Going to Iceland was almost a last minute decision, if you can say that about anything that was planned months ago. While putting together the last parts of our RTW trip we happened to see a TV commercial advertising Iceland Air and their possibility to do a stopover in Iceland for no extra cost while traveling between USA and Europe. We had our travel agent at Kilroy arrange our return from New York through Iceland solely because of that ad, which proves that they work. We had been to all other Nordic countries and this seemed like the ideal time to travel to Iceland. We weren't going to go there just to see Iceland after all.

After our great stay in New York City we flew to Reykjavik on a night plane that landed in its destination at about 6 a.m.. The flight was over five hours long so we had planned to get some sleep on the way, but didn't manage to get any due to the fact that they never turned off the lights. Thus there was always commotion and noise in the plane, enough to keep us awake. This was strange for a night flight since all of the ones we've been on previously have taken advantage of the fact that people understand to stay quiet once it gets dark. They hadn't planned the rest of the details any better since they served the included beverages in the beginning of the flight instead of in the morning. I could really have used some coffee then…

Luckily for us Iceland Air allows two pieces of checked luggage per person, so we could easily take all of the things we'd accumulated with us. We had checked three bags and found them from the carousel within two minutes from arriving to it. Then we just walked right through customs and found ourselves in Iceland. It was without a doubt the easiest arrival on our trip. Figuring out how to get to Reykjavik from the international airport was simple enough because there are just two bus companies offering transport service and both had similar prices. We chose Gray Line since their queue was shorter and paid 2400 ISK per person to be dropped off at our guesthouse. There were hardly any people in the large bus that took us all the way to the main terminal where we were divided into smaller vans to be taken to different hotels. All of this went extremely smoothly and we found ourselves standing in front of our guest house before 8 a.m. which was pretty awesome considering how far away the airport is.

We had booked a room at Guesthouse Pavi only a couple of weeks in advance and hence were stuck with paying 99€ per night for a room with a shared bathroom. Luckily the double booking I mentioned in my Las Vegas post had been sorted out, saving us a ton of money, but we still had hoped for a cheaper accommodation. We had been looking at one many weeks ago in Lima, but failed to get it because we weren't sure what we wanted to do with our time in Iceland. Nevertheless we had found the Guesthouse Pavi to be reasonable enough, Reykjavik being a very expensive place after all. The problem with the place was that they didn't have a reception so we had been advised to call them after arriving. This would work wonderfully if they would pick up the phone. We called them five times before someone on their way out let us into the stairwell. It was only about ten degrees Celsius and windy outside so we were pretty grateful for that. In the end a green haired girl showed up to usher us upstairs, she must have heard us talking. We followed her to where the rooms were and learned that check-in wouldn't start until 3 p.m., which was weird since check-out was already at 10.30 a.m.. What they need four and a half hours for to clean a few hostel rooms I'll never know but at least we were allowed to leave our luggage there while we passed the time.

Turns out Reykjavik is quite a small place. After having breakfast at Subway we walked around the town, managing to cover most of it. That is not to say that Reykjavik isn't worth a visit, we enjoyed the small town feel of it and the seaside promenade with great views to the hills on the other side of the bay. We visited the Hallgrimskirkja church and wondered what the purpose of all those rainbow flags found around the city was. Later it turned out that this was the time of Reykjavik Pride, an annual a gay pride event lasting for some days in August. Perhaps that was why the newlywed male couple sitting behind us on the plane had chosen Iceland as a part of their honeymoon.

Despite having been told to return to the guesthouse at 3 p.m. we decided to pay them a visit already at noon to see if our room was ready. Luckily it was so we didn't have to entertain ourselves on the chilly streets any longer. Our room was equipped with three beds, a couple of chairs and night tables and our own sink which was nice. All in all we didn't really have any further complaints of the place, it was clean (although they didn't empty out our garbage during our three night stay) and the communal shower had plenty of hot water. They were clearly pumping it from a hot spring since it had a bit of a rotten egg odor to it, but that was OK. Wifi worked well even in the room, which is a big plus in western countries. In Asia that was only to be expected, but for some reason accommodations in developed countries often offer surprisingly crappy internet connection.

We spent the rest of our first day mainly in the room, trying to recover from the sleepless night. I found myself falling asleep while sitting so I ended up taking out the laptop and starting my New York City post which ended up being almost eight pages long. At least writing it kept me awake for a while…

The next day we did the only sensible thing we did in Iceland which was to go bathe in the famed hot springs. We had booked tickets to Blue Lagoon, listed by National Geographic as one of the 25 wonders of the world. The admission cost 45€ per person, and we also paid 23€ per person for Reykjavik Excursions to take us there. We were picked up from our guesthouse and driven to Reykjavik Excursions' main terminal where we got on a larger bus which took us to the lagoon. Once again all of this worked marvelously well, which was another proof that we had finally landed in a civilized country.

We had a wonderful time at the geothermal spa but being the infernal cynic I am I would hardly consider the Blue Lagoon to be one of the 25 wonders of the world. First of all I had imagined the manmade pool to be substantially larger, covering the size of at least a small lake. In the end it turned out to be more like a large pool. The rest of it was just as I had imagined however. The water was truly comfortable at 37-39 degrees Celsius (99-102 Fahrenheit) and just the right color, a blue so pale it was almost white. The salty water is so rich in minerals that anything submerged twenty centimeters (8") or more becomes completely invisible. The water is supposed to relieve symptoms of skin diseases like psoriasis and visitors can amplify its potency by rubbing paste like silica to their skin. We tried it a couple of times but didn't feel any different, which goes to say that we might still want to finish up our medical studies to learn how to treat skin disorders with some very strong steroids.

Sadly the weather wasn't too great during our stay in Blue Lagoon, but then again it was an interesting contrast to be nice and warm in the hot water while having gentle rain wet our hair. Still, getting out of the pool was a chilling experience, I don't know how people do it in the winter. Even the insides of the building next to the pool was fairly cool, leaving only the water and the three saunas to warm up in. Two of the saunas were actually steam rooms heated with thermal water bubbling under the floor boards, but one of them was a proper Finnish sauna, complete with the possibility to throw water on the electric stove. We took full advantage of it, causing all others but the few Finns to vacate the room. We had clearly moved substantially closer to home, we could hear more people speaking Finnish at the Blue Lagoon than we had on our entire trip before that.

We spent about four hours at the geothermal spa before deciding that it was time to go. Reykjavik Excursions' buses leave from Blue Lagoon fifteen minutes past every hour so we thought it best to leave the pool about 45 minutes prior to that. This gave us enough time to be the first ones in the bus after it arrived which was a good thing since it filled up pretty quickly, forcing some of the people to crowd into a smaller van. With our seats secured we returned to Reykjavik without problems and were dropped off close to our guesthouse. The same large bus was taking people to all hotels which meant that the going was slow. Walking the rest of the way saved us a bunch of time.

Then again time was about the last thing we needed. After going to the Blue Lagoon we didn't really do anything interesting in Iceland. We had our dinner in Domino's Pizza, I finished the New York City post, we slept and woke up to our last full day on the around the world trip. We had been away for over seven months and were starting to feel like it. Thus our last day went by watching YouTube videos and eating once again at the Subway restaurant. We felt like we had planned the perfect length for the trip, it had been long enough so we were ready to go home, but not too long so we weren't desperate yet. The next day a plane departing in the morning would take us back to Finland in just over three hours.

It was time to go home.