Thursday, July 3, 2025

Iceland Recap



THINGS WE BOUGHT FOR THE TRIP

Jackie waterproof pants. John had his golf rain gear.
Reusable water bottles
Cell phone neck lanyards LOVED THESE! Will be used again and again.







WHAT I PACKED/WORE/DIDN'T WEAR/WISH I BROUGHT

I'm not mentioning the usual clothes and other items you normally travel with. We're packing for all the elements. The forecasted temperatures when we packed were 12C/9C with 30-40% chance of rain and no sunshine. 


We were on boats in the Atlantic on two days. One day was sightseeing around waterfalls, geysers, water etc. Don't bother with umbrellas, it is always windy!
We should have brought some of this stuff when we went to the Arctic/Yukon/Northwest Territories/Alaska in 2023!! 
We did bring all of this (minus rain pants/fleece leggings for me) when we went to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2022 and never needed (except puffer coat).

I am not sorry about anything we brought, the weather is extremely fickle. As a taxi driver said to us "the weather is fickle like people, but not as fickle as tRump"! I didn't wish I had brought anything else.

We had mostly overcast days with spots of blue. It rained heavily on one day, but you still get out and about. John said he wore everything he brought. You need to layer, it is the most important thing. The wind is worse than the rain.

Pink blue t-shirt - wore in transit and again
Blue sweatshirt - wore in transit
Black sneakers - wore in transit and again
Black pants - wore in transit
Fleece lined denim leggings - wore them every day!
Rain pants - wore on the whale watching boat
Aran knit heavy hoodie - wore on the whale watching boat
Grey hoodie - wore
Black and white striped sweater (dinner) - didn't wear
Black red t-shirt - wore
Red zip sweater - wore
Chemise - didn't wear but could have
Rain boots - wore twice
Red sneakers - wore but they leaked
Grey blue puffer coat - wore
Scarf/socks and gloves - backpack - wore
Black short puffer jacket - backpack - wore
Black ball cap - backpack - wore
Blue ball cap (in case one gets wet) - didn't need
2 socks (I never wear socks) - wore
Winter toque/scarf/mitts - wore

We put jackets/scarves/hats and gloves in backpacks so we could have them when we arrived as it will be cool. Also our room wasn't ready and we headed out to the Food Walk.

 YYZ check in was very easy and helpful. However, they share the Plaza Premium Lounge (not a great lounge to start with) and it was at full capacity so we never got to use.

 Icelandair was lovely. You go to one gate and then are bussed to another terminal (in the middle of nowhere) and then board, only one door at the front.
Service was great, they don't have a business class, but do have Saga Premium. Their app is very efficient.
When landing at Keflavik airport, it was a lot more barren than we originally had anticipated, but makes sense given it is a volcanic island.
It was strange that we could buy duty-free after arrival. 

DEPARTURE - KEF check in was easy and their Saga lounge is lovely. It was chaotic and noisy at the boarding gate. It was hard to hear the announcements. No order, no line ups by seat assignment, just a free for all as we boarded buses to head to the plane. It had a door at the front and back. 
At YYZ it took an hour for the first piece of luggage to arrive. Lesson learned, don't bother pre-booking an Uber, do it as leave with your luggage.


Due to Reykjavik's bustling tourism, there are policies restricting tour buses from accessing certain streets and areas. As a result, you take a Flybus from the airport to the BSI Terminal (45 minutes) and then transfer to smaller buses by zones. The city has established specific points for tour buses. These stops/points are strategically positioned close to downtown accommodations, so we only had a five minute (uphill) walk to our hotel.

They are very environmentally conscious. Carbon neutral means that any CO2 released into the atmosphere from a company's activities is balanced by an equivalent amount being removed.

Our hotel received the Green Key certification from Tún, the National Operator for Green Key in Iceland. This allows them to claim that they work responsibly on environmental issues and sustainability, as the Green Key is a recognized environmental certification system for the tourism industry.
We loved our hotel, Center Hotels Skjaldbreid. The location was perfect, within 10-15 minutes to walk anywhere.
There is no air conditioning in hotels, simply open the window.

Iceland is a world leader in district heating, with geothermal energy providing the vast majority of the heat for buildings. Around 90% of homes in Iceland are heated with geothermal district heating, and the system has been a key factor in the country's transition to renewable energy.
People do not pay for this heating.

You don't need any cash, credit/debit cards are taken everywhere, even for the bathrooms. American Express is not really taken anywhere.

No tipping anywhere! I did see a couple of Americans tip a tour guide but it is not expected. Locals would prefer you not encourage this habit.

There are no language issues, everyone speaks English. 

We never heard a siren! Or honking horns!!

We never saw a police car, only a couple of motorcycle cops. They don't carry guns. 
Iceland has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Its 700 police officers serve a population of less than 370,000.
Reykjavik, Iceland, has a very low crime rate and is considered one of the safest cities in the world.
The Special Unit of the National Police Commissioner (Icelandic: Sérsveit ríkislögreglustjóra), more commonly referred to as the Viking Squad (Icelandic: Víkingasveitin), is the police tactical unit of the Icelandic Police.  In 2018, it was staffed with 46 officers. Iceland has no standard military, and thus some functions usually performed by military forces in other nations are performed in Iceland by units such as the Viking Squad.
 There is no army in Iceland. If any citizen wants to do military service, he can join the Norwegian army based on an agreement between these countries.

We never saw homeless, beggars, street vendors or buskers.

Iceland's top three industries are tourism, aluminum smelting, and fishing. Tourism has become a major driver of the Icelandic economy, surpassing fishing and aluminum production as the leading export industry. These three sectors form the foundation of Iceland's economy, with tourism contributing significantly to the country's GDP and exports.

Water - Yes, it is safe to drink the tap water and 95% of all water in Iceland comes from springs. It is in fact one of the cleanest and most delicious drinking water in the world. Unlike in many neighbouring countries, the Icelandic water is free of chlorine, calcium, and nitrate. We simply filled our bottles from the tap. Filtered through the mountains or the barrier of lava rock in the ground, the water has no need for alterations. If you order water in a cafe or restaurant, you don't have to pay for it. They will give you tap water, which is very good because it comes from the hot springs.

Icelanders are very fond of reading. It ranks first in the world in this regard.

Iceland is the only country in the world where voting is done online.

All schools and other educational institutions are free here.

 There are no private clinics because there is simply no need for them. State hospitals provide very good medical services.


FOOD
IT IS EXPENSIVE! However, it is all good. Iceland holds a lot of food diversity in a relatively small space.
But when Andrew (Australia) made a comment that prices looked reasonable, it reminded me that Australia was expensive. Also when we were in the Arctic prices were stupid expensive without any variety.


The Food Walk was a great introduction to the city and local food. 
We learned that cod and lamb can be found everywhere and in a variety of ways.

When you order your hot dog - I can't recommend highly enough to have "One with everything" or as we say in Icelandic: "Ein með öllu".
Icelandic Hot Dog 'One with everything':
Lamb Hot Dog
Icelandic Mustard
Remolaði sauce
Fried Onions
Raw Onions
Iceland Style Ketchup (with apples instead of sugar to sweeten the flavor)
So in other words ...
Don't order your hot dog, Bill Clinton Style (with mustard only)


TOUR PACKAGE
While I don't regret booking the package I don't think you should bother. We booked our own flights, they arranged airport transportation and hotel. We re-arranged our whales and puffins tours to accommodate the included Hop On bus as the tour company had unilaterally booked it for day 2 and it was non-refundable (I asked). But we ended up not taking it anyway as we had walked to most places and we really weren't interested in its stops at the BSI Terminal, Hilton Hotel or the shopping centre.

The puffin tour was good, however, you don't get any close ups, which makes sense as it is breeding season. I think taking a tour to the Westman islands would be better value. But it depends on how much time you want to allocate to puffins.

The whale watching tour is fun as you look for blowholes and whales coming up for air.
But it is a hit or miss to see a whale as it is up to the whales! They don't use any artificial means to attract the whales such as sonar or bait.

We were very happy with the Golden Circle Direct tour that we booked for ourselves. It took us to the three top spots.

SIGHTS
It is an extremely walkable city. There is a lot of street art.




There are lots of restaurants, bars and cafes with lots of outdoor seating which is used regardless of the weather. Many bars feature live entertainment. 

Our only souvenir.


Stuart and Pepe received our postcard!


Kær kveðja/Kind regards








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