I arrived back yesterday in Heidelberg, Germany to begin my final semester of graduate school (what?!?! Didn’t I just move here!). Before landing in Germany, I decided to take advantage of Icelandair’s free stopover. Icelandair allows you to have up to a 7 day stopover in Iceland on your way to your final destination. My friend, Nichole from Who Goes Wear, approached me in May about joining her on some of her travels around the world. Unfortunately, I was not able to explore Southeast Asia with her. However, I told her that Iceland worked perfectly into my schedule! I’ve known Nichole for over four years when we lived and studied together in London.
Oh Iceland, you are so so so so pretty! I feel like in my 4 days in Iceland, I only managed to scratch the surface! There are so many more places I want to see and explore. I was able to fit in the Golden Circle and Reykjavik. The Golden Circle is an almost 200 mile (300 kilometer) loop around some of the most scenic points in all of Iceland. It amazed me how even in October, the sun never fully rises. Some of the photos I took make it look like it’s around sunset when, in fact, it was only 1 or 2 pm.
My first day in Iceland was an eventful one! After going from the airport straight to the Blue Lagoon, we headed into Reykjavik. The Blue Lagoon is perfect to do on the way to Reykjavik from the airport, especially if you have a red eye flight. It is halfway between the airport and the city, and provides the perfect relaxation!
Once we arrived in Reykjavik, we were headed straight to the emergency room! Dumb me had changed from boots into flats at the Blue Lagoon. When I got off the bus in Reykjavik, I literally took 1 step and cut the top of my foot open on a rusted pipe protruding from the ground. It made a pretty deep gash and after sending pictures to my Mom and relying upon Google, I figured I probably needed stitches. After waiting in the emergency room for over 3 hours, I finally saw a doctor who said yes, I definitely needed stitches. I guess I also had a bunch of rusted bits in my cut so he numbed my foot and cleaned it out. Funny part about the whole ordeal is that I just had my physical a few weeks ago and at the end of the appointment I casually asked my doctor if I needed any shots. Due to having chemo when I was younger, I’m off on all my shots. My doctor said I was 4 years OVERDUE for a tetanus and we both agreed I needed to get it that day, especially because I’m constantly traveling! So so so thankful I thought to ask about my shots because my cut would have been much worse if I didn’t have the tetanus shot prior to Iceland!
Even though this was a detour we weren’t expecting, Nichole and I both took it in stride. I kept telling my doctor (who was Icelandic but had lived in the USA) that my scar was a permanent souvenir from Iceland. We were joking that I needed a better story and decided I was attacked by puffins. My doctor was like, “Those DAMN PUFFINS! Always attacking people,” and then proceeded to mimic a puffin. He then was like, “Shit just happens…regardless if you’re traveling or at home.” Haha, he was a funny one :)
Anyways, enjoy these photos! I plan on doing a couple more detailed posts in the next few weeks but wanted to share some of my favorite photos from Iceland ASAP!
11:00 am at the Blue Lagoon. So relaxing and not that busy at all!
Thingvellir National Park around 11:30 am. And it looks like sunset, right?!
Waterfall in Thingvellir National Park
We spent a good 30 minutes petting and taking pictures with these gorgeous horses!
Mini geysirs on our way to Strokkur, a huge geysir that erupts every 5-10 minutes.
Gullfoss, probably the most popular waterfall in all of Iceland
Gullfoss in all its glory!
Sheep roaming at sunset. We tried to make friends with them but failed horribly!
Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran church and the largest church in all of Iceland!
The city of Reykjavik from the top of Hallgrímskirkja
An ode to Lief Erikson by the United States of America
Reykjavik Harbor
Mocha at Mokka Cafe. Coffee time is my favorite time (besides beer time!)
The beautiful downtown Reykjavik!
I can’t wait to upload more pictures of Iceland and to provide a more detailed account of what I did there! As always, let me know if you have any comments or questions!
So jealous of your trip! Photos are gorgeous!!
Thanks girl! Headed to London tomorrow and so wish you were going to be there!!!
Great photos! Iceland is one of my favourite places in the world.
Thanks so much for stopping by! :)
You had really great blue skies there; mine were more grey. Iceland is amazing though; I’m happy you got to see it.
I got really lucky with my weather in Iceland…the entire week before I got there it had rained!
What great photos, looks like you had a great time! You should see the sun in the next few months, that is the true sun never sets! While you were here there was a lot of pollution in the air from the volcano (still is) making the sun have a strange hazy look to it where I feel like it looks like sunset often as well. Can’t wait to read more!
That totally makes sense about the volcanic ash! It was just so hazy. Thanks for all the helpful hints on your blog! :)
Yes glad they were helpful!
looks absolutely gorgeous!! oh man I’ve been telling Jacob I want to go to Iceland so bad.. but so far he hasn’t budged. :/
Why doesn’t he want to go?! It is so cheap to fly there and the flight is like 5 hours from the East Coast! Let me talk to Jacob for you ;)
mostly a budget thing
Update: Just booked my tickets home in the summer and found a cheap ticket with an Iceland stopover!! I’m so excited! Your posts totally helped inspire this! :)
yayay!!! I’m so excited for you Hannah :))) Definitely email me if you want additional suggestions. My email is jordanbeckwagner@gmail.com :) Also, you should definitely stay at Kex Hostel..seriously, it was amazing!
Oh wow that place looks so cool, thanks for the tip! Yes, in a few months I’m gonna need allllll your recommendations and will totally be emailing you! I am so freaking excited haha even though it’s so far away. I think it’s good I’m “distracting” myself from the fact that I’m leaving Spain with a little mini vacation hah!