I put my location as 'Reykjavik" for this blog, although we are home in Costa Mesa very safe. We picked up Winnie from daycare, and she got a bath, smells wonderful, and is happy to be home. She enjoys her stuffed puffin souvenir we got her very much.

I first need to tell you about the craziness at the airport! We had a layover in London again, not the most efficient way to get home, but it was a cheap ticket, so we are we to complain. Our flight left Iceland more or less on time, and we had 2 hours in London to catch the next flight. Well, we had to get our bag, recheck it in, and take a freaking shuttle to the correct terminal, and by the time we got there and were in line, one of the workers was like, "is anybody else flying to LAX?" We raised our hands and they rushed us to the desk. The lady typed in our stuff and sighed really loudly, and we were like, is everything ok? She said sure, she was just thankful that they re-opened our flight, because they closed it two minutes ago and were not going to let us check anybody else in, but they re-opened it for you, and they do not normally do that, so you are lucky. WHAT!? Jaime and I were just casually in line, thinking we had all the time in the world we didn't know we should have been stressed out the whole time! Maybe that was for the best as everything worked out anyways.

We will probably never fly Norweigian Air again. There customer service was fine, and our flight left and arrived on time and everything, but even though it was a cheap ticket, no snacks, meals, not even water or soda was provided on the flight unless you paid extra for it. And it was a 10 hour flight! Kind of lame, but we did break and spend $20 on food and some drinks, but we had snacks with us too to hold us over. It was a cheap ticket, but after all the extra expenses, we might as well have just gone on a more expensive airline and had an included checked bag, and meal service. BUT again, not complaining, just sharing. We made our flight and made it home safely, so it is all good.

Anyways, some final notes I took down that I did not mention in my daily blogs, but wanted to share.

I believe I may have described Iceland as magical. I think that is a perfect word for it. Some of things we saw were indescribable, and almost look unreal or fake even though we were looking right at it. Some of the photos we took in front of the Gullfoss Waterfall looks like we are standing in front of a green screen or a backdrop of some sort. There was a moment when Jaime and I were on the glacier doing the snowmobiling, that we just looked out into a sea of white and couldn't even believe where we were standing.

The folklore of Iceland really adds to the magic. Another story I remember Karl telling us was about the fairies. When the snow mostly melts, but there are chunks of white still left on the hills or mountains, that reflects in the moonlight, and they say that is the fairies in the hills. In the photo of Jaime and me at the Secret Lagoon (the natural Hot Spring) there was a little house in the grass covered in moss, and that is a little house for the fairies. (I think I mentioned that) There were little statuettes and figures of fairies and trolls in the gift shops. And of course, the wonder of the Aurora Borealis adds to the magic.

Since we drove from one coast to another, we saw extreme weather changes. We would be driving, surrounded by snow, and maybe 20 minutes later, we would have passed through a mountain or something, and then all of a sudden no snow could be seen anywhere.

Want to hear something incredibly random? Iceland has the BEST cell phone reception. Ever. First of all, there was free wifi on our shuttle, and all the farmhouses and hotels we stayed at. On top of that, I had 4 bars of reception pretty much everywhere. When we were on the glacier, getting geared up to ride the snowmobiles, I took out my phone to take a photo, and boom. 4 bars of service. Our phone plan includes free international data usage and texting, too, so that was a nice surprise to have such great service literally everywhere. Even atop a freaking glacier. Meanwhile, I hit a dead zone on the 405 whlie driving home from work.

And one of my favorite things about Iceland: the tap WATER! Oh the tap water. Delicious. Free. Cold. Clean. We brought a large water bottle with us, and could just fill it up in whatever sink we were nearby. Although Iceland is an expensive country, we sure saved money not having to buy any bottled water.

I know I mentioned the dangers of Iceland. At our welcome meeting the first day, the person joked that Iceland doesn't need an army (All they have is Coast Guiard and Search & Rescue) because Iceland itself will kill people. There are so many dangerous things: wind, rain, ice, snow, cliffs, water, waves at the beaches, etc. They were very clear to be smart and careful everywhere we went. Some places like the waterfall viewing areas shut down if it is too windy, because the wind is so strong, it can legit blow you over the edge. Luckily we escaped any and all dangerous weather and drove away from storms as opposed to into them, but we could defintely see how people could get hurt if they were not careful.

Now this is not to say we were scared the whole time or feared for our lives in any way at any time. I don't want to scare you from ever visiting Iceland, I think you should if you ever get the chance. It is truly amazing. I do think that people become careless and think they are invinsible, or try daring things in the name of a good photo or selfie. But we did not tempt the fates, and were lucky enough to experience weather safe enough to see all that we got to see.

And yes, Iceland was pricey. This was one of the more pricey vacations we have taken, but we knew that going in. And all of the places we went, we were supporting local farms, and businesses, so in practicing smart tourism, we felt good about the money we were spending. AND, no tipping, so a ton of money saved there.

This was truly the adventure of a lifetime, and we are so glad we got to exerience the wonder and magic of Iceland. Jaime and I know how lucky we are to be able to go on adventures such as these, and we are thankful everyday for the lives we have been given and the opportunities we have to see the world. We do not take any of it for granted.

If you have read this far, thank you for reading, and thank you for following. Until next trip.....