2025 Iceland Trip
-
Icelandic Flora
One of the first and very abundant plants we saw were the Nootka Lupine growing in ditches and in construction areas. They have nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their roots, so they can grow in disturbed and nutrient-poor areas. It is not native and can be considered invasive. It’s beautiful, though, and helps stabilize soil. Many plants…
-
Icelandic Fauna and Boat Excursion
Sheep are free roaming in the countryside during the summer. They have ear tags and are rounded up by farmers in the fall. We saw lots of mothers with babies in small groups, and had to stop on the roads in places. We even saw one baby with its head stuck in a gate that…
-
Route 1 and Driving
Our rental car, a RAV4 hybrid from Hertz, came with a portable, pocket-sized WiFi. Upon arrival at the airport on Day 1, we picked up a similar device from Trawire. These were cheaper to use than paying for international service on our phones. We probably could have done with just one, but it was nice…
-
Book Exchange in Hofn
I’ve had a Little Free Library in my front yard for one year and I was very excited to find a book exchange in Iceland! Martie and I wanted to see the Hofn Viewpoint before leaving the town of Hofn, and we found this book exchange very close to the parking for the Nature Trail…
-
Hotels
Hotel Centrum in Reykjavik , Hotel Ork in Hveragerdi, Hotel Dyrholaey in Vik, Hotel Hofn in Hofn, Hotel Hallormsstadur in Egilsstadir, Hotel Laxa in Myvatn, Hotel Kea in Akureyri, Hotel Hamar in Borgarnes, then back to Hotel Reykjavik Centrum Jeni Schrimsher, our travel agent, used Scantours to book our hotels and arrange for the rental…
-
Restaurants
We had arranged to eat breakfast each morning at our hotels because that was convenient and there were many delicious options. Lunches were at restaurants for a few days, then we visited a Bonus grocery store for some squeezable peanut butter and crackers and a fruit/nut mixture so we could maximize our time on the…
-
Travel suggestions
Just bring credit cards or use Apple Pay; we never had need for Islandic Kroners. Spend a couple of days in Reykjavik; there are lots of things to do and it allows you to adjust to the five hour time difference from Central Time Zone in US. Find the kiosk for the Flybus at the…
-
What to wear
At age 60, we did not feel the need to have cute outfits; we were more concerned with warmth and comfort. Packing for wearing layers takes up a lot of suitcase space, so having quick drying pants and tops makes it easy to hand wash items at the hotels. I specifically bought waterproof pants (Frogg…
-
Itinerary (with alphabet note)
Martie sent me a list of places she wanted to see in Iceland, gathered from online research. I used a guidebook from Lonely Planet and a large, waterproof National Geographic map as well as online videos. I added to the list Martie had compiled for each day, then used maps to come up with a…
-
Martie and Lisa go to Iceland!
I flew from Des Moines to Minneapolis/St. Paul and met up with Martie, a long-time friend from college, as she had a later flight from Kansas City. Flights from Wichita, Martie’s closest airport, were a few hundred dollars more than KC. We then had an uneventful flight to Reykjavik. We were given a late supper…