Our 7 Day ICELANDIC Road Trip 2068km circular drive visiting many FAMOUS Locations ️
Hello folks and welcome to the Pre Vlogging series. In this series I'm going to take you on a journey through some of the adventures that I've been on before I began vlogging at the beginning of 2020. For me the last five years have pretty much consisted of work and travelling to various countries every other month, for two or three weeks at a time. The first two years I spent traveling solo and for the last three years I've been gallivanting around the world with my partner. So
in this series you're going to get a good mixture of me traveling solo and also with Fabiola. Many people have asked me why I didn't start vlogging a long time ago and in all honesty yes maybe I should have but I had my reasons at the time and maybe that story will make for another vlog. Anyways, better late than never and that's what the vlogs contained in this series are here to cover. I want to share not only the footage of places that we've been to but also talk about things such as the route we took, how we planned the trip, how we chose our accommodation amongst other things so you guys get some ideas of your own if you plan to visit any of these countries yourself one day. Alternatively you could just use the exact same plan and itinerary that we mustered up! Okay so without further ado let's begin this week's episode... Iceland! Iceland or Icelandia as the Mexicans call it, was the first trip that Fabiola and I went on together outside of our own countries. If you're unaware Fabiola and I have a long-distance relationship.
I reside in the UK while she lives in her homeland Mexico. We had only met in person a month before this trip while I was in mexico. We spent some time travelling around the Yucatan peninsula together and clearly there was a long-distance relationship growing right in front of our eyes. But that's for another vlog. At the end of that trip we made a pact to meet up and travel every other month,
which was to work around my work schedule. I then asked Fabiola where she'd like to visit first and without hesitation she screamed 'Icelandia por favor!!!' Before we headed off to Iceland Fabiola came over to the UK a week prior so that I could show her around my homeland, which is North Wales. We don't quite have the Caribbean weather here but we still had loads of fun and I think it's fair to say that she enjoyed what we had in offering regards of beautiful scenery (Si!!!) I think my favorite moment was taking her to one of the local lakes for the night and sleeping over. Waking up in the morning to this was a pretty special moment and certainly one to remember. Okay back to the programme, Iceland! We flew direct from Liverpool, UK to Reykjavik and the flight only took two and a half hours. We arrived mid-afternoon
and I remember we had a little siesta as soon as we got to our accommodation. One thing I should mention here is that when we were here it was the beginning of June and at this time of year they have very little darkness; as in it doesn't get dark at night time. Just as the sun sets at about 11pm the sun then begins to rise ready for the next day. It's quite surreal. After our little siesta we took our sleepy little heads into the city for a wonder.
We passed by some of the famous colorful buildings and then stumbled upon the huge church here. I'm not going to try and pronounce some of the names of anywhere here in Iceland because some of them, they're very hard to get their tongue around. So I'll just be leaving the names in the top left hand corner of the screen. I think that's the best thing to do. After passing the church we headed down to the seafront to visit the Sun Voyager sculpture. The artist, Jon Gunnar Arnason, intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom. We then took a drive to our first adventure. It was roughly an hour's drive away from Reykjavik
and it was pretty well known. The Blue Lagoon. The lagoon isn't a natural spring as some might think. While Iceland is a country full of natural hot springs the blue lagoon isn't one of them. The land is natural as is the lava that shapes the pool but the water that fills the lagoon is actually excess water from the geothermal power plant right next to it. That doesn't mean it's dangerous or toxic, far from it. It's just not the natural phenomenon
that many people believe it to be. Before entering the building and going through the entrance to the pool you're surrounded by all of these steaming pools of water separated by volcanic rock which serves as a footpath. We caught these guys leaving the hotel and heading to the pool It's not really the kind of thing you see every day! The Blue Lagoon isn't the cheapest place either. At the time, in 2018, the cost was $70 USD each, which included a free drink and a mud mask. Like I said it's not the cheapest place but we were soon to find out that iceland is a pretty expensive place to travel in general. We spent
an hour or so here relaxing in the warm waters while taking in the strange surrounding landscapes. We then drove back to Reykjavik to get our heads down ready for an early start in the morning. After a bite to eat and a coffee we left Reykjavik and headed to our first destination of the day. One of the most popular tours to do here in Iceland is called 'The Golden Circle', due to it beginning and ending in Reykjavik and heads through Thingvellir National Park, passing by many beautiful points of interest and waterfalls. Along the way we drove alongside the beautiful Pingvallavatn lake which was complemented by some snow-capped mountains in the distance.
After an hour and a half drive we reached our first port of call, Stokkur. Stokkur is a fountain type geyser located in a geothermal area beside the Hvita river. It generally erupts every six to ten minutes and reaches a height of around 15 to 20 meters. Fabiola just managed to get a shot of it in all its glory. There were some steamy pools of volcanic water dotted about here and there too. It's a pretty surreal feeling knowing that there's all of this volcanic activity going on right under your feet. From here we drove another nine minutes until we reached our first waterfall,
Gullfoss. Gullfoss, meaning golden falls, is a beast! She's a three-tiered waterfall with a total height of 105 feet. The first two tiers create the smaller waterfalls at the top and then the third tier is the big one, a 69 foot sheer drop into the crevice below. Being stood next to it and watching all of that water fall into what looks like a huge gaping hole in the earth is a crazy experience.
The sheer power of the water is not only visible, the sound is scarily loud. Another reminder that water isn't to be reckoned with. From the car park you could walk to the beginning of the waterfalls along this path but there was a trade-off. At some point you were going to get a good soaking, no questions asked. But it's all part of the experience. After admiring the falls for a little while longer we jumped back in the car and took an hour and a half drive to waterfall number two. Seljalandsfoss. We arrived here around 5 p.m and the light was just perfect. We had to pay
$6 USD to park here but the sun was shining right onto the fall, making the greenery so vibrant. The waterfall is just under 200 feet in height and it also has something rather special about it. You can walk behind it. But again there's a trade-off, and guess what that trade-off is? Yeah, you guessed it, you had to get a good soaking! It was pretty epic, especially with the sun just hanging there looking like a shiny disco ball. We could have admired this waterfall for days but we had one more fall to see before the day was out.
The mighty Skogafoss. Before coming here this is one of the ones that I was really excited to see. And yes, she's an absolute beauty. Even more so in real life. It's the same height as Seljalandsfoss but it's way more powerful. It's a lot wider and has more water volume flowing down the river. We spent some time taking in this beautiful natural wonder from ground zero and then we hiked up the many steps to admire the view from the top.
If you come here don't be put off by all the steps. Make sure you go to the top, you won't regret it. With the time hitting 7pm at this point we headed to our accommodation for the evening. Unfortunately we had to backtrack a little because we didn't really have many options of places to stay in this area. We picked a place called Volsvollur, about a 20-minute drive back on ourselves as it was a good place to start the drive the next day. The room we chose was cozy, as in small. It had a shared bathroom and a kitchen with breakfast included.
This came with a price tag of £92, around $125 USD. I'd say a similar room in the UK would cost about half of that. I did say Iceland wasn't the cheapest country though didn't I. But this was something we were aware of before coming here so it was expected. That evening we planned
our trip for the next day; what sites to stop at and how far we should drive to our next stop over. We figured that if we timed things right we could make some good ground and get all the way over to the east coast. It was a six and a half hour drive to the random place that we decided to aim for and there was a few things that we wanted to see along the way so it was going to be a big long day. But we are optimists and always up for a challenge. Up at the crack of dawn, well not quite, we headed east and drove an hour to get to our first place that would really amaze us. Reynisfjara. There's a few interesting things about Reynisfjara. Firstly, as you can see, there's a black sanded beach and stretches over two kilometers. The second crazy thing about this
place is the bashalt columns. They all stand at different heights, a bit like an organ, with the tallest one standing at 65 feet. We had a bit of fun sitting on them and basically acting like kids. There's a small cave here too. You have to be careful not to get caught out by the tide,
and that goes for this stretch of beach in general. Many people have been caught out not paying attention to the aggressive ocean that creeps in at a fast pace. So if you visit here just be mindful of that. The third thing, or things, that this beach is famous for is the Raynisdranger rocks, or Raynisdranger rocks.
Standing at 216 feet these beautiful rocks stand out like a sore thumb in the choppy ocean. According to local Icelandic folklore these rocks were once trolls trying to pull ships from the ocean to the shore. However, these trolls were a few sarnies (sandwiches) short of a picnic and went out too late at night. Dawn broke on the horizon turning the trolls into solid stone. So they say anyway. We jumped back in the car and took a short drive to Dyrholaey. It's directly on the other side
of the beach. There's a lighthouse here and some nice rock formations and cliff edges. It's a great place to view the Raynisdranger rocks from a distance too. The next stop was a two hour drive away. Along the way there was plenty to keep the eyes entertained. And then we arrived. Skaftafell. After paying the $6 USD fee to park we took a leisurely walk, which took about an hour, to see this, Skaftafell glacier. If you have plenty of time, which we didn't unfortunately, you can hike upon the glacier with many options available.
You can also take a helicopter ride or a plane ride to admire these amazing views from above. Another thing that's highly recommended to do here also is the waterfall hike. You pass by three falls before getting to the main one. Svartifoss. Again we didn't have time but here's a sneaky photo from Google. But that's the thing when you're on a road trip like this, along the way you always
find out about these amazing things and places that you didn't know existed, leaving you with no time to visit them. But on the other hand I guess it leaves room for a revisit one day. After ogling the glacier for a while we walked back to the car and continued along the coast to our next stop, which was only a 40 minute drive. Jokulsarlon. This huge lagoon sits at the base of a glacier, so you have icebergs dotted about everywhere and flowing in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean, which is where they end up and eventually melt. Together with a backdrop of
snowy mountains this was an incredible place to visit. You can take a boat trip around the lake so you get a good close-up of the glaciers. Again, no time for us. It was coming up to 6pm and we still had a three and a half hour drive in front of us to reach our accommodation for the night. But there was nothing to complain about, the scenery along the way kept us entertained once again.
Our accommodation was in a small town called, yeah I'm not even going to try and say that, which sat at the end of a beautiful fjord called, I'm not even going to try and say that either! We arrived early in the evening and we were absolutely shattered after the long day we'd had so we didn't really pay too much attention to our surroundings initially but waking up in the morning was a pleasant little surprise. Probably the best view we had from the room on this trip personally speaking. This room cost us $120 USD and again fairly small with a shared bathroom and the use of the kitchen. But with a view like this the price didn't bother me too much. We continued our drive leaving the east coast and heading north to our first stop of the day. Dettifoss. This incredible waterfall is argued to be the most powerful in the whole of Europe! 97,000 gallons of water fall 148 feet from the fast flowing river down into the largest canyon in Iceland. The Jokulsargljufur canyon. You have the option to view this waterfall from both sides, the east side or the west side.
We chose the east. Most people only choose one side because the drive to see the other view from the other side is an hour's drive. There's no bridge to walk across here so you have to take the drive right around the river unfortunately. Our next destination, which was an hour west, was very
unique and unlike any other part of Iceland. You won't find any trees here, glaciers or waterfalls. But you will find a place that looks like Mars! This geothermal area is called Hverir. You can take a walk around the boiling mud pools and steaming vents and water pools. It's evidently still very
active and also a bit smelly. Imagine the smell of rotten eggs. The last time I smelt this aroma was in Rotorua in New Zealand. If you've been there you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. It was free of charge to walk about and no charge for parking either. Just down the road is a beautiful lake called Myvatn. It's crazy actually, one minute we felt like we were on Mars,
surrounded by this orangey red steaming landscape and then you drive six kilometers up the road, gradually over a hill, and then you're in a totally different world; lush green landscapes and trees together with the lake felt like we'd been teleported to a different world. If you catch the lake in the right light the colours can look amazing due to the types of minerals in it. A 45 minute drive took us to another waterfall. Godafoss. Again a huge wide waterfall with plenty of character to keep your eyes occupied. At only 39 feet in height and just
under 100 feet in width this is the shortest waterfall that we came across on this trip. After grabbing a quick coffee in the cafe we hit the road we stopped off quickly at Akureyri; a popular port town here and especially popular with cruise ships. We also bumped into a couple of Fabiola's family members before moving on to our accommodation for the evening. It would have been nice to spend a bit more time here but as we were passing through everything was pretty much closed. Once again we randomly chose a place to lay our heads for the evening and that place was just outside of a small town called Blonduos. It was an hour and three quarter drive east of Akureyri
and in a great location for the next day's adventures. We arrived late and pretty much went straight to bed. But not before meeting this beauty. She came straight over to us for some fuss. Oh and this is what midnight looks like in Iceland. By the way, if you like daylight this is your place to come in June. This place cost us $115 USD for a modern room with a shared bathroom. This wasn't such a bother this time as with the whole place to ourselves. After a lovely breakfast
we set off for adventures. Today was going to be spent driving through the West Fjords to find the last waterfall of our trip. It's a waterfall that I'd seen many times online and had been dreaming of visiting at some point in my life and now here we were, driving through this amazing landscape for four and a half hours in search of it. Eventually we arrived. She goes by the name of Dynjandi. There are six waterfalls here in total. From the car park you hike up past the five smaller ones
to reach Dynjandi. Standing at 328 feet in height we felt dwarfed looking over at this piece of art. The spray coming off it was strong and it's fair to say we got a bit of a soaking to get this shot but now we have that memory forever. Worth it right?! We trundled back to the car, slightly sodden, and headed to our accommodation for the night.
The town was called Patreksfjordur, a small little place on the shore of a fjord. Again this was just a place to rest our heads. The room was basic and had a shared bathroom. It was the same price as the night before, $115 USD, but the difference in quality was huge. We
felt robbed after last night's luxury. Oh well, you can't win them all. After waking up rather chilly we got our cold butts out of bed and back on the road. Today I was heading to, well at the time I had no idea! Fabiola had planned a surprise for me. Hmmm, I what could that possibly be. A five and a half hour drive to get there and we were heading back to the Golden Circle. In the short time that
Fabiola and I had known each other I had told her that I'd love to stay in a certain kind of abode, one with no walls so to speak. So she went out and found one here right in the middle of Iceland. Welcome to the 5 million star hotel, aka our bubble. This place was literally in the middle of nowhere and was a great experience. If you know me I love being outdoors so to fall asleep surrounded by trees was an unbelievable and humbling experience. Like I said earlier though, while we were here it didn't get dark so we didn't get to experience the darkness and the stars which was a bit of a shame but there's always the next time.
We had a great time regardless. In the evening we took a drive and found a restaurant called Mika. The food was amazing and it was especially famous for its hot chocolates. With Fabiola being a connoisseur she felt obliged to have a taster. I think she was impressed (Si!!!) We headed back to the bubble ready to spend a darkless night in the trees. But not before a good old pillow fight! This was to be our last day in Iceland. We didn't really have anything planned for this day so we made no effort to leave the bubble in a rush. In all honesty
it was hard tearing ourselves out of bed. We'd chosen a place to stay for the evening that was right near the airport. Our flight was early the next day so this made sense. On the way there we stopped off just outside Reykjavik briefly to visit the Perlan. The Perlan has a museum here and offers some amazing exhibitions about all things Icelandic. They all looked great but rather expensive so we opted out of these offerings. The reason we came here was to
check out the panoramic view over Reykjavik. And to get a coffee, gotta have a coffee. The views outside were great, overlooking Reykjavik. As was the inside, very modern and warm. And that was it. We headed to our home for the night, chilled out with some food and packed ready for an early start the next day. But little did I know I was about to get my second unexpected surprise of the trip in the morning. We left the accommodation at 6am and had to drop the rental car off before we headed to the airport.
While we were waiting to hand the keys back I heard a familiar voice to the left of me. The voice was apologizing for how dirty the car was that he was returning. I looked at the car and yeah it was absolutely filthy covered in mud. I then turned to look who the guy was with a familiar voice. It was only Bruce Parry! If you don't know who Bruce Parry is Google him, you need to know who he is. He is my hero, after David Attenborough mind! And to meet him here at 6 15a.m and half asleep is one of the most random things that's happened to me. And what a privilege to meet such an inspirational guy.
Well what a great way to end the great road trip.We had so much fun here, it was quite tiring at times but you have to expect that if you want to experience this kind of adventure. And that's what we love and thrive off. This is our passion. If you have any questions leave them in the comment section below and please let me know if you've been to Iceland and what your favorite spots are there. There's so much to see there and it's impossible to see everything but like I said earlier that's a great reason to return! Please feel free to subscribe to the channel and gently tap that notification bell to be notified of any new content that I post in the future. Take care folks and until next time have fun, Peace!
2021-02-24 22:45
