Martha, the western Fjords were just wonderful - another wonderful memory is lying on top of the cliff and looking straight down into a puffin burrow and having the puffins looking straight back up at us. but the journey there is hard work, particularly if you go the long way round as we did, just coming back via the ferry. when we got to Snaefellnesses it was the beginning of August and the glacier was too melted to do anything so adventurous like that, even if we'd wanted to.

if you were interested in that sort of thing, June/early july might be better.

micheline, i'm glad you've enjoyed the trip report. it was fun writing it, even though not everything worked out. sometimes that makes it easier to write!

thanks for sharing your tripreport annhig! i enjoyed reading it. the thing about traveling is that not everything goes according to plan. it's how we "adjust" that dictates whether it was an adventure or a disaster :-) wish i had a fraction of the travel experience that you do

Tailsock - we've not been to many places outside europe, or even outside western europe. certainly not enough places. living in the UK makes it relatively easy to get to some places but living in Cornwall makes some aspects quite difficult, especially the sort of short trips we used to enjoy doing when we lived near Gatwick airport.

anyway, i'm glad that you enjoyed reading this.

our next stop is Oz and NZ in November and Dec - I'm hoping to do some trip reporting, but i think it'll have to be more like a blog else I'll have forgotten it all by the time i get to the end.

My partner has wanted to go to Iceland ever since I have known him [over 25 years]. I resisted and resisted [not hot, not a foodie destination, looks expensive] until this year I ran out of excuses and gave him the trip as a Christmas present.

We set off in late February 2014 with aim of seeing Northern Lights and Orca Whales. Neither made an appearance despite my son texting us from his University telling us that Northern Lights had, highly unusually, been seen spectacularly right across England that week.

However, to my great annoyance it all turned out to be one of the best holidays we have ever had!

We felt that the short cheap flight from London and no cost amazing sights counterbalanced the expense of food and drink. We learnt from your experience Annhig and booked comfortable hotels {Reykjavik Marina, Ranga, Framnes and Glymur]. We took a selection of light snacks, but no cucumber, and some duty free to tide us over the difficult bits but found relatively good food and drinkable wine for our evening meals [and in case of Hotel Ranga excellent food].

We were lucky and had wall to wall blue skies and sunny days and, against a backdrop of glistening white snow and cascading ice, everything was hauntingly, unbelievably beautiful. Completely empty roads meant we sped in our hired 4WD through mile upon mile of breathtaking scenery with black sand beaches, glaciers, waterfalls, hidden valleys, cliffs and volcanos. Down to Vic and then heading North around the Snaefellsnese peninsular.

So thanks Annhig for your amazing account which was such a useful resource. Only thing I would do differently next
time is to take more windproof gloves as my warm but woolly gloves were no match for the searing gale force February winds!

Our next holiday is 'my choice' and will be somewhere hot and with great food and hence I am already reading your more recent trip reports with great interest !

loncall - i'm glad that you found my musings useful.

I di think that it's a good idea to include the bad as well as the good, not just because it makes it more interesting, but because others may earn from our errors.

Iceland in February? you are brave indeed.

if you've been reading my more recent TRs, for somewhere hot with great food, it's got to be Sri Lanka!

Just found this and can't wait to read it :-)

Friends went to Iceland recently and absolutely loved it. Eager to read your trip report from a few years ago.

Friends went to Iceland recently and absolutely loved it>>

mmm - not sure that you could characterise our reaction to the place quite like that.....but welcome to the thread, anyway.

Came across this six years late and then only via a link in another thread, but just wanted to say brilliant report, Ann, great writing, had me salivating at the thought of the scenery (if not the food!) and giggling all the way through. Iceland is now firmly on my bucket list.

you're very kind, RM.

We didn't really get the planning right on this one [if you've got the time, a trip all the way round the island is most probably a better way to go] so if someone else can benefit from our mistakes, I'll be very pleased.

There's no doubt that it's a terrific place to go if you like wildlife, especially birds.

This was one of the first trip reports I read when I joined Fodor's and I loved every bit of it! I can't remember now if I commented but I so enjoyed the humor and honesty. Iceland has been on my list ever since (NOT in February), but so far no travel partners seem very interested. I think I'll print this out and send it to them and maybe that will increase my chances of finding a travel companion.

I do love this report.

Challiman, you might want to print this out, too, to help your chances: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...in-iceland.cfm

I'm feeling the urge to get back to Iceland now! :)

Ahh - how nice to be appreciated. it really ought to act as a spur for me to get on with my Australia/NZ TR, but at the moment I have trip report writer's block, or TRWB for short. and tips on how to unblock myself?

All Bran Ann, it works wonders. We went to Iceland back in 2002 and coming across your trip report brought back a lot of memories. Awful roads, mediocre 4star hotel in Reykjavic, techtonic plates et al. The food doesn't seemed to have changed much either.

We were there around Christmas and there was a lot of reindeer on most menus. I remember we ate at a restaurant on top of a gas holder where a faint sulphurous aroma accompanied dinner, reindeer I think.

lol, rubicund, i hadn't thought of that. or syrup of figs, perhaps.

what bemused us was what the local Icelanders ate, particularly for vegetables. We were in a supermarket somewhere outside Reykjavik when a local was berating the shop keeper for the quality of the potatoes on offer - they were inedible. yet some restaurants managed to get hold of decent produce.

We didn't have any reindeer, but we did try guillemot.

To paraphrase John Clease, was it seabird flavour? Here's the website for the Pearl, the restaurant I mentioned:

http://perlan.is/?lang=en

They're still doing their "famous" Christmas buffet it appears, but I hope it's better than it was.

Rubicnd - we didn't get to the Pearl- but by the sound of it we didn't miss a lot. as you say, let's hope it's improved since you were there.

The Glymur was definitely the best place we found for food. It was very expensive, but by then we were prepared to pay almost anything for a decent meal. The viking restaurant at Hafnarfhordur wasn't bad, but terribly over-priced, and the restaurant at the Blue Lagoon was actually quite good and not too expensive. Apart from that, restaurants were very thin pickings; cafes were generally better quality and cheaper.

i think that we can agree that you don't go to Iceland for the food.

Sorry Ann no tips for writers block, I never did finish my a Eastern Europe TR (my first failure ) BUT I am busting �� to hear your thoughts on my home town!!!!!

oh aussie, you cut me to the quick.

how could I have neglected to finish Brisbane at least?

note to self - must try harder!

Oh, annhig,
I just discovered your wonderful trip report -- for once, the hour+ wait at my doctor's office passed by quickly! I'm sure the others in the waiting room thought I was a bit of a crazed person, as I kept laughing aloud! I'm wondering what DS's memories of this trip are like -- he certainly was a major player in the family's dramatic trip to Iceland!

I now have to add Iceland to the (long) list of places to visit -- retirement does not come soon enough!

annhig, I read this trip report not long after joining Fodor's. It was so much fun reading it and I had forgotten who wrote it, had wanted to re-read it this year after seeing Walter Mitty. Loved every bit of it!

thank you both - I'd forgotten bits of it too so it's good [I think?] to be reminded of it. It certainly was one of our more memorable trips!

I bookmarked this loooong time ago, to read in preparation for an Iceland trip. That time has come (I think), Iceland will be our summer destination in 2016. Great TR Ann, thanks for the chuckle and good info. We'll see how much we can do in 2 weeks...

great idea to take 2 weeks, xyz - and nice to see this old friend again!

annhig, just reread this. You are very funny!

Thanks Jubi - though it's easier to be funny when things aren't perfect I think. [which brings us nicely to Cuba!]

Hi Ann.........re reading. Such a good giggle.......we will be in the UK in December and thought we'd fly to Iceland for just a couple of day to attempt to see the Northern Lights.

good idea aussie - just pray it isn't cloudy!

if you will just have a couple of days, it's well worth going on a day trip to the Golden Circle - definitely worth the trip.

We will certainly try to see as much as we can... but will return at a better time of year. Any idea what driving will be like in December?

none at all - we were there in July -August.

I think that given that the weather could be changeable, I would join a tour.

Ann, I just wanted to say thank you for this report, which even though it's ten years old now is still very helpful. I particularly appreciate the unvarnished nature of it as the truth about a place, good and bad, is what you need to hear when you're planning a visit.

Total digression ahead! I noticed you were speculating about the origins of the phrase "curate's egg" - if you're still wondering about that, a mere ten years after mentioning it, the original reference was a cartoon in Punch in 1895. The dialogue is:

Right Reverend Host. "I’m afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr. Jones!"
The Curate. "Oh no, my Lord, I assure you! Parts of it are excellent!"

Looking forward to reading some of your other trip reports, not least in order to procrastinate over Iceland planning! This is clearly a destination which repays meticulous research, which normally I'm happy to undertake in spades, but somehow, all those fosses, jokuls and fjordurs are making my heart quail. How on earth does one pick out the must-sees?

kiwikitten -

We had the same problem when planning our trip to Iceland last year. We finally took the easy way out - we found an itinerary online that appealed, so we loosely followed it - tweaking it here and there. It was a bit out-of-date, but it worked - we drove the Ring Road (more or less) in 10 days.

I read annhig's report before I left as well - but it seems a lot has changed in Iceland in the last 10 years. I wish we'd visited 10 years ago - before the Iceland Air and WOW stopovers - before it got so crazy busy and expensive.

Be prepared for lots, and lots, and lots of tourists - and unless it has dramatically changed in the year since we were there - a strained infrastructure.

And FYI - you might (or might not) glean a bit of info from my trip report as well, although it's not nearly as entertaining as annhig's!

https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...-trip-1453922/

Good luck with your planning!

Mel, thank you so much for the link to your trip report, which I found immensely helpful. I hope you don't take it the wrong way when I say it was the deciding factor in our decision to skip Iceland:). Like you I'm a shoulder/off-season traveller, and coming from NZ my idea of a crowded beach is one where I can see someone else on it, so the thought of the massive amount of tourism in Iceland was already offputting. Iceland has always been low on my travel list as, while obviously it's hardly the same country, it shares so much scenic stuff with what we have in NZ that it's always seemed a long and expensive way to go to see what I already have at home. Also, the friend I travel with can't drive so it would just me doing what seem to be very long driving days (something else I heartily dislike). The only reason I was planning a trip now is that I'll be in Reykjavik anyway to leave for a trip to Greenland and it seemed silly not to take advantage of it. However, on balance and especially after reading your report, I think I'm going to give it a miss and go to the Faroes instead.

Kiwikitten - sorry if I put you off! So many people rave about Iceland, and as beautiful as it is, IMO, it's become a victim of its own success.

We've been visiting New Zealand since 1993 and I'm so envious of what you have at your door step. We spent yet another month on the South Island in May and while nothing like Iceland in terms of tourist overload, parts of it are beginning to feel a bit over-run with tourists as well. Not anywhere near what we experienced in Iceland, but NZ seems to be on the brink. I selfishly hope NZ doesn't go over to the dark side.

No, no, not at all, we honestly are grateful. We've been on the fence about it for ages and now the balance has been tipped we feel relieved so we know it's the right decision.

I bet you've spent a lot more time in the South Island than I have as like a lot of NZers we tend to spend our holidays overseas rather than at home. I've been slow to realise how many treasures are on my doorstep and it's something I want to rectify. I share your concern about overtouristedness - new fees are to be introduced which I hope will redress the balance a little. Tourism is of course a big industry here but too much of it ruins the very things tourists come to see. I wonder if Iceland will make any moves to rein things in a bit.

I am so glad this was topped as I missed it first time around. I spent a pleasant Sunday in the back garden over a couple of glasses of wine. Hilarious Anne :)

I'm also glad this came back up - it has been fun to read as we prepare to head to Iceland next week. Also, Melnq8, thanks again for maps and booklets you sent! We have those out and are re-reviewing everything now.

Have a great trip ms_go, please report back!

annhig

What a lovely detailed trip report.

I love your writing style and sense of humour.

Boy did you have a driving trip or what.

You have way more nerve than I do , driving in Iceland to the places you visited.

Thanks for your Great Report.