Scandinavia 2019 Day 1: Blue Lagoon & Northern Lights, Iceland

DAY 1: 26 NOV 2019

Northern Lights at Thingvellir National Park

It's time to fly again!

I will be travelling with my mum alone this time round

because the men in the family are difficult to travel with.

Recently, we have been watching many shows documenting travels to Iceland and

I really wanted to visit this beautiful country.

So, our dreams came true in May when I booked our flight to Iceland!

Initially, I was inclined to fly with Emirates as I have taken their long haul flights previously

and the journey was comfortable.

However, the Emirates flight costs a few hundreds more than Finnair (S$1120).

Plus, Finnair offers free stopover of up to 5 days in Helsinki.

So, Finnair it is!

That means to say we will spend the first week of our trip in Iceland and then 

another week in Finland!

As we didn't book this trip with a travel agency, I was basically the one handling

all the planning.

The entire process was tedious, stressful and exhausting.

But because of these careful planning, we had an awesome trip!

View of glaciers from the plane

We arrived in Keflavik International Airport at 0930 after 18 hours, with a transit in Helsinki.

It was a little rush when we landed in Helsinki as we only had 1 hour and 15 minutes

for connection and we had to go through passport control before getting to our new gate.

We didn't need to go through passport control in Iceland though as we were flying

from a European country.

Upon entering the arrival hall, we proceeded to the currency exchange counter to

exchange our Euros to Icelandic Kronas (isk).

Do note that credit cards are accepted everywhere in Iceland and you do not need to

fumble with all the coins when paying in cash.

Blue Lagoon was our first attraction of the day and it was so expensive!

It costs 85 euros per person for the 1200 slot and I booked it via the official website.

As we were making our way there first before heading to the city centre, 

I booked the 1130 shuttle to Blue Lagoon via klook.

Upon exiting the airport, you will see big buses parked on the right.

We took the Destination Blue Lagoon bus and all you need to do is

to show the voucher to the driver.

We arrived at Blue Lagoon just before 1200.

The luggage storage facility was right in front of the big carpark.

It costs 550 isk to store a luggage.

After storing our luggage, we took a short walk to the main building.

At the registration counters, you will be given a towel and a wristband.

The wristband will act as your locker key and purchase recorder.

If you were to purchase any items at the pool, the wristbands will record the purchases

and you will make payment when you are exiting the building.

Before you get into the lagoon, you will first need to store your items in the locker area.

Next, you will need to shower naked in the shower stalls before you put on your swimwear.

If you are shy, you can remove your clothes in the changing room (frosted cubicle) and

then wrap a towel around you before enter entering a shower stall.

When you are showering, do remember to put lots of conditioner on your hair

as the silica in the water dries your hair out!

Finally, after showering, you can head out to the pools with or without your towels.

I chose to leave my towel in the locker as people will randomly grab any towel they see

upon exiting the lagoon.

And it was a very short walk out to the lagoon from the locker area too.

The lagoon was amazing!

It was warm and just what we needed after a long day of travelling.

We stayed in the lagoon for about 2 hours.

While in the waters, you can head over to the two counters on each side of the lagoon.

The mask bar is located on the left and a free silica musk is already included

in your package.

The drinks bar is situated on the right and you are entitled to a free drink which

you can choose from any item on the menu.

Other than the lagoon, steam rooms and saunas are available too.

I tried each room for five minutes as the useless me couldn't take the heat.

But you should definitely try it especially during winter!

We booked the 1615 shuttle to the city centre (bus stop 8).

We switched to smaller buses at the bus terminal so that everyone gets to their stop quicker.
We were greeted by the famous church, Hallgrimskirkja, when we alighted.
Our home for the next two nights is an apartment at Gestinn Guesthouse,
which was 5 minutes away from the bus stop.
We paid S$190 per night for the apartment.

After checking in, we took a 15 minutes walk to 101 Reykjavik Street Food,
which was famous for their fish & chips!
A small restaurant but it was bustling with people when we arrived at 6pm.
We both ordered the fish & chips and had two different sauces to go with the fish.

Menu at 101 Reykjavik Street Food

Fish & Chips

 We decided to head home after dinner to take a short nap before heading out
for our highly anticipated Northern lights midnight tour with Iceland Everywhere.
There were many good reviews about this company and it only costs S$70 for a small group tour.
The catch is that you do not get to go again for free if you couldn't catch the lights.
We were lucky as the kp forecast was 4 and the sky was clear!
You need such conditions in order to see the northern lights and we were blessed that night.

We were picked up at bus stop #8 at 2045 and we drove to Thingvellir National Park.
Our guide, Siggi, gave us tips for shooting the lights and helped me with my camera settings.
I brought my tripod along and I was really glad I did.
The lights started to show faintly in the sky only at 2300 and it got stronger at 0100.

Faint Northern Lights at 2300

 

Strong Northern Lights at 0100

 

One thing to note is that you must be prepared for the cold at night.

It was close to -8 degree Celsius which was really cold for us since it was our first night.
Thankfully I had a heat pack on me and it kept me warm while shooting in the cold.

That's it for our jam packed day 1! (:

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Click here for our Day 2 adventures!

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