Day 1-Arrival in Iceland

When we first landed in Keflavik International Airport, peering out the tiny window of the airplane, snow was blowing sideways. Spring had already started, but we were prepared for the cold weather here. We packed our boots, hats, scarves, gloves and plenty of sweaters and layers. Time to endure an extended winter on spring break-so we thought. 

Our flight landed 6:45am local time-that's 11:45pm my normal time, and I had maybe slept 2 hours of the near 7 hour flight. Sleeping on plane is next to impossible unless you are lucky enough to travel first class. To top that, I was battling the cold that everyone else had that I had avoided until my vacation started. Normally I don't take OTC medication, but I packed daytime cold medicine to tone down the symptoms just so I could enjoy this trip of a lifetime. 

This was our first time traveling outside of the USA post 9/11/01. We were corralled through Customs quickly, and found ourselves in the Duty Free store. That will probably be the only time in my life that I buy vodka at 7am, but buying liquor in Iceland is otherwise inconvenient.

Once I stepped outside of the airport, another weary grin came over my face; finally I felt the reality of this dream happening as the cold wet snow touched my face. We got our rental car soon after, and navigated the 40 minute drive into Reykjavik. The drive itself was filled with weather I am used to, just with a different view, but this was my first view of the city:

Here is the cottage we stayed in, found on AirBnB :

I tried taking a nap, but I couldn't waste anytime time, exhausted or not, on sleeping during the daytime, although my daughter was exhausted. I let her sleep and decided to take a walk outside. Our cottage was close to the Hofdi House, and walked over to see this monument. Below are videos and photos of this historic sight. If you were a kid of the 80's in America and watched the nightly news, there is a good chance you were paranoid of nuclear war like I was:

By the time I was done touring this area, rain was blowing sideways, and I was drenched. Nothing like Oregon rain, but if I was to continue exploring, I would do it from the rental car. I changed my clothes, hopped in the car, and drove 3 blocks to Kronan, a small grocery store to see what kind of Icelandic food goodness could be found. The grocery store was much smaller compared to what we have in America, and I couldn't read what most of the products were. This was my first eye opening experience in truly feeling like I was in a much different place as far as culture goes. The most basic necessity in a different country was so foreign, but I did observe that Icelanders love liquorice (one of my least favorite candies). I purchased vanilla skyr, hazelnut cookies, and bananas, and then noticed I was getting some interesting looks. Maybe I looked out of place?

After that adventure, my daughter was refreshed from her nap, and I was starving for real food. Since the cottage was so close to downtown, we walked to The Laundromat Cafe. We ate a hearty bacon and egg breakfast while watching the servers tend to a busy Sunday afternoon crowd. The weather was clearing up very nice, and for that I was grateful. We also hit up The Big Lebowski bar where my daughter had her first legal drink (drinking age in Iceland is 20), and I had a Tree Hugger White Russian.

One the way back, we had beer at the Sæmundur í Sparifötunum bar located in the Kex Hostel. I loved this pub, the atmosphere reminded me of what you find in SE Portland-gritty, creative, relaxed and great beer. Day 1 of Iceland down, 5 to go.