We flew from Amsterdam to Reykjavík, Iceland for a 2 night stay. This was to break up the longer flight journey to New York. Yes, we’ve gone north again for winter! The thing about Iceland is that it’s full of ice. The hour long journey to town from the airport by bus was over flat icy, rocky terrain. Glacier type mountains masked the horizon. In our earlier visits up north, snow was the dominant weather feature. Here it was ice. This may be due to us being here 6 weeks later than the snowy countries we had earlier visited and thawing out has commenced. It did make walking anywhere a bit more dangerous but we still managed to clock up the kilometres.

We only had one full day and the shortest tour we could find was 7 hours on a bus. As we had a long flight the next day, that wasn’t for us. So shank’s pony it was, exploring the local area of Reykjavík. They have a geothermal beach full of goodness. I thought this water may be hot or at least warm but no it’s freezing. The idea is you soak in a hot tub first and then dip in the cold sea. Damn, I forgot my swimmers! A glacier museum sits high on the hill and allows for amazing views. We found a fish and chip shop down by the wharf. Ruthie remarked that it was the best fish she’s ever had! It was yummy. Iceland is very expensive. For example, the cheapest beer I could find was $12AUD. It was take 2 for the romantic dinner and the good news is I didn’t set the menu on fire. We had 2 soups, garlic bread and 2 wines and there was no change out of $100. Fair to say there wasn’t a lot of alcohol consumed by us in Iceland. They do have a phallus museum with a wide variety of dick specimens. Gave that one a miss too.

The airline check in process was interesting. We’ve travelled through a lot of Europe and have hardly needed to show our passports. Because we were flying to the US, we were drug and explosive tested twice, shoes, belts and coats off. At five checks we displayed our passports and asked different questions.

Even one in a formal interview room. It must have been too much for one passenger as he was a “no show” and his baggage had to be off loaded! It was no wonder the walk to the lounge took so long!