8 Days in Iceland: Road Trip Around the Golden Circle

January 24, 2018 by Erin Lin

Grab some popcorn because this is going to be a long post! We spent 8 beautiful days in Iceland and we did it all (well almost) in a camper van. We will talk more about camping in Iceland in another post, because yes, it needs it own post. Camping in a van was the BEST way to see all of Iceland and we were able to travel at our leisure. In this post we will share our 8-day itinerary.

Day 1: Reykjavik and the Blue Lagoon

After a 5 hour flight from Toronto to KEF, we stayed the night at a guesthouse near the airport so that we can start our first day fresh. If you are traveling to the Bus Terminal in Reykjavik, we highly recommend booking a round trip Flybus ticket (roughly $45 per person). We picked up our cute camper van at the Bus Terminal through Reykjavik Viking Campers and drove downtown to explore Reykjavik.

We decided to do the golden circle, counter clockwise. We had no rhyme or reason, but just started planning it that way. Our first stop after Reykjavik was the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is worth EVERY PENNY! Just the lagoon entrance and a mud mask was 9.100ISK (about $91 USD), but this was one of our best experiences. However, if you don't want to pay the high price tag, you can still take pictures with the milky blue water outside of the entrance for free! Also, the restaurant at the Blue Lagoon is very pricey, but the food is delicious and if you are celebrating a special occasion (we were celebrating our one year anniversary) it was well worth the price.

Day 2: Seljalandsfoss, Black Sand Beach, and the abandoned DC-3 plane on Sólheimasandur

After camping at a questionable campsite, we trekked to Vik. On our way, we found ourselves mesmerized by enchanting waterfalls. Seljalandsfoss is one of the most iconic waterfalls in Iceland where you can go behind the water. There were TONS of tourists so we suggest that you go to this during a time when less tourists are there (if you go in the summer, go in the middle of the night when there is still sunlight!).

Possibly one of the most iconic Icelandic places to visit is the 1973 DC-3 plane wreck on Sólheimasandur (don't worry, there were no casualties). The walk seemed endless, we had to trek over 2 miles each way to get to the plane. But it was worth it! You can climb on the plane and take very cool pictures. If you are not up for the walk, there are tours close by where you can rent a bicycle.

When we were in Vik, we visited the Black Sand Beach, twice! We went for lunch and to check out the beach, but we loved it so much, we decided to do our anniversary photoshoot there (check out our previous blogpost for the pictures). It is so beautiful and you can see the Dyrhólaey (arch with hole) from a distance.

Day 3: Jökulsárlón Lagoon, Höfn, and Seyðisfjörður

Jökulsárlón Lagoon, or Glacier Lagoon was absolutely breathtaking. It looks unreal! We saw it from two different views. If you are going counter clockwise there is a spot right before you get to the Glacier Lagoon where you can see the lagoon from higher grounds. It is the most magical scene you will ever see. We saw green/brown mountains and when we walked through, we looked down to see the purest blue water with glaciers. When you go down to the lagoon, you can take tours in the lagoon or you can just hang out by the shore and touch parts of glaciers!

After the Glacier Lagoon we headed to Höfn where we had lunch and drove northeast to go to Seyðisfjörður where we camped for the evening. There wasn't much to do in Höfn and we got to Seyðisfjörður pretty late, but it was a very cute fishing village.

Day 4: Borgarfjörður, Námafjall, Mytvan Nature Baths, and Akureyi

We debated on whether or not we wanted to venture to the edge of the east coast to see puffins, but that decision was one of the best we ever made! We drove to Borgarfjörður and were able to see thousands of puffins. We got lucky and it was mating season so there were so many of these beautiful birds hanging out.

As we drove to Akureyi (Iceland's second biggest/metropolitan city) we stopped at Námafjall and the Mytvan Nature Baths. Námafjall is a geothermal field and it was such a cool site. The only "issue" was that it smelled like rotten eggs, so much of our time there was spent trying not to breath through our noses. A few miles away was the Mytvan Nature Baths which is similar to the Blue Lagoon, but not as blue, less crowed, and a lot cheaper. Admission was only 4300 ISK (about $43 USD). It was so relaxing and cleansing after a few days of camping.

As the middle point of our trip, we decided to get a room at an Airbnb home in Akureyi to charge all of our cameras (we brought 6!) and to get a hot shower and good nights sleep. Akureyi was an amazing city and we loved all the little shops and houses.

Day 5: Jökulsárgljúfur, and Húsavík

After leaving Akureyi, we roamed to Jökulsárgljúfur which is a national park. There is an iconic water fall, but it started raining and we didn't have time to hike 2 hours to see the waterfall. We just walked around, it was pretty, but not eventful.

The highlight of our day was in Húsavík. We went whale watching! We did some research on eco-friendly whale-watching and decided to take a tour with the North Saling. Our tickets were just under $100 USD. It was exhilarating and we got really lucky and saw hump back whales and even a blue whale.

Day 6: Dalvik, Beer Spa, and Hólabraut

We spent most of our 6th day driving west and relaxing. We napped in our van for a couple of hours- by accident, we parked in a place where we shouldn't have and almost got stuck in a ditch! There was a viral video going around on Facebook about a Beer Spa and we decided to check it out. It was AMAZING! They have 7 private rooms and each bath can hold two people. You get to take a soak in the beer (before it is fermented) while sipping on beer from a keg, conveniently located right next to the tub. After 25 minutes of soaking, they tucked us into this bed and we got to nap for another 25 minutes. It was fantastic to say the least.

Day 7: Vatnsnes, Stykkishólmur, and Hellissandur

Day 7 was full of small cities and long drives. We took some pictures while we drove through Vatnsnes and had delicious fish soup (it is known for the "best" fish soup ever). It wasn't a very eventful day even when we were in Stykkishólmur and Hellissandur. While we were in our campsite at Hellissandur, we had the bright idea of sleeping early (at like 7pm) to wake up at midnight to chase the sunset at Kirkjufell.

Day 8: Kirkjufell, Gulfoss, Geysir, and Reykjavik

Since we were in Iceland during the summer, there was about 20 hours of sunlight and even when the sun "set" it was still pretty bright. At midnight we went to Kirkjufell a beautiful mountain with views of multiple waterfalls. There were quite a few photographers that were waiting for the perfect shot of the sunsetting behind the mountain. We drove through the rest of the night to see the "sunrise" at Gulfoss and the Geysir, which at 4am was frigid cold, but gorgeous!

We LOVED Iceland and cannot wait to go back one day. Although our plane tickets were very affordable, the food and activities were expensive, so we will have to save up to go next time! If you have any questions about traveling to Iceland or camping in a van, please leave a comment below or send us an e-mail. Thanks for reading!

DIY Anniversary Pictures in Iceland

July 16, 2017 by Erin Lin in travel, adventure

A quick search of "Iceland" on Pinterest will take you to the most amazing pictures of the small island's majestic topography, geological wonders, Icelandic food snapshots, but also beautiful, curated, stills of weddings and engagements. From the moment we saw those, we knew it was imperative that we do a photoshoot during our stay.

No research could have prepared us for the actual, tangible, splendor of Iceland! There were many beautiful locations to take pictures, but we quickly fell in love with the Black Sand Beach in Vik, on the southern tip of the country, a couple hours east of Reykjavik. On one side of the beach, the infamous Dyrhólaey (cliff with a hole) can be seen at a distance, and on the other side, the fascinating Hálsanefshellir Cave, surrounded by pillars of rectangular rock formations, lied right on the beach, a couple feet away from our photoshoot location.

Originally, we had wanted to hire someone to take the pictures, but when we found out the costs ($2,500-$3,000), we decided to do it ourselves! We used:

Canon 5D Mark II DSLR with a Canon 24-105 f4.0 L lens,
a tripod, and
a remote

We like to think that our setup did the job (exceptionally well). You can be the judge by checking our stills below! As for pose ideas, we had garnered a couple from Pinterest and had tried to replicate them.

After spending a couple days in Iceland, we realized that popular spots were often filled with tourists during the day, and with the advantage of the sun not fully setting ever, we decided to take our pictures during the sunset at 10pm. It was the best decision we ever made because there weren't a lot of people on the beach and the sunset was absolutely breathtaking.

This trip and photoshoot has inspired us to travel somewhere new every year during our wedding anniversary and get glammed up to do a photoshoot (even if it's a camping trip). It's a budget friendly and memorable "souvenir."

Thanks for checking out this blog post and if you have any questions on DIY photoshoots or taking a trip to Iceland, leave a comment below.

12 Day California Road Trip

June 25, 2017 by Erin Lin in adventure

For our honeymoon last year, we went on the adventure of a lifetime and took a road trip across California from San Francisco to Los Angeles. We debated between an adventurous or relaxing honeymoon, and decided that this was the best of both worlds! It was the perfect trip, experiencing the beauty of California’s coastline, eating the most delicious foods, and enjoying each other’s company.

Checkout out the itinerary of our 12 Day California Road Trip below. We skim over lodging details and what we ate because we knew this was going to be a long post, enjoy!

Days 1-2, San Francisco: We met up with one of our friends who showed us the best eats in SF! We had the most AMAZING food ever. Our favorites and most memorable were definitely Sushirrito (Sushi burrito) and a small Vietnamese restaurant called Cordon Bleu (they had vermicelli salads the size of a basketball). Aside from constantly gorging ourselves, we also walked the Golden Gate Bridge (YES! It was super windy, and even though it was July, we had to wear coats), Lombard Street, and of course- WENT SHOPPING. It was fun to explore, but one major tip- dress in layers. Even though it was summer, we wore our coats some parts of the day, and t-shirts during others. I even had to buy a sweater!

Day 3, Yosemite: Next we veered East towards our next destination: Yosemite National Park. It was nice to get out of the city and see the California nature. We opted on driving the scenic route because we had only planned to be there for the day. It was definitely breathtaking. As we “hiked” and drove to different lookout points, it felt surreal to be surrounded by such beauty. The vibrant colors were mesmerizing and we felt incredibly small in comparison to all of the mountains around us.

Day 4, Monterey: This was the first stop on the iconic Pacific Highway (PCH) road trip. We stayed at a cute Airbnb close to the beach- expecting to spend the day at the beach, but once again again, even though it was July, it was too cold! Instead we took advantage of our host’s Aquarium membership and visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium and explored downtown Monterey.

Day 5, San Luis Obispo: We spent most of the day driving down PCH and visiting different spots along Big Sur. We visited the STATE PARK, took pictures along the coast and detoured on to Bixby Bridge. It was a gorgeous drive and ever-so enchanting. We chose to drive north to south so that we would have an ongoing view of the ocean in all of its majesty. Due to my bouts of car sickness, Norman ended up driving the whole time. We ended our long day on the road with a stay at the Madonna Inn, which was possibly the coolest hotel we’ve ever stayed at! Each room had a different theme with very elaborate decor. For example, our room was hot pink and decorated in a beautiful floral print. We enjoyed some leisure time at the pool,had dinner at their restaurant, and even received a balloon that said “honeymoon”!

Day 6, Los Angeles: We drove from San Luis Obispo to the Camarillo Premium Outlets just north of Los Angeles and started with lunch at In n’ Out, a west coast eatery favorite. We then shopped for a few hours before driving to Los Angeles to visit family. The evening ended with an impromptu honeymoon photoshoot at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Days 7-8, Disneyland: 2 days in the most magical place on Earth and Norman finally lost his Disney virginity! A little backstory: I absolutely LOVE Disneyland and actually prefer it over Disney World. I’ve been there many times with people for all different occasions, and that is why sharing this experience with Norman on our honeymoon was that much more special. We spent the first day at California Adventures and then the second at Disneyland. Yes, we even did the cheesy matching couples shirt thing. It was two magical days full of chasing Disney characters, Dole whip, fireworks, and reminiscing of our childhood through the rides.

Days 9-12, Venice Beach: The last leg of our honeymoon was probably one of the most “honeymoon-like”. We rented a very small airbnb right off the beach and literally rolled onto the beach. For the last 3 full days we spent every morning on the beach, sitting under an umbrella, and smelling the ocean waves. Our first night we explored Venice Beach, which presented as an eclectic beach town. Our second day, we did the typical LA tourist thing-- walking around places like Hollywood Blvd and the Griffith Observatory (where we met up with another friend). We also took one last trip to the LACMA again; it really is beautiful there. , We ate our way through Koreatown enjoying awesome KBBQ and bubbletea! We even endured the LA traffic! It took us two hours to get from Koreatown to Griffith Observatory, but it was well worth it for that view. Our last full day was more of a chill and vedge day. After our morning on the beach, we rented bikes and rode along the beach all the way to Santa Monica Beach. We shopped a little, walked around the downtown area and came back for dinner, ending our honeymoon with a relaxing evening.

It has almost been a year since we got married and our honeymoon, and we are excited to plan our anniversary trip to Iceland. Thanks for reading our first post and we hope you are inspired to go on an adventure!