Our journey took a total of 27 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Reykjavik, via Doha and Heathrow. So I was pretty much jet-lagged and kinda disorientated when we first arrived... So my best advice is still to try to get as much sleep as you can while on the flight.
When you're cleared from the custom and claimed your baggage, first thing first- toilet, simcard, and car rental. Toilets are clean and well maintained. Simcard provides you with 5G of data at least, so bring a spare phone as a hotspot point- Waze is pretty reliable throughout the journey; our accommodations were easily found via Waze, even the off-road one. The car rental process however took a bit of time. Your alternative is to book the bus chartered to the point of drop-off near your accommodations.
We have booked an Aurora tour on the day of our arrival so that in case it got canceled, we could rebook it again. Which was what happened- the unfavourable weather made it impossible to catch Aurora on the day we arrived so we rebooked it for the next night, decided to unpack, have dinner at our BnB, and have a good rest instead while re-look into what we were supposed to do the next day.
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| The playground in the neighbourhood |
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| Going out so early in the morning to explore the area around |
Our itinerary on day 1 the next day would be driving to Sneafellsness Peninsular. However, looking at the weather and studying the roads leading up to the northwest side of Iceland, they were quite inaccessible by our Kia hatchback with 3 inexperienced drivers to drive in the snow, so we decided to postpone the trip and planned to book a tour to Sneafellsness instead. So we decided to explore Reykjavik and to find tourist information centres and maybe book our tour(s) from there.
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| Entering the city and greeted by the frozen lake! |
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| Parking in the city is quite convenient |
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| Partially frozen lake, from the other side of the city |
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| Walking around the town early in the morning |
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| Hallsgrimkirkja, the largest church in Iceland, you can go up the tower to see the surrounding Reykjavik view |
Unfortunately there’s no centralized tourist centre, rather they are scattered throughout the city, so we walked around the city, finding that most shopping places save for some tour booths and eateries were closed on Sunday. While walking in the city, we stumbled on Braud and co- do check them out! The pastries are just so soft and yummy and so did their hot chocolate!
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| Inside Braud & co. |
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| The Sun Voyager and the view it offers |
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| When when you have so blue and white as your background, what do you do? |
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| You take photos! |
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| Near the art museum |
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| Art Museum |
We decided on whale-watching with Elding Whale Watching. They also helped us to book for Sneafellsness tour that we schedule on the last day we’re in Iceland, which would be the coming Saturday.
Some of the tour companies could be found at the Old Harbour- including the bout tour for aurora watching. There are also a few eating places near the Old Harbour- please do try the Sea Baron Restaurnt- the lobster soup is just too delish! We arrived there at around 11.30 am, just before the crowd came in.
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| Quick brunch before boarding the whale watching boat at 1pm |
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| Inside Saegreifinn, the Sea Baron Restaurant |
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| Lobster soup and salmon grill |
The whale-watching boat tour takes roughly 3 hours- if luck is on your side, you might be able to watch a lot of them playing around. Ours came nearing the end, but they were shy enough to surface for too long. Oh, do take the anti-motion-sickness pill provided. I usually don’t have any but took one anyway and the way the boat swayed while waiting for the whales to surface, you WILL get sea-sick even if previously you don’t experience it.
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| Whale was too shy, could only catch the glimpse of its fin |
By the way, there are Hop-on-Hop-off buses around, near the Old Harbour / Harpa Concert Hall- do check them out if you have time.
We decided to go home to eat and rest before our re-schedule Aurora tour that night. Unfortunately, it was again canceled, which puzzled us because the weather was quite bright and clear during the daytime. But alas, it was out of our limit.
Next: Part 3- Golden Circle
Please bear with the many photos in coming post
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