Day 2 & 3 - Why hello there Iceland

I'm chilling at a pizza place in Hveragerdi, I really have no idea how to pronounce most of the places here. Figured while I wait for a brick oven pizza with local toppings could get started on this entry. Had every intention of writing up about yesterday before I passed out but I crashed HARD after dinner.

This was my first view of Iceland

I got in nearly three hours later than I was supposed to because of that rain delay. From what I can tell, seems like there's been some nasty storms back home and I've picked a great time to be away.

When I got to the rental place they convinced me to get all the insurances talking about sand storms since I was heading to the South. After I agreed to all of it the guy upgraded me to a brand-new crossover that no one else has driven yet instead of a sedan, and gave me unlimited miles for no upcharge. Certainly appreciative of that, and found it amusing the car resembles Pat.

Due to the delay I decided to abandon the first park I had planned for a morning hike and headed to Thingvellir. After hitting up the information center for a map, I got back in the car, went to open the water bottle I bought when leaving the airport to find out it was seltzer water when it exploded EVERYWHERE. Thank God it didn't dry sticky. 🙄

This area was beautiful and I went on a mini hike and ate my lunch taking in the lake and picked my flower to press for Iceland.

From here I headed to Kerid Crater. This was something else and it was really cool to walk around the perimeter and then down into it. It was evident that you can go swimming in this but it was way too cold for me. Besides I knew I had the hot springs planned for after I checked into my hotel and could get my bathing suit on.

I spent my time here in step with a very tall and handsome hitchhiker, when we got to the bottom we went opposite directions around and then sat near each other for a bit while he ate and I wrote in my journal. As I was leaving he was at the entrance looking for a ride, I almost pulled out and dunno why but decided to put the window down and asked where he was trying to head to, that I was on my way to Geysir. Apparently this was exactly where he was hoping to get to. So in hopped this massive Slovenian. I think he was 6'4" with a killer beard and thankfully decent English. It was only a half hour drive but we managed to cover a lot of ground. What a traveler this guy was, his current home base is Portugal but he basically works tourism jobs all over for half the year and then just travels.

I deeply regret never living abroad, but it's not really something I want to do anymore, I'll keep planning fun trips like this and little by little I'll see the places I want to see. But seriously I think what would have been ideal was taking a gap year after high school. Saving up all through high school, some cash from graduation, and then go explore before I had student loans, or car payments, or rent, or any true responsibility for that matter. Man what a different life that would have been...

For all the things we talked about, I don't remember the dude's name... But we explored Geysir together chatting about random stuff and it was nice to talk to someone who has a similar view on the importance of travel. Geysir was eh for me, Yellowstone takes the cake for geothermal activity but it was still cool.

After checking in I quickly threw on my bathing suit, grabbed a towel and headed to the hot spring on some lady's property that my bestie told me I had to check out. Without a doubt I would live on this property if I could. It was so relaxing and beautiful.

 View walking towards the hot spring.

 View from in the hot spring.

Where this couple is sitting is where I ended up spending my time which was close to an hour and I rested my eyes for a good while and definitely nodded off a bit. It was an amazing way to wrap up the day. Driving back from the hot springs I stopped to take a look at these bizarre figures which turned out to be homages to the Bonnie and Clyde of Iceland. Having stopped it prompted me to see if I could get to this bench that just looked so scenic but couldn't find a route but then was in perfect position to see a pony parade!

Eventually headed back to the hotel and ate at their restaurant and goodness me was it delicious. I had the sweet potato soup with a sparkling white wine, this Icelandic rissotto for an entree and a fabulous dessert that was this whipped almond crumb pudding type deal with fresh berries and berry sorbet.

I was stuffed by the end and almost immediately passed out after getting back to my room. I had really hope to see the northern lights but the mapping said there wasn't a flare in our area and everyone told me it stays too light out this time of year to see them anyways. Like the sun sets at 11:30 and even then it's still not that dark...

The next morning after sleeping in a tad I headed to the breakfast included with my room, showered, packed up and headed south for the beach. I went to Reynisfjara to get a look at the black beaches and it did not disappoint. I had to put my feet in sand and touch the water. Something about being on the other side of the Atlantic. It was cold as fuck but it was awesome. Was 100% the only person to take my shoes off, I'm sure partially because it's a very rocky beach, but there was definitely straight up black sand.

 Apparently cooling magma as it drips hardens in hexagonal columns.

The inside of this cavern looked like someone painted it for depth or something, it was wild.

From here I headed to the Solheimasandur Plane Wreck, which a friend recommended. I decided to walk cuz I'm too cheap for the bus, but hot damn was it quite the walk, but at least I wasn't dumb enough to follow the road for bus which goes wide and then makes a left toward the wreck. Shortest distance is a straight line and the Google marker for the wreck is pretty accurate. I had to have cut off half an hour from the round trip cuz as I was pulling out of the lot I saw the group of people that had been leaving the wreck when I first reached it...it was pretty cool to see and I thoroughly enjoyed eating my pear 🍐 and looking out a big old hole in the body.

Next stop on the list and not far at all from here, like 15 minutes, was the Skógafoss Waterfall, which truly was something to behold. The set of stairs up to the top were a bitch though. There's apparently an amazing hike you can access from there over the ridge that allows you to see many other waterfalls and I think even eventually get up close and personal with the glaciers. On a return trip I would love to camp, do some serious hiking, like snow shoe variety perhaps? But also for sure do one of the horse rides. The journey to the hot springs in Reykjadalur was definitely a horse available tour and I most definitely recommend that option cuz that was a 50 minute hike one way with lots of rather steep hills. My American brain did not accurately compute 3km...but damn was it worth it.

 When I got to the top I rewarded myself with an orange and it was one of the most satisfying oranges ever, I found myself doing a happy little wiggle cuz I couldn't contain my enjoyment lol.

 There was sheep everywhere! Also cows and horses.

 The delicious local toppings pizza (pears, brie, walnuts, chives, honey and chili flakes) was so happy I ate before the hike. I would have been SO hangry if I hadn't.

 They had this boardwalk like platform along the edge with changing areas near the end for people to chill in the hot springs.

 That shit right there is apparently 100 degrees Celsius which at the time I didn't know was 212 degrees Fahrenheit, I just knew it was hella hot.

 Hard to tell but that blip of a shadow on the hill I'm facing is me!

 Me on the hill making the shadow lol

See! So many sheep. I got a great video of the little black one jumping, made me laugh.

Once I got back to the car I finally headed into Reykjavík, checked in at 10:45 and then headed to this hot dog stand that people rave about and then watched the sun set. I honestly still don't know all the stuff he put on this hot dog but it was pretty darn delicious.

 And now I'm in my "Pod" at the Galaxy pod hostel haha. It's pretty wild, but it was cheap and had a female only dorm.

Finally got through all the shenanigans of Iceland! Fly out tomorrow morning to London! Well today... It's late here, hoping to fall asleep quickly 😊