We arrived in Iceland before the sun had even come up this morning. Having gotten only around 8 hours of sleep combined for the previous two nights, we were exhausted and a little lost. After finding our rental car, we went straight to our home base, a beautiful downstairs apartment in a local’s home right on the coast about 20 minutes from Reykjavik, and took a quick nap.
We felt refreshed enough to venture around the Reykjanes peninsula a bit and were awed by landscapes filled with lava rocks, fissures, and white mountains. We felt like we were discovering a world that no one else had seen since there were no other cars on the road and nothing but land in sight.
On the way back to the house, we saw a sign with the American flag and stopped to see why. We had stumbled upon the “Bridge Between Two Continents”. This bridge goes over a large fissure caused by the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates drifting apart. The bridge is symbolic of the connection between the two continents.
I am back at the house now, cooking dinner and reflecting on what we have learned so far:
1. If you are not experienced with a manual transmission car, you have three options: pay the extra money to rent an automatic, practice a manual somewhere safe before travelling, or be prepared to be a nervous wreck. I went with option 3. We have not gotten in an accident yet, and Anthony is catching on quickly, but it certainly made for a stressful first 10 minutes of vacation.
2. You will need a GPS, or an excellent road map, or well-researched directions, or a SIM card that allows you to use GPS on your phone, or a great sense of adventure. I had a general idea of the locations I wanted to hit up on the peninsula today, and a very, very basic map of it, but we ended up lost a time or two and also not sure what we were looking for in some of the locations I had marked. Luckily for us, we don’t mind being lost in a foreign country and creating our own adventure.
3. People aren’t kidding when they say Iceland is windy. Hold onto your car doors.
4. Icelandic people seem to be kind and helpful, but not the most outwardly friendly people I have ever met. They are a bit more reserved and not as quick to smile as I am used to. However, the ones I have met have been more than willing to share their knowledge and advice with us.
5. To save money, buy alcohol at the duty-free store (or bring it from home), and buy groceries at the nearest Bonus. Iceland is not cheap, but these two places will make it hurt your bank account a little bit less.
We are still exhausted, so we are postponing the Blue Lagoon until tomorrow. Tonight, we are going to hang out in our hot tub, drink Icelandic beer, and sleep like babies.
