Battered, bruised, and a little bit intoxicated - a Transatlantic Crossing updated 02/13/18 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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What a blessing in disguise with the checked wheelchair. Who knows how long it would have taken you to get out of there otherwise. Glad you made it safely to the hotel.
It is a long way to get through the airport, more than we expected. For some reason, I thought it would be quite small. Wow, what did I know? Thank goodness you had the airport staff to help you when you got off the plane.
I was interested in your comment about the 52 pound weight limit. This is what I'm used to on nearly every airline here - it's usually 23 kgs or 52 lbs and the budget airlines only allow you to have 20 kgs, some even restrict you to 15 kgs.
I'm really interested in your experience at the Silica Hotel, as I have thought about staying there, but I couldn't justify the cost. One day I'd like to stay in the new hotel at the Blue Lagoon. I don't know if it's open yet. It feels as if they've been working on that forever...
What a blessing in disguise with the checked wheelchair. Who knows how long it would have taken you to get out of there otherwise. Glad you made it safely to the hotel.
We did wonder that! And felt badly that we’d initially been annoyed to hear they didn’t gate check it.
It is a long way to get through the airport, more than we expected. For some reason, I thought it would be quite small. Wow, what did I know? Thank goodness you had the airport staff to help you when you got off the plane.
I was interested in your comment about the 52 pound weight limit. This is what I'm used to on nearly every airline here - it's usually 23 kgs or 52 lbs and the budget airlines only allow you to have 20 kgs, some even restrict you to 15 kgs.
I'm really interested in your experience at the Silica Hotel, as I have thought about staying there, but I couldn't justify the cost. One day I'd like to stay in the new hotel at the Blue Lagoon. I don't know if it's open yet. It feels as if they've been working on that forever...
The airport doesn’t LOOK that big, and we felt it was small/fast on our exit flight, but that one corridor to baggage seemed to go on forever.
On US carriers you are normally allowed 70 lbs for an international flight.
We didn’t see any signs of the hotel at the Blue Lagoon opening soon. There is a LOT of construction going on there.
My goodness, that was definitely the scenic route to get to your hotel! Your hotel looks beautiful and how nice that the front desk lady gave you some food bags. I am excited to read more!!
On US carriers you are normally allowed 70 lbs for an international flight.
I knew they used to allow that, I didn't realise they still did...
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We didn’t see any signs of the hotel at the Blue Lagoon opening soon. There is a LOT of construction going on there.
Oh my goodness! Wow. Is that darned hotel ever going to be open? They've been doing construction since before we went in February 2016... that's more than 18 months now.
My goodness, that was definitely the scenic route to get to your hotel! Your hotel looks beautiful and how nice that the front desk lady gave you some food bags. I am excited to read more!!
It was nice to get the snack bag. We were so messed up on time and meals by then!
I hope the TR will just get better as we get past some of this preliminary stuff.
I knew they used to allow that, I didn't realise they still did...
Oh my goodness! Wow. Is that darned hotel ever going to be open? They've been doing construction since before we went in February 2016... that's more than 18 months now.
So I checked, and was shocked to find at least for United, baggage now has a 50 lb limit on international flights! For what you pay these days to fly, seems it should be a little more. I really do need to figure out how to travel with just a carryon. (as if that would ever happen)
We both ended up with a couple of hours of sleep and were surprisingly awake when we got up. It was fun to see what the view was from our room in the morning, since it was way too dark to see anything last night. I thought that it was easy to imagine any of the those rocks turning in to trolls, and had “He’s a Bit of a FixerUpper” stuck in my head for a fair amount of time! Don’t some of those formations look like little old people?
DSC01802 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
Can you picture this rock as a little old woman bent over, with a big nose?
Breakfast was included with our room, and it was quite a nice spread! Mike was more adventuresome than I was, and had salmon mousse, and two kinds of fish that we assume were herring and maybe trout (there were no signs). The herring was marinated in something sweet and may have had blueberries in it as well. He enjoyed them both, and I was happy to take his word for it. I was thrilled to find the self-serve espresso machine, as it meant I could have a latte to start my day. I also really enjoyed the type of waffle batter they had - it made a yummy waffle!
Once we finished eating, we checked out the common area a bit more. It really is a lovely hotel, and I was sorry we didn’t have more time there. It also had its own private pool, but given the price included admission to the Blue Lagoon, I didn’t see the point in going in - especially since it would have meant having a wet bathing suit when we got to the Blue Lagoon. I had thought about seeing if they offered discounted rates if you did NOT go to the Blue Lagoon. I would have been happy enough to just enjoy the pool at the hotel - if we came back another time. Today, I wanted to check out the biggest attraction in the whole country.
DSC01811 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
This is the private pool at the hotel. It's all part of the same geothermal area, and you could see the silica around the edges of the pool. There was an area where they'd collected it so you could do the masks here too.
It was only a 2 minute drive to the Blue Lagoon. I realized I should’ve packed our disabled tag, as we could have parked a lot closer (the lot is BIG). Oh well. Today and tomorrow would be the only days I’d be driving, so the risk of losing it on the trip was probably bigger than the benefit we’d have had.
We walked in to the reception area and were happy to have pre-booked tickets and massage reservations as it put us in a MUCH shorter line! We were given wrist bracelets similar to a Magic Band - they could be used to charge anything once our stuff was all in lockers. We also got robes and flip flops, and were told our bracelets would get us each a free drink, and would get us the extra face mask out in the lagoon. We found a large locker in the hall area to put our coats and bag (I’d made the mistake of not packing some kind of small sling bag, so we were using my rolling carry-on bag as our day bag).
We were about to head to the men’s and women’s locker rooms, when I realized the men’s locker room was up a flight of stairs. I went to the front desk to see if there was an option for Mike where he wouldn’t need to go up the stairs, and we were shown to the accessible locker room. This ended up being fantastic, as we could both be in there at the same time. There were lockers for more than one person, but when someone was in there, it was locked to entry for anyone else. It had toilet, shower (with a shower chair), and sink/vanity area. And, it opened right onto the patio of the lagoon.
We got into our swimsuits, showered, and lathered on the conditioner (as suggested). We weren’t sure how Mike would do here, as he reacts to temperature extremes, and when he gets cold, he can start to shake violently. He wanted to at least give it a try, though. The water was heavenly! It didn’t feel too hot at all - just perfect. It was in the mid-40’s for air temperature, and raining lightly.
We enjoyed just exploring the various areas. There’s a little hut where you can swim up and get face masks. There’s a silica one that is free to all and then there’s also an algae one that you get if you’ve got the package we did. We tried both, in the order they suggested. You keep them on for about 10 minutes each, and then rinse off.
We also wandered over to the bar for our free drinks. I had a sparkling strawberry wine that I loved - I wasn’t sure if I would since I thought it might be too sweet, but it was delicious! Mike had a local sparking lemonade that ended up being his go-to drink the rest of our stay in Iceland.
I’d scheduled a massage when we first booked our hotel (the concierge at the hotel booked it for me - I just had to let him know what time I wanted). 10 minutes prior to my time I was supposed to make my way to the massage area. We’d originally thought Mike would get out at this point, but he’d found a submerged bench and decided he’d be fine staying in the water to wait for me. Just before my massage, we started talking to a guy we found out was here from Philly! We’re neighbors! But then we found out he went to college in Illinois (which is where we both went for our BS and MS degrees)! Not the same school, though. Same state. Small world! He was just excited that we’d heard of his university, as most folks outside of Illinois probably haven’t.
The massage area was roped off from the rest of the lagoon.
P1000019 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
I'm not in the massage area yet in this picture, but wanted to give you an idea of what it was like.
My masseur was named Aron. You first got onto a floating mat, back down, facing the sky. Then Aron took a giant body sized towel and covered me from chin to toe. There was a bolster under my neck. Every few minutes Aron would lower the mat deeper into the water to keep the towel wet with the warm water. I never felt cold. It’s hard to describe the massage as it wasn’t like a standard massage. There was more reflexology I think, as Aron spent a lot of time on my feet. It was relaxing in part because of the floating sensation. He couldn’t apply as much pressure on the knots in my back and neck since I was floating, and was face up. At one point it did start to rain harder, and that was cold on my face. Aron had asked if I wanted a towel over my face, but I didn’t think I’d like that feeling of not being able to see. I’m glad I tried it, but for the extra expense, I don’t think I’d do it again. The funniest part was when the massage was over. They float you on your mat over to a holding area, and calmly say that whenever you’re ready you can get up, but to stay as long as you’d like. As you begin to open your eyes, you realize you are surrounded by so many other people on mats! It made me laugh - kind of a funny image but maybe you had to see it to find it funny.
I made my way over to where Mike was waiting and it was clear as soon as I got to him that he’d stayed in the water too long. I got out first and got his robe, and he came in through the indoor entrance to minimize how long he’d be in the cold. I met him there with his robe so he could get that on right away. I had to ask for new towels as ours had been taken while we were in the water. Our robes and flip flops were still there, thankfully. Mike was shaking quite a lot and was fairly steady on his feet (his cane was in the locker). We made it to the locker room - happy it was so nearby, unlike the regular men’s locker room. We were also happy to have the shower chair so he could stay sitting down while showering. And of course happy I could be in there to assist (and see that he wasn’t falling/passing out - if I’d had to wait for him to come out of the men’s locker room I’d have been a nervous wreck).
Once Mike was dried off and in warm clothes, I was able to shower. I realized that all that conditioner I’d put in my hair before we went in was gone. Likely from laying on my back during the massage - my hair was in the water, and the conditioner washed out. Even conditioning twice in the shower, my hair felt like straw. I could barely get a brush through it to dry it when I got out of the shower. Oh no! I was really hoping that wasn’t permanently damaged!
We’d originally made a lunch reservation for Lava, the restaurant at the Blue Lagoon, but we’d cancelled it when we arrived that morning. We were starting to already feel we didn’t have enough time for all we wanted to do, so we’d decided we’d find lunch elsewhere. We made our way slowly to the car as Mike was still pretty drained from his time in the water. He’d seen something about the Bridge Between Continents, and after consulting with a map, we decided we could find that on the way to Reykjavik and our hotel for night #2.
Oh I'm so glad you both enjoyed the Blue Lagoon, even if it did leave Mike somewhat exhausted. Isn't it an amazing place? We loved our first visit there, sadly the second was marred by the wind somewhat. You're right, those massages are weird. I don't think I'd go back and do another one, but I enjoyed the one we did.
What a cool day! The Blue Lagoon looks awesome! I’m not sure about the floating massage. I guess it was interesting to try and, hey, you can say you did it!! . I love your pictures with your beauty masks on!!
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Great report. Looking forward to more of your trip. Living vicariously through others doing thing I'll likely never do is the great things about these trip reports.
Oh I'm so glad you both enjoyed the Blue Lagoon, even if it did leave Mike somewhat exhausted. Isn't it an amazing place? We loved our first visit there, sadly the second was marred by the wind somewhat. You're right, those massages are weird. I don't think I'd go back and do another one, but I enjoyed the one we did.
If you’re just looking for a relaxing experience, I think you’d be happy with the massage. But if you have a lot of tension knots (as I do) and are a regular massage getter, I think you’d find it lacking. Glad I tried it, though!
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Thank goodness you had the airport staff to help you when you got off the plane. 
Your hotel looks beautiful and how nice that the front desk lady gave you some food bags. I am excited to read more!!
(as if that would ever happen)
You're right, those massages are weird. I don't think I'd go back and do another one, but I enjoyed the one we did.
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