A week in Iceland: Iceland Days 7 & 8; packing list and ways to save money traveling to iceland

Iceland Day 7. Friday June 14th. 

 Friday we woke up and drove out to the Akranes Lighthouse. It was only about a 15 minute drive.  

From there we drove to Reykjavik and rented bikes for 4 hours. I had seen there's a paved, 8-mile trail around Reykjavik, so we did that first and then rode around town, found our next guesthouse, rode to the Mario Bros Wall Mural, found a shopping area and then returned our bikes and checked into our guesthouse before heading out again for souvenir shopping and dinner. 

While on the 8-mile paved trail, I started experiencing some serious tummy troubles. I'm not sure from what. I'd had Skyr that morning, the Icelandic yogurt and dairy often bothers me, but usually yogurts okay, and I'd had it a couple of other times on this trip, so I'm not sure if that was it or if it was something else. But either way it stopped us in our tracks and we had to find a restroom immediately! We were far out on the trail, not right in the city anymore when it happened but after riding back a little ways we found a restaurant that I could run into. Phew! 

This is the outside of the Central Guesthouse we stayed in, right in the heart of Reykjavik. It was fun to stay one night here, but I would never stay right in the city for any longer. The streets are too crowded and noisy, and because it's light all night, people are out and about later so we had to shut our windows so we couldn't hear them, but then it was a bit too warm. 

This was our last night in Iceland. I mentioned earlier we didn't love this place because there was only one bathroom on the floor, a shared bathroom for a few other rooms, and it wasn't very clean, and on top of that we weren't supposed to wear shoes inside, but it's a shared place so I wanted shoes on my feet, and I also didn't like being in the city. But it's all good. There was a lake across the street that was beautiful. We rode bikes around it and the next morning we went for a walk around it. 

Charles liked this house because it had a piano. And I think he kinda liked being in the city with all the people and shopping etc. I forgot to mention that Charles found this all wool, made-in-icleand sweater the day before when we were out shopping near the Dalakot Budardal. It was pricey, like $175, but he really wanted one and he had his own money to buy it. 

Downstairs was a shared kitchen. 

Once we were settled in we went out to look for souvenirs and get dinner. If you walk up Rainbow Street, it eventually leads up to the Cathedral.

We ate dinner down the street from where we were staying at a place called Icelandic Street food. They had bottomless Lamb stew, which Charles got, and they have free unlimited waffles. But there were so many people waiting for the waffles that we only got two to share. Scott and I shared the Fisherman's Favorite which was mashed potatoes mixed with fish and rye bread on the side. It was pretty good. 

Around 10 that night we went out to get a couple of things from the store we'd seen earlier that's open 24/7. Charles loves applejuice.

And since it was our last night, we decided to go on a late night walk down to the pond to get a really late night picture...and we were trying to stay up later so that adjusting to time at home the next day would be a little less painful. So here you go. This is as dark as it gets in Iceland in mid June. Not very dark, but kinda dusky looking around 1am. And then by 2am it's starting to get brighter again. 

Iceland Day 8. Saturday June 15th. 

We woke up, packed up the car, went for a walk down by the pond and then drove over to the Cathedral for a quick look inside and then we were off to the airport. We arrived at the airport extra early since we'd had difficulties getting here with the boys having the same name, and also since we had that incident with the car and we weren't sure if that'd make our car rental return longer. But it didn't make it longer and we didn't have any more difficulties at the airport with our tickets going home, so that was nice. And it meant we were at the airport WAY early. But it's all good. We had a wonderful trip and we're so grateful we got to go.

Passport

Fanny pack/shoulder bag/small hiking bag

AirPods

Charger

Portable charger 

Light weight Water bottle

Facewash or makeup wipes

Travel medicine container 

Travel sized hand wipes 

Travel grocery bag (folds up small)

feminine hygiene products

Travel Kleenex 

Coconut oil (face lotion)

Ear plugs

Sleeping mask (Alaska bear brand; can find on amazon)

Makeup

Toothbrush/toothpaste/floss

Ponytails/elastics/bobbypins 

Sunscreen (travel size or stick)

Packable puffer jacket

Workout clothes

Sports bra

underclothes

Socks 

2 tshirts 

Sweatshirt

Trail shoes 

Sweatpants

2-3 long sleeve shirts

Exercise leggings 

Gloves

Beanie

Baseball cap

Church clothes (wear w/tennis shoes or sandal)

Swim suit (in case we do hot spring)

Flip flops or slides (small sandal)

Poncho or rain wear (for seljalandfoss…waterfall you walk behind)

Debit & credit card

*buy larger containers of water from Bonus when there to fill up water bottles and foods for breakfast and lunch like bread, pb&j, grapes, apples, carrots, yogurt and juice

Wear:

Long pants

Tshirt

Sweatshirt

Tennis shoes 

Socks 

Food in collapsable cooler: 

granola/protein bars

Protein powder pouches (to add to orange juice)

Granola (to add to yogurt we buy there, or to snack on)

Chicken and tuna pouches

trail mix

nerd clusters 

Crackers 

Pb and cheese crackers 

Protein Oatmeal packets

The most expensive things were flights, car rental and guesthouses/hotels. We stayed somewhere different every night because we wanted to travel around the island. Next time we would rent a camper van (they were everywhere; adventure vans) which would save us around $1500. I would also wait until flights went on sale for $500 if we decide to go again. They usually do go on sale once a year or so. We brought a collapsible cooler and filled it with food from home that we could eat while there to save money on food. Eating out there is super expensive, like eating out in Hawaii. We still ate out once a day, usually for dinner, but we always looked around and found places that were a little better in price or found things on the menu that were a little less expensive. Hot dogs were always a good price, but I don't like hotdogs. Scott and Charles got them a couple of times. I ate fish and chips a few times. That's usually around $20/plate. Because we brought food from home and bought food at Bonus grocery when we were there (one of their cheaper food stores), we only spent around $500 on food during the week, and we spent about that same amount on gas that week. We drove around ring road 1, so we did a good amount of driving, but gas is also expensive there. Do as many free activities as possible! Iceland is beautiful and you don't need to spend money on lots of activities, though you certainly can. We picked a couple of activities we wanted to do that would cost money (bike riding and horse riding) and did those. Everything else was pretty much free, minus parking because most places you visit you have to pay for parking. Other activities I know people like to do while in Iceland that cost money are visiting the Blue Lagoon, whale watching or puffin island tours(Husavik has the best ones because of it's location, but there are whale watching tours in Reykjavik and other places as well), Laugarvatn geothermal baths.

A week in Iceland: Iceland day 5 & 6

Iceland Day 5. Wednesday June 12th. 

I slept surprising well in the yurt. I wasn't sure with the light and now the spiders; but I guess I was so tired and learned how to use my night mask well enough that it was all good. I also took a couple of melatonin at the suggestion of Annabelle when I talked to her on the phone the night before. The traffic lights in Iceland are cute. The red light is in the shape of a heart when it's lit up. 

Since we had a little time to kill in the morning on our drive to Iceland Horse Tours in Saudarkrokur (at the Helluland Guesthouse) we stopped off at a couple of places along the way that we hadn't been planning on but we'd seen on the map and thought, why not? This was one of them. The Battle of Haugsnes which took place in 1246.  It's a monument of rocks and crosses for those who died in one of their biggest battles in Iceland (it didn't seem big in comparison to the battles across the world, but it was big for them.). Around 115 people died which they have crosses for all of those fallen soldiers and there was something like 1000 soldiers total and there's a stone there for every soldier that fought. 

Iceland Horse Tours is on the same property as the Helluland Guesthouse in Saudarkrokur. As I mentioned in the previous post, this one was more affordable($150 for the three of us) and had more availability so we went for it. We each rode a horse for an hour and our guide even let us try out the Icelandic gait called a Tolt which was fun. It's similar to a trot but a little smoother. Scott's horse didn't want to leave the farm area so the guide tied his horse to hers until we were off the property. I love the Iceland scenery! Everywhere you turn it's beautiful! 

Charles found the bagged cinnamon rolls he loved, and I found these! My favorite was the white chocolate peanut and caramel protein bar. So yummy! I had them several times. We tried these cakes too which were pretty yummy. I think I gained a few pounds on our trip to Iceland as I wasn't walking/exercising as much as usual and I was eating more foods as we drove, and not the healthiest choices either! But we love trying all the different foods on vacation so I wouldn't do it any other way. When we get home, we can get back on track and eat to feel well again. 

We did not go to Blue Lagoon which we had heard is super expensive and very crowded with tourists. Instead we found this free natural hot spring called Gudrunarlaug Hot Spring on our way to our next stop and went in for a dip. I don't love getting wet so I just put my feet in, but the boys got all the way in. There's a box there to collect donations to help keep it going, so if you have some Icelandic money, bring it with you and drop some in! There was a little cabin to change clothes in as well. 

Night 5 we stayed at the Dalakot Budardal in Budardalur. This place also included breakfast which was nice. And they had a restaurant on site so we also ate dinner there. We stayed at a couple of places that had a shared bathroom. This is one of them. It was better than we expected; the bathrooms were big and clean and there were a few so that was nice. Our last night in Iceland was a different story with only one bathroom on the floor and it wasn't very clean. 

Scott and I noticed they had these bouncy things set up outside little schools/daycares. So one night when we were out on a walk and came across one, we went for a jump :). This was around 9pm. 

Iceland Day 6. Thursday June 13th.

They had the typical European breakfast at Dalakot Budardal, and this time they also included the Happy Marriage Cake; I'd seen this at a couple of places in Iceland. It was very yummy; like a rhubarb jam crisp.  

We packed up after breakfast and drove to Kirkjufell Mountain. It's unique in it's look. We tried to hike it, but there's not a good path, it's quite steep and it was very windy that day, so I didn't feel comfortable going very far. We went less than a mile RT. 

We stopped off at a bakery named Geirabakari Kaffihus which was another Walter Mitty film location...although in Walter Mitty they had turned it into a Papa Johns. They don't actually have Papa Johns in Iceland. 

Remember how I said it was windy? Well, when Charles opened his car door to get out and go inside of the bakery, it flew open with the wind and hit the Audi car next to us! I quickly scribbled down a note with my name and number and a brief explanation and offering to pay for it and we stuck it on their windshield. They were apparently watching from the bakery window and when we walked in they walked out to their car and read the note. I watched them walk over so we followed them out and then we all went back inside the bakery(remember how windy it was? and cold)  to talk and fill out our car insurance form that the rental car had in the glove box. We ended up chatting with them for half hour, getting to know their family (husband and wife, probably near our age, with their mom and two children ages 16 and 10. they are both school teachers and were on their way to a vacation home where they'd stay the week) and really liking them. We invited them to come stay with us if they come to USA for a visit. My sister later commented that I'm just like my dad :). He made friends everywhere and often invited them to our home. I hope they take us up on the offer. We intend to reach out to them again in a couple of weeks to see if it got taken care of. And we're SUPER grateful we decided last second to add the full coverage car rental insurance! 

Before eating our baked goods that night, we stopped off at a pizza place for dinner. I'd seen pizza sold in several locations but hadn't tried any yet. It was yummy. I liked the thinner, crispier crust than we're used to in the states. 

Night 6 was our favorite place we stayed. It was a cottage at Hotel Laxarbakki in Hvalfjardarsveit. I think we liked it so much because 1) it was way bigger than any of the other places we'd stayed and 2)it had double shades! The pull down room darkening shades plus the room darkening drapes! I slept really well that night with how dark it got in our room. Scott and I even got a room to ourselves this time which was a nice change. 

The baked goods were delicious! I especially liked that long thing that's filled with creme. The giant pink and blue macaroon turned my mouth blue! I thought I only ordered one of everything but apparently they thought we wanted 3 of the giant blue macaroons! Once Charles and Scott saw my mouth they didn't want theirs. But I removed the blue part and chucked it and then they ate the rest of the macaroon. It was tasty, but I wouldn't get the blue macaroon again. Holy food coloring! Scott and I went for a stroll that evening on the hotel grounds. Beautiful. 

After our night at the Yurt, we decided to try to find some playing cards so we could play together at night when we were winding down(this also helped draw charles away from his phone and music w/headphones for a time :)). We found some playing cards with pictures of Iceland on one side, while at a gas station, and we used them every night after. 

A week in Iceland: Iceland Days 3 & 4

Iceland day 3. Monday June 10th.

The Hunkubakkar provided a breakfast in the morning which was nice. They had a typical European spread with breads and jams, veggies, meat and cheese and muesli. 

After breakfast we packed up and drove an hour and a half to Diamond Beach and Jokulsarlon. On the way we stopped off at Dverghamrar which has striking rock formations. There's a folktale posted outside that says it's the dwelling place for dwarves and elves. 

There were a lot of tourists here and we couldn't find parking at the main lot of Jokulsarlon, so after we went took pictures at diamond beach (Parking 2), we drove to diamond beach parking 1(they don't have many of the glaciers on the beach at the parking 1 beach) and walked from there to see the Joklusarlon glaciers. 

There are bathrooms and food trucks at the Jokulsarlon main parking area, so we took advantage of that. They sell hotdogs and fish almost everywhere. The hotdogs are pretty cheap, usually around $5, but the fish and everything else in Iceland, is pretty expensive. We got a couple of hotdogs for the boys and I got fish and chips that I shared with them. 

The drive to the next place we stayed (Setberg, 701 Egilsstadir), was over 3.5 hours. So we made a couple of quick stops on the way to see things that were along the ring road. My good friend Kassie had said that if we see a random red or white chair off the ring road, to stop and take a picture with it, because she had pictures of herself in those chairs. We didn't see the white chair but we found the red chair. 

Their Doritos, in the USA are called, "cool ranch". I laughed when I saw these because in Iceland they call them, "Cool American". 

We definitely decided we like the quieter places we stay in that have more room all around us, without adjoining neighbors etc. This place was that way. We had our own little cabin on land that also had the home of the owner. Most of the rooms we stayed in, we all slept in the same room. Although we did have two where we were seperated from Charles. I didn't mind either way. 

Charles and I went on a walk at 1030pm. It was so light outside! The sheep on the property were all still outside so Charles and I walked up the street to where a few of them had gotten out of the fence. As we drew near to where they were, someone at the home/barn area called to them with what sounded like a whistle and all of a sudden all of the sheep from all over the field starting booking it to the barn area! Including the sheep that had gotten out of the fence. They went along the fence line, continuously checking for a spot where they could fit through, until they found it and then they went running to their shepherd. It was cool to see. 

The picture below of our rental car parked outside the house was taken at 1130pm . It never gets dark in mid june. 

On this night I also sent a message out to a place that does horse rides to see if we could squeeze that in our shedule somewhere, and to see if it would work price-wise since Charles mentioned a couple of times while we were there how fun he thought that would be, to ride Icelandic horses. They didn't have any openings until Saturday, which is the day we leave back to the states, and it was $250 for an hour for the three of us, which was a little more than I wanted to pay. So we put that thought on hold. 

Iceland Day 4. Tuesday June 11th. 

We had decided to stay in this area so we could see the road Vestervegur that Walter Mitty skateboarded down in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. We also stopped at the waterfall he saw while skateboarding. 

And fun fact: The Greenland and Afghanistan scenes in Walter Mitty were also filmed in Iceland. The waterfall he passes by with the guids in Afghanistan is actually Skogofoss which we saw on Day 2 in Iceland. 

Dettifoss is one of the biggest waterfalls in Europe and puts out the most water. You can view it from the East Side and the West Side; I'd heard the East had a better view so we headed that way but once we got about 15 minutes away from the trailhead the road was closed because of snow. So we had to retrace our drive and lost about 30 minutes, but it's all good. We drove around to the West Side and saw Dettifoss and Selfoss from there. 

After the falls we drove through Husavik and stopped off for dinner. Fish and chips again. The fish and chips in Iceland was delicious...like Seattle. 

Next we stopped off at Godafoss. The waterfalls in Iceland are just amazing! There are so many and they're gorgeous!

After Godafoss we drove to our Iceland Yurt in Akureyri. It was a bit of a hike from our parking to our our yurt, but it only took about 7 minutes. Instead of hiking up all our luggage, we just each brought up a backpack. 

The yurt had wood burning stove, a couch, table and two beds. I didn't like all the spiders, but that's part of camping/yurt sleeping.  

We drove about 6 hours on this day. So when we looked at our calendar for the following day which had 9 hours of driving because we wanted to add in a waterfall at the West Fjords, we started thinking about other things we could do and see that wouldn't require quite as much driving. The drive from our yurt to our next place we were sleeping was only 3 hours. After some research, we found out that there was a horse riding place that was more affordable ($150 for the 3 of us), that had openings for the following day and that would only add an additional 30 minutes to our drive time. It was settled. I would still love to go explore the west fjords some time, but we'll have to do that during another trip, because for this time, we'd already done a lot of driving and seen over a dozen waterfalls. 

They provided a breakfast in a cooler which was nice. Some typical Icelandic fare: skyr yogurt, cinnamon rolls, muesli, cheese and crackers, orange juice and a bar of Icelandic chocolate. Scott and Charles love this Pear Yogurt drink! 

The night mask took some gettting used to, but once I did it was a lifesaver.