Hi!! I'm Tricia Anne, a Fine Art Portrait Photographer, Dreamer, Storyteller and Hopeless Romantic based in Rome, Italy and NYC

Iceland was such an amazing place to visit!  All the culture and beautiful scenery… I want to go back! haha My cousin and I decided to take a long weekend being the prices couldn’t have been better.  It is also on my 101 goals in 1001 days.   My first trip, her fifth!  I think she is hooked 🙂  The weather was actually warmer there than it was in NYC.  We got some sun, but unfortunately every night it clouded over… so no northern light sightings :(.  I figured I would break down the trip by days:

Day 1 – We arrive in Reykjavik at 6:45am (1:45am NY time) with little sleep on the plane, the first thing on the agenda was coffee!  We got to our hotel around 9am but were unable to check in until later.  The weather was really nice out so we decided to check out the city.  In a matter of a couple hours we were able to see pretty much everything there is a see there.  We picked up the rental car, checked in, took a quick power nap and off we went to do the golden circle route.  Our first stop (after our gps getting us lost and taking us through a Christmas tree farm) was the Kerið Crater; I loved the red sand and the turquoise water!  Next stop was the Geysier and lastly the Gulfoss waterfall.  We thought we had plenty of time to make it to the blue lagoon at night, but our gps had other plans….. Instead of us taking an hour on a direct route, she took us 2 hours out of the way on a no light road, passing only 5 cars in those 2 hours.  Needless to say we did not make it there that night haha.

Day 2 – Being an adventurous person, I decided to do a lava cave tour.  My cousin being a little Closter phobic opted not to go, and good thing she didn’t because it was definitely not the tour for her haha.   We spent roughly 2 1/2 hours underground in the pitch black with nothing but a mini flashlight on our helmet.  Had I known the amount of crawling and dragging yourself through mini spaces, I would have worn knee pads (I’ll spare you the damage/bruising on my legs haha).  Once the tour was over, we made a pit stop and largest herring drying farm in Iceland. Oh the smell haha.  That night we went on our Northern Lights tour.  Sadly no lights were seen, but we had a great time at dinner with new friends :).

Day 3 – Today we had our full day of the Southern tour to the Glacial Lagoon Jokulsarlon.  With the exception of about 20 minutes, it POURED the entire time.  We all just accepted we were going to be soaked all day.  Though even with the rain, it was such a great day!  Jonas, our guide, was so much fun!  We stopped at waterfalls, hidden roads with moss fields, lava fields, black sand beaches and lastly the glaciers.  We had tried in the beginning of the day to hike up by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano area to a hidden hot spring.  Thanks to all the rain, the rivers were completely flooded and after unsuccessfully trying to cross it multiple times, we gave up haha.  The one cool thing about all the rain was that when it rains, the glaciers become a blue color.  At the very end of the tour and being almost dry, we stopped at the Seljalandsfoss Waterfall.  It was pitch black out, with the only light shining of the waterfall.  Jonas then took us behind the falls.  As we were walking over to it the rain had lighted up, so we all thought this isn’t so bad…. then the mist came up and soaked us from head to toe haha.  It was totally worth it though!

Day 4 – Our last day in Iceland.  The weather was beautiful out; blue skies and sunny!  We headed to the Blue Lagoon for a little relaxation before our flight home.

So without further ado…. Enjoy!

~Reykjavik~

~The Harpa Concert Hall~

~Hallgrímskirkja Church~

~Amazing city views from the top of the church~

~Our Handy Car Rental~

~Kerið Crater~

~The Geysir~

~Little Geysir~

~The Main Geysir~

~Gulfoss Waterfall~

~The Caving Tour~

~Herring Drying Farm~

~Skógafoss Waterfall~

~Reynisfjara Beach with Basalt Columns~Also the only part of the tour it stopped raining!~

~360 views of a moss field~Truly amazing!~

~We made it to the Glaciers! Bet you can’t tell it’s pouring haha~

~The Glacier Lagoon~

~The Glacier Beach~

~The Blue Lagoon~

 

Tours

Caving Tour – http://www.grayline.is/tour/day_tours/AH15_iceland_from_below/Iceland.is (Seriously… bring knee pads!).

Southern Tour to the Glacial Lagoon Jokulsarlon – http://www.goecco.com/Index/goecco/WinterDayTours/AuroraGlacialLagoonWinterDayTour/ (Even though it rained the entire day.. this was such an amazing tour!! and Jonas is awesome!  I highly recommend!)

Northern lights Tour – http://www.icelandrovers.is/day-tours/iceland-northern-lights-and-lobster-jeep-tour/ (Even though we didn’t get to see them, the dinner was great!)

Car Rental – We used Budget car rentals.  After seeing mixed reviews from all locations, we opted for the one we both knew of.  I couldn’t of been happier.  It was a new car and they even gave me an automatic for the same price as a manual.  The location in the city is easily accesible and they even do free pick up and drop off.