With 4 kids away at camp and a recent big birthday, my husband and I decided to visit Norway. Our criteria was:
1) Good weather (for us that meant not hot)
2) A destination that I wouldn't want necessarily want to take a family trip to
3) Nothing too strenuous - I injured my foot and couldn't walk while we were planning. It had to be a destination where the itinerary was flexible enough if my foot wasn't fully healed.
4) A place on my bucket list (it's pretty long, so this one is easy)
We decided to go to Norway and visit the fjords.
We flew on Iceland Air from EWR to BGO via KEF and then returned OSL to EWR via KEF. Iceland Air was great overall. Transferring flights in Iceland is easy and the airport was really clean.
Day 1:
As we were driving to the airport to catch our flight (EWR – KEF, KEF – BGO), we got a text message that our connecting flight was delayed. That meant we now had 8 hours between flights. I was in Iceland 12 years ago and loved it, my husband had never been there. I quickly googled “6 hours in Iceland” and found a basic tour itinerary. Car rental prices were crazy ($500 USD for the day) so we decided to ask at the counter when we landed.
When we got to Iceland, we stopped at Hertz and asked if they had any car rental deals. They told us that anything automatic was a 4WD and cost $500/day but if we went to the hotel right outside, there was a car rental place that she had worked at and if we told them that she sent us, they would give us a good deal. We stopped in at Go Car rental, told them that we needed the car for 6 hours and they gave us a car for $250 USD; it was still pricey but worth every penny.
We opted to skip Reykjavik and stick with the Reykjanes Peninsula. The Blue Lagoon was sold out for the day. Our first stop was Bridge Between the Continents. It’s a small walking bridge that crosses two techtonic plates.
Next up was Reykjanesviti lighthouse. We didn’t climb to the top of the hill to get closer to the lighthouse. There are lots of birds, wildflowers and nice views of the ocean.

Right nearby, is the Gunnhuver hot springs. You can get up close and personal with spouting hot water and steam. Yes, that's me in the steam.
After Gunnhuver, we drove to Seltun Geothermal area. The mud pools were active but didn’t have billowing steam like Gunnhuver. There’s a small loop trail to walk.
After Seltun, we drove to Hafnarfjörður. We stopped in at the free Hafnarfjörður Museum to learn about life in the village. Then we headed up to the nearby park, said to be the home of elves and dwarves (we didn’t spot any unfortunately), and finished the day with a walk along the waters edge. We returned the car to the airport unscathed with plenty of time to catch our flight to Bergen.
BGO airport is about an hour away from the city. There are regular trains and buses from the airport to Bergen, but we opted to take a cab. We stayed at the Bergen Moxy overnight. The hotel is clean, new, and has automatic sensors everywhere. If you wake up in the middle of the night and walk, lights under the bed illuminate your path. The location is adequate but is not right in Central Bergen and has nice views at the back.