We didn't do an announcement post like usual for this Iceland trip, partly because we're only here for one week and partly because we decided to go kinda at the last minute.
Anyway, we're in Iceland!!!
We started Day 0 by driving 10 hours to the Baltimore airport (travel tip: airplane tickets to Iceland are both cheaper and a direct flight if you leave via the Baltimore airport). After our long drive, we got to spend 6 hours on an airplane, so it was a longgggg day.
We slept as much as you can on an uncomfortable airplane to prevent too much jet lag.
When the plane landed, it was 5am Iceland time, and by the time we figured out SIM cards, ATM stuff, drank an excess amount of coffee, and got our campervan rental, we were hitting the road at about 9am.
We started by driving through lava flow fields and stopping to get groceries and a total 3-ish hour drive to Skogafoss, a hike with a series of waterfalls. By the time we got to the parking lot for the waterfalls, we had been desperately trying to stay awake through a series of: slapping ourselves, having open windows, and listening to bad music as loudly as possible. The great thing about a campervan is that when we got to the parking lot for Skogafoss, we pretty much just crawled into the back and passed out for an hour long nap.
After our nap, we felt a bit more normal and started checking out the waterfalls. The first waterfall was the most popular one. Tour buses stop here, so the crowds were annoying, but thankfully, people are lazy, so if you climbed the stairs and hiked for a few miles, you could see more waterfalls and the farther you went, the less people there were, which was wonderful.
This picture is us at the first waterfall. We were bundled up mainly because of acclimating to the weather and also it was pretty cold as we slept in the back of the campervan.
This first waterfall was absolutely beautiful and very HUGE. You could get pretty darn close to it, so there was mist-spray everywhere. I love waterfalls and this one was absolutely lovely for our first venture into Iceland.
After this one, we climbed a bunch of stairs and kept on walking and were delighted to spot the next waterfall. We were surrounded by green hills, sheep, glacier-covered mountains, and this river full of waterfalls. I love how this one had such lovely autumn colors.
I'm not sure how many miles or kilometers we ended up going on this lovely hike, but by the end, we were pretty much all alone and warm enough to take off our winter garb. Here's another lovely picture of us by one of the later waterfalls.
We eventually turned around and walked back to our car, mainly because of the time and the fact that we had another waterfall hike to do and also checking into our campsite, and we wanted to do this all before the sun set at around 7pm.
Next up, we headed to Kvernufoss, a waterfall that isn't as much of a tourist destination. It was a 20 minute walk and it was absolutely beautiful. We basically walked through a green-hilled canyon to a hidden waterfall.
It was another majestic waterfall, and you could get really darn close to it. We hung out by it for a good amount of time before heading back to our campervan to try and race the sunset. We wanted to set up our first campsite with some sunlight left so we could figure it all out.
We ate some delicious burgers at a local restaurant and then headed for our campground. Figuring out our campsite (at Hellisholar Campground) did take some time, so I'm glad we went with enough sunlight to wrangle things.
We ended up having almost the entire campground to ourselves with an absolutely beautiful view of the mountains. We passed out at 9pm and didn't wake up until 8:30am the next day, so yeah, we were jet-lagged and exhausted, but I'm glad we got to squeeze in so much hiking and beauty on our first day, despite the exhaustion.
So far, the weather has been nice to us. Today was not very windy or cold and only very very light, occasional drizzling of rain.
Here's hoping this week is as amazing as our first day!
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