Live(ish) Epic Transatlantic April 22-May 7

[Clay Clayton]

After a somewhat restful night at the Holiday Inn Express (why must the French keep everything so warm?), we had a nice included breakfast (real scrambled eggs and rather tasty croissants). We then took the airport train (think the underground one at ATL), made it through security and Duty Free (which had the nicely decorated Citroen 2CV (Clay remembers riding in one with the top rolled back on his first trip to France in 1975) and are now slung up in the lounge about an hour and a half before we board our flight to Helsinki.  Guess we could have slept later. Oh well, #morechampagne

[depplep]

Paris looks amazing, thank you so much for continuing this journey with us. I'm looking forward to Iceland. Safe travels.

[laudergayle]

Oh my, oh my…my heart belongs to Paris.  Our 2020 trip didn’t happen, so it has been nearly 20 years since we’ve been there.  I may have to re-think our 2024 cruise plans.  Thank you for the beautiful photos.  Looking forward to your Iceland visit.  Carpe momentum.

[Clay Clayton]

So busy day of flying! Flight was about an hour late leaving Paris which meant we had to hurry to get to our gate in Helsinki where of course we were about 30 minutes late leaving so didn’t reallly have to rush. LOL

 

Finnair business class had the typical middle seat blocked and treated us well.  We really liked their “signature cocktail” Northern Blush.  A gin, lingonberry and orange.  We had several on both flights. Their blueberry juice was also delicious. We had our first lunch between Paris and Helsinki and our second one on the way to Iceland.  
 

The first one was a Chicken curry dish and the second was a beef and mashed potatoes.  Both were tasty but we both liked the second one as it seemed more Finnish.  And we liked the little smoked fish appetizer.  In both cases, the dessert seemed not up to snuff with the rest of the meal. They were “muffins” which reminded me of something you might pick up at a Highway truck stop.  We appreciated the kind service from both sets of flight attendants but have to say that Iberia won the food battle😂

 

We arrived to cold, windy, and rainy Iceland.  Got our Hertz rental car, made it to our closeby (and beautiful) Airbnb, and are now relaxing by watching Eurovision Song Contest.  Oh, and our window for booking excursions for our July Iceland and Norwegian Arctic Explorer cruise on Viking just opened so we were able to get that done too. 
 

Tomorrow morning we are headed east along the southern coast.  
 

Here is our planned itinerary:

Sun, May 14

9:00 AM GMT Check Out Airbnb

Drive along South coast

6:30 PM GMT Check In Hotel Selja

S250 Dimonavegur, Rangárþing eystra, South Iceland, 861 Iceland

 

Mon, May 15

10:00 AM GMT Check Out Hotel Selja

10:15 AM GMT Arrive At Ferry - Landeyjahofn

10:45 AM GMT Ferry - Landeyjahöfn → Vestmannaeyjar

11:20 AM GMT Arrive Vestmannaeyjar Vestmannaeyjar

2:15 PM GMT

Around Vestmannaeyjar island Boat Tour

5:00 PM GMT

Ferry - Vestmannaeyjar → Landeyjahöfn

5:40 PM GMTArrive Landeyjahöfn, Drive towards Seljalandfoss

6:00 PM GMT Seljalandfoss waterfall

6:30 PM GMT, drive towards Skogafoss

7:00 PM GMT Skogafoss Waterfall

7:30 PM GMT drive towards Vik

7:55 PM GMT Check In Black Beach Suites

Vik I Myrdal, Vik I Myrdal, South Iceland, 871 Iceland

 

Tue, May 16

9:00 AM GMT Drive To Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon

10:30 AM GMT Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon

11:30 AM GMT Drive To Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

2:00 PM GMT Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon

3:00 PM GMT Drive To Fjallsarlon Glacier Lagoon

3:30 PM GMT Fjallsárlón - Iceberg boat tour

5:00 PM GMT Drive To Black Beach Suites

7:30 PM GMT Arrive Black Beach suites

 

Wed, May 17

9:00 AM GMT Check Out Black Beach Suites and Drive To KEF 

12:00 PM EDT Arrive KEF

4:45 PM GMT KEF → RDU FI 821 (Icelandair)

7:30 PM EDT Arrive Raleigh/Durham (RDU) Terminal 2

[aungrl]

Welcome to Iceland!  Looking forward to reading about all this week's adventures.  And you're right - that little cellophane-wrapped muffin doesn't look like it belongs with the rest of the tray.

[Clay Clayton]

7 hours ago, aungrl said:

Welcome to Iceland!  Looking forward to reading about all this week's adventures.  And you're right - that little cellophane-wrapped muffin doesn't look like it belongs with the rest of the tray.

Thanks! Awoke to cloudy but dry (ish) skies.  Let’s hope that holds.  🤞

[Clay Clayton]

The sun came out!  It’s still windy and cold but at least it’s not pouring like last night.  We had a wonderful drive from near the airport along the south coast.  We stopped at a beautiful tiny church we saw “over there”. Lovely interior with the interesting barrel vault and even better view out to the sea.  There were even some elf houses beside the church! https://earthlymission.com/elves-are-so-real-in-iceland-they-have-their-own-homes/  

 

We stopped for lunch in Selfoss where we had fish and chips with dessert being carrot cake (not the southern kind-this one had cardamon!), and a coffee for Clay and hot chocolate for Mike. 
 

After lunch we continued our drive towards our hotel for the evening which is near Seljalandfoss-one of the waterfalls we will visit tomorrow. Our original plan was to take a ferry to the Westerman Islands and then take the sightseeing (puffins and elephant rock) cruise around the island that we missed during our Viking cruise in 2021.  It seems though it is not to be as we got an email from the tour boat that due to the weather forecast, the trip tomorrow has been canceled.  So we have more time in our schedule than planned but given how beautiful it is here, I’m sure we will enjoy just seeing nature-if the weather ashore will allow. Our hotel is nice and the view from the breakfast room is incredible.  Not sure if that is snow or a glacier or both. We are trying to figure a way to pack the chair in our room in our carryon. 😂

[laudergayle]

LOVE the chair, too!

[like2cruise33]

When I was in Iceland, some took the puffin cruise the rest went to a 'park' we had a better view. I hope you got to see the Puffins - they really are all around the coast. NO, I did not eat any, but I understand they tasted like liver. Hey people who cringed - we do eat chicken and turkey and hens, they are birds - so are Puffins.

Most pictures of me in Iceland have me wearing my rain gear. But the rain was more pesky then a hinderance to what we did.

Gosh you guys have a lot of energy. I am hoping for enough energy to enjoy Israel after my Mediterranean trip with Epic in a few months.

Oh, I got an email from NCL saying that I can finance my final payment - no interest.

[Clay Clayton]

Decided since the forecast is for rain tomorrow we would at least see one of the falls today. This is #seljalandsfosswaterfall The first picture is from our hotel’s parking lot, the second from the fall’s parking lot, the next on the walk up to it. The selfie was on the wet zone😳. We elected to stay relatively dry and not go behind the falls …unlike many others.  There are a series of falls along a path. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[Clay Clayton]

So made it to the second big waterfall, #skogafoss  Just as beautiful as the first. All along the drive between the two there are many smaller ones-some hard to see. After our big lunch and the windy cold day, soup made the perfect supper. One was called Volcano, my mother would have called it Vegetable 😂. It was good but the mushroom was incredible.  Brought back Date Cake to have at the hotel along with a delicious cup of coffee. Been a wonderful day-hate we are gonna miss going to the Westermen Islands tomorrow but glad we got to spend a day with beautiful skies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[Clay Clayton]

Amazing how much water is flowing down

[Lazonia]

4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

The sun came out!  It’s still windy and cold but at least it’s not pouring like last night.  We had a wonderful drive from near the airport along the south coast.  We stopped at a beautiful tiny church we saw “over there”. Lovely interior with the interesting barrel vault and even better view out to the sea.  There were even some elf houses beside the church! https://earthlymission.com/elves-are-so-real-in-iceland-they-have-their-own-homes/  

 

We stopped for lunch in Selfoss where we had fish and chips with dessert being carrot cake (not the southern kind-this one had cardamon!), and a coffee for Clay and hot chocolate for Mike. 
 

After lunch we continued our drive towards our hotel for the evening which is near Seljalandfoss-one of the waterfalls we will visit tomorrow. Our original plan was to take a ferry to the Westerman Islands and then take the sightseeing (puffins and elephant rock) cruise around the island that we missed during our Viking cruise in 2021.  It seems though it is not to be as we got an email from the tour boat that due to the weather forecast, the trip tomorrow has been canceled.  So we have more time in our schedule than planned but given how beautiful it is here, I’m sure we will enjoy just seeing nature-if the weather ashore will allow. Our hotel is nice and the view from the breakfast room is incredible.  Not sure if that is snow or a glacier or both. We are trying to figure a way to pack the chair in our room in our carryon. 😂

The chair -- love, love, love 

[bluesea777]

We love love love 💕 Iceland! We have been there several times and never get tired of going there. 
 

Bucket list here: drive the circle ⭕️ of Iceland (aka road 1) with a detour in middle - a week long side trip to Faroes Islands and back by car ferry. 
 

May happen in 2025 ….

 

 

[ellenw]

Such a fabulous trip report. Did a Viking Iceland and Norway cruise July 2022. Spectacular. Norway is absolutely beautiful. Iceland is dramatic!

[depplep]

Very cool. I have nothing to compare this to, but it kinda looks like Hawaii meets Australia. ??

[Clay Clayton]

What a great day!

 

After a leisurely and delicious breakfast (waffle with pistachio butter!) at the hotel, we headed out. Because our plans got changed due to the winds canceling the tour boat around Westerman Islands, we decided we would try to change our plans for Tuesday to today.  But we wanted to at least see the islands we were missing so we headed to the ferry dock first. As you can see the islands are quite impressive as is the black beach.  
 

From there we headed east about 2.5 hours towards Fjallsarlon Glacier lagoon and “Diamond Beach”. But we stopped at one more waterfall along the way.  It was go nice to be at this one alone.

 

We also stopped at another truck stop sorta restaurant where we had a $50 lunch-of course it was a lamb shank served with really tasty potatoes au gratin and a salad-all from a steam table.  Whose ever had a lamb shank at a US truck stop?😂

 

At the glacier we donned heavy duty gear and after a climb over the rocky berm surrounding the lagoon we boarded our zodiac.  It was cold but sunny!  It was amazing to be up close to the bergs and later as the wind increased and blew them all towards where we beached at the end of the tour-actually had to motor through them and our guide and another zodiac had to push them out of our way. I think this hour on the water will be the highlight of our trip to Iceland.

 

Afterwards, we drove five minutes further east to Diamond Beach where icebergs from the lagoon at Jokulsarlon Glacier make their way into the ocean at high tide and then wash up on the black beach. It was beautiful. The bergs have interior shapes and the sound of them cracking as the melt sorta mesmerized me. 
 

We are now head back west towards our hotel for the next two nights. I think we will enjoy a relaxing day tomorrow after the long drive today. 

 

[Clay Clayton]

Good morning  from Dyrhólaey Iceland. Can’t seem them at in the pictures but these cliffs are home to 51 species of birds.

[All-ready2cruise]

Beautiful pictures, thanks so much for sharing the magic of Iceland.  

[Clay Clayton]

After a short drive towards and through Vik, we made it to Reynisfrangar, another cliff with thousands of birds and a couple of manmade ones!

[Clay Clayton]

After the cold morning in the cliffs, we stopped at The Soup Company for hot soup and really tasty bread & butter for lunch.  Mike had the Red Hot Lava Soup (a spicy vegetable soup heavy on tomatoes) in a black bread bowl while Clay had Lamb Stew (which is on the menu everywhere here from high end to truck stops) and is a very good vegetable soup with lamb. For his refill, Mike elected to continue with the lava soup while Clay had broccoli which was also delicious.  For dessert, Mike had a Volcano macaroon (dark chocolate and pepper) while Clay got a Skyr cake to have back at the hotel. 

[Clay Clayton]

Last sightseeing stop (at least for this trip) in Iceland😢

 

Reynisfjara Black Beach along with its cave and balsalt hexagonal columns caused by rapid uneven cooling of lava. 
 

Quiet afternoon in our lovely room at the Black Beach Suites along with some repacking.  Tomorrow morning we drive the 3 hours or so back towards Reykjavik and our flight home tomorrow afternoon.  Our only plan tomorrow is to have an Icelandic Hotdog😀

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

Last sightseeing stop (at least for this trip) in Iceland😢

 

Reynisfjara Black Beach along with its cave and balsalt hexagonal columns caused by rapid uneven cooling of lava. 
 

Clay - absolutely stunning!

My first thoughts are it reminds me so much of the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland.  Same geological formations (Basalt hexagonal columns).

Your adventure on your own makes me wsh we'd done something like this when we finish our Saturn cruise in Reykjavik in June.  Perhaps another time!   Just such wonderful scenery.

Edited May 16, 2023 by CCWineLover

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

Clay - absolutely stunning!

My first thoughts are it reminds me so much of the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland.  Same geological formations (Basalt hexagonal columns).

Your adventure on your own makes me wsh we'd done something like this when we finish our Saturn cruise in Reykjavik in June.  Perhaps another time!   Just such wonderful scenery.

Our original plan had been to fly to Reykjavik ahead of our July Saturn cruise to do this basic itinerary but when we decided to do the TA and were looking at how to get back to Raleigh, we realized that a roundtrip nonstop on Iceland air to RDU starting in KEF was only $100 more than the one way we were planning for on buying for July it became obvious we should do it now.  It’s made for a long trip that frankly has worn is both out -me especially but still glad we did it this way. We are flying back in one day ahead of July embarkation and plan on doing a little touring around Reykjavik, spending the afternoon at The Secret Lagoon and then hopefully be worn out and relaxed to hit the bed early at our hotel before boarding the next morning. 

[bluesea777]

Fantastic photos and reviews on the driving along the South Iceland including hotels! I've noted down the places and hotels you visited.

 

At lunch today (at our fave Italian, La Trattoria) I mentioned to DH that we need to do 2 NCL cruises in 2014 to use up our two CNs AND our two Diamond upgrades, and then plan the Iceland Circle and the side Faroes sojourn in 2025. 

 

Last July we stopped in Akureyri and I hired a car for the day - I thought driving up there would be more difficult nowadays that it's been 10 years ago but it was so easy driving in Iceland as the traffic was still so light.

 

Keep it up!

 

By the way, at Keflavik as we discovered, the check-in desks do not open for any flights until at the 3 hours mark (to our dismay!). Once you've checked in, make a bee line through security to the departure lounge via the Duty Free shopping area, and have a really nice (late) lunch in the Nord restaurant (13 on level 2). Then as soon as you've finished lunch you need to proceed toward your gate .... this is where you'll need to go through the Border Control (as you'll be leaving the Schengen area going to the USA) on your way to your gate. When we were there back in July the lines for the Border Control were so long, but luckily DH had broken toes and was on cane and received wheelchair assistance.

 

Maps of the Airport | Keflavik Airport (isavia.is)

 

Have a safe journey home to RDU.