61luv2travel

gomiki - I am so glad that you enjoyed going along for the ride!

Treesa

61luv, thank you for the report. I was in Reykjavik last week, unfortunately I had a medical emergency and had to fly home. I saw the inside of the huge hospital complex, spent about 5 hours between the ER and the specialist's office and was told to fly home ASAP. Also, the ride to the airport was most interesting. I've never spent that much money on a taxi and was driven such a distance. I did manage to see the church inside and out. As soon as I'm able to it's Iceland, baby.

61luv2travel

Treesa - I am so sorry to hear that you had to go through that medical emergency while on your trip. That must have been so scary. I hope that you arrived home safely and that you are already on the road to recovery. At the risk of sounding a little insensitive, my husband and I are both docs. He is a surgeon and I'm a peds cardiologist. We did not notice the hospital in Reykjavik until we were on the FlyBus going back to the airport. Both of us kind of stared at it as we went by and then started speculating as to how many beds the hospital had, what types of emergencies would they be able to handle in country and whether they had some type of medical evacuation/transport system to either the UK or Canada for those emergencies that they couldn't manage. With a population of <400K, we imagine that they wouldn't be able to support that many medical specialties. Your experience gave us a little insight into those questions that we had asked ourselves.

Hope that you recover quickly and can get back to your travels as soon as your doctor clears you.

Melnq8

Enjoyed your report, thanks for posting. I know all too well the time and work involved in writing trip reports. And those Icelandic words! I had to do a lot of cut and paste when I wrote my report from our trip in 2017.

We weren't wowed by Iceland either. We thought we'd love it, but we didn't for whatever reason.

Treesa

Thank you, 61luv2travel Yes, a very scary experience since I was on a 14 night cruise solo. Detached retina with total blindness in one eye. Impressed by the care rendered. Excellent facilities, state of the arts equipment, the ER physician assigned to my case is an Australian super woman. Also saw a retina specialist and they offered to do surgery two days later or fly home ASAP. I flew home the next day. Not an easy task since the flights were full. Had surgery two days later and I'm recovering at home with my SO and my daughter doing the chauffer duty. Loved all the Icelandic people I met. Their kindness and hospitality will be remembered. The country is so unique, it's like being on another planet as far as the scenery goes. My deep gratitude to you and your husband for the work you do. I'll add a word of wisdom: please buy insurance when you travel, even if you're young and healthy. You just never know.

61luv2travel

Treesa - yes, that sounds horrifying. Retinal detachment seems like such a random event. I am glad that you were able to get home so that you could be supported by your family. And yes, maybe because we practice in such high intensity specialities and have seen really bad things happen, I pretty much always get trip insurance - mostly for the medical insurance coverage part of things. Hoping for a full and quick recovery for you.

Mamasan

61luv2travel, Thank you for the detailed and interesting report. I would be interested in more information about your kayak tour, if you wouldn't mind. I had not heard of the lagoon you went to. How did it compare with Jokulsarlon? We were thinking about booking a glacier hike, but this sounds like you got a little of both. Is that the direction you would recommend? Would you mind sharing who you booked with? Thanks so much.

61luv2travel

Mamasan - I booked through Iceguide for what they call their Glacier Kayak Adventure. I think I first found out about it on TA. The pros are that this company currently has the only license to go to this particular lagoon. I am sure eventually other companies will obtain licenses but for now they are it. So when they go they have probably a max of 12 people (I didn't ask and I imagine they might be able to accommodate up to 20). Also, because you are a bit inland I suspect that wind is not as much of an issue as it will be in Jokulsarlon which opens directly onto the ocean. However, they can also get wind as we did have a few gusts just as we were starting back to our origination point. But I was so happy that despite the fact that all AM Jokulsarlon trips were cancelled that day ours went off fine. Also because of the remote location it is more serene with more opportunities for the guides to just explore around to see what is different that day. To me Jokulsarlon, while amazing and beautiful, had a bit more of the overcrowded tourist feel.

The cons are that it is farther away and more expensive. Technically you can do a day trip from Reykjavik to Jokulsarlon but it can take almost 5 hr to drive there. Going to the Heinabergslon Glacier Lagoon - the meeting point is listed as 34 km further east from Jokulsarlon so you probably would want to base yourself closer (we drove all the way to Hofn the day before). If you have a limited number of days then for some it might not be worth the drive. At Jokulsarlon, I also am not sure whether they offer kayaking (I think they do) vs the zodiac boats which means more people squashed together. Finally, since you have to drive by Jokulsarlon anyway you can easily turn off to see the icebergs as they appear much bluer and dramatic than the ones we saw in Heinabergslon. I felt that we got the best of both worlds.

With respect to the activity itself - it depends on what you are looking for with glacier hiking. We have actually done it before in Patagonia with the full on crampons. At Heinabergslon you are actually walking on the iceberg and not the glacier which is feeding the lagoon. We enjoyed getting out of the kayaks and walking around a bit to see the iceberg from a different perspective but it is not the same as a glacier hike. I think the combination of kayaking around to see these icebergs up close, walking on one and then the excitement of going inside a couple of them with just a few other people was super cool. We had seen photos of ice caves and had really wanted to go in one but then I started to realize that the most amazing photos were taken during winter and that spending a ton of money to trek to a small cave would probably be disappointing. If you look at the most highly rated ice cave tours they stop doing trips by May and then don't restart until Sept/Oct. Getting to go inside the iceberg caves was an unexpected bonus which may or may not happen on any given day. If you really want the glacier hiking experience I would pick a different tour.

Hope this info helps.

annhig

Great TR 61Luv2travel; it brought back many memories of our trip to Iceland about 15 years ago. I see that with the roughly the same amount of time that we had, you also opted not to try to get round the ring road in that time. Did you regret that? I think that on the whole we were happy with our choice but when you find yourself backtracking so much you begin to wonder. At least we did. But overall a great place to visit, and it was a terrific trip to take with our kids as we all loved the wild life we were able to see especially the birds. Great puffin shot, BTW!

Mamasan

61luv2travel, Thank you for your response. Your comparison of the two lagoons is immensely helpful as well as contrasting the walk on an iceberg with a glacier hike. Oh how I wish we had time to do everything!!!! I am copying your information into my notes to discuss further with my family. Thanks again!

61luv2travel

To annhig - maybe in the past I would have been more driven to try to go all the way around the Ring Road - but as I get older I realize that exhausting ourselves kind of defeats the purpose of the trip. My BIL, as the driver, was appreciative that I tried to make the pace more sustainable. So, I don't regret the choices we made. That puffin shot was from my SIL - it is an amazing photo isn't it?

To Mamasan - it's always hard isn't it? There are just too many interesting places to experience and explore and never enough time to do it all - at least for the large majority of us who are not full time travel bloggers! I'm glad if any of this is helpful. It's a way to pay it forward. In the same way - I had copied and pasted a very detailed description of that kayak tour so that I could discuss with my group. It really helped to have that info to help us choose what we wanted to do. In the same way, I was listening to a podcast episode about Iceland where they happened to mention midnight golfing. It turned into a fun and interesting thing to try since we do love to golf. I hope that you have the most amazing trip with your family.

zebec

OP61,
This is an outstanding TR, starting with the title. We need more like it.
Best Wishes in East Africa, hope it goes well.
And also hope that we get to see another excellent TR.

I am done. the Ragnar (or was it Flokie?)

61luv2travel

zebec - thank you! and yes, I definitely plan on doing a trip report after we finish our East Africa trip. If you search my trip reports I actually did a fairly long extensive trip report on visiting Southern Africa about 5 years ago - Zimbabwe (Vic Falls), Botswana, Cape Town and Kruger in South Africa. The only thing is that I didn't include the photos that my husband took - they were amazing! I mean Nat Geo quality. At that time I hadn't realized how easy it was to attach photos. My husband says I should go back and redo it with the photos. Maybe a future project.

Fodorite018

I am glad you had a good trip. Your report was really nice to read.

theatrelover

Thank you so much for this trip report. We are leaving in two weeks for Iceland and this was really helpful. I am praying for some good weather but we'll take what we get.

61luv2travel

theatrelover - Keeping my fingers cross for you guys. Hope you have a fabulous trip!

travlsolo2

Loved reading your report! It sounds like the travel/tourist infrastructure has improved immensely in the last 10-15 years.

61luv2travel

travlsolo2 - our first time to Iceland - I didn't realize that they had done upgrades to their infrastructure. But they did a great job - everything was very efficiently laid out for tourists.

umretdd

Thank you for this trip report, it seems like a really great trip. I have never been to Iceland, but it has been on my bucket list for a really long time now. I have heard so many amazing things about this country, I would love to get to see it all myself. All of the photos you took look amazing, the views really are breathtaking. I hope I'll get to visit Iceland pretty soon and see it all in person.

Clousie

So enjoyed reading your detailed report as well as seeing the great photos. It certainly looks as though the weather hasn't changed since we visited last September. If I were planning a trip to Iceland, your report would be a major help.

I was also expecting Iceland to be a wonderful place to explore and photograph, but as you and some others said, I didn't come home raving. I'm sure part of that was due to the almost constant rain/fog/drizzle that we encountered most days. Surprisingly, as our leader kept saying, the weather was better and warmer in the northern part of the country.

We went on an OAT tour with 12 other people. In the past I've always planned our own trips and totally loved the planning as much as the travel. However, with this tour we were able to meet many of the locals, including dinner with one family, and developed a great rapport with our leader. I think hearing and knowing the "behind the scenes" information greatly added to our experience.

Thanks so much for taking time to write this trip report. Your efforts are amazing! Will look forward to hearing more from you.