Ridin'Ard

We’ll be jet lagged on our actual anniversary, June 11th, because for some reason a 5-hr flight had to be a red eye. We landed at 6:30am, so the locals working at the airport were tired, too. 

We are trying not to be too busy on this trip for a change and are only going to two (2) places. We are avoiding the areas affected by volcanic activity for a couple of reasons. First, it’s in the more built out tourist area, which is where more people will be. So when there are closures, there will be more people displaced and general clusterfuckery. Second, there is plenty to see in the west and north and don’t want to have closures mess up our trip (like the fires in NM did). Or maybe the second reason is the first. 

Planning was not too ridiculous. We didn’t book things until February because of some uncertainty about when Julie would be doing a work project, and Julie only read one travel book. As Julie was downloading maps, at the last second she remembered to download the paper map from the wall. 

Our IcelandAir flight was great, uneventful. The open faced sandwich was actually really good, and there were no unexpected door openings on this Boeing 737 Max. Other passengers have been pleasant. We opted to stay awake, Jaron bc he can’t sleep on moving objects, and Julie bc it would just mess up her neck more. 

From here we’ll get our rental car and see if we are cognizant enough to enjoy an ice cave tour on the way to our hotel on Snaefellsness peninsula (we weren’t). 

We exited the security perimeter in to the airport duty free shop, which was laid out like an Ikea with a path and similar-looking checkouts. 

Getting our rental car was the easiest such experience we’ve ever had, especially since the pandemic. We were warned by a fellow passenger to strictly follow the speed limit, and our rental car agent patiently explained why we could not take this Yaris-equivalent car on F-roads. Then Jaron started out trip by jumping a curb to get out of the parking lot because he was following google’s directions. Hey. It’s 7am local/3am ET. 

Speaking of, the earliest I could find breakfast was 8:00. Most places opened at 9:00. In a major city. Weird. We headed there after a romantic stop at a gas station for coffee and a kinder bar. We fell straight in to a tourist trap, which was fine because we are tourists after all. The restaurant had a large sign advertising “Traditional Icelandic Food” in English. Neither of us opted for the meat soup (aka, stew). It was really good and came with instructions which were relevant and helpful. For example, put butter on the dried fish to soften it up, and chew the fermented shark 5-6x for about 10 sec to get the flavor and then swallow it. There was also some smoked lamb, trout and fish mashed up with potatoes. That rye bread was GOOD. Super chewy and a little sweet. 

As we left, Julie had sharkbreath. 

Julie promptly PTFO for 2 hrs while Jaron drove. But still managed to mumble “touchdown” when we hit a bump. 

Our room wasn’t ready yet, so Jaron napped in the car in the hotel parking lot while Julie refreshed herself on the Iceland book and an Icelandic energy drink. 

Jaron was hungry when we woke up and picked a place he could get a cheeseburger. Julie got fish stew which was really good. It had whipped cream on top melting in to it. There was a rawish shrimp in there. I figure it’s like ceviche, right? Jaron felt good about his cheeseburger decision. 

Our room was ready and we finally got to shower. Yaaayyyy. 

Dinner at the hotel (not pictured) was salad, cod, and chocolate cake. 

We went on a walkabout to look at some rocks but I’m too tired to get those pictures and deal with them. Crashing shortly, we’ve been awake for 36 hours aside from those naps. 

Here are the pictures of rocks at Hellnar.