Our Icelandic/English Adventure – Days 6-8

January 24, 2017March 13, 2017Leave a comment

Day 6

Today was the first day of Kevin’s conference so I had the entire day to myself to explore Manchester. I looked up on pinterest “things to do in Manchester” and then arrived at Chetham’s School of Music to explore the oldest library in the English speaking world. I was able to go on a tour with only two other people and the tour guide was so thorough and knowledgeable.

Afterwards I explored the Manchester Cathedral and thoroughly enjoyed myself while sipping tea and eating a scone at ProperTea.

Later that evening I met back up with Kevin and we had a late dinner together at a pub we found nearby.

Day 7

Kevin’s conference had two more days in session so I left before him and as crazy as it sounds, I boarded a train and went BACK to London! I would have flown home from Manchester but it would have made the ticket price so much more, so I had to go back to London to fly home… however there were no trains that would get me there on time so I had to get there the day before. Thankfully Pete and Charlie let me stay with them overnight.

So I arrived back in London and had a few hours to kill until Pete and Charlie were finished with work, so I walked around the city again and saw St. Paul’s Cathedral (where Princess Diana was married).

Later Pete picked me up from the train station and drove me to their cute house where Charlie had appetizers awaiting my arrival! They then took me to dinner at a proper 600 year old English pub where Pete’s entire family was waiting for us. I met the Martin family when my Aunt Sally and Uncle Matt took me to England in jr. high (they are my Aunt’s brother and family). We have since kept in touch via Facebook and a couple of visits they’ve had to the states since then. Although we aren’t directly related they took me in and made me feel like family. It was the perfect way to end this whirlwind trip!

Day 8

Early in the morning Pete drove me to Gatwick Airport on his way to work and I began my trek back home. I thankfully met two really nice people on both of my flights home and they kept it entertaining. After 20+ hours of traveling, Kelsey and Sue graciously picked me up from the airport and took me home! I could hardly wait to see my babies. When I walked in the house Parker looked at me and said, “Hi mama!” and gave me a big hug. I let him sleep with me in my bed that night and my mom was gracious enough to stay ANOTHER night and help with Levi so that I could actually get some rest. Could not have done this trip without her, grandma Jill, and my dad! What a blessing it is to have such a supportive family that lives nearby… we don’t take it for granted!

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Our Icelandic/English Adventure – Day 5

January 22, 2017March 13, 2017Leave a comment

Day 5

This was our final day in London before heading over to Manchester so we had to make the most of it. We booked a duck tour through the city and saw some more of the sights.

We then head over to Harrod’s for afternoon tea, which was something I had been looking forward to all trip! It did not disappoint 🙂

We then boarded our train and arrived in Manchester that evening for Kevin’s work conference.

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Our Icelandic/English Adventure – Day 4

January 21, 2017March 12, 2017Leave a comment

Day 4

We have started a trend of not sleeping the night before we fly I guess because last night we decided to hunt for the Northern Lights before catching our flight to London at 6am. Unfortunately because it was so cloudy we only caught glimpses, but I already want to come back in search for them again. So we said goodbye to Iceland and made our sleepy way to London.

When we arrived we had to figure out how to get the train/tube/taxi to Picadilly Square where we were staying. It just so happened that there was a women’s march today protesting, newly elected President Trump, so the subway and streets were packed with people! We finally made it to our cute hotel that just so happened to be centrally located. We then got to meet up with my cousins-cousin to have lunch and get a local’s tour of the city.

They took us to a really cool restaurant called the Flat Iron.

Pete & Charlie.

We got a good taste of London with Pete and Charlie and were ready to explore more tomorrow!

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Our Icelandic/English Adventure – Day 3

January 20, 2017March 12, 2017Leave a comment

Day 3

Booking a tour was the best thing we could have done. We booked our tour HERE and had the absolute best tour guide name Bjorn. He was hilarious, easy to talk to, very insightful, and made the trip so enjoyable. He picked us up along with 14 other tourists and away we went.

First stop of the day: Þingvellir National Park

At Þingvellir – literally “Parliament Plains” – the Alþing general assembly was established around 930 and continued to convene there until 1798. Major events in the history of Iceland have taken place at Þingvellir and therefore the place is held in high esteem by all Icelanders. MORE HERE

The park lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian. MORE HERE

Look closely and you will see their old house of Parliament.

Rift Valley

2. Second stop of the day: Efstidalur Farm for the best Icelandic Ice Cream

Our awesome tour guide, Bjorn!

Rhubarb Caramel… yummm

3. Third Stop of the Day: Gullfoss Waterfall

Gullfoss (Golden Waterfall) is an iconic waterfall of Iceland offering a spectacular view of the forces and beauty of untouched nature. The water plummets down 32 meters in two stages into a rugged canyon which walls reach up to 70 meters in height. MORE HERE

4. Fourth Stop: Geysir Hot Spring

A favorite stop along the Golden Circle is the highly active Geysir Hot Spring Area with boiling mud pits, exploding geysers and the lively Strokkur which spouts water 30 meters (100 ft) into the air every few minutes. The area became active more than 1000 years ago and comprises more than a dozen hot water blow holes. MORE HERE

5. En Route to 5th Stop: Icelandic Horses

These beautiful horses can be seen all over the Icelandic countryside. I asked Bjorn if we could find some to take pictures of and he pulled the bus over on the side of the highway and here they are…

6. Fifth Stop: Secret Lagoon Hot Spring Nature Bath

The Secret Lagoon natural hot springs are located in the small village called Fludir and are in the Golden Circle area. The pool’s natural surroundings and steam rising into the air gives the place a magical feeling. The warm water stays at 38-40 Celsius all year. MORE HERE

This was such a fun day exploring and learning. If you go to Iceland you HAVE to book a Golden Circle tour.

Our Icelandic/English Adventure – Day 2

January 19, 2017March 12, 2017Leave a comment

Day 2

We woke up with sun (so around 10:30 AM) and enjoyed our first night’s sleep (post Levi) without any interruptions. Ahhh…

It was a beautifully snowy day. We found a cute little coffee shop and picked up some breakfast sandwiches and hot chocolate and hopped in our car to go “explore”. We took the main highway and decided to go where it led and stop whenever we saw something interesting. However the beautifully snowy weather turned into a scary, windy, blizzard and about an hour into our trip we decided to turn around because us So Cal drivers were a little too inexperienced.

Taken from the car window… this photo isn’t in black and white!

When we got back to our apartment we decided to book a tour for the next day so that we didn’t let weather deter us from exploring again. We then went back out into the city and walked around and looked for another good place to eat dinner.

Lots of cats in Reykjavik

We got waffles at this Vofflevagninn for dinner to help keep the costs down 🙂

Hallgrímskirkja is a Lutheran parish church in Reykjavik

Our Icelandic/English Adventure – Day 1

January 18, 2017March 12, 2017Leave a comment

Kevin and I just got to take a trip of a lifetime and leave the kids for 8 days while we adventured across the ocean.

Kevin was invited to attend a civil engineering work conference in Manchester, England and we decided to turn it into a vacation and have me tag along. We searched for cheap flights (and found them on WOW Air!), asked the grandma’s for their blessing (since they’d be babysitting), and then booked it! Take a peek into our travel diary and possibly take some of the ideas for when you book YOUR trip… because you totally should book a trip to Iceland (Sidenote: We decided to include Iceland in our trip because WOW Air offers stop-overs to Iceland en route to a European destination without changing the cost of your ticket! So we took advantage of it and stayed 4 days in Iceland and 4 days in England. I saw some flights for only $350!).

DAY 1

Levi’s Frozen Meals for the Week √

Goodbye LA!

We didn’t sleep at all the night before we left because we were packing, cleaning the house, making sure all of the kids’ stuff was in order etc. So we kissed our babies goodbye early Tuesday morning and boarded our flight around 11:30 AM! We planned on sleeping on the plane however we encountered a sleepless 8 hour flight and arrived in Keflavik at around 4:30 AM their time. We located our rental car covered in snow and decided to go find breakfast. What we discovered was that since it was dark until about 10 AM many businesses were not open! We drove around for about an hour in search of something “local” but had to resort to the only thing open… Dunkin Donuts. After our fairly disappointing breakfast, we headed on over to the Blue Lagoon… which quickly became the best part of the entire trip!

There were two types of facial masks that you could try. One cleansing and one moisturizing. They were amazing!

Soaking in a massive geothermal pool while it was snowing was an incredible experience, and the perfect way to unwind after the flight. I highly recommend doing the Blue Lagoon on your arrival date because it is only 30 minutes from the KEF airport and a great way to relax. When we arrived it was still pitch dark so it was fun to be in the pool while the sun was rising! The resort had lots of things to do. There was a swim up bar for drinks, a waterfall, steam room, sauna, restaurant, and gift shop. We stayed for a good four hours before making our trek to Reykjavik to find our Air BnB.

At this point we were going on 30+ hours of no sleep, nice and relaxed, and incredibly tired. So we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the first place we spotted and got our first experience of highly priced Icelandic food. Two burgers and fries… $50.

Once we arrived at our AirBnB we finally fell asleep and woke up about 5 hours later ready for dinner and a chance to explore old town Reykjavik.