Day 1 - Edinburgh to Reykjavik - 8th Sep 2023

Up at sparrows (half 3) Airlink to Airport - Edi to Std (easy -peasy) 

4 hour wait at Stansted. Recharged devices, ate, hung around.

3 hour flight on an Icelandic budget airline called “Play.” Hostesses looked like Swedish supermodels. Flight was fine.

Got off at Keflavik Airport - on the south coast of Iceland, not anywhere near Reykjavik, and we had an anxious 10 minutes as the holograms had rubbed off from Jen’s passport page and old mate had to call his supervisor. They finally decided that we were good guys and not international criminals and let us in to their volcanic kingdom.

Jumped on the Skybus for the hour trip into BSI Bus station in the heart of Reykjavik. It was cold and drizzly and the landscape - or should I say moonscape - outside the bus was out of this world. It was kilometres of undulating moss covered lava fields ringed by mountains and the ocean. So very bizarre to an outsider. A few days later I realised why it looked so strange; there were no trees. When the Vikings landed in the year 746 (or something) over 40% of the country was covered in forest, but they chopped down all of the trees to build ships and houses and their sheep ate all of the other foliage. Now only 1% of Iceland is covered with trees… very surreal coming from Australia.

Anyway, our Airbnb host Siggy picked us up in his Subaru Forester. Siggy loved a chat, was a proud Reykjavikian and took us on a mini tour of his neighbourhood- Seltjarnanes. It was a peninsula suburb surrounded by water and mountains in the distance. Very foreboding and very cool. Jen was in a bit of a rush to get out of the car, and into the house as she had booked the Sky Lagoon for the arvo and we could only be 30 minutes late for our booking. Anyway, Siggy eventually let us into our pretty cool 3 room apartment and threw us the keys to the Suby. Remember, drive on the right-hand side of the road. No worries, Siggmundson.

So the deal in Scotland was that if Jen drove the big-ass RV the whole way I’d drive on the right-hand side of the road in Iceland. Sweet, off we go. After trying to get in the right-hand side to drive, I quickly jumped in the left and away we went.

Nothing like jumping into the deep end. 4.30pm Friday arvo, straight into the after work traffic. Did I go alright? Well I didn’t crash and at 4.55pm - with 5 minutes to spare before they cancelled our booking we strolled through the fancy doors of the Sky Lagoon foyer.

Now, this place was a once-in-a-lifetime place and one of the biggest tourist destinations in the country. This is a 7 - step spa treatment with a difference. I won’t go through all the steps - check the pick for that - but what a way to spend an hour after living in a van for the last week. Soaking in thermal springs while the wind howled across the bay and lashed light rain in your face, Pure bliss. We didn’t take our phones in, so there are no real pics, but we’ll try and upload the YouTube promo.

After the final lagoon soak and shower, we then had a tasting platter to share. Our package was called “Date Night” and this included the 7-step ritual and the tasting platter. The platter came with a glass of Italian Sangiovese for Jen-Jen and a Gulf (local) beer for me. I tried the beer but after a few sips, it wasn’t agreeing with me and I’d already decided not to drink in Iceland - because of the exorbitant cost - so I left it. The platter had a lamb pastrami with horseradish cream, gravlax, thick sourdough, camembert wedges, cheddar, blueberry jam and a jam and cheese rye tart. It was a nice intro and spoil into Iceland, but we know that we have to watch our pennies for the rest of the trip. We stopped off at a supermarket called Cronan on the way home and grabbed a bag of essential groceries for salads, sandwiches, juice etc… 65 bucks - man this makes Coles Old Bar look cheap.

Went back to Siggy’s and heated up a frozen lasagne, made salad, and crashed out by 9pm. Massive first day - but first impressions of the land of fire and ice are positive.

Bring it on!