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Iceland trip report: tales of secret puffin-love and disintegrating boots

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Iceland trip report: tales of secret puffin-love and disintegrating boots

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Old Jun 12th, 2011, 08:11 AM
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Iceland trip report: tales of secret puffin-love and disintegrating boots

Logistics
We (myself and husband JR) traveled the Ring Road for two weeks with a trip to the Snaefellsnes peninsula added in. Tour.is arranged accommodations and the rental car and gave a nice information package with suggestions for what to see. We also did some research before we left to decide on where we wanted to go. Our accommodations were “comfort” level and we rented a small 4-wheel drive (Suzuki Vitara). We did not need the 4-wheel drive, but I was happy to have a vehicle with high clearance. I would recommend getting the super CDW when renting. When we returned the care, they inspected it very carefully. There is no need for GPS as the roads, even off the Ring Road are very well marked. I think you would have to work at it to get lost.


The sights
After seeing photos and doing a little research, I had high expectations for this trip. It was even better than I hoped. The scenery is so beautiful and like no place else. Day after day it was one amazing place after another. I will just mention some of our favorites.

Papey Island - About those puffins…… apparently, JR’s favorite book as a child had a puffin as its main character. He really loved that book, really loved it and has a thing for puffins. Who knew? We took the boat trip to Papey Island and saw lots of his little puffin friends. He kept laughing and pointing out puffins, walking, flying, or sitting on their nests. He was so excited and took a bazillion photos. It was lots of fun, although I think some of the other passengers thought he was little strange. I have to admit, puffins are very interesting, almost silly-looking birds. The wingspan to big belly ratio looks a little off, and they seem to just flap their wings really hard and hope for the best. We saw lots of other birds too, and the island is beautiful. I would definitely recommend the trip if you can go before the birds leave.

Jokulsarlon lagoon - Out of all the places we went, this was my favorite. The cruise around the lagoon was great and after that we went to the beach on the other side of the bridge where the bits of glacial ice wash up on shore. That was the real highlight for me. It was a blustery day and the waves were crashing on chunks of ice washed up on the black sand. The ice was all different sizes and colors from bluish white to clear. We walked along the beach for quite a while taking it all in. What a strange and wonderful place.
If you have time, check out Fajollsjokull in addition to Jokulsarlon. It is smaller and not as dramatic, but when we went there was no one else there.

Myvatn - There was a lot to see in the Myvatn area. One of our best hikes was to the Kalfastranarland lava formations. It was a sunny day and we enjoyed a beautiful walk with many birds to see and hear.

Glambauer folk museum - Looking through the turf farmhouse and the exhibits gives you some idea of what life must have been like for the early Icelanders. I can only imagine how good you would have to be at minding your own business with everyone sleeping and more or less living in the same room, especially during the winter. One funny bit: one of the descriptions mentions that because Icelandic air is so clear and relatively free from bacteria there was very little body odor. Well, wool has antimicrobial properties, but still. I am not trying to say that the early Icelanders smelled bad, I just find it funny that someone decided to specifically address the issue of B.O. Anyway, the museum has many of the tools they used for everyday tasks. It is a fascinating place, definitely worth a stop. Also, the little church at Vidimyri is very pretty.

Snaefellsnes - The park is lovely with big desolate stretches with cobalt blue water and dramatic rock formations. I especially liked the Djupalonssandir rock formations and the beach there. JR took some great pictures. We stayed in Stykkishomut which is a very pretty town on a little spit of land sticking out into the water. We took a boat trip into Breidafjordur bay and were able to see many nesting Fulmar and Cormorants up close. I would highly recommend the boat trip.

Blue Lagoon - For some reason, neither one of us were that enthusiastic about going to the Blue Lagoon. I guess I thought it would be crowded and touristy. There were a lot of people and most of them seemed to be tourists, but we were glad we went. It is beautiful and there is plenty of room for everyone to spread out. Cycling between the water, steam room and sauna was so relaxing. We stayed there quite a while and really enjoyed it.


The boot drama
About mid way through a hike in the Myvatn area, my hiking boots fell apart. It was like they exploded in slow motion. They literally fell apart and off my feet so that the last few minutes I was walking over snow with the front half of one of my feet covered only by my sock. One sole came completely off and the other was flapping open at the front and the back. Before we left on our trip, I used a product to make them more water repellant, and I guess it destroyed the glue holding the bottom part of the boots together. It is surprising since the product is intended for treating shoes and boots, and I followed the directions to the letter. Also, JR used it on his boots and they were just fine. They were good boots, and I have always taken good care of them, no extreme heat or harsh cleaning solutions. It’s sad, since they were good boots with many more trips in them. I had another pair of good walking shoes with me, so there was no serious impact on our trip. I feel bad about accidentally killing my boots, though.


Hotels
Tour.is has three levels of accommodations and we took the middle one. All the guesthouses and hotels we stayed in were simple but clean and comfortable. We had no problems and were happy with them across the board. In a couple of places, we had very nice views. Our favorites were Guesthouse Vellir and Efsti Dalur Guesthouse. The Hotel Mikligardur was our least favorite only because it looked so institutional inside and out. And it is orange which is never a good idea.


Food
Breakfasts were pretty much the same everywhere which was fine with me. I think skyr and muesli is a good way to start the day. Most of our lunches were bread, cheese and fruit from the market. We just kept supplies on hand and ate lunch wherever we happened to be when we got hungry. Dinners were in restaurants or in the guesthouse in more remote locations. As expected, they were expensive, with the average price per person ranging from around 2,500 to 5,000 krona. We ate a lot of fish and lamb which we both like. Most of our dinners were fine but nothing to write home about.

We had a few really good meals:
In the Guesthouse Vellir on the south coast, we had a simple meal of fish but it was perfectly cooked and delicious.
We ate in the Grigor hotel on our second night in the Myvatn area and had an excellent meal of lamb for JR and artic char for me.
Indian Mango in Reykjavik was great – spicy, tender chicken tandoor and chicken tikka masala.
I had the traditional hot dog down by the harbor in Reykjavik. I had one with everything and JR wimped out and went with ketchup only. Whoever thought of putting crispy onions on a hot dog deserves a big pat on the back.
Our last night we splurged on Seafood Cellar, and I am glad we did. The food was fantastic with dishes that were creative and interesting without getting weird. My favorite course had a combination of cooked and raw arctic char with a smoky mayonnaise and frozen herbs. I thought the frozen herbs sounded kind of shi shi, but the cold crispy texture with the fish was really wonderful. Outstanding meal.


Overall, we had a fantastic trip. The itinerary was quite different from what we normally do. We generally stay at least three days in each location rather than staying in a different hotel almost every night. On this trip, we had two nights in a few locations (Hofn, Myvatn, and Reykjavik), and only one night everywhere else. It was a little tiresome to move so often, but it was also exciting to know we were going to see something entirely new every day with no backtracking. We travel very light, carry on bags only, so we did not have much to pack up and haul around. Would we do it the same way again? Yes, but if I could I would add a few days. The last stretch in Snaefellsnes went by too fast.
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Old Jun 12th, 2011, 09:03 AM
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Hi ana,

great report of what sounds like a great trip. you did what we should have done and went all round the island; we didn't and regretted it as we probably did the same mileage but had to backtrack a lot.

we loved the Jokulsarlon lagoon too - DS was really taken with the idea of the ancient ice!

the one place that we did get to that you didn't was the Western Fjords where we saw the cliffs covered in puffins and other seabirds - the icelanders may not have smelled but the birds definitely do! and the racket! I wouldn't nave missed that for anything.

sorry about your boots - how did you manage?
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Old Jun 12th, 2011, 10:30 AM
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Luckily I had another pair of good walking shoes. They have a good tread for traction but no ankle support. I tried to be more careful when scrambling over rocks, and it worked out. They are a bit worse for wear though, as they were not made to hold up to hiking through lava fields.

When we go back, I want to go to the Western Fjords. They sound wonderful. I remember from your great trip report that you found them to be one of the highlights of your trip.
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Old Jun 12th, 2011, 12:22 PM
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glad to hear about the boots. I always worry when people say that they are just taking one pair of shoes - it's not so east to get replacements when you are somewhere like Iceland.

Also I'm pleased that my TR was of help. you obviously learnt from our mistakes!
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Old Jun 22nd, 2011, 05:51 PM
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Thanks for posting this! Iceland is on my list, and your trip report is very helpful.

I'm a bit shocked by the dinner prices. I knew Iceland was supposed to be expensive, but I thought it had gotten a lot cheaper after the crash. Was the 25,000-50,000 ISK for a typical run-of-the-mill restaurant, or were you eating in more upscale places?
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Old Jun 23rd, 2011, 11:39 AM
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SPT, I thought the prices were shocking as well. Most of our dinners were in what I would call run of the mill restaurants or in the guesthouse itself. The restaurants were sit down places but not upscale. The only exception to that was Sjávarkjallarinn (Seafood Cellar) in Reykjavik which is definitely a fine dining restaurant. Also, Hotel Gigor was pretty nice. Since breakfast was included with accomadations and lunch was food from the market, the only real food expense was dinner which made it a little less painful. We did not eat dinners at the gas station grills which many suggest as a good way to cut costs.

We had Iceland on our list for several years and kept going other places partly because of the cost. I have to say I am so happy we finally went. It is truly a lovely place. For me, the trip was one of our best, right up there with Africa and the Galapagos (also pricey destinations, unfortunately). If you enjoy the outdoors, you will love it.
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Old Jun 23rd, 2011, 12:16 PM
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Great report, very helpful! I am quickly running to my ISK to US$ converter. Dinners ran to 50,000 Icelandic Krona? Or 5,000 Icelandic Krona?

50,000 ISK = US$430
5,000 ISK = US$ 43

I am pretty sure my family is going to starve for 4 days if dinner for one costs over $400. We may have to get to that hotdog stand...how much are they?
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Old Jun 23rd, 2011, 01:01 PM
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commodore - I'm pretty certain that we paid the equivalent of £30 pp for a decent 3 course meal, a few months before the crash. this is more like 8,000 ISK than 50,000ISK I think.

in fact I just looked up the nicest place we stayed [www.hotelglymur.is] and their 5 course dinner is currently 8,900ISK or approx £45 pp.

so a reasonable 3 course meal should cost you about U$45 pp.

a very filling soup and bread was between £5-10, and the coffee is free after the first cup. [sadly our DS didn't drink coffee].

despite the high prices [don't even think about having a beer!] it's a really interesting place to visit. in Reykjavik, make sure you don't miss the National Museum of Iceland - one of the best I've ever been to and all the exhibits are explained in english which is helpful!
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Old Jun 23rd, 2011, 01:43 PM
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Oh no! My trip report and later comment are a decimal place off on the food costs. So sorry about that. And I am a scientist, working with numbers all day long. That should have been roughly 2,500 to 5,000 ISK per person. Sjávarkjallarinn was more than that, around 8,000 I think.
No wonder you were so shocked, STP. Thanks Commodore for the correction. I wish I could go back and correct my report so I don't confuse anyone else.
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Old Jun 23rd, 2011, 07:17 PM
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Ah, much less shocking!

Seriously, major thanks for posting this report, including costs. This sort of first-hand information is hard to come by, and very valuable.

As for being a numbers-oriented scientist and getting an order-of-magnitude error, it happens to all of us, all the time. E.g., I still remember clearly back in high school, I was quite the whiz kid, so when I got lower than expected on the math SAT, I paid the extra fee they offered to let you examine your answer sheet (since I couldn't believe I had made any mistakes). Well, I get my sheet and found that I had missed *several* problems, each involving trivial counting and decimal places, e.g. What's 0.0035 x 100? Ooops... I didn't feel too bad, though, as I had made a bunch of guesses on the verbal section and apparently got them all right.
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Old Jun 23rd, 2011, 07:29 PM
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sounds like a wonderful trip! was wondering which hotels you stayed in? and did they have private bathrooms in your hotel rooms? (many hotels seem to have dorm style-shared bathrooms)
thanks
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Old Jun 24th, 2011, 06:55 AM
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Seriously, major thanks for posting this report, including costs. This sort of first-hand information is hard to come by, and very valuable>>

SFT - after being flamed by a certain poster here for giving a less than stellar review of some Icelandic food [not all by any means] I hesitate to mention this, but if you click on my screen name, you'll find my TR from about 3 years ago. to just by the above, prices haven't changed much so you might find it useful.

zxcvbnm [love the screen name BTW] - we had private bathrooms everywhere we stayed, though our kids didn't in one place. there are some dorm-style places but we tended not to stay in them. if you look at the www.farmholidays.is site you will find accommodation of all types, including hotels.
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Old Jun 24th, 2011, 08:10 AM
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SPT, thanks for being so understanding about my goof. I sent a note to Fodors , and they were nice enough to correct the error in my original post. If only those SAT folks had done the same for you - sounds like you did well without it, though.

zxcvbnm, I pasted in our hotel names below. All had private bathrooms.

Park Inn Island, Reykjavik
Guesthouse Vellir, near Vik
Guesthouse Asgardur, Hofn
Hotel Hallormsstadur
Guesthouse Narfastaoir near Laugar
Hotel Breioafjorour, Stykkisholmur
Guesthouse Efsti-Dalur
Radisson Blu Saga Hotel, Reykjavik

Happy Travels
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Old Jun 25th, 2011, 09:37 PM
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thank you both for posting!
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Old Jun 25th, 2011, 09:51 PM
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i would love to visit iceland- but it seems expensive--especially hotels with private facilities. around how much should i budget per day for a vacation there? (not including food) i'd like to travel around the ring road and see all the beautiful lakes, mountains, scenery etc.
thanks
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Old Jun 26th, 2011, 02:10 AM
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phew - it took some doing but eventually i managed to find a price list on the www.farmholidays.is website. prices are in euros.

http://www.farmholidays.is/Assets/PD...ummer_2011.pdf

for a double room with private bath [category III or IV] you will be paying about €100 for B&B. most farmhouses offer evening meals for another €25 or so pp.

they are also showing a "special offer" for a 11-12 day tour around the whole island including B&B, car hire and a whale-watching trip but not showing a price. it would probably be cheaper than booking it yourself though.

It's not cheap, but we had a terrific time, and it's well worth saving up the pennies to do it.

and you won't be spending a lot on booze because it's prohibitively expensive!
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Old Jun 26th, 2011, 04:06 AM
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Thanks for your great trip report! It brought Iceland back to me so vividly...I keep wanting to return. There's really nothing else quite like it. (And, yes! to the crunchy onions on the hot dog.)
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Old Jun 26th, 2011, 04:40 PM
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annhig, thanks for posting. i looked at the link and maybe i'm not reading it right, but for example the 11 day tour said 2.050. i'm assuming thats two thousand and 50 krona- but when i convert that to us dollars- it seems too cheap to be real. am i supposed to be adding zeros that aren't there?
or is that price in euro-- cuz then it seems too much?
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Old Jun 26th, 2011, 04:41 PM
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i also had another question- do the parks, waterfalls, lakes, lagoons and other nature places- charge admission?
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Old Jun 27th, 2011, 12:46 AM
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annhig, thanks for the link to your TR! I love your "warts and all" report and sense of humour!

When I finally get serious about Iceland, I'm going to go back through all these wonderful trip reports...
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