Author Topic: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice  (Read 4171 times)

Offline ushdadude

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Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« on: July 26, 2021, 11:32:40 AM »
So ever since I heard about the volcano erupting in Iceland, it immediately went to the top of my travel bucket list. I was in Iceland about 20 years ago so either way I was overdue for another trip. I didn’t have serious plans but it was in the back of my mind.  (Spoiler: we didn’t end up seeing the actual volcano)

After reading some recent Iceland updates on DDF, the bug grew bigger so I asked my wife if she wanted to go. We were debating which week we can make it happen.  This was on a Friday. The next Monday we decided to just go for it  and we were booked for that Tuesday!
The plan was to take the Tuesday night flight and return Friday morning. This would give us 2 days in Iceland, which was nowhere near enough but all that we can manage now. Since everything was last minute, we didn’t really have much time to plan. We just booked what we could (including a red-eye flight in coach)

We landed, got our car (and wifi hotspot) and headed to Chabad to daven. There is no minyan during the week but I figured it would be a nice quiet place to go since we didn’t have a hotel yet. The chabad house is literally Rabbi Feldmen’s house. I davened at his dining room table. He is a super nice guy and offered tips about where to go and what to see.
After davening and a quick trip to the supermarket to supplement out food, we were off to the south coast. (We had to decide between the south coast and the golden circle. I remember being much more impressed with the south coast when i was there 20 years ago so that’s what we decided to do.)

We hit all the highlights.

Seljalandsfoss




Gljufrabui






Interestingly, we did not have to wade in the water to get into the cavern. I don’t know if thy expanded it or there was just less water.


Skogafoss



Falls with double rainbow in the mist



Stairs going to the top.

Dyrholaey





Cool rock formation

Sólheimajökull Glacier



Vik beach




We got a well deserved night's sleep at the Hotel Vik. Small room, but clean, warm, and hot shower.


The Next day we went back to Reynisfjara, which we somehow missed on the way to Vik.








The weather was significantly worse than the previous day. We kept checking the conditions and the live feed  and things were not looking great for the hike.



Don’t adjust your screen. That’s the actual feed.

We stopped at Kleifarvatn Lake and the Bridge between continents on the way to the parking lot.



Kleifarvatn Lake through the fog and wind.

The park ranger highly discouraged us from hiking to the volcano lookout but clearly we weren’t going to listen. People along the way were encouraging and said that the fog lightens up and you can see lava flowing off the volcano even though they couldn’t see the peak.

That was a tough hike. We were basically in a cloud the entire time. It was super windy and wet. Since it was such a last minute trip, we weren’t really prepared for it. The only thing we had was trekking poles. Hiking boots and waterproof clothing would have been helpful. We soaked to the core by the time we were done.

Most people hike until the cell phone tower. Others adventure further to where the live-stream camera is. We blew past both those checkpoints without even realizing we passed the view points. That’s how thick the fog was.




Red marker is where the camera is (end of the trail.) Grey marker is where we stopped. According to google maps it’s about 1.57 km further.


We trekked about a half hour further until we saw a few people gathered in a field.
THEY WERE WATCHING AN ADVANCING LAVA FLOW! It was incredible to see and the heat felt really good after that cold hike. We watched it for quite a while, reluctant to leave (because it was awesome and because we dreaded the hike back)






Eventually we trekked back and headed to our hotel. I returned the car that night and took a cab back.

The next morning we headed back home. The US requires a negative covid test dated within 3 days. We actually took ours in New York before we left because it was within 3 days. This confused the check-in person but they let it go.

All-in-all this was a great short trip. We definitely have to go back and experience more of what Iceland has to offer.[/font]




Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2021, 11:47:35 AM »

Great short writeup. It's nice to be so close to Iceland to just pop over for 2 days. I guess it's the same with being in LA and going to HI though...
« Last Edit: July 26, 2021, 01:54:39 PM by jj1000 »

Offline shmebeble

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2021, 12:51:31 PM »
did you really have to quote the WHOLE thing?!  ;D
Very nice! I love making the most of short trips

Offline ushdadude

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2021, 12:59:04 PM »
Very nice! I love making the most of short trips
Yup!
the key is knowing that you can't do everything and being ok with that

Offline ushdadude

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2021, 01:00:21 PM »
Great short writeup. It's nice to be so close to Iceland to just pop over for 2 days. I guess it's the same with being in LA and going to HI though...
thanks. if anyone wants the full details they can PM me lol
 

Offline HoKo

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2021, 01:05:19 PM »
Nice, lava videos were pretty cool

Offline Kobe Bryant

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2021, 01:53:48 PM »
Very cool.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2021, 02:56:15 PM »
did you really have to quote the WHOLE thing?!  ;D
Very nice! I love making the most of short trips
Lol, on Tapa it doesn't show the whole thing, sorry.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2021, 04:04:30 PM »
Awesome! Glad you make it work and really got to see so many of the sights. The lava flow looks like a really cool experience.

Offline ushdadude

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Re: Ushdadude's Spontaneous Taste of Iceland's Fire and Ice
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2021, 12:14:40 PM »
Awesome! Glad you make it work and really got to see so many of the sights. The lava flow looks like a really cool experience.


it was!
didn't see the actual volcano but this was a nice consolation prize