A few years ago Zoe and I talked about taking a trip together after she graduated high school, perhaps to Asia where I had not been since I was in my 20s. Unfortunately Covid got in the way of the best laid plans, and we did not start discussing it again until this spring. By that point I had already booked my vacation time for only the last two weeks of the summer, during which time we also had a wedding to attend and Zoe had to get back to university…so we had very little time to travel. We really wanted to go somewhere different and get out of North America, so we did our research. We landed on Iceland because it is a six hour flight, and I would finally get to Europe! We left on the 20th but due to the time change got there early in the morning of the 21st, and left the evening of the 24th! We were only there for four days, two of them flying days! It certainly was a whirlwind vacation!
Our first day we arrived at 9 AM, and went to the blue lagoon around 1130 as part of our transfer to our hotel. It was actually perfect since check in was later. By the time we got to the hotel we were relaxed and ready to check in, and then explore Reykjavik for dinner and a walk. Our hotel was Hotel Island Spa and Wellness. It was about a 20 minute walk from downtown which was fine for us but I would not recommend it if you have mobility issues. The Hopp electric scooters helped when we were in a rush (and were so fun!). The hotel was modern and clean, staff were nice. Nothing special but perfectly fine. We did not eat there. There were a few close restaurants, a supermarket, and a drugstore close by.
Our second day we were planning to do the live volcano hike but we cancelled it because it was no longer active (as of the day before we arrived!). Instead we spent the day exploring Reykjavik and doing some grocery shopping (The world’s biggest vegan grocery store was a 15 minute walk from our hotel…which we did not find out until we were there! This was not by design!) so we had food for breakfast and lunch every day. Although it’s a small city, we love walking and exploring hidden spots and found every area. We thoroughly enjoyed it! We really loved the Hallgrimskirkja Church which was beautiful inside and out, and has a high tower that we were able to visit and had beautiful views! The waterfount and Harpa concert hall were also stunning. We went to the Kattakaffihúsið cat café twice, it was perfect for us since we are huge cat lovers and vegan! Although we loved having a full day in the city, had we planned better we probably would’ve booked some sort of half day tour or activity.
Day 3 we did a south coast tour, and visited the Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss waterfalls, Sólheimajökull glacier (as hard as we tried our pictures did not do it justice, it is one of the most majestic things I have ever seen!), Vik, and Reynisfjara Black sand beach (where we were lucky enough to see puffins this late in summer, however they are very fast and we’re flying high above us, so I could not get a picture). We loved it. We did a sky lagoon add on at the end that was lovely, and we got to see the sunset from there.
Our last day we slept in, checked out, went downtown for lunch and ice cream, and explore some other areas we had not seen.
Although it was not a long trip we had a wonderful time, and were very glad we went! If we could’ve I would’ve added on one more day to do a golden circle tour. 
Defying Gravity 