Land of Fire & Ice (and Licorice & Rainbows)

Iceland | Apr 2 - Apr 9, 2023

Lisbet was very responsive and helpful. We revised our trip several times to coordinate with friends. Lisbet was there at every turn to help us, always with patience and insight.

We were in Iceland in April for a series of concerts by the American band Wilco. We love the band, and a visit to Iceland is something we had on our bucket list, so it was natural. The first four days of our trip were spent traveling the sparsely populated South Coast, then back up through Thingvellier. The next four days were spent in Reykjavik.

Iceland is an amazing country, and we absolutely loved our visit. One might say we were a bit unlucky with the weather--lots of rain in April! But my wife and I felt we got a real taste of the combination of the incredible shifting microclimates and precipitation patterns against the landscape. We saw water in every form. We had blazing sun, near hurricane level wind with rain, dense fog, brilliant rainbows, ice caves, and hail. It was almost psychedelic. I would never have imagined that ice climbing by a volcano in the rain, with an avalanche (that made us turn back), would be so exhilarating. It was. Talk about feeling alive. Wow.

Favorite Hotel
360 Hotel: Anna and her husband run a beautiful and serene place. The food was superb. We'd go back there in a heartbeat

Favorite Destinations
- Black Sand Beach in Vik. The columnar basalt formations, the power of the sea, and the volcanic outcroppings made it a mythical place
- The Gullfoss waterfall
- Reykjavik's Harpa Center was also spectacular.

Favorite Food
- lamb stew
- licorice

Best Moves
- Go directly from the airport to the Blue Lagoon: totally refreshes after the international travel. Can't think of a better way to start any adventure than this
- Having the mobile wifi device that came with our car assured us that we would have excellent connectivity everywhere, so using Waze and accessing the internet was easy and especially appreciated when in remote areas
- Having truly waterproof outwear--total lifesaver (nothing like being prepared!)

Biggest Surprise
- Iceland is effectively a bi-lingual country. Everyone speaks English, and we never even needed to exchange currency

Final Thought
- Iceland is a complex and beautiful place we will surely visit again. Remember, as they say there, "It's not just cold; it's expensive."