Author Topic: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report  (Read 4722 times)

Offline Yuey

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Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« on: July 04, 2021, 03:45:16 PM »
Iceland trip report: Our “10 day trip” to Iceland that we did in 4 days.

Before I even start the trip report, book your trip to Iceland right now just to see the active Volcano. Geldingadalir is brand new active volcano that just started erupting where you can see lava shooting high in the air that’s erupting around every 15 minutes!! What’s even more attractive is the base of the hike is around an hour from the airport. It’s one of the coolest things I have ever seen!



Link to the live cam: https://youtu.be/BA-9QzIcr3c



Planning
Flights and Hotel: UR
Tour Company: www.brtours.is  
Jon Thorson
Beyond Reykjavik- Private Tours 
WhatsApp +354 6988000

My wife gets all the credit for planning the trip and writing the TR. I feel like I cheated for this trip as I simply booked the flights and hotel directly with UR and we hired the best tour guide and company in Iceland, Jon Thorson.

https://travefy.com/trip/6yw9rqus7nmsqz2arm87dces8k8qfwa?d=17490655

We left JFK on an Iceland Air flight that left NY at 8:20pm and arrived in Iceland at 5:20am. The flight was empty! It was absolutely amazing. We each had our own row (or 2 or 3) to stretch out and sleep through the night. We slept well and were ready for adventure! We thought that we’d simply have to flash our vaccine cards and be on our way.. but they made us take a very invasive pcr nose and throat test. Thank G-d all came out negative and we went to baggage claim where our tour guide, Jon, had our names on a sign with a huge smile on his face, was so excited  to show us his homeland.

We stepped out of the airport and we were greeted with a magical rainbow. We knew we’d love Iceland from the start.

By 7am we were hiking up the  Geldingadalir volcano. Jon was telling us how lucky we were to be in Iceland at this time because the volcano erupted just 2 months ago. So this was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. We went on a rigorous and incredible hike with hot lava surrounding us and made it to the top to see the volcano explode with lava. It was the coolest thing ever!!


We then went to the famous Blue Lagoon. We purchased the “premium package” and we were treated like true VIPs. They gave us robes and flip flops. We went to change and entered the gorgeous lagoon. It felt like heaven on earth. 100 degree temperatured water that had steam rising with the lava rocks all around us. It was simply breathtaking! We then went to the “mud bar” to put mud on our faces and make our skin super smooth. They had a bar inside the water as well. It was so relaxing to sip a beer and enjoy the spectacular scenery.
After 3 hours of enjoyment, we showered and changed in the locker rooms and we were off to our next stop on our adventure.


We headed to the “Golden Cirlce” to the Geysir erupt. It was very cool! We then went to see the famous Gullfoss waterfall. We saw a rainbow there as well and it looked picturesque over the waterfall.
We then proceeded to go to the ferry, which took us to the Vestmannaejar (Westman) Island/ Heimaey.

Jon parked his car under the ferry and came up to enjoy the beautiful scenery with us.
We arrived in the adorable town, explored a bit and called it a night...



The next day, we started the day with an amazing hike. We went up to the top of the Herjolfsdalur Mountain that overlooks the entire Himaey Island. If you use your imagination, you can see many different types of animals faces, engraved in the mountain. The most being the elephant.
We saw adorable puffins alongside the mountain as well as flying in the sky. We went to the famous “puffin house” where we got even closer to the adorable puffins.



We then went on an amazing speed boat tour around the island. It was so much fun!!! The guide and captain were such proud Icelandic citizens. They were so proud to show us around. The music was pumping and the energy was contagious! We went all around the different caves inside the water and saw the most incredible sights. We can’t recommend this boat tour enough! It was absolutely gorgeous one of the highlights of our trip.
We then took the ferry back to the main island. We ended the day with a visit to the “Black sand” beach. It was gorgeous!




We started day #3, with a bang! We went to the majestic “Diamond Beach.” It was so cool to see the small and large pieces of icebergs  laying on the black sand. They truly looked like diamonds reflecting in the sunlight.


The famous diamond beach is located very close to the Glacier Lagoon Jokulsarlon. 
We then went to the amazing Glacier Lagoon, one of the largest glaciers in Europe and known as one of the most spectacular sights in Iceland. We took a kayak tour that took our breath away. We were literally kayaking in between floating icebergs and even went through ice caves. We ended the tour with a hike up one of the icebergs. It was amazing!! We highly recommended doing this tour as well.

Jon was so enthusiastic about seeing the volcano at night, that we all decided, YOLO. And drove to the see the volcano explode during sunset, 11pm, and didn’t event get fully dark, by the time we got back to our car, at 1:30am! This was truly on the top of list of “craziest things we’ve ever done!” Words cannot begin to the express how cool it was to see the neon orange lava explode out of the volcano and pools of lava flowing down the mountain. Coolest thing ever!

Our last day in Iceland was one for the books! We started by exploring the capital of Iceland, which is Reykjavík. It had a great vibe!
We ended our trip with a snorkeling tour in the Golden Circle inside the Thingveller National Park. It was the perfect ending to an adventure packed trip!


We took the 5pm Iceland air back to JFK and we were back in our beds by 8pm NY time. The flight setup totally worked in our favor.

Iceland was simply amazing!!

Now for some useful tips...

1. Call Jon at “Beyond Reykjavík Tours” and let him plan your trip. He did everything for us! He picked us up in his super clean Land Rover and took us on 10-14 hours tours daily with his amazing energy! He mapped out every minute perfectly. Jon was able to switch our itinerary, with our different hotels, on a whim, based on the weather, because he didn’t want us to miss anything. He was such a pleasure to deal with and cannot recommend using his company enough!

2. Bring tons of layers of clothing with you! The weather fluctuates like crazy!! We literally wore a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, light zip up sweatshirt, heavier sweatshirt and of course, always a windbreaker on top. It’s sunny one minute, and can start hailing the next, I kid you not.

3. Bring amazing hiking boots!

4. Hats (for the sun) and beanies (for the cold) are a must as well. You will need both on the same hike, guaranteed.

5. Tons of cliff bars, fiber bars and protein powder. You need to eat a lot because you will be using a lot of energy hiking, kayaking and walking.

Offline cholent

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2021, 07:19:36 PM »
Sounds incredible, what was the cost?
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Offline sam28

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2021, 08:21:05 PM »
Nice TR more pictures please?

Offline SuperFlyer

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2021, 02:38:07 PM »
Very exciting TR.
Thank you very much.

Offline Dan

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2021, 04:36:26 PM »
Sounds incredible, what was the cost?
+1
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Offline LNS

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2021, 06:13:33 PM »
wow sounds like a great trip thanks for sharing
seriously considering making my way there
were you insured? how much does he charge for such a trip?
did he recommend hotels for you as well?
is there anything you feel you would have done different or somewhere else you would have wanted to visit also?

Offline Yuey

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2021, 04:02:04 PM »
My apologies for the delayed response. All in it was about $1k per day. The private tour was $750 per day (Land Rover and 24 hour Guide). The activities which he booked were another $1k the 4 days.

Offline Yuey

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2021, 04:04:26 PM »
wow sounds like a great trip thanks for sharing
seriously considering making my way there
were you insured? how much does he charge for such a trip?
did he recommend hotels for you as well?
is there anything you feel you would have done different or somewhere else you would have wanted to visit also?
I don’t think I would have done anything differently. I think the volcano is really a once in a life time opportunity. It’s growing by the hour and might be unaccessible any minute.

Offline Dan

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2021, 02:51:51 PM »
Iceland trip report: Our “10 day trip” to Iceland that we did in 4 days.

Before I even start the trip report, book your trip to Iceland right now just to see the active Volcano. Geldingadalir is brand new active volcano that just started erupting where you can see lava shooting high in the air that’s erupting around every 15 minutes!! What’s even more attractive is the base of the hike is around an hour from the airport. It’s one of the coolest things I have ever seen!



Link to the live cam: https://youtu.be/BA-9QzIcr3c



Planning
Flights and Hotel: UR
Tour Company: www.brtours.is 
Jon Thorson
Beyond Reykjavik- Private Tours
WhatsApp +354 6988000

My wife gets all the credit for planning the trip and writing the TR. I feel like I cheated for this trip as I simply booked the flights and hotel directly with UR and we hired the best tour guide and company in Iceland, Jon Thorson.

https://travefy.com/trip/6yw9rqus7nmsqz2arm87dces8k8qfwa?d=17490655

We left JFK on an Iceland Air flight that left NY at 8:20pm and arrived in Iceland at 5:20am. The flight was empty! It was absolutely amazing. We each had our own row (or 2 or 3) to stretch out and sleep through the night. We slept well and were ready for adventure! We thought that we’d simply have to flash our vaccine cards and be on our way.. but they made us take a very invasive pcr nose and throat test. Thank G-d all came out negative and we went to baggage claim where our tour guide, Jon, had our names on a sign with a huge smile on his face, was so excited  to show us his homeland.

We stepped out of the airport and we were greeted with a magical rainbow. We knew we’d love Iceland from the start.

By 7am we were hiking up the  Geldingadalir volcano. Jon was telling us how lucky we were to be in Iceland at this time because the volcano erupted just 2 months ago. So this was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. We went on a rigorous and incredible hike with hot lava surrounding us and made it to the top to see the volcano explode with lava. It was the coolest thing ever!!


We then went to the famous Blue Lagoon. We purchased the “premium package” and we were treated like true VIPs. They gave us robes and flip flops. We went to change and entered the gorgeous lagoon. It felt like heaven on earth. 100 degree temperatured water that had steam rising with the lava rocks all around us. It was simply breathtaking! We then went to the “mud bar” to put mud on our faces and make our skin super smooth. They had a bar inside the water as well. It was so relaxing to sip a beer and enjoy the spectacular scenery.
After 3 hours of enjoyment, we showered and changed in the locker rooms and we were off to our next stop on our adventure.


We headed to the “Golden Cirlce” to the Geysir erupt. It was very cool! We then went to see the famous Gullfoss waterfall. We saw a rainbow there as well and it looked picturesque over the waterfall.
We then proceeded to go to the ferry, which took us to the Vestmannaejar (Westman) Island/ Heimaey.

Jon parked his car under the ferry and came up to enjoy the beautiful scenery with us.
We arrived in the adorable town, explored a bit and called it a night...



The next day, we started the day with an amazing hike. We went up to the top of the Herjolfsdalur Mountain that overlooks the entire Himaey Island. If you use your imagination, you can see many different types of animals faces, engraved in the mountain. The most being the elephant.
We saw adorable puffins alongside the mountain as well as flying in the sky. We went to the famous “puffin house” where we got even closer to the adorable puffins.



We then went on an amazing speed boat tour around the island. It was so much fun!!! The guide and captain were such proud Icelandic citizens. They were so proud to show us around. The music was pumping and the energy was contagious! We went all around the different caves inside the water and saw the most incredible sights. We can’t recommend this boat tour enough! It was absolutely gorgeous one of the highlights of our trip.
We then took the ferry back to the main island. We ended the day with a visit to the “Black sand” beach. It was gorgeous!




We started day #3, with a bang! We went to the majestic “Diamond Beach.” It was so cool to see the small and large pieces of icebergs  laying on the black sand. They truly looked like diamonds reflecting in the sunlight.


The famous diamond beach is located very close to the Glacier Lagoon Jokulsarlon. 
We then went to the amazing Glacier Lagoon, one of the largest glaciers in Europe and known as one of the most spectacular sights in Iceland. We took a kayak tour that took our breath away. We were literally kayaking in between floating icebergs and even went through ice caves. We ended the tour with a hike up one of the icebergs. It was amazing!! We highly recommended doing this tour as well.

Jon was so enthusiastic about seeing the volcano at night, that we all decided, YOLO. And drove to the see the volcano explode during sunset, 11pm, and didn’t event get fully dark, by the time we got back to our car, at 1:30am! This was truly on the top of list of “craziest things we’ve ever done!” Words cannot begin to the express how cool it was to see the neon orange lava explode out of the volcano and pools of lava flowing down the mountain. Coolest thing ever!

Our last day in Iceland was one for the books! We started by exploring the capital of Iceland, which is Reykjavík. It had a great vibe!
We ended our trip with a snorkeling tour in the Golden Circle inside the Thingveller National Park. It was the perfect ending to an adventure packed trip!


We took the 5pm Iceland air back to JFK and we were back in our beds by 8pm NY time. The flight setup totally worked in our favor.

Iceland was simply amazing!!

Now for some useful tips...

1. Call Jon at “Beyond Reykjavík Tours” and let him plan your trip. He did everything for us! He picked us up in his super clean Land Rover and took us on 10-14 hours tours daily with his amazing energy! He mapped out every minute perfectly. Jon was able to switch our itinerary, with our different hotels, on a whim, based on the weather, because he didn’t want us to miss anything. He was such a pleasure to deal with and cannot recommend using his company enough!

2. Bring tons of layers of clothing with you! The weather fluctuates like crazy!! We literally wore a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, light zip up sweatshirt, heavier sweatshirt and of course, always a windbreaker on top. It’s sunny one minute, and can start hailing the next, I kid you not.

3. Bring amazing hiking boots!

4. Hats (for the sun) and beanies (for the cold) are a must as well. You will need both on the same hike, guaranteed.

5. Tons of cliff bars, fiber bars and protein powder. You need to eat a lot because you will be using a lot of energy hiking, kayaking and walking.
How did the glacier hike compare to kayaking?
If you could only do one, which would it be?
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline PlatinumGuy

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2021, 04:41:32 PM »
Incredible!!!
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2021, 11:25:53 PM »
How did the glacier hike compare to kayaking?
If you could only do one, which would it be?
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/follow-iceland-land-fire-ice/

So which will it be ? ;)
Sorry I don't have any snarky line for this space

Offline Yuey

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #11 on: July 30, 2021, 02:55:49 PM »
How did the glacier hike compare to kayaking?
If you could only do one, which would it be?
For sure kayaking. Kayaking through the icebergs up until the glacier was absolutely incredible. You really see the solid blue ice and navigating between them so awesome.

Once you clime on the glacier there really isn’t such an incredible thrill in my opinion. Parts of the area we hiked were covered in a layer of dark sand so you don’t really feel it.

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #12 on: July 30, 2021, 03:00:23 PM »
For sure kayaking. Kayaking through the icebergs up until the glacier was absolutely incredible. You really see the solid blue ice and navigating between them so awesome.

Once you clime on the glacier there really isn’t such an incredible thrill in my opinion. Parts of the area we hiked were covered in a layer of dark sand so you don’t really feel it.
Agree with this 100%
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Offline Yuey

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2021, 06:37:46 AM »
PSA for those that are in Iceland now or planning to go. When we were there, they made us get another Covid test in Iceland before we could board the plane back to the US. This was despite being double vaccinated with the vaccine cards and getting the forced Covid test in Iceland when we landed (and the negative test result text message from Iceland airport test center).

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Re: Yuey’s Iceland Trip Report
« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2021, 08:05:22 AM »
PSA for those that are in Iceland now or planning to go. When we were there, they made us get another Covid test in Iceland before we could board the plane back to the US. This was despite being double vaccinated with the vaccine cards and getting the forced Covid test in Iceland when we landed (and the negative test result text message from Iceland airport test center).
That’s the Us policy