We’re in Iceland!  It’s strange and amazing to have been able to take an airplane somewhere.  And Iceland seems to have been a great choice.  I read yesterday that their full vaccination rate is over 85%, so we’re safer here than at home.  And after showing our own vaccination cards at the airport, we’ve been free to roam the country without tests or quarantining.

It was only a 4.5 hour flight to get here.  We were a little nervous that all the pieces would fall into place, but the whole process was very smooth.  Despite our worries, our carry-ons were not declared to be oversize or overweight.  (Checked bags cost $60 each way, so we relied heavily on carry-ons.)  They invited us to check them for free, so we didn’t even have to fight for space in the overhead compartments.  We took off from Boston right on time at 8:50 pm, and barely had time to close our eyes before touching down in Iceland at 5:15 am (1:15 am NH time).  Our bags appeared quickly and before we knew it we were behind the wheel of our rental car.

Our normal strategy when flying overnight to Europe is to power through the first day then go to bed early and sleep for 12+ hours, then wake up at a normal time and (hopefully) be done with jet lag.  Iceland made this very easy for us to do.  Two of our top destinations were close to the airport, so those were planned for Day 1.

After fortifying ourselves with ham and cheese croissants and coffee from a 24-7 gas station (the nearby cafes and grocery store unaccountably not opening until 11am), we set off into the Keflavik countryside in search of the Fagradalsfjall volcano.  This has been erupting since March of this year, and we’ve been enthralled watching youtube videos of fountains of orange lava splashing above the cone, and lava rivers spilling into the adjacent valleys.  The eruptions have been slowing down lately, with long periods of relative inactivity, so we were crossing our fingers that our timing would be lucky.

When your plane lands at 5:15 am, you tend to beat the crowds.  There were only a few cars in the parking lot when we arrived, and we were not entirely sure we were in the right place.  Iceland and some nearby landowners have built walking trails around the volcano to allow for viewing access (and new routes have been constructed a few times, as old ones are overtaken by lava flows.  We geared up in all our warm layers, plus hats and gloves (it’s pretty cold here, especially early in the morning!) and set off down the trail with a few other early birds.

Soon a large lava field came into view, with black lava coming over the nearby hills and stretching across the valley.  The scenery was beautiful even if there was no volcano at all — otherworldly mountains stretched out in either direction, and the gray ocean spread out behind us.  There were no trees to block our view.  And, after hiking an hour or so, we summitted a small peak and were rewarded with a view of orange lava flying up and splashing down into a distant crater.

After a few minutes of observations and pictures, we continued up the next (very steep) peak and lost our view of the lava for a while.  We continued on and on, and still — no lava.  Eventually we realized that the morning’s eruption had stopped.  We regretted the extra minutes we’d spent at the gast station and in the parking lot, which prevented us from getting a close-up view — but were very happy that we’d gotten to see it at all.  We continued hiking quite a ways further — rewarded with the sight of orange lava flowing down a distant hillside — but the volcano didn’t start up again during the next couple of hours before we left.  By the time we were on our way out the paths were thick with tourists, so we hope that they evetually got rewarded.  (Also, alas, the old lava flows that we were able to access were not hot enough to roast marshmallows over, as we’d seen others do on youtube.)

The view from our lodging

Next stop: the nearby and world-famous Blue Lagoon.  Things are less crowded than usual this year, so we were able to give them a call and head straight over there without waiting for our reservation time.  The warm, mineral-rich waters were just what our tired legs needed and felt wonderful against the chilly air.  The sun had emerged, and it was blinding in the whitish waters of the lagoon.  It was a somewhat pricy excursion (except for Lanie, who scraped by under the policy that 13 and under is free), but we enjoyed our included silica mud mask treatments and “free” drink at the swim-up bar.  (Bob and I sampled Gull, a local beer, after the people in line in front of us warned us against the cider being too sweet — and were not impressed.)

Then it just remained for us to make the hour and a half drive to our first night’s destination in Borgarnes.  We’ve taking a week to drive the Ring Road around the perimeter of the country, so we wanted to get a slight head start rather than staying near the airport.  After a night of no sleep, a long hike, and a soothing soak, it was a little challenging to stay alert, but we made it.  We unanimously agreed to skip finding a restaurant and instead visited a Bonus supermarket along the way for frozen ready-to-eat meals as well as breakfast provisions.

Soon we had driven down a gravel path, past roadside sheep and ponies, and were ensconced at our airbnb, a farm right on the ocean across an inlet from the city of Borgarnes.  Most of us were in bed by 7pm.  (And then briefly up a little while later, when Zoe awoke at 9:30pm and thought it was 9:30am.  It stays light almost around the clock here, so it’s hard to assess the time.)