The Land of Fire and Ice: Part 1: Arriving in Iceland
Hello all and welcome back! It's been quite some time from my last post as I've taken another break, but as I just had an epic adventure in Iceland, I'm back again to share that trip with you all!
So per usual, let's talk a bit about how this trip came to be. I've wanted to visit Iceland for years, but the cost and logistics had always deterred me. Recently a low cost airline had a sale for around 200$ round trip, which got me super interested in trying to make this happen. After that, I found a campervan for a great price too, and the trip was looking very affordable, for Iceland. I asked a friend if they wanted to go and they were in. And that was all the pieces in place to finally make this trip happen! The only real downside was he couldn't miss too many days of work, so we were only going from Thursday night to Monday afternoon, shorter than I would have liked, but better than not going.
So that brings us to the trip, it's Thursday in Boston and I'm on the way to the airport. We leave at 7pm local time and arrive at 5am Iceland time, Friday morning. We make our way through security and after showing my dusty passport for the first time in the last 2 years, we board our flight and are off to The Land of Fire and Ice!
On the flight, I was seated next to a girl from France and we chatted a bit and I practiced my French. After a few hours chatting, it was time to get some rest, as we'd be hitting the ground running on arrival. Between naps, I looked out my window and got a preview of what laid ahead, a glimpse of a weak but visable Aurora Borealis!
We arrived in Iceland a bit early, around 4am. We headed out to the waiting area trying to find the shuttle to get our campervan. After meeting some other travelers going the same place, they told us the shuttle should be here soon.
We jump in the van, get to the rental office, put down a $2k deposit, sign some papers, and hit the road towards Reykjavik!
It's still pitch black outside and the game plan is to hit Reykjavik til close to dawn and then hit the Golden Circle route.
We drove about 45 minutes to Reykjavik and headed straight to the famous church in downtown. It's still dark out, but this was really the only time we'd have to see Reykjavik given our short trip. But it was still pretty epic to see, and it was lit pink I believe for Breast Cancer awareness.
After that we drove around a bit more, exploring the city by night. Then we headed to the ode to the Vikings, the Sun Voyager!
From there, we kind of hung around that area for a bit, and then headed to a fast food place, Aktu-taktu, nearby and got some food as the sun came up. They gave a shit load of French fries!
After finishing our food, we began heading to our route of the Golden Circle, while also enjoying the sunrise over Reykjavik, and it was amazing!
Now we're back on the road and leaving Reykjavik, heading North to our first stop on the Golden Circle, the Geyser.
We're on the road out of Reykjavik, and the fog is immense.
With the fog combined with the sunrise and the unreal landscapes being so overwhelming, we can't help but make stops along the way. To get photos like this.
And then back on the road once again. A bit further along and I get my first glimpse of the amazing Icelandic horses!
After a bit more driving we make our stop at Geyser. Geyser is where the word Geyser came from, and while it is currently dormant, there are a couple that still go off quite frequently, as well as the hot spring fields.
This was my first time seeing a geyser, and it just so happened to be the "original" geyser! What an incredible start to an incredible trip! As time was tight, a common theme on this trip, we got moving again pretty quickly.
But that's where I'm going to leave it at for today. We spent about 3 full days there, but we did so much in each day, I'll be breaking them into smaller posts to keep it manageable.
So be sure to keep an eye out for the next installment very soon!
Have you been to Iceland? What was your experience, if so? Also, what were your favorite images from this post? Let me know what you think!
Glad to be back!
And in the meantime, you can see more of my work on Instagram, @SeanGoldPhotos or my website at www.SeanGold.com
Thanks for reading/viewing!
-Sean
[//]:# (!pinmapple 64.13875 lat -21.91397 long The Land of Fire and Ice: Part 1: Arriving in Iceland d3scr)
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