Reykjavik, ICELAND 2.19.16-2.22.16
ba·by·moon
It's a fairly new idea, and while a lot of people think it's dumb, I happen to be a big fan of a "babymoon." You don't have to go anywhere fancy, but I think it's smart to take a small getaway and spend some quality time together before your life changes forever. Relaxing breakfast, small talk, hand holding, staying up late, sleeping in, uninterrupted showers, non-kid friendly dinners, all of which are hard to come by once children come into the equation.
My husband really wanted to go somewhere warm and tropical, but with the Zika Virus such a threat this year we couldn't risk it. Plus, I didn't really envision laying on the beach with my belly hanging out, watching him drink cocktails all day as "fun". We had heard great things about Iceland, it was far from the Zika Virus and I imagined it to be very relaxing & cozy where I could enjoy a gourmet hot chocolate by a warm fire. At the beginning of the 2015 year, we had heard about WOW Airlines, an Icelandic based airline with super cheap flights and we decided to look further into it. If you have enough flexibility to leave on a Monday or Tuesday morning, you can fly from Baltimore, MD or Boston, MA to Reykjavik for 99$ one way!!!! 99$ is just the craziest deal I've ever heard of, not to mention it's a quick 4-5 hour flight. We didn't have enough days to take off work and we wanted to take advantage of our weekend, so we ended up paying a little more for our flights, they came out to 400$ total for one person (still not too shabby)! We were off to enjoy our Babymoon in the "Land of Fire & Ice".
Day 1 "Exploring the City, Food Tour, Northern Lights Tour"
We landed at 4:00 am Reykjavik time and by the time we got our luggage and took the bus from the airport it was around 6:00 am. We stayed at the Grettir Guesthouse, which was on the main street of downtown however this was the only positive thing about our experience. Our room wasn't ready and since it was a "guesthouse" the owner was not on the property so there was nothing he could do. We had to find something to do until our 3:00pm check in. We were absolutely exhausted since we had flown through the night, it was snowing and freezing outside, and not to mention nothing was really open yet until 9:00 am when the sun rose. The beginning of our trip was quite miserable, not to mention I was 27 weeks pregnant!
Witness The Northern LightsMud Bath in the Blue Lagoon
ba·by·moon
ˈbābēˌmo͞on/
noun
informal
- a relaxing or romantic vacation taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born."on the eve of my third trimester, we boarded a plane for a week-long babymoon among the quiet canals of Amsterdam"
It's a fairly new idea, and while a lot of people think it's dumb, I happen to be a big fan of a "babymoon." You don't have to go anywhere fancy, but I think it's smart to take a small getaway and spend some quality time together before your life changes forever. Relaxing breakfast, small talk, hand holding, staying up late, sleeping in, uninterrupted showers, non-kid friendly dinners, all of which are hard to come by once children come into the equation.
My husband really wanted to go somewhere warm and tropical, but with the Zika Virus such a threat this year we couldn't risk it. Plus, I didn't really envision laying on the beach with my belly hanging out, watching him drink cocktails all day as "fun". We had heard great things about Iceland, it was far from the Zika Virus and I imagined it to be very relaxing & cozy where I could enjoy a gourmet hot chocolate by a warm fire. At the beginning of the 2015 year, we had heard about WOW Airlines, an Icelandic based airline with super cheap flights and we decided to look further into it. If you have enough flexibility to leave on a Monday or Tuesday morning, you can fly from Baltimore, MD or Boston, MA to Reykjavik for 99$ one way!!!! 99$ is just the craziest deal I've ever heard of, not to mention it's a quick 4-5 hour flight. We didn't have enough days to take off work and we wanted to take advantage of our weekend, so we ended up paying a little more for our flights, they came out to 400$ total for one person (still not too shabby)! We were off to enjoy our Babymoon in the "Land of Fire & Ice".
Day 1 "Exploring the City, Food Tour, Northern Lights Tour"
We landed at 4:00 am Reykjavik time and by the time we got our luggage and took the bus from the airport it was around 6:00 am. We stayed at the Grettir Guesthouse, which was on the main street of downtown however this was the only positive thing about our experience. Our room wasn't ready and since it was a "guesthouse" the owner was not on the property so there was nothing he could do. We had to find something to do until our 3:00pm check in. We were absolutely exhausted since we had flown through the night, it was snowing and freezing outside, and not to mention nothing was really open yet until 9:00 am when the sun rose. The beginning of our trip was quite miserable, not to mention I was 27 weeks pregnant!
The quiet streets of downtown Reykjavik, when we arrived at 6:00am
Naturally, we complained for about 5 minutes and then decided to make the best of our situation with "coffee shop hoping". This ended up actually being one of my favorite moments of the trip. I love coffee shops, I think they are so quaint and charming and Kenny thinks they are "boring" so in our 9 years of being together I think this is the first time we've been to a coffee shop together. We just had small talk and I had the best hot chocolate of my life. Regardless of how he felt, I really wanted to savor these simple moments as this chapter of "just us" comes to an end soon.
The sun started to rise around 9 am and the city started waking up!
Exploring the city by foot! For 6 solid hours haha...
We had a food tour scheduled at noon, we were starving and ready to be warm! We both really enjoyed the food tour, we learned a lot about the city's history and culture through their cuisine! We tried some of Iceland's most popular dishes; rye bread ice cream, lobster soup, lamb stew, lamb hot dogs, smoked goose, horse, puffin, whale...but we stayed away from the rotten shark meat! The food tour was done at 5:00 pm, we ran back to the hotel to sneak in a 2 hour nap, before we had to be up at 7:00 pm for The Northern Lights Tour.
The Northern LIghts Tour consisted of us getting on a bus and driving about an hour outside of the city. Magnetic activity was high this night, however there was a full moon so the sky was very bright. I didn't realize how many factors went into being able to see the Norther Lights, I thought you could just step outside and see them. We all got off the bus for about an hour at various locations, and this was the coldest I can remember being in my life. The wind was unbearable, it brought tears to my eyes. We had also been up at this point for 36 hours, so it started getting to us. Not to mention the soreness in my lower back, hips from walking around all day and just being hormonal in general. To be quite honest, we were pretty "over it" by this point!
This was the best we could see. If you look above the barn, there is a faint green swirl. It was pretty cool to see, but I wish it was a better show. Taking a warm shower and getting into bed at 3:00 am that night has never felt so wonderful....only to wake up at 8:00 am the next day!
Day 2 "The Golden Circle and Snowmobiling Tour"
There are various companies that run these tours, we used Reykjavik Excursions for most of them. It was very organized, a bus came to pick you up and dropped you off right in front of your hotel and everything was paid for in advance.
We started our tour at Thingvellir National Park, where the American and Eurasian tectonic plates are separating at a rate of a few centimeters every year.
The Geysir geothermal area, where the Strokkur geyser shoots water 100 feet into the air every 4-8 minutes.
Gullfoss Waterfall, which will soon be used to produce energy! About 85% of the total energy supply in Iceland is derived from domestically produced renewable energy sources. Iceland is the world's largest green energy producer!
Snowmobiling on the Langjökull Glacier was the highlight of our trip!
Beautiful sunset on Day 2
We had a delicious dinner & were ready to explore Reykjavik nightlife! I thought the nightlife would be calm, relaxed like a small mountain town. Downtown Reykjavik was lined with bars, cocktail lounges, microbreweries, bachelor parties, etc!
Day 3 "South Coast Tour"
What a beautiful country! At Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
Lunch with a view! In the small viking town of Vik, overlooking the famous Black Sand Beaches.
The Black Sand Beaches were impressive!
Skogafoss waterfall on the South Coast of Iceland
Glacier hike!
Enjoying our last night with a non-alcoholic brew & burgers.
Day 4 "The Blue Lagoon"
Sunrise at The Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa!
I enjoyed this one from the sidelines, with my feet in the warm water.
How Kenny was able to enjoy the spa, not fair!
Jumped in for a quick mud bath!
If I could do it again, I would change a few things when it came to the planning aspect. I wish we would have factored more "rest and relaxation" time into our trip. I felt like we were playing "catch up" on our sleep the whole time. I wish we would have stayed at a nicer hotel too, one that didn't run out of toilet paper the last night. I would also love to go back in the summertime, the photos of the waterfalls are just spectacular in the summer!
This is from behind one of the waterfalls, which we couldn't access because of the ice!
Peace out Reykjavik and peace out 2nd Trimester!
We had a wonderful time together and are now ready to settle down and prep for our little man.
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