We’d been living out of our backpacks for so long, what would it be like to return to the States? We had our 34th country to visit before we found out–Iceland!

We flew from Stockholm to Keflavik via Icelandair. We were pleasantly surprised by the service. They gave the children a complimentary snack box, an activity pack and we could each watch a movie. We landed at 1am, but who could tell as the sun was up, and would stay up, pretty much the whole night. This was helpful though for our sleepy drive to our final Airbnb, located outside the capital city of Reykjavik. Special shout out to Lagoon Car Rentals–excellent customer service! Our Airbnb was plenty roomy for all of our moody, oh-my-goodness-the-trip-is-ending-and-I’m-so-tired selves to spread out.

Photo taken outside our Airbnb at 2:44AM

Day one, catch up on sleep. I have to mention that sleep became a very peculiar thing in Iceland. We’d have to prompt ourselves to go to bed. Oh, I know it looks like noon outside (photo above right taken at 2:45am), but the clock says it’s midnight, so we really should put the kids to bed. After our late sleep, we made a full grocery shop for our week-long stay and did our best to shop for the birthday girl, Greta. The kids have mentioned that birthdays and holidays have been more special on this trip as we have had to be frugal in our gift costs, amounts, and sizes. It has made it more fun to work at really choosing something special for the person.

Day two, Greta’s birthday! After a very nice breakfast at home, we started on our Golden Circle journey–a beautiful, circular route where we’d visit hot springs, geothermal geysers, and historic sites. We started our drive with Thingvellir, the site of the world’s oldest parliament from 980AD. Iceland was first inhabited by Vikings/Norse tribes from various parts of Scandinavia. Its language has changed little in 1000 years and the Icelandic horses are purebred descendants from Viking horses from 900 years ago. Thingvellir is also a Rift Valley, where the tectonic plates meet, and they move a couple of centimeters apart each year. One can snorkel between the plates, which sounds very cool, but wasn’t in our budget.

We drove on to Geysir, where the Strokkur geyser shoots off every six minutes. Hot, boiling, shallow water surrounds the area. Then we had a picnic and soak at the Secret Lagoon, located in a very beautiful natural setting with bubbling water steaming up all around.

Kids at the hot springs

Walking to the geyser

Geyser warning sign

Path around hot springs

Further on, we went to the Gullfoss, the golden waterfalls. It was a very beautiful stop made even more special with the gorgeous purple and yellow wildflowers in bloom. Last, we drove back to Reykjavik for Greta’s choice of Thai food at Bangkok Take Away and practiced our “Sawadikas!” Then we went back home for birthday cake, prosecco, and gifts. And to top it off, The Princess Bride. Great day!

We spent most of the next day at home but made a quick trip into town for eyeglasses repairs, hair cuts for the boys (can’t wait for Doc’s next recap of that fiasco) and a few Icelandic souvenirs we could squeeze into our bags for friends we’d be seeing in the States the following week!? So hard to believe. As we approached our parked car, we noticed that oh no! It had been hit in the back end. But luckily the lady who hit us was standing there writing us a note explaining that she had already reported it to the collision website. Within half an hour of us getting home, it was all handled! I thanked the lady for staying to leave a note and she bluntly replied, “Of course, I’m not a piece of &*$#!” Ok then! Since eating out is super expensive in Iceland, we gladly heated up the frozen pizzas we purchased at the grocery store and called it a day.

We were happy to attend one more church service on our round-the-world-journey, this time at the Reykjavik International Church. The pastor spoke straight to our hearts. He mentioned a friend who took a year to travel around the world! And when the friend returned he relayed how the trip had changed him, how he discovered that people are good, and that the world is not a scary place. Based on his findings, he decided to quit following the news, which uses fear to attract attention. We understand and agree with his points. He also characterized social media as an echo chamber where you only hear what you agree with. If you never leave it, never travel, never step out of your comfort zone, you’ll never see anything new or gain new perspectives. Our first influencer should be the word of God. Then we should carefully choose who to let influence us. This talk gave our family a lot to consider. We were, and are still, processing the trip and how it has and will continue to change us. We know we each want to live our lives differently, better. I’m sure we will add more to the blog on those thoughts in the months to come.

After the church service, we went to our pre-booked Perlan Museum tour. The museum is a big, domed building with a wonderful overlook of the city. We especially enjoyed the planetarium and learning about the northern lights, which we didn’t see as we were there in the summer with round-the-clock daylight. We also liked the interactive displays about Iceland’s abundant water supply, and their native fish, mammal and bird species. There were very beautiful pictures of lava and volcano eruptions too. The ice tunnel wasn’t a whole lot to look at but was still fun and we liked the glacier exhibits afterward.

On our last day, we decided to splurge on a gift for Greta–to go to the famous man-made Blue Lagoon thermal pools. It’s a spacious facility, and despite there being many people, it didn’t feel crowded. The water was warm, filled with silica, and we enjoyed complimentary silicon mud masks. Our ticket included one free drink, so we enjoyed a beer while wandering and soaking in the waters. It was a sunny day with a cool breeze and we were surrounded by the unique landscape of black lava fields.

We’d love to go back to Iceland again and explore more!

Next stop—home!

Back in the US!