Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
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Oh, I'm excited to read this one! I hope you have success on the whale watch this time!
Me too, although I think it's fair to say that we're going into this with low expectations... that way we won't be disappointed if the whales are a no-show again.
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And I adore puffins! I took a puffin tour in Nova Scotia and saw so many of them. I also saw them from further away at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.
Oh wow - jealous! Hopefully we'll have some sightings a week today!
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Pre-trip report – part two: when shall we go back?
So in the first instalment, I went through the reasons why we’re going back to Iceland, a mere fifteen months after our first trip there. It’s Mark’s birthday and Christmas present from me to him for 2016, as I knew it was something he wanted to do, and heck I wasn’t objecting either and I’d rather put our money into something we both enjoy.
I was thinking of taking Mark to see a football game (yes, your soccer… trust me, it’s football to the rest of the world ). He loves Liverpool, but the only way I can get tickets to see them play is by getting a hospitality package. In the past, it’s been quite reasonably priced, so I thought I’d get that for him this year. Boy, did I have a shock when I saw how much the prices had gone up! I figured I could get flights to Iceland for less money than that… that tells you something!
I then started to think about when we might return to Iceland. Obviously we wanted it to be in the summer months, which basically ruled out November through to March. We already knew we were going to Scotland for two weeks in June with our friends from California, Mari and Raleigh, so that was out. The main summer season for Iceland is June through August, and I didn’t really want to fight massive crowds, so I turned my attention to the shoulder season, looking more specifically at April, May, September and October. It wasn’t long before I had a plan in mind.
In the UK, we get a series of what are called Bank Holidays. They all fall on a Monday throughout the year, and all bar one, are during the school holidays. Of course, that means if you try to go away at those times, you’re hit with the highest prices, and you know airports, planes, and the popular destinations, are going to be packed. The only Bank Holiday which isn’t in the middle of a school holiday is the one that falls on the first Monday in May.
I wasn’t sure if it would be that warm for us by then, but then again, the Icelandic summer is a bit cooler than ours. Let’s just say when it gets into the 50s, it’s pretty tropical to natives! I had a friend of ours who visited Iceland this year in April, about 10 days before the time we’d be there, and I know it certainly wasn’t warm for her. The wind was blasting during her stay, so I’m under no illusion about that side of this vacation.
As soon as flights became available, I had a look at the prices. We had a three day weekend with the Bank Holiday, and I figured we could take two or three days off outside of that. It took a lot of playing around with dates, as for some reason, the Thursday before the weekend was really expensive, and so was the Thursday afterwards. In the end, flying out on the Friday and coming back on the Wednesday was the cheapest option, so I went with that.
Now normally, I would wait for EasyJet, one of our cheap airlines, to bring their flights out. They tend to release them when they feel like it, a bit like Southwest do, and it’s never 11 months ahead, like most airlines. Well, at the point I was looking at prices, all I could choose from was British Airways. I wasn’t overly keen on flying with them, as they fly from Heathrow, and we much prefer to fly out from Gatwick. Gatwick is closer to home for us, it’s only half an hour’s drive away, whereas Heathrow is about an hour away. Equally, Gatwick is a lot smaller. It only has two terminals, but Heathrow is now home to five terminals, and is the sixth busiest in the world. It’s behind Atlanta, and O’Hare in Chicago, and is ahead of Los Angeles International. We don’t like any big airport. I’d always much prefer to fly in and out of small airports, but sadly it doesn’t always work that way. I think my favourite to this day is Bozeman airport in Montana – so small, and beautifully decorated.
Now how ironic is it that I wrote this a good few months ago and we were discussing this just yesterday... well, here's how it used to look anyway when we were there in 2011...
Anyway, I digress. The prices with British Airways from Heathrow were pretty reasonable, and frankly, I figured I’d be lucky to get a cheaper flight by waiting for Easyjet. Equally, the flight times weren’t too bad. That’s a huge consideration for us, as Heathrow is around the dreaded M25, the London ring road. While the whole thing is a pain, there are sections that are worse than others, and the worst bit is between us and Heathrow. You really do not want to be on that stretch of the motorway during weekday rush hours.
We fly out at 8:00am, which means we’ll need somewhere to stay at Heathrow the night before our flight. Sadly, we’re flying out of terminal five, the newest one at Heathrow, which is very well located for the motorway, and our journey when we get home, but annoyingly, they decided to build it without a hotel in the terminal. The only terminal that has a hotel inside it is terminal four. We’ll be in Iceland two hours later, as apparently the two countries are not on the same time zone during the summer months, as we obviously go forward by an hour, but Iceland doesn’t.
In the end, a deal came through for meet and greet parking, which we always prefer to use, given how far car parks can be away from the airport, along with a night’s stay at the Hyatt Place. We’ve never stayed there before, but it looked like a nice place. We don’t fly that often from Heathrow, so we don’t have a favourite place to stay up there, like we do at Gatwick, which is our airport of choice. To be honest, I’d like to find a favourite that we can stay at. So far, the place we liked the most was Foxhills. We stayed there before our flight out to Boston in September of last year, and it was just amazing…
However, it’s quite some distance from the airport, so it’s great for a later flight, but I didn’t think it would work for such an early flight as this.
Our flight home leaves at 10:30am, which is annoyingly early, given you have to be at the airport a couple of hours before your flight takes off. However, it was that or an evening flight, and as we’re back into work the next day, I didn’t want to risk getting back to the UK late at night, especially if the flight ended up being delayed. We arrive back at 2:45pm, and hopefully we’ll get our luggage back quickly enough to be on the road, and away before rush hour starts to kick in around 4:00pm…
So now we have the flights sorted out, what are we going to do once we get out there? Well, one of the other reasons for returning to Iceland was so we could visit this beach in Vik in the south of the country:
Oh, that beach!! I've seen pictures in my Iceland research, but sadly can't fit it in. We haven't even gone, and I'm already thinking a return trip will be necessary!
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Oh, that beach!! I've seen pictures in my Iceland research, but sadly can't fit it in. We haven't even gone, and I'm already thinking a return trip will be necessary!
You sound so like us last year - there is so much to see and do there and frankly we won't fit it all in this time either. It is an amazing country.
Well after seeing your 2011 pictures it looks like you got to see the beginning of the "millionaire" upgrade. There are more bronze statues around the building and the rock work and slate flooring have been extended as well. Needless to say others find it nice, but I just see the wasted dollars to make us look like we can keep up with the Trumps of the world. It definitely is not the farm and ranch community we used to be.
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Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. Jenn
Glad you got the flights sorted out and you picked a really nice hotel for your overnight even though a bit away from the airport! That beach looks amazing and looks worth visiting!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Oh wow, how amazing to have lived there. I'd be fascinated if you do get back to see how much it's changed since then.
I read your trip report from when you went last year, and even though the base was near Reykjavik and I visited it some, it has changed so much. I was there from 1985-1987 I think, I was only in the 3 and 4th grades, so it has been quite a few years. I have recently found out the base closed down in 2006, so I can't even find pictures online of the current area of the base.
About the temperatures, I remember one year it got in the 50's to low 60's and we were all running around in short sleeves and shorts. Living in Alabama now, I can't image doing that in those temperatures... Can't wait to live though your trip to see the area again.
Well after seeing your 2011 pictures it looks like you got to see the beginning of the "millionaire" upgrade. There are more bronze statues around the building and the rock work and slate flooring have been extended as well. Needless to say others find it nice, but I just see the wasted dollars to make us look like we can keep up with the Trumps of the world. It definitely is not the farm and ranch community we used to be.
No, it's certainly not representative of that at all, but I really liked the feel of the airport. To me, it just looked beautiful and rustic. I guess because I don't usually get to see airports like that - usually they don't have any real form of theming and, to me, that makes a lot of them feel as if they don't have a "heart", if that makes sense?
I read your trip report from when you went last year, and even though the base was near Reykjavik and I visited it some, it has changed so much. I was there from 1985-1987 I think, I was only in the 3 and 4th grades, so it has been quite a few years. I have recently found out the base closed down in 2006, so I can't even find pictures online of the current area of the base.
Oh that's a shame.
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About the temperatures, I remember one year it got in the 50's to low 60's and we were all running around in short sleeves and shorts. Living in Alabama now, I can't image doing that in those temperatures...
It's all about what you get used to though, isn't it? It's no different to going to Florida in the winter months and the temperatures are maybe in the high 60s, and to a lot of us who visit, that's really warm, compared to what we've got at home, and we might head to the pool, while the lifeguards are wrapped up in goodness knows how many layers!
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Hopefully we'll have some sightings a week today! 
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and I’d rather put our money into something we both enjoy. 
I figured I could get flights to Iceland for less money than that… that tells you something! 
I had a friend of ours who visited Iceland this year in April, about 10 days before the time we’d be there, and I know it certainly wasn’t warm for her. The wind was blasting during her stay, so I’m under no illusion about that side of this vacation. 
The only terminal that has a hotel inside it is terminal four. We’ll be in Iceland two hours later, as apparently the two countries are not on the same time zone during the summer months, as we obviously go forward by an hour, but Iceland doesn’t. 
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
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