Travel & Hotspots

Iceland diary

Kiki had the coolest birthday ever of almost 30 (!) hours

If I happened to be interested in heading to Iceland and Chicago with Icelandair. My birthday included. As you would understand: I didn’t have to think twice. ‘YESSSSS’ (with another fourteen S’s) is what went through my head. Only to then respond with a ‘Sounds cool! I’ll get back to you’.

The only downside: my fear of flying (check this to see how to deal with it). It’s not that bad that I never fly, but when possible, I’d rather spend fourteen hours riding a donkey in the freezing cold than board a plane. But, as realistic as I am: if you want to visit the coolest places on the planet, you’re going to have to get into one of those steel beasts – sigh. The day before the flight I felt like I was going to die, but once I was in the plane, the stuffy feeling disappeared and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Drama queen.

Iceland has been on my bucket list for a while now. Probably after having seen Justin Bieber’s ‘I’ll Show You’ video a little too often. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it yet, shame on you, check it out here. If this doesn’t make you want to go to Iceland, I don’t know what will.

‘Iceland has been on my bucket list for a while now. Probably after having seen Justin Bieber’s ‘I’ll Show You’ video a little too often.’

As we (I was with five other journalists) arrived at the airport after a 2 hour and 50 minute flight, one thing’s clear: this place is BEAUTIFUL. There is so much space. Serenity. Nature. After a short drive from the airport, we checked in at the Icelandair Marina hotel in Reykjavik, a little harbor district in the west part of Iceland. Out of my airplane clothes and into my birthday suit (which I obviously forgot to take a photo of, sorry) and off to dine at The Fish Company. Excuse me for a lack of a better word, but the salmon trout is so good, it’s like an orgasm in your mouth. It’s insane.

Stuffed with food and four glasses of birthday wine later, we head out to the center of Reykjavik to check out its scenery. Architecture wise, it’s not the most stylish city, but it exudes its Icelandic charm and in the evening, it’s fun to just drop by random bars for drinks. And going indoors is definitely something you’re going to want to do because the wind is so piercingly cold this time of year, that hanging out outside on the streets is not something you’ll be able to keep up with for long. The best time of the year to visit Iceland? Between the end of June and the beginning of September. But if you’re in the mood for jeep safari’s, cross country- and snow scooter trips through the winter scenery, then February, March and April are ideal. Long story short: I highly recommend everyone to visit Iceland at least once in their lives.

‘You do about a thousand different things in one day’

Once I find myself back in my hotel bed, I get bombarded with birthday wishes from the Netherlands. OH, THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S MY BIRTHDAY. Well, it is tomorrow. But technically it’s already passed midnight so it already is tomorrow. Hyper as I am, I call twelve people, including my mom, my love and my bestie, which resulted in me going to bed way too late. And then my alarm goes off at 6:30. Ugh. Here’s a quick disclaimer for everyone who thinks that press trips are mini holiday’s for journalists and bloggers: it ain’t. You do about a thousand different things in one day, you don’t really have time to freshen up in the afternoon before the night schedule kicks in and you hardly get any hours of sleep. But besides this, all of it is amazing and you won’t hear me complaining. I promise.

‘The island will treat you to boiling mud pots, dormant volcano’s, rows of craters, glaciers, Justin Bieber-waterfalls…’

The next day (my real birthday) we headed off to Þingvellir after breakfast (MORE. SALMON. OMG), one of the three national parks in Iceland. It’s about a forty-five minute drive from Reykjavik and the best way to describe it is that it’s a rift and it’s not surprising that it’s labeled as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage sites. Guys, this place is special. There’s no pen out there that’s going to help you jot down what you see. Truthfully, there’s no other country out there you can compare Iceland with. In the summer they’ve got long hours of light, large parts of the land are still intact and every ten minutes you’ll come across a new holy-shit-this-is-incredible photo opportunity. The island will treat you to boiling mud pots, dormant volcano’s, rows of craters, glaciers, Justin Bieber-waterfalls, you name it. And that on a relatively small surface – Iceland is, give and take, about three times the size of the Netherlands.

I can spend hours writing odes to this country, but it’s one that you’re just really going to have to experience on your own. That way you can give me advice for the next time that I head over since this trip was way too short. But then again, we were here trying out Icelandair’s new #Mystopover which takes you to Chicago via Iceland, so yes, the next destination is: America, baby! Oh, and since we’ll be flying about five hours back in time, it’ll mean: an extended birthday. More about this tomorrow, obviously.

P.S.: want to head to Chicago via Iceland too?

So this stopover was clearly brilliant. Starting this month, Icelandair will be flying to Chicago, through Iceland if you want, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam).  You can personally decided whether or not you want a stopover on the Island (of max. seven days) before heading off to Chicago, without increasing the price tag of your flight. What do you mean kill a dozen birds with one stone? It’s insane. I’m sold. You can book a return flight with Icelandair from €425,-.