First Day in Iceland

 

 First day in Iceland.  Darren Arrived in Keflavik Saturday 6:15 AM. Our flight was delayed and we didn’t get in until 12:30.  So by the time we all got together at camp easy we checked out the car and loaded up and headed out.  The kids slept every chance we got.  They were exhausted. 

We stopped at Hveradalir Geothermal Area-. Hike 5 minutes back to the mud . Free. I would say skip it to anyone else.  But it was ok.   Cool to see all the bubbling hot stuff and the smell was rotten eggs for sure. 

Then we headed to Ice bike adventures in Hveragerdi. It’s been so rainy that aren’t renting their bikes.  Darren even said we should get e-bikes.  We hiked back to Reykjadalur Hot Spring Thermal River- ALLTRAILS.  4.9 miles, 1,100 elevations, 2:30 min RT  the higher up, the better.  5 stars.  Great hike. It was beautiful and nice to relax. Leaving at 10 o’clock at night was interesting since it was still light outside. We found a close campsite and cooked dinner at 11. Pasta and warm soup was great. By the time we got our beds made up it was almost 1 o’clock and we all slept for almost 12 hours.

Packing List Iceland

The items below go in a dufflebag. You need to bring one small backpack to carry on.  It needs to be a backpack you can take on hikes

• Sleeping mask
• spending money if you want to buy souvenirs
• pack a dinner for layover before iceland
• downloaded book and earphones.  old plug-in ones for flight
• 2 pairs of hiking shoes and 1 pair of sandals
• One comfortable outfit for when we fly to Iceland.  pants, shirt, jacket, socks, shoes
• Don’t bring any jewelry.  The hot springs corrode it 
• Drone- but can only fly it some places, make sure to put your name on the drone
• Weather changes all the time so lots of layers
• Rain jacket that is bright colors for photos
• Puffy
• hat and beenie
• lightweight gloves
• 4 pairs of lightweight pants that could dry fast
• 1-2 pair of shorts that can dry fast
• 4 shirts 
• 1 long-sleeve shirt and one hoodie
• 4 pairs of underwear
• 4-5 pairs of socks
• clothes to wear as PJ’s but could also hike in 
• 2 swimsuits
• running clothes
• cosmetics all under 3 ounces
• One kit for biking 

These items need to go in Moms dufflebag

• Refillable water bottle so you don’t have to buy water
• iPhone charging cords and cigarette ones, battery to charge phones 
• Wet wipes 
• Sleeping bag, pad, small blanket if it fits, tent
• piles card game from Jacey, other card games, paper, pencil
• Hiking poles, spikes for glaciers?
• Towel, shampoo, conditioner in bags
• Pack converter to plug in devices.  Two round rods
• Backpacks for hiking
• Headlamp with extra batteries
• random medicine
• map of Iceland with stickers
• Earplugs 
• Sunglasses 
• Biking kit 

Food to bring

• reusable bags (to purchase and store groceries), Ziploc storage bags (to store leftover food, snacks, etc.), binder clips / rubber bands (to close and keep fresh packaged food), and trash bags. 
• Cup of noodles. Oatmeal. protein bars
• flavor water packets, hot cocoa