Michele

The Blue Lagoon is the most relaxing place I have ever been. You need to purchase your tickets in advance because they only allow a set number of people in to avoid over crowding. We spent all day there and ate dinner as well. There are 3 restaurants and a cafe. We had reservations at Lava Restaurant. Everything was delightful.

The locals were really helpful in recommending places to visit too. We only stayed in Iceland for 3 days. At the time (October 2018) it was a really good deal to fly from Iceland to Germany, but now (May 2019) that WOW Airlines no longer exists, I am sorry to say that it is going to be more expense to fly to there. If you have never been to Iceland you must go to the Blue Lagoon at the very least.

The Blue Lagoon offers massages, mud masks, and drinks. I got a massage, but didn’t think it was as good as a “normal” one, but it was relaxing and different. During the massage you are floating in the lagoon with a wet towel on top of you so you keep warm and every so often the masseur dips you into the water. The first mask is free and you can purchase other ones at the mask stations. They provide you with hair conditioner the silica rich water will dry your hair. There is a bar there too, and I believe your first drink is free too.

If you plan on coming to the Blue Lagoon, get a waterproof camera like I did from Amazon. It isn’t the best camera but it’s $30 and takes pretty good pictures and video. I didn’t want to bring in my 70D Canon or phone. I would be so sad if I broke it. I did see some people trying to wrap their cameras up in plastic, but it didn’t look relaxing at all. I am super happy I have all those pictures and videos, but now I really want to go back!

I am a skincare addict.

Kveðjur!

There are actually trees in Iceland, but when you first land you are met with a strange landscape of volcanic rock and moss. It feels very alien. It is one of my favorite places we visited. I can’t wait to go back and see more of its world renown scenery. I am really sad that WOW airline’s business failed. The Iceland economy was booming 6 months ago. I was reading in Bloomberg today how their fishing season was bad this year too. If you have a chance to visit Iceland, go. It is such a beautiful place.

If you like black licorice, Iceland is the place for you. There is a lot of licorice there. I’ve never seen so much of it anywhere before. You have to try some chocolate covered licorice and a shot of there licorice liquor, Brennivín. Licorice is part of Iceland’s history, when the first Scandinavian settlers came to Iceland they needed more calories to survive the harsh conditions and salted fish with seaweed wasn’t enough. They couldn’t plant flowers for honey bees and wheat doesn’t grow in the volcanic soil. Licorice doesn’t flower and the roots are what make licorice. Licorice is also sweeter than sugar.

Iceland also offers puffin, horse and whale. We accidentally bought some horse sausage at the grocery store. Hrossakjöt means horse meat in Icelandic. Remember to read the labels and use Google Translate, it is a really helpful program.

June is my shih tzu poodle mix. Dutch got her for me on our 1st year anniversary. She is almost 11 years old! I adore her, and she is spoiled. When I need someone to watch her I usually have my family look after her. If I am going on a short term trip I suggest using a site called Rover. Not all sitters are the same, so make sure you read the reviews.

I am one of those people who like to know where we are going and how we are going to get there. I like to know what is around me and most importantly, where the good food is.

Before we went overseas I watched lots of YouTube videos of what to expect and what to avoid. I researched how to use the local transportation and learned where the locals like to go. Before you make plans to travel I recommend you do plenty of research. Check out your local library, ask friends who have traveled and use the internet. Google is your friend!

The most important things I took away from my travels is to pack lite, know how the local transportation system works and plan your day doing at least one touristy thing. Don’t plan too much in one day so you don’t end up disappointed or too tired for the next day. I decided not to bring makeup with me. I brought my face wash (Creave), moisturizer (Shiseido day cream with SPF 15), night cream, which hazel and toner all in little 3 ounce travel bottles. I also brought a couple of face masks for bedtime. As for clothes, I tried to bring tops that would look nice with leggings. I could always layer up if it got to cold and anything else I needed I could just buy.

We planned our trip 6 months in advance. All of our rooms were planned and our transportation. When we are traveling within the United States we usually don’t plan out so far in advance. We just didn’t want to worry about where we were going to stay and focus more on what we were going to do. Planning ahead does save money and you can shop around more from home and read more reviews.