"Ice, Ice Baby!" Reykjavik, Iceland--the popular new vacation spot!

When we think of "vacation," most of our minds wander to white sand...aqua blue water...warm, sunny weather. I've been to Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Miami, the Dominican Republic...all beautiful places; however, I wanted to go somewhere different. I've always gravitated to the unfamiliar. I had just recently joined a travel group, and I kept seeing pictures of my fellow travel members flying to Iceland....Iceland?? But the pictures looked so dope, so I was very curious. My friend Sherra said, "You want to go?" "F-k it....why not?" But--due to unforeseen circumstances, Sherra couldn't go...shit!! Now what?? I wasn't going to no damn Iceland by myself! 😂😂 I hadn't gotten enough courage to do that yet! So my friend Stephanie (Step) said she would meet me there. We were going to Reykjavik, Iceland!


The flight
I flew out of Baltimore, Maryland on WOW airlines. WOW was....OKAY. I paid fees for baggage, there was no internet service in-flight, and they didn't provide complimentary snacks or drinks. I was bored on my 5 1/2 hour flight to Reykjavik with those uncomfortable, cloth ass seats!!😂😂 I did purchase my flight for under $600 bucks though...so not too bad!

Downtown Reykjavik

Downtown Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland

Reykjavik, Iceland

So we took a shuttle bus from the airport to downtown Reykjavik, which was about a 45-minute ride each way (if I remember correctly). It was approximately $23USD each way. (Side note: It's better to take a shuttle to and from the airport. Taxis are about $200USD round trip)! When we got to town, I was SURPRISED!  There is actually civilization there! LOL. Before I arrived, I was thinking I was going to see a lot of ice, frozen bodies of water, and not a lot of people! Seriously, Reykjavik is way bigger than I anticipated. It is the largest city in Iceland. It is very clean, and supposedly one of the cleanest, greenest, and safest cities in the world.


The first day, we stayed in the city of Reykjavik at the Hilton. Check out pictures here. It was nice and clean! We rented a car to drive countryside (in my opinion, it's much cheaper to rent a car than to take taxis everywhere).  It's easy to drive around in Reykjavik--every sign is in English and also in Icelandic (their native language).


Wildlife and Black Beaches
The Icelandic dog, the Icelandic horse, cattle, reindeer and Icelandic sheep are prevalent in Iceland...and driving countryside is beautiful! We drove by greenery, mountains, glaciers and churches built in odd places....one was sitting on the tip top of a mountain! LOL. We drove two hours from Reykjavik to Reynisfjara Beach. It was the first black sand beach that I've ever been to! And it was absolutely gorgeous. We went in May and it still was cold as shit! LOL. NOTE: You can NOT swim at this beach. There are no lifeguards and the water is freezing cold. There have been a few unfortunate deaths at this particular beach because tourists got too close to the water and the current took them under. Still feeling froggy?? Check out the link here! So stay your ass out of the water! LOL...BUT--pretty, nonetheless...and I admired...from a distance!

Me at Renisfjara Beach, Vik, Iceland

Renisfjara Restaurant, Vik, Iceland

Renisfjara Beach, Vik, Iceland

The Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon was the main reason why I wanted to go to Iceland. Honestly, I saw a picture of Bey and Jay posted up in this hot spring. I was like, "Where are they? That looks HOT!" LOL. Aside from the fact that my travel members had gone and had a good time, I was anxious to go! So, we went. If I could do it over again, I would have gone to the Blue Lagoon first. It's only a couple of miles from Keflavik International Airport, so we had to travel 45 minutes from downtown Reykjavik back to the Blue Lagoon.

We Made It!
The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa that was formed in 1976. It's basically a hot spring surrounded by volcanoes and mountains. The water was about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, although outside the water, the temperature was about 30 degrees....yikes! LOL. So, as long as you stayed in the water, you were comfortable! While in the water, we swam up to a "bar" and got facials (mineral masks)...pretty cool! Wait--"swam" is not the appropriate word...the water was only about 4 feet high....you could literally stand up or sit down in the water and be fine! And we had our own private room. They offered our own private showers (you are required to take a shower before entering the water...kinda glad about that!), our own coffee, pastries and chocolate (my pre-vegan days, LOL!), and a fireplace. I think we paid an additional $200 for the private entrance, and we could use it all day until the spa closed. It was toasty in there too....dope!

The Blue Lagoon

There was also a fine-dining restaurant on-site at the Blue Lagoon. They had steak, lamb, filet mignon, and quite a few other entrees on the menu. We toasted to free champagne (I love "free" LOL), and people-watched from inside the restaurant. We stayed at the Blue Lagoon for about 5 or 6 hours before we headed back to Reykjavik. Check out the Blue Lagoon here.


Gulfoss Waterfall
Simply amazing....and colder than a MF'er!!! HA!! Word of advice: Bring your gloves, the thickest ones you have! And ear muffs!!The temperature around the Gulfoss Waterfall was so cold, it burned my hands! Very beautiful though. For more information, click here:


Me at the Gulfoss Waterfall....cold AF!! LOL

Northern Lights
We missed the Northern Lights...I was so disappointed! Like I said, we went in May, and I think the best time to go to see the Northern Lights is between the months of September and April. And there's still no guarantee you will see them; however, your chances are a lot higher if you go during those times! And get this y'all, the sun doesn't go down until like 11:00pm at night! And even then, it's still lighter than normal nightfall!

Reykjavik, Iceland at 11pm at night!!

Overall
Overall, I had a great time in Iceland. It definitely killed a lot of misconceptions of how it would look or how it would be once we arrived. We only stayed 4 days and 3 nights...and honestly (to me), that's all you need to see everything you want to see (unless you want to see glaciers, hike, and all that other outdoor stuff, which I'm NOT into). 😂😂 I'm glad I had the experience to go though, most definitely! Welp, that's it for me. Treena V. is signing off .Y'all be easy!


-The Vegan World Traveler

Treena was here! :-)