn't plan anything for that day, just exploring Reykjavik and settling into the apartment. Sunday, we drove the Golden Circle. I wish I had planned this part a little better, because we ended up missing parts of Thingvellir. And my son was super looking forward to standing on the bridge across the continents! When we got to Gullfoss, it was raining a bit, but we're from Portland so that didn't stop us! We walked down the path, through the spray!!, to the overlook and it was incredible. We were giddy!! Even soaking wet and stinking like sulfur from Strokur we had an amazing time.

Monday I had booked a horse-back riding / whale watching tour. This was actually the "worst" day of the trip. The weather was FRIGID and the kiddo fell off his horse twice. No injuries, but he was too nervous to get back up again so he and I waited for a car to take us back to the barn while my husband finished the ride. That was almost torture for him; he's a photographer and the landscape was just out of this world, and he couldn't get to his camera under the rain gear. So then we headed back to the harbor for the whale watching trip. But the weather was so bad that they couldn't launch from there, and bussed us to harbor about 45 minutes away. It was so rough! They were giving away Dramamine like candy, but I still lost my lunch. And, no whales. When we made it back to Reykjavik we really wanted to try this hamburger place across the parking lot from the harbor. I guess there was some kind of strike, and there were no hamburgers anywhere! They only had lamb. OK, we were fine with it, but the kiddo would have freaked out. So I said, put bacon on his, and we won't tell him. Awesome mom, right there! But he liked it. We totally just crashed after that. 

Tuesday we drove around the Snaefellsnes Peninsula. It was overcast, so we didn't get the awesome sights I knew were there, but we had a great time pulling over wherever we saw something interesting. I think Google Maps says you can do the round trip from Reykjavik in 6 hours; we took 14! I've never been so exhausted, but so contented in my soul at the same time.

Wednesday was another snafu. I had booked another tour, up to the new Glacier Cave. Unfortunately, the tour company neglected to pick us up. We were supposed to meet at a hotel, and I had asked the concierge to call them to find out what was going on. Once she realized that they had screwed up, she got very ... stern ... and made it right for us. They were able to book us on the afternoon Cave tour, and we got a "private" van ride up there. So we wandered around Reykjavik for a few hours then met the van and took off. The Glacier Cave was AMAZING! However ... my kid wasn't paying attention and walked right into a pool of runoff glacier water and was soaked to the knees. The cave is really a big circle and we were already over half through, so he just had to deal. It was actually quite hilarious, in hindsight! We stopped at Hraunafossa on the way back, and since the kiddo had no shoes, we had to take turns staying in the van with him. But I think I could have stayed there for hours! We really wanted to go to the Blue Lagoon, just to have done it, you know? And this was our last night, so we grabbed dinner at Subway on the way out there and made it at 9:30. They close at 10 but let you stay in til 10:30. Yeah, it was overpriced, but as soon as we stepped in all that craziness slipped away. We even walked around the lava fields for like half an hour when we were done. We were all in sort of a zombie dreamy state. And it was still light when we got home at like 12:30!

Thursday we hung out in Reykjavik for the morning, and then headed to the airport! It was a pretty quick trip, but that's when Icelandair has direct flights from Portland. We will definitely be back, though. I'm already thinking of renting a camper next time, so we can see more. We pretty much stayed in the southwest this time.  

Sorry for the novel!! LOL! Can you tell I'm in love with Iceland? I actually feel a little homesick!

[aprilleigh]

If anyone is interested, here's the link to my husband's photos. They're not really in order yet ... they're just in there in the order he developed the film / edited the digitals. Also, some are reversed images because he scanned the film backwards! LOL! 

www.piratelogy.com/Travel/Iceland/

[Deleted]

I too keep thinking about 'when I go back' ... I think it's the air.

Tour guide told us there really is no 'exact' between the continents. Just pick a crack and stand over it for a picture.

[resolution]

Wow your pics are lovely!

[NoNamePerson]

Great pictures and glad the trip was all you hoped it to be. Now I'm adding Iceland to my ever expanding bucket list   

[ZaireinHD]

here is negative

the pictures didn't appear to be impressive to me

but be positive Z!

I saw two pictures in color that I did like

here is the negative

I read your novel and don't see why you would say you are definitely going back? appears like it was not a great trip

but be positive Z!

maybe on your return trip, better places to take better pictures will be found and actually have a good time.

here is the negative

your 8 year old really didn't have a good time. something or that was a miss -hap that happened everyday to your 8 year old!

but be positive Z!

your 8 year old was tricked and didn't notice the difference and having a fit was avoided

[Deleted]

Think of how awesome it must be Z... To want to go back even with the mishaps

[ZaireinHD]

good point oped!

be positive Z!

had a family vacation to a new location they never been before.

congrats on posting real details! instead of what most will do is only post the fun stuff

[Deleted]

A few of my random pics. Not sure they are the best, the thumbprints were small...

 

 

 

  

[NoNamePerson]

Jul 19, 2015 21:26:42 GMT -5 oped said:

Think of how awesome it must be Z... To want to go back even with the mishaps

A vacation without mishaps just isn't a vacation for me. That's part of the fun sometimes. Coming up on things/places/people you didn't "plan" for.   Of course, I don't get bent out of shape/rattled when things go bump. I just go with the flow.     Now, I will admit that everytime I plan a trip, my son asked the question "do the people you are traveling with know your mishap history?"  

[aprilleigh]

Jul 19, 2015 21:21:19 GMT -5 ZaireinHD said:

here is negative

the pictures didn't appear to be impressive to me

but be positive Z!

I saw two pictures in color that I did like

here is the negative

I read your novel and don't see why you would say you are definitely going back? appears like it was not a great trip

but be positive Z!

maybe on your return trip, better places to take better pictures will be found and actually have a good time.

here is the negative

your 8 year old really didn't have a good time. something or that was a miss -hap that happened everyday to your 8 year old!

but be positive Z!

your 8 year old was tricked and didn't notice the difference and having a fit was avoided

We are definitely going back because it was WONDERFUL. Everywhere you looked it was something new and completely different. And we stayed in a pretty small area so we KNOW there is so much more stuff to see that will be just as amazing. My 8 year old DID have a good time. He wants to go back to see what ever else we can see, EVEN THOUGH we had some rough patches. And what other 8 year old can say he's been inside a glacier?

It's part of traveling. You never know what will come up and you just have to roll with it. We had a similar day in Kauai last year, where everything I planned just didn't work out right (the "glass beach" was non-existent, the restaurant we wanted to have dinner at closed early, the clock in our rental car was 10 minutes off and we missed the sunset at the lookout, I tripped and face-planted in the parking lot ... you get the idea!) We call that our Best Worst Day Ever. We could have let all those things ruin our day, but what the hell, we were still in Hawaii!! 

[aprilleigh]

I guess Zaire is right, I didn't post much of the "positive"... I guess I don't want to come across all gushy? LOL!

Gulfoss was amazing. The waterfall is so powerful, but from the one side it looks like it just completely disappears. When you go down to the viewing "platform" you're just on a rock RIGHT THERE over the falls. Seriously, it's guarded by like a knee-high rope. We figured if that had been in the states, there would have been a chain-link fence to protect people ... from themselves. But being so close to it was awesome. 

I loved seeing the lava fields when we drove in from Keflavik and out on the horse back ride ( I wish I knew where that was, geographically, but we went on a bus and I got all turned around). The ones near Keflavik are rounder, almost... like lava domes. Then ones on the horse back ride were super sharp and black, but overlayed by soft, bright green moss. The juxtaposition was fascinating, and I really wish we could get to our cameras out there. Even though we were being berated by wind and ice pellets!

Reykjavik was great for walking and people watching. It wasn't sprawling, so you could get around really easily. Oh! And there was amazing street art everywhere. Some of it is "legal", like commissioned by the city, I think? And some is not. I think, and this is just my theory... that the houses are painted so colorfully, and the street art is so beautiful, to help liven up the long dreary winters. Maybe, maybe not. But it was awesome stumbling across little paintings everywhere! And it was clean. When I think of Paris, I immediately think of soot, car exhaust, and, well, pee. Reykjavik seemed much fresher and just more maintained? The freshness I'm sure was due to the wind off the bay. 

When we drove around the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, there were waterfalls EVERYWHERE. At the outset, we stopped everywhere it was safe to, to snap pictures. We had to curtail that pretty quick, though, or we never would have made it back! 

[Icelandic Woman]

Wow aprilleigh I am so happy that you had such a Fantastic time!!! And even with the mishaps and that you want to go back. Your husband's piccies are Wonderful! Did you ever get around to trying those hot dogs I posted about?

[Deleted]

Part of what you are describing April is that so much of Iceland is just, well, new.  Like I said, the tour we took was AWESOME as far as information. Iceland pretty much skipped the entire industrial revolution. They were still herding and fishing until a few decades ago when the rest of the world finally got boat power significant enough to reach there and then the fishing industry, etc. boomed and suddenly it was at like 150% employment and high per capita income. And so, when they embraced the TECH revolution, they didn't have to recondition or repurpose or deal with decaying infrastructure from the industrial revolution... they just went full force into modernization and didn't have to even put in place a lot of the outdated systems we deal with now.

They also have no McDonalds.

And are using their geothermals in incredible new ways to be more and more self sufficient.

Yes, they had a financial crisis not too long ago. Hard to have that rapid rise without some corruption and missteps, but ... well.... I'll stop rambling. I really, really liked Iceland.

My kids loved the street art, us too, but they took pictures of everything to bring back to their art class.

[Icelandic Woman]

They also have no McDonalds.

Actually they did have McDonald's for several years after the government lifted the ban on imported meat. I have not been there for a long time so I am not sure why they don't have McDonald's anymore. I guess if was really curious why I would google it.

[Deleted]

Yep he said they made them out source everything and it was crazy and they closed like overnight here today gone tomorrow

[Icelandic Woman]

Jul 24, 2015 14:36:52 GMT -5 oped said:

Yep he said they made them out source everything and it was crazy and they closed like overnight here today gone tomorrow

Not sure it is much of a loss. LOL

[aprilleigh]

Jul 24, 2015 13:53:22 GMT -5 Icelandic Woman said:

Wow aprilleigh I am so happy that you had such a Fantastic time!!! And even with the mishaps and that you want to go back. Your husband's piccies are Wonderful! Did you ever get around to trying those hot dogs I posted about?

Oh man, I SOOO wanted to but we ran out of time!!! We planned to go to here www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189970-d1852122-Reviews-Baejarins_Beztu_Pylsur-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html  on the Thursday before we needed to go to the airport, but the line was so long we never would have made it. I did end up getting one at the airport just to be able to say "I had an Icelandic hot dog"; it was good, but I'm sure not AS good, know what I mean? 

One thing we definitely should have done better was to plan meals into what we were doing. I packed a bunch of snacks because I knew we'd be on the road a lot, but we ended up skipping some meals. Like we'd just be in an area with no places to eat, or we'd get back to Reykjavik after the grocery stores closed but we didn't feel like a fancy restaurant meal. Now we know for next time!

I noticed quite a few combined Taco Bell / KFCs. Strange...  

[Icelandic Woman]

Jul 24, 2015 14:49:36 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

Jul 24, 2015 13:53:22 GMT -5 Icelandic Woman said:

Wow aprilleigh I am so happy that you had such a Fantastic time!!! And even with the mishaps and that you want to go back. Your husband's piccies are Wonderful! Did you ever get around to trying those hot dogs I posted about?

Oh man, I SOOO wanted to but we ran out of time!!! We planned to go to here www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189970-d1852122-Reviews-Baejarins_Beztu_Pylsur-Reykjavik_Capital_Region.html  on the Thursday before we needed to go to the airport, but the line was so long we never would have made it. I did end up getting one at the airport just to be able to say "I had an Icelandic hot dog"; it was good, but I'm sure not AS good, know what I mean? 

One thing we definitely should have done better was to plan meals into what we were doing. I packed a bunch of snacks because I knew we'd be on the road a lot, but we ended up skipping some meals. Like we'd just be in an area with no places to eat, or we'd get back to Reykjavik after the grocery stores closed but we didn't feel like a fancy restaurant meal. Now we know for next time!

I noticed quite a few combined Taco Bell / KFCs. Strange...  

KFC has been there a long time, ever since I lived there back in the late 80's. But I didn't know that Taco Bell had joined them.

[ZaireinHD]

here is the negative

I find the pictures to be depressing! I had a thought of Iceland and what it would be like. After seeing your pictures I am NOT impressed!

But be positive Z!!

scratch of the bucket list. saved me a trip out to Iceland and I think would have been a big disappointment.

Comment:

I am grateful you posted the non highlights! not a single thought of you being a complainer. you are just keeping it real! most people just post perfect trips when it wasn't. I am a Drama King! I want to know about the drama that happened, as you mentioned!

most people telling stories of their vacations oh we did this and that and what-ever had so much fun! that is all well and good but what's the flip side?

[aprilleigh]

Aug 1, 2015 0:22:14 GMT -5 ZaireinHD said:

here is the negative

I find the pictures to be depressing! I had a thought of Iceland and what it would be like. After seeing your pictures I am NOT impressed!

But be positive Z!!

scratch of the bucket list. saved me a trip out to Iceland and I think would have been a big disappointment.

Comment:

I am grateful you posted the non highlights! not a single thought of you being a complainer. you are just keeping it real! most people just post perfect trips when it wasn't. I am a Drama King! I want to know about the drama that happened, as you mentioned!

most people telling stories of their vacations oh we did this and that and what-ever had so much fun! that is all well and good but what's the flip side?

Sorry, I just saw this, Zaire!

Can I ask what you found depressing about the pictures? I'll tell you, what we saw was not what I had envisioned either, based on my Pinterest research. It was very cloudy and rained a lot. And my husband has a thing for "broody skies". But I thought he pretty much captured the part of Iceland that we saw. IF you're interested, I can send you my photos that are more "family vacation photo" style. Then see if it's just his style that makes you feel that way, or the weather. Seriously, when I heard "24 hours of daylight" I automatically assumed "24 hours of SUNSHINE". Nope, not how it happened! 

[Icelandic Woman]

Aug 6, 2015 15:46:31 GMT -5 aprilleigh said:

Aug 1, 2015 0:22:14 GMT -5 ZaireinHD said:

here is the negative

I find the pictures to be depressing! I had a thought of Iceland and what it would be like. After seeing your pictures I am NOT impressed!

But be positive Z!!

scratch of the bucket list. saved me a trip out to Iceland and I think would have been a big disappointment.

Comment:

I am grateful you posted the non highlights! not a single thought of you being a complainer. you are just keeping it real! most people just post perfect trips when it wasn't. I am a Drama King! I want to know about the drama that happened, as you mentioned!

most people telling stories of their vacations oh we did this and that and what-ever had so much fun! that is all well and good but what's the flip side?

Sorry, I just saw this, Zaire!

Can I ask what you found depressing about the pictures? I'll tell you, what we saw was not what I had envisioned either, based on my Pinterest research. It was very cloudy and rained a lot. And my husband has a thing for "broody skies". But I thought he pretty much captured the part of Iceland that we saw. IF you're interested, I can send you my photos that are more "family vacation photo" style. Then see if it's just his style that makes you feel that way, or the weather. Seriously, when I heard "24 hours of daylight" I automatically assumed "24 hours of SUNSHINE". Nope, not how it happened! 

I thought the pictures were beautiful april!!!
I mean you were in Iceland not Hawaii.