Globus Tour of Iceland

Psssst....  Wanna go to Iceland?  Well, hop on board and let's go.

I already know what you are going to say.  You don't have to lecture me.  I sit around Dallas all winter long whining about how cold it is and how I hate being cold and when it finally begins to warm up, I start talking about trips to Iceland of all places.  But here's the deal.  We'll be taking this trip at the end of July.  Do you know how freaking hot it is going to be in Dallas, Texas on July 28th when we leave town on this imaginary trip that could be real if you've got the dough?  In Dallas our average daily high is 96 degrees.  And let's face it.... if it only gets up to 96 degrees on July 28th, we'll all be talking about how nice and cool the weather has been heading into August.  It's NOT LIKELY!  So now, how are you feeling about Iceland?  I thought so.

First of all, I'm thinking that we need to fly in on July 27th.  Airfare to Iceland isn't cheap.  It's going to cost us $1206 per person roundtrip.  We'll fly into Reykjavik via Jet Blue to Boston and then Iceland Air from Boston to Reykjavik.  We're leaving Dallas at 6:20 AM and will arrive in Iceland at 11:40 PM on Saturday night, Ugh!  Long day, but who cares... we're on vacation!!!  We won't be joining our tour group until 6 PM Sunday so we have most of the day to ourselves in Reykjavik to either sleep in and recover from the flight or discover some of the local sights that our Globus tour group won't be visiting.  By the way, the average high temperature during our visit will be 54 degrees.  Slightly cooler than Dallas' forcasted highs for any day in July.

Since this is likely to be my only trip to Iceland, I choose to do a tour on Sunday so I am going on the Viking Horse Tour which is TripAdvisors #1 ranked thing to do in Iceland.  They pick you up at your hotel at 10 AM and will drop us back off about four and a half hours later giving us plenty of time to meet up with our tour group at 6 PM.  The horseback riding tour is 10 - 15 minutes from Reykjavik so we will have plenty of time on horseback and according to at least one reviewer on TA they even allow time at a local bar after the ride for a beer with the tour guide.

As you can see from these photos I found on their website, the countryside is beautiful.  They only allow small groups.  So that the experience is personalized.  Sounds like a wonderful day.

After we are dropped back off following our Viking Horse Tour, we will meet our Globus Tour Director and traveling companions at a welcome dinner at our hotel and then stay one more night before leaving on our tour.

Day 2 will start out with a driving orientation in Reykjavik followed by a visit to the geothermal heat and electric power station in Hellisheidavirkjun.  Read the fascinating article provided on the link.  And look at the amazing photo below.  I think this is probably the only power plant I would ever look forward to visiting during a vacation.

Next we'll stop at the hot springs at Geysir and meet with the chef at the restaurant who will walk with us to the geothermal areas where we will enjoy freshly baked hot-spring bread with Icelandic butter, boiled eggs and herring all served with a glass of geysir schnapps, served at freezing point.  I'm not too sure about the boiled eggs and herring, but hey, I'll try anything once.

Leaving Geysir we'll go to the Gullfoss waterfall which cascades 105 feet in two drops.  According to Wikipedia when you first approach the waterfall, it is obscured from view so that it looks like the river simply vanishes into the earth.

Upon leaving Gullfoss, we'll head to Eyjafjallajokul volcano.  (I know it looks like my cat jumped on my keyboard but that really is a word in Iceland apparently.)  This is the volcano that erupted in 2010 which generated the massive ash cloud that grounded flights to and from Europe.  Below is a photo of the eruption provided by National Geographic. Chances are it won't look exactly like this during our visit.

Following this stop, we will overnight in Vik the southernmost village in Iceland.  On Day 3 of our trip, we will head to the largest glacier in Europe.  Vatnajokull is located in the national park at Skaftafell and actually covers several volcanoes below the ice.  The average thickness of the glacier is 400 meters and it covers 8% of the country.  That is a lot of ice!

The amazing lake in the photo above is Lake Jokulsarlon where some of the scenes of the James Bond movie Die Another Day were filmed and we will be stopping here today.

Day 4 will be spent driving along the eastern coast of Iceland where the Irish missionaries first settled only 200 years ago.  Then we will stay in Egilsstadir.  Day 5 will be one of the most exciting days of the tour as we will be visiting Dettifoss and Lake Myvatn.  As you can see from the photos Dettifoss is just a little unassuming waterfall.  Oh, it also happens to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe.

Lake Myvatn was formed in a volcanic eruption 2300 years ago and was named for the millions of midges that fly around there in the summer months.  I guess Myvatn is the Icelandic word for midge.  It is known for it's huge waterfowl concentration.  And the river Laxa is known for it huge population of brown trout and Atlantic salmon.

Lake Myvatn

Before arriving in Akureyri on this night, we will visit Godafoss which is know as the waterfall of the Gods.  The awesome photo to the right was taken by Trey Ratcliff at Godafoss.  From this photo you can see why even with all the other amazing waterfalls in Iceland, this one is known as the waterfall of the Gods.

On Day 6 we'll have an orientation in Akureyri which is the capital of northern Iceland and then visit the Botanical Garden.  That will be followed by a drive to Hvammstangi where we will enjoy a seal watching trip by boat around Miofjorour which is included in the tour.  We will spend tonight on the west coast of Bogarnes.

On Day 7 we will stop in Thingvellir before returning to Reykjavik where we can spend the afternoon on our own followed by a farewell dinner.  The tour will end tomorrow following breakfast.  All breakfasts and dinners are included in the price of the package as well as all tours except for the Viking Horse Tour which I just thought would be fun.  The tour takes you around the entire country of Iceland missing nothing.

Tour prices start at $2,749 per person not including air.  There are still packages available for 2013 if you are interested in cooling off this summer, give me a call at Places You'll Go Travel 469-828-0254.