My Three Days in Iceland

So, guess who just got back from a reaaaaally last minute, spontaneous trip to Iceland? Yep, it's me. How did you swindle a last minute trip to one of the coolest (haha, geddit?) places on earth at such short notice, I hear you ask? Well, my best friend was meant to be going with his now ex-girlfriend and so, step in Becca, straight off the subs bench and onto an easyJet flight out of Luton to Reykjavik. I had the best three days ever and Iceland genuinely lived up to everything I'd hoped for and more.

DAY 1: The Blue Lagoon

Our flight departed Luton at 07.45 on Tuesday morning so we spent the night before at the Ibis just down the road from the airport. We had breakfast (smoothies and croissants) at the airport before boarding the plane and embarking on the three-hour flight to Iceland. Now, I've experienced a fair few turbulent flights but let me tell you, they were NOTHING compared to that flight. So much so, in fact, that after we'd landed it was too windy for us to leave the plane, so we spent an hour sitting in the plane on the tarmac before it calmed down a bit and we were all allowed to make a mad dash for the arrivals terminal. 

Once we'd made it through security we had about an hour to kill before our coach for the Blue Lagoon was scheduled to arrive. (It's near the airport so it's recommended to go either on your way into Iceland or on your way out). We were both starving so headed to Dunkin' Donuts for some lunch (Icelandic, I know). I had a pizza slice and a donut, and Jacob had a $10 BLT. I know they say Iceland is expensive but I had no idea quite the extent of it. 

Our coach arrived, after standing outside and being blown around by some gale force winds, and took about twenty minutes to get to our destination. When you arrive at the laggon, you have to pay to store your luggage (after coming from the airport) and then you make your way to the main entrance. Now, the tickets are not cheap. And by not cheap, I mean they're just under £100 a person when you include the luggage fee and the price of the coach ticket to get there and back. You are, however, provided a towel, given a free drink and a face ask once you're there... Not quite £100's worth though methinks. 

Anyway, the Blue Lagoon is absolutely beautiful and so relaxing. The water was nowhere near as hot as I was expecting which I think made it easier when it was time to get out, and expose your body to the -1 weather going on. 

We showered, got back dressed (thermals, boots, hats and all) and headed back to the coach. They leave at quarter past the hour and thankfully we managed to time it all really well and jump straight on a coach back. We got dropped at the BSI terminal and walked to our Airbnb in downtown Reykjavik. 

The Airbnb was really cute - it was a really cosy little cabin (read: shed) in the back garden of someone's property and had a little kitchen, a bathroom, dining table, and bed. That evening we headed to a restaurant just down the road for dinner as we were both exhausted. The food really wasn't great and I paid £32 for my chewy rather terrible lamb wrap and fries... 

DAY 2: Golden Circle Tour and Secret Lagoon

We had a pre-booked excursion on the agenda for our second day, and so woke up nice and early ready to be picked up at 9am by the minibus. The first stop on the tour was Þingvellir National Park. Now, during the winter, Iceland gets hardly any daylight at all, I'm talking four hours maximum. The sun rises at about midday and sets again by 4pm - it's really strange to get used to. So, we visited our first stop whilst it was still fairly dark, and very windy, so I don't have a lot to report nor photos to show you. 

The second stop of the tour was by far my favourite part of the whole trip; Gullfoss Waterfall. I'd never seen anything like it and we were both genuinely in awe, it really was stunning. We had about half an hour to wander around and there are multiple different viewing platforms and I loved every second of it. 

Next up on the trip was lunch and a visit to the Geysirs. For lunch, I had chicken nuggets and fries (again, not particularly Icelandic but I was starving and craving carbs). After lunch, we headed over to the geyser viewing area and watched it go up a few times. Again, this was like nothing I'd ever seen before and I really enjoyed watching it.

The final stop on the trip was to the Secret Lagoon. Which, much like the Blue Lagoon is an outdoor hot spring, just without the blue water. In Icelandic custom, one has to shower naked in a communal shower area before entering the lagoon, so guess who got their bits out in public... Yep. The lagoon itself was much warmer than the Blue Lagoon and looked like something straight out of Game of Thrones, it was really nice.

For dinner that evening we decided to make ourselves food at the Airbnb. We headed to the supermarket (which all shut at 18.30 in the winter FYI) after we'd been dropped off and grabbed some bits to make a meal. Now, we bought pasta, sauce, an onion and a packet of salami, as well as a pack of three garlic baguettes. 

We made it back to the Airbnb, shopping in tow, and decided to make a start on dinner. It was only then did we realise that we didn't, in fact, have an oven and our garlic bread wasn't going to cook itself. So, after a quick Instagram poll we decided to microwave it. Which, let me tell you, resulted in some very soggy, Casper the ghost looking garlic bread. Following this, we decided not to give up and whacked it in a frying pan to see if we could make it any better. Now, other than it being a bit burnt - the two in conjunction kind of did the trick... It wasn't particularly tasty, and Jacob wasn't too well the following day, but when there's a will there's a way. And all we wanted was some garlic bread.

The weather on our last day was grim. I'm talking really overcast, pouring down with rain and bitterly cold kind of grim... So, we stayed in the Airbnb until we had to check out and then headed for a wander around Reykjavik. The shops were all really pretty, both the souvenir shops and the bespoke boutiques, and we even spotted a charity shop... Me being me decided that we had to have a quick nose and see what the prices were like for second hand clothes in one of the world's most expensive countries... Well, a check shirt will set you back a meaty $20, so I can't even begin to imagine how much they cost to buy new!

After a bit more wandering - in a much less Christmassy Reykjavik than expected - we stumbled across the Hard Rock Cafe. Now, I absolutely love the HRC and have been to a fair few around the world in my time, and so when I spotted one in Iceland I decided we HAD to go. This was even before we spotted the lunch deal which included a burger, fries and a soup for £15, which, considering we'd paid over thirty quid for a naff wrap a couple of days before, really was unexpected. As always, the food was incredible and by far the cheapest meal we had there... Who'd have thought it, hey?

We then had a bit more of a wander before heading to Hallgrímskirkja church to take a few photos and have a look around. We had our suitcases on us and so didn't ascend the tower, but had a little wander nonetheless. We then wandered back to the BSI terminal and waited for our coach back to the airport.

Our flight was just as expected, and after spending an hour sat stationary on the M25 following a crash, I eventually made it home at about 4.30am on Friday morning...

All in all, it was a really great trip and I genuinely had the best time ever. 

Have you ever been to Iceland?

Where is at the top of your travel bucket list?