Golden Circle

For the last day of my Iceland visit I met up with Chiho, my friend from Japan, to drive around the Golden Circle.  We visited the usual must sees: Þingvellir National Park, Haukadalur, and Gulfoss. Þingvellir was pretty cool in that it was where the American continent meets the European continent.  You can see divide.  At Haukadalur, Chiho and I spent many minutes trying to get a decent video/photo of Strokkur, a geysir that erupts every 5 minutes or so.  The heights of the eruptions vary, but they are smaller than Old Faithful.  One time it erupted twice in a row, and the next eruption was paltry.  I didn't really manage to get any good videos.  Perhaps the best one was the first one where I was too close to the geysir and thought I'd get drenched by the water.  You can hear me scream and see that I'm running away.  Gulfoss, a powerful two-tiered waterfall, was my favorite.  Not as wide as Niagra or Victoria Falls, but definitely is more powerful.  Got a bunch of pics but weather wasn't so nice so it probably didn't come out as good as it could be.

Gulfoss lower falls

In addition to seeing the sights we had a nice lunch at the restaurant at Haukadalur.  We had fish soup with free refills (second bowl and bread was enough tho).  Chiho also told me ice cream here should be good cuz dairy here is good.  So I got a soft serve cone at the first place I could (in a gas station) and OMG... it was the best soft serve ice cream ever.  I was really sad I didn't have any day before and that might be the last one ever.

Reykjavik and Blue Lagoon

After the Laugavegur trek I planned a day to just chill. What I originally wanted to do was spend the entire day at Blue Lagoon.  However, when I first arrived in Reykjavik the hostel staff told me that I needed to make reservations. I immediately looked online (at 2am) for available slots and was surprised to find most of the entry times booked.  There was one 8 am and 3 pm, and some later ones. No way I was going to get up at 6 just to get there at 8, so I got the 3pm slot.  Fast forward to Friday 9/9, I woke up in my hostel after a good night's sleep ready to tackle the day.  I had a few hours to kill until the 1:30 bus to Blue Lagoon.  I walked around Reykjavik for a few hours.  Walked around and saw Tjörnin lake, Hallgrímskirkja Church, and the Sun Voyager. I then walked down main street and stopped in souvenir shops for postcards and browse a bit.  Lunch was at Geysir Bistro (Halibut and cauliflower soup) which was pretty good.

At 1:30 I got the Fly Bus to Blue Lagoon.  Once there I was one of first one off bus and luckily so cuz there was a long line to get in. Even with prepaid vouchers there's a check-in process where they give you wristbands and other things (towel, robe, slippers) depending on what you had paid for.  You're then shuffled into a busy locker room where you shower and put on your bathing suit.  Once in water, it felt really nice, but it is not as if you would spend that much time in the water.  I spent maybe 10-15 minutes, and then 10 minutes in sauna. What was disappointing though was that everyone there were tourists. Lots of groups and couples. It was kinda annoying. I got the complimentary silica mask and later the algae mask.  I went out once for my complimentary drink and to read my book.  There really wasn't a lot of places where you can relax, which was disappointing.  I managed to secure the last free reclining seat in lounge to read a bit.  Then back in the water a bit again.  I probably could've done with a bit more time in water, but I decided to catch the 6:15 bus back to eat in city rather than at the lagoon where dinner was like $50-70+.  It was a rush to me, but it also wasn't the relaxing experience I hoped so in a way I guess that was enough.

Back in Reykjavik I got dinner at Shalimar Indian and Pakistani restaurant on Austurstraeti.  Had the best Green chili lime chicken ever. For $20 or so.

Laugavegur Trek

After about three years of wanting to go, I finally booked my trip to Iceland.  I had been missing beautiful hikes, fresh air, clean water, and cooler temperatures.  Iceland offered all that.  I had also heard about the famous Laugavegur hike and wanted to do it.  It is a four day trek on well established path with huts along the way for lodging if you don't want to camp.  I decided to go the easy route and booked a guided tour through Trek Iceland. Figured this way I'll also meet new people too, which I haven't done in a while.

The tour started with a pick up in Reykjavik and a 2-3 hour drive to Landmannalaugar on a bus.  I hoped to catch up on sleep during this time since I hadn't slept much the couple nights prior but the last couple hours of the ride was a bit bumpy.  Still was really happy to arrive at the starting point.  The 16 of us on tour got a quick lunch at the sheltered picnic tables.  Sky was gray with some rain already.  By early afternoon we set off.

The first day of the hike was supposed to be the hardest, but I think it is only like 610m of total elevation gain.  We hiked 7 miles.  Luckily I was used to wind and rain from my Millie walks in Juneau so that didn't bother me much.  Scenery was a bit dark, partly cuz of the rain, but also because we were hiking through lava fields or so.  Also not so much green on this day.  We made good time and arrived at our hut about 3.5 hours later.  Our guide made soup for us, then got some of the folks to help with dinner and clean up.  We had nice smoked salmon and pasta. Only one guide, Arni, came with us.  For the price of the tour I expected more, but I later realized Iceland is just that expensive.

The hut had electricity, running water, and toilets.  No shower.  It was a cold windy night and you have to leave the hut to get to the toilet stalls.  I had to get up a few times to pee and each time I had to put on my coat and boots - a bit of a pain but you do what you gotta do.  Took a while to get to sleep that night I think because of jet lag.  It was also so HOT in the bunk room.  All 16 of us were in there with no ventilation (windows and door closed).  Was quite ridiculous.  There was also a guy snoring.  So yeah, didn't sleep well that night either.

Next day was much nicer.  Another 7 mile hike but mostly downhill.  Thank goodness for poles.  We left around 9 and was at next hut by like 1 or 2. Wish we had taken it slower to enjoy the awesome scenery.  We leave the dark lava fields for greenery and view of Swan lake.  The hut that night was right by the lake.  This night I got a shower, and was able to chill a bit and read a book with a view of the lake and mountain.  This hut was really nice with dining area separate from the sleeping area. Dinner this night was spaghetti bolognese. Sleeping area is a bit cozy though.  You're literally sleeping next to a stranger.  We learned our lesson from last night and opened the window this time. Helped a bit, but I still had a hard time falling asleep.  Another night of shit sleep.

Third day started off nice, with more beautiful scenery, and couple of river crossings.  We also had one the day before but the second one today had higher waters - above my knees.  Yikes.  I managed across with the help of Arni.  I probably would've fallen over otherwise since water was flowing kinda fast. We also had lunch by a waterfall. Everything was going well until about 6-7 miles into our 10 mile hike.  We were done with all the hilly bits and started off on a long stretch of boring walk along back country "road". On top of a painful blister I'd been gritting my teeth through last few miles, my ankles started hurting because I was stupid and didn't break my new boots in properly.  I bought them early in the year but with the summer being so ridiculously hot, I ended up hiking in my Keens and wore the boots like once.  It had a stiff ankle so my ankle was getting bruised.  I powered through best I can but was in so much pain toward the end.  Still made good time of about 5 hours though I think.

The hut this night had dining area in same room as sleeping quarters again.  Another night of sleeping next to a stranger - though by now no one was a stranger.  I skipped out on the optional hike that afternoon because of my ankle and hung out at the hut - reading, napping, chatting - for about an hour or so.  Dinner was soup with chunks of lamp and veggies.  The dinners have been very good but can't say I enjoyed our lunches and breakfast that much.  We typically had oatmeal for breakfast and self-made sandwiches for lunch, along with cookies and chocolates.  Could've done with little less junk food, but guess we needed the calories. Anyway, this night was the most fun.  We played a drawing game and name game, which lasted quite a while.  Games are awesome.  Need more nights like that.

The fourth day didn't go quite as I hoped.  I was planning on wearing my sneakers or Keens for the last day because there was no way I could walk in those boots that day.  It was another 10 mile hike though, and it was pissing rain. Arni had offered night before another option of riding with the driver (the guy who takes our luggage from hut to hut).  I wanted to finish the hike, but didn't want to risk further injury or illness by wearing the wrong footwear for 10 miles in these conditions.  My feet would have been wet and cold for sure since sneakers weren't waterproof.  I would've also held up the group who would've wanted to rush through the hike because of the rain (and to catch the early bus for those of us leaving). So I took the easy way out and rode to the last stop.

The drive itself was quite an adventure.  The 4x4 truck was old... really old.  Like from 80's maybe? The windshield wipers broke that morning so no clear view out.  To make matters worse muddy water often splashed up from huge puddles and passing buses.  Ride was bumpy.  Then roof started leaking.  And we ran out of gas on the way (but he had reserves).  Was quite fun.  Enjoyed getting to talk to a local a bit more too.  I think his name was Elmar?  Young lad in his 20's with good sense of humor. We chatted about few different things and he was very nice.

About an hour or hour and half after I arrived at next hut, the rest of the gang started pouring in soaking wet looking quite cold.  While it sucked that I didn't finish the hike, I was pretty sure I had made the right call.  I would've struggled and been quite miserable.  

Well, just as we were getting to know each other 6 of us had to leave.  Others were doing the six day trek.  Not sure if I will see these folks again, but definitely enjoyed their company.  Here were our group make up:



Top row L-R: John and Nyna from Colorado, Conor and Ashlie from Portland, our guide Arni, Barbara and Sabine from Switzerland, and Daniel and Claire from Australia.
Bottom row L-R: Paul and Leslie from Colorado, Tim and Rolf, Brittany from Philly, Jennifer from Seattle, me, and Shannon from Seattle.

The microphone under me is because I told a few jokes.  I didn't bust out the karaoke like you might think.

When all your friends post back to school pics and you don't have kids

About couple weeks ago I started seeing all my friends' back to school pics of their kids in my Facebook feed. For the most part it's usually scroll, scroll, scroll... unless it's my nieces and nephew in which case I will hit "like". After a while though you feel the need to partake and thus...