I’m finally home, left West Monroe, Louisiana (LA) this morning at 0730. Leighton and I joked that we can start a weekend business driving peoples U-Haul half way across America doing 1 Second Everyday videos.
Speaking of that, please see the attachedRoad Trippin video, first time I’ve used the app and it was great fun. You have to remember to shoot a lot so you have vids to choose from and that can be a little tedious but, not as tedious as driving from Jacksonville to Dallas so, it was, in this case a welcome distraction. I’ll definitely use it again.
Road Trips (not the Camino type) have lost a little of their former luster but, spending time with my buddy was well worth it and, I owe him a big thanks. Without him coming along, this would have been a really crappy ride!
So, what have I learned? I learned that driving a U-Haul pulling a trailer is not much fun! I learned that spending time with my friend Leighton is fun, that’s probably why I do it so much. I learned that when someone asks how fast the U-Haul will go, it’s a 2 part answer. Uphill, 50 MPH. Downhill, 65 MPH. Seems like all we had was uphill on this trip. I’m continuing to learn that patience takes practice but, it seems to be a good thing…I’m told.
Augusta, Georgia (GA) to West Monroe, Louisiana (LA). Long day, I told Leighton if we were in my BMW, we’d be home by now…a U-Haul pulling a trailer is a whole different story. Home tomorrow by noon.
My friends, Renee and Katja are connected now thanks to a Leber Knoodle video, I can’t think of a better connection, these people are so important to me.
I-20 is in serious need of maintenance, GA, no! AL, yes! Most of MS, yes. Most of LA, no! Low taxes, crappy roads, is it really worth the trade off? Texas, I know what awaits us…poor maintenance.
Back in the day, a Road Trip was epic, think Animal House, Frat Brothers trashing a Lincoln, visiting the Dexter Lake Club to see Otis Day and the Knights do Shama-Lama-Ding Dong. Rock and Rye and 5 Carling’s. Hard core partying.
Fast forward 4 decades and drop the Lincoln and substitute a U-Haul and you have my current and modern day Road Trip. This being a Travel Blog (sort of), all means of travel are fair game. U-Haul, pulling a trailer, 55 MPH…it just doesn’t get any better than that.
We rolled out of Jacksonville, North Carolina (NC) at 1330 and hit Augusta, Georgia (GA) around 1930, those were a hard 6 hours…U-Haul hours. Until you’ve done them, do not judge me! No USB port meant FM radio out of crappy speakers. Fortunately, I was in good company with my friend Leighton.
I’m playing around with 1 Second Every Day doing a video of our adventure, I hope it turns out to be as fun as it seems to be. The results, good or bad, will appear here after we get to Dallas.
We plan on stopping in either Vicksburg, Mississippi (MS) tomorrow night, maybe Monroe, Louisiana (LA) if we’re adventurous and we don’t get saddle weary.
Time spent helping your family, is time well spent. Time spent helping your family, with a friend, is time very well spent. Bring on tomorrow, Carpe Diem! I don’t feel 18 again but, I do though feel younger than the calendar says that I am!
I would have to say that Iceland was a unique experience but, it’s a certain type of traveler who would enjoy it. It’s certainly a beautiful place but, in my opinion, it’s not for everyone.
If you’re looking to visit Reykjavic on a quick layover, I don’t know if I’d do that. It’s a lovely little city but, you can see it in half a day. If that’s worth the time to you, you should go for it. If spending a day to see a city in 4 hours is worth it in your time budget, it’s easy to do.
If you want to explore the rest of the island, that’s worth it to me. The island is beautiful and if I had time or if I were to ever come back, I’d rent a camper and drive the entire island. Just the little bit that we saw on the south coast to Vik tells me I’d love it.
A couple things that you should consider. First, there is no real summer unless you think low 50’s (10-12 C) with sporadic rain, fog and wind is summer. I’m her in late June and while it may warm up a couple degrees next month, this is about as good as it gets on average.
Second, you need to like to be outdoors. All the better activities are outside. Glacier hikes, trips to volcanoes, trips to hot springs, snow sled tours, everything is outside. If doing these things, in the weather that I described earlier is not your thing, go somewhere else!
Finally, if you’re on a tight budget, Iceland is not your place. Lunch will run you $40-50. A beer is $12, wine is $15-18. Nothing is cheap here. Lots of other places to visit first that are easier on the pocketbook.
With all that said, I enjoyed my visit. The people are very friendly, the speak very good English and, they’re used to tourists. One warning, if you rent a car, make sure you have plenty of time to find a gas station that can handle our credit cards with no PIN. I knew the N1 Stations could do it but, the only one in Keflavik was blocked off while they resurfaced the street. I went to another station that was selling only diesel. Another could not take my CC. Finally, I went to a Bonus station that sold prepaid cards but, because they were near the airport, you could leave ID and fill up then come back and pay. All told, it took me an hour. One last note, as I drove back to the hotel, they were picking up the traffic cones and had I left later, I could have gotten to the N1…oh well, that’s life.
If I haven’t scared you off, pack warm clothes and rain gear and come on up to 66 degree north and have a good time.
We landed at KEF a bit early, around 0430 (that’s AM) and cleared Passport Control and Customs with no problem. KEF was hopping as many flights from the US land early for connections on to Europe. We picked up our car, which took forever from Hertz and made our way to Reykjavik, almost 50 km away.
Driving in Iceland is a breeze, the roundabouts are a little different and there is no right turn on red. Otherwise, it’s pretty straightforward. I’d printed a map with directions from ViaMichelin and we had no problem finding our Airbnb in the center of the City. We couldn’t check in but they allowed us to store our luggage inside so it didn’t become instant thief bait.
Our excursion today was a glacier hike on the south coast of Iceland and Arctic Adventures picked us up right on time very near where we were staying. I did not know that we were driving to Vik, a town about 150 km from Reykjavik. After not sleeping on the plane, Susan took advantage of the bus time to catch a little sleep, I on the other-hand, did not.
To get to the park, you go through some stark but beautiful country. One minute your in the city, the next, you’re in the middle of nowhere. There are very few trees but there are a lot of wildflowers and lava fields covered with a moss that on minute looks greenish brown, sometimes grey and even a little yellow. There are also fields of a purple flower that looks like a blue bonnet but they’re huge.
Flat lands give way to rocky cliffs and volcanic mountains dripping with waterfalls of all sizes, from trickles to majestic downpours. Because Iceland is basically sitting on at least four active volcanos, steam geysers erupt everywhere and are harnessed for heat and to generate electricity.
Our destination was Sólheimajökull (sun’s home glacier) near Vik, which is a long way from Reykjavik but, it was a beautiful drive. First up was to get geared up. If you needed it, they had rain pants and top, it did not rain but it was all around us and, the glacier is wet as it melts (no global climate change here). We also got a safety harness and crampons, big spikes for your boots.
After a safety discussion, we began our hike to the face of the glacier and through an area that’s prone to rock slides because it’s no longer supported by the glacier. There’s a marker from 2010 that shows where the face of the glacier was then. It’s now about 1/2 mile (1 km) further in. Would anyone like to explain how that may be happening while still denying that it’s happening?
Sólheimajökull glacier face
Just before we got to the glacier, we attached our crampons and got a quick briefing on do’s and don’ts. Two biggies: Do make good solid steps to dig into the ice. Don’t spike yourself.
We climbed up and up the glacier, we had an 80 year old Basque man (pictured at the top) with us which slowed us down but, that’s life. He told me he’d also walked the Camino 5 times on different routes. We did not get as far as the blue ice. What you see in the picture is the newer ice (30 years ago) that’s covered with volcanic ash from an eruption. I could have done this all day and, if I ever return, I will.
The glacier from these pictures seems like they’re black which, because they’re covered with ash, they are but, beneath that, solid ice. The ash compounds the melting because of reflecting the suns heat, it’s absorbing it.
ON Sólheimajökull glacier looking further up.
As you look back towards where we’d come from, the lagoon that we walked around is 105 meters deep…for the Americans, about 320 feet, all dug out as the glacier moved down the mountain. By the way, our guide, Maria, a Greek woman was incredible.
About 1500, we left the glacier and headed back to Reykjavik but we stopped at 2 waterfalls that we’d passed on the way in. Skogafoss was majestic and is the outlet from 2 melting glaciers, the volume of water was incredible, all running into the North Atlantic (sea rise).
Skogafoss Falls
The second falls was Fimmvordufals and while not as impressive volume wise, it had a beauty of it’s own and, if you didn’t mind getting soaked, I didn’t, you can walk behind it, which I did.
Fimmvordurhals falls
I managed to find a beer and, after being awake for almost 31 hours, I really didn’t need that, the ride back was a bit drowsy as we bumped along on our way back.
Dinner was pizza and a glass of wine, some entries into the blog and at 2130, it was lights out! A great day in Iceland if you ask me. Susan may have a different impression.
We successfully navigated Wow Air, a purported low cost airline serving the US-Iceland-Europe and, I guess it was a little better than Meh. We were in “Big Seats”, coach from 20 years ago but they had a decent recline and a leg rest. We got these because we’d paid for the Premium Package which included a seat assignment, priority boarding, drinks and food. Unfortunately, they’ve just started flying out of DFW and their caterers were not able to provide the meals that we chose. They did give us what they had to sell, we brought our own instead.
The flight attendants were friendly and helpful if not a bit disorganized. And, even after being pestered constantly by an unattended kid, they still managed to smile. The A330 was recycled from some other airline and the overhead compartments were tiny. Still, they managed to get everything in the overhead.
Not so WOW, tiny overhead bins.
By the way, the 330 is very quiet, I noticed that when I flew to France last your on TAP.
We were on the left side so, this time of the year, the sun never went down, the windows blinds were down the entire flight. Again, no sleep for me.
Somewhere over Greenland.
All in all, Wow maybe didn’t live up to it’s highly exaggerated name but, neither do the other airlines these days. We’ll see how the next 4 flights go. For now, I’ll give them a 7, I like the beat and they’re easy to dance to.
After being somewhat nonchalant about my trip, I’m finally getting fired up. I have no idea why I’ve been so indifferent, I know work has had a lot of my focus. But, tomorrow we leave and I can feel the usual anticipation.
Flying WOW! Airlines should be interesting, I’ve heard both good and bad. We arrive in Iceland at 0445, the sun comes up 2 hours before that and goes down at 0001, about 2 hours of semi-dark.
We go straight from the airport to our pickup for the glacier hike, I hope Susan enjoys it as much as I will. I figure being outside fighting jet-lag is better than sitting around waiting to get in to our hotel fighting jet-lag.
