I went to London and Iceland! In a previous post, I think I mentioned that my boyfriend’s family loves to travel (you’ll hear that again.. we’re already planning another trip). His mother subscribes to a lot of travel websites that finds discounted flights or flight glitches so she sometimes takes these random trips to amazing places. This time she found deal on flights to Iceland and London. Of course, once I heard, I was all in!! Let me tell you about London first…
London
Coppa Club
We scheduled one big dinner for our visit and it was a great pick…
*Tip: If you plan to go here, call well in advance. Try to get a spot outside in one of their “bubble pods”!
Some place in Leicester Square
We didn’t take any pictures of the food here but it was soo good nor do we know the name of the restaurant but it was in Leicester Square and served Indian dishes. Good food and hookah made for a great way to close out our time in London!
Reykjavik
Roadhouse Reykjavik
Most of what we ate in Reykjavik was quick bits or cooked at the AirBnB. By the end of the trip, we were in dyer need of some “American” food, that’s how we stumbled across this spot which ended up being pretty tasty…
LAVA Restaurant
After a long dip in the natural pools at the blue lagoon, we were starving and opted to try out the restaurant there. It’s a bit of expensive and the entrees are little on the fancy side, but overall a good choice.
London
In London, we stayed in a AirBnB property a little ways away from the city near Canary Wharf. Though the house wasn’t very close to the city center, it was very easy to get around via London’s underground trains, and it was gorgeous. For transportation, all you need is an Oyster Travelcard, which you can get when you get there. I didn’t get a chance to document it, but trust me, it will not let you down. Check it out here…
Reykjavik
The AirBnB property in Reykjavik was a little different. It looks very good on the website, as a matter fact, I am certain the photos were edited, but in person it was not as we expected. I believe the worse parts were the mildew small that met you as you walked into the property (which they said was standard for Iceland, but I’m not convinced) and the bathrooms. The bathrooms were horrible. They were very old, small and seemed like they hadn’t been clean.
This is the post that our group left after staying there, it kind of sums up the property…
“For starters I rate the host a five! The description says “old”, but there is a difference between old and ill repair. Both apartments desperately need upgrading! I am American and by US standards, The first thing that comes to mind when I describe the apartments is 1940. The kitchen and bathrooms are by far the worse. The first apartment had broken bedroom drawers and a light fixture in the living room that did not work. The distinct smell of rotten eggs (it’s the sulfur in the water). The damp smell of mold (even though we never seen any) assaults you as soon as you open the door. The listing does not say that there is one, but please note, there is no tv or radio. A circuit blew on our second night and we had no electricity. The host came the next day and fixed it. Again, I want to be clear that I am rating the responsiveness of the host as a five and the apartments themselves as a two.”
The overarching theme for this trip is that we needed more time. It was two great destinations (I was convinced Iceland was later via Youtube) but we were only in each for about 2-3 days. I don’t think that was enough to really get to see and do everything we wanted, but it gave me enough to know that I want to revisit both in the future…
London
As always, when I have limited amount of time, I opt for tours. Like Cape Town, we chose to get Hop On Hop Off Tour tickets. We didn’t have enough time to do all the lines so we went for the one that toured the most popular sights, the red route.
And it’s always nice to get out and roam the streets locals…
I also purchased a rover ticket to take a water taxi down the Thames River. The rover ticket I purchased was a 1-day pass to basically hop-on and off the water taxi whenever and wherever I wanted. This was a good way to see a lot of the popular sights from a different view.
*Tip: Maybe think about doing this at night as it shows gorgeous view from the boat and gives you another way to get around and see the city after the bus tours are closed.
Another tour that we did was a half day Stonehenge Tour. Being that it’s one of the ancient wonders of the world it was a must-see…
Reykjavik
So the thing about Iceland is that with the exception a few people, I found everyone to be rude! Maybe this was most of the people we dealt with was the tour personnel but they were not so nice. I felt like we were being herded like cattle from one place to the other the entire time. But when I look back on it, I had a great time!
We took a day tour that showed us the countryside and brought us to see glaciers (an unidentifiable object in the distance), waterfalls, and hot springs. In opinion the best part was the waterfall… it was gorgeous!
That night, we went on a tour to see the Northern Lights. We rode around to different locations for about 3 hours, but unfortunately they weren’t visible. The good thing is that the tour company allows you to keep coming back each night until you see that, the bad thing is that we weren’t there long, so we didn’t get a chance to take advantage of that perk.
The next day, we went to the Blue Lagoon… I think this may have been the highlight of my stay in Reykjavik. But again we were herded on and off the but there too, plus there was soo many people. I recommend getting there early and if possible, taking your own vehicle or a car service.
Ultimately, it was nice to say I went to Iceland and cross it off the list but it wasn’t a great experience. I am, however, determined to go again and have a great time! Others seem to love it and I’m going to try it again.
