Iceland was absolutely fantastic. Iceland Air started doing direct flights from Vancouver and my wife and I got on the inaugural flight, despite her being several uncomfortable months pregnant.
Some highlights:
* We saw geysir, the first geyser known to modern Europeans and the source of the name "geyser" [0]
* We went inside of a volcano [1]
* We did not get fooled by Icelandic polar bears [2]
* We (well, I) ate an average of two hot dogs per day [3]
* We saw a viking home which they unearthed during construction and then built a museum around [4]
* We boiled ourselves like happy lobsters [5]
* We had te og kaffi, which smelled and tasted like the best cafe I'd been to in years [6]
We went in April and were really glad we'd bought sleeping masks for the flight as the midnight sun did throw us for a loop. We were walking down the street one day wondering why all the stores were closed already, then saw a group of young women in glittery dresses and platform heels walking down the street. Checked my phone and it was 11 PM on a Saturday. Oh, okay, clubbing. Right, it's bedtime. Okay.
When we got back from Iceland, my wife was starting a new position at her company where she had to show up at 6:30 AM, so we ended up keeping the same sleep schedule and getting up at 3:30 every morning to have breakfast and commute together. Working in tech meant I had about six hours alone in the office before anyone else really showed up, which was quite peaceful.
Highly recommend Iceland, even if you don't go for New Year's!
I did not go inside of a volcano, but did climb a glacier. Otherwise, while I thought the hot dogs were pretty neat, the wife didn't care for them, so we stuck to the one and then engaged in more of their fine dining options.
Dill and Ōx were phenomenal. One of them has a Michelin star, but I can't remember which. Kol was also pretty great. Otherwise, it was great snacking on stupid gift-shop snacks like smoked salmon and capers as a dramatic contrast to the typical American gift shop snacks of corn chips.
The settlement exhibition we saw as part of a walking tour, and absolutely adored, but somewhat overshadowed by the "Bureaucrat" statue across the street from it[1].
Didn't have te og kaffi, but did enjoy Skyr (which is a cheese that you can DRINK).
On the whole, I enjoyed it more than I could have thought possible. You mentioned Iceland Air, and one thing I thought was really smart was that they've positioned themselves as a destination layover going from North America to Europe. We usually travel to Europe for vacations, but this time we "punted" and chose Iceland as our preferred accommodations in London were unavailable, and now I am keen to make a tradition of stopping over in Iceland everywhere I can.
Nice, glad to hear you went to Iceland as well! I went in 2020, not sure when the YVR<->KEF direct flights started though! We just snuck in before COVID got crazy, and in fact our flight home got canceled the night before we were due to leave -- ended up getting booked a replacement flight through LHR though it required a bunch of stressful calls to Iceland Air.. that was an interesting finale to the trip. On the upside, all tourist attractions were basically empty and we had an even more "isolated" and otherworldly experience than planned! A+++ would visit Iceland at the start of a pandemic again :)
I was sold when you said "direct flights from Vancouver". One of the biggest pain points for me is having to get connecting flights in the east coast for most destinations we plan to go to.
Some highlights:
* We saw geysir, the first geyser known to modern Europeans and the source of the name "geyser" [0]
* We went inside of a volcano [1]
* We did not get fooled by Icelandic polar bears [2]
* We (well, I) ate an average of two hot dogs per day [3]
* We saw a viking home which they unearthed during construction and then built a museum around [4]
* We boiled ourselves like happy lobsters [5]
* We had te og kaffi, which smelled and tasted like the best cafe I'd been to in years [6]
We went in April and were really glad we'd bought sleeping masks for the flight as the midnight sun did throw us for a loop. We were walking down the street one day wondering why all the stores were closed already, then saw a group of young women in glittery dresses and platform heels walking down the street. Checked my phone and it was 11 PM on a Saturday. Oh, okay, clubbing. Right, it's bedtime. Okay.
When we got back from Iceland, my wife was starting a new position at her company where she had to show up at 6:30 AM, so we ended up keeping the same sleep schedule and getting up at 3:30 every morning to have breakfast and commute together. Working in tech meant I had about six hours alone in the office before anyone else really showed up, which was quite peaceful.
Highly recommend Iceland, even if you don't go for New Year's!
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geysir
[1] https://insidethevolcano.com/
[2] https://fooledbyiceland.tumblr.com/
[3] https://theculturetrip.com/europe/iceland/articles/how-this-...
[4] https://reykjavikcitymuseum.is/the-settlement-exhibition/exh...
[5] https://www.bluelagoon.com/
[6] https://goo.gl/maps/QCDLW6DPyLSeKumF9