Following our hike out to see the downed Navy DC plane on Solheimasandur Beach, we continued our journey to Reykjavik, where we had approximately 18 hours to spend. Although the weather was mostly dry, with maybe a slight mist during our walk, the drive into Reykjavik was extremely stressful as we encountered near white out conditions from the rain. Not being comfortable on unfamiliar roads, I drove at or below the speed limit and kept getting passed by other drivers!
When we finally arrived in Reykjavik, it was almost 3pm and we had not eaten anything but some yogurt for breakfast and crackers for lunch. My priority was to find a light snack and a friend, who had traveled to Reykjavik two years earlier, recommended the Reykjavik Fish Restaurant. We were in extreme luck as I managed to find parking directly across the street from the restaurant and, although metered, parking is free on Sundays so we didn’t even have to pay!
My son can be somewhat of a picky eater, so not knowing precisely how the fish was prepared, I simply ordered one serving of fish and chips to share. Our one order of fish and chip, a side sauce, and a beer (for me!) was $28.
After our snack, which was just enough to tide us over, we headed to our guesthouse to check in for the night. Earlier that day, I had received check in instructions via email with access codes for both the main entry door and our private room + bath. The guesthouse was easy to find and I appreciated the free and ample parking outside.
Our room was small, but clean, and provided everything we needed for our overnight stay. The downstairs level contains a small kitchen/dining area with free coffee/tea, but we did not use any of the amenities. Nor did we take the time to check out the rooftop spa on the deck, but it was nice to know that we had options if desired.
After checking in to our room, we headed off to attend the vigil mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Although not as unique as Catherine’s mass experience in Akureyri, the Cathedral was beautiful.
After mass, I decided it was time to get my son some actual food. Although he had eaten some fish and fries at lunch, he had really eaten very little during our entire trip. I searched around online for pizza places and quickly located a recommended restaurant only 15 minutes away from the Cathedral.
The food at Eldofninn Pizzeria was very good, but also extremely pricey. There was one pizza that I was intrigued by, but at $33 for a personal pie, I decided to skip it and just go for a slightly more reasonably priced option. Our total for dinner (two pizzas, one soft drink, one 175ml bottle of wine) was $63. After eating our fill, we headed back to our guest house for the night.
The next morning, we woke up bright and early and the weather was surprisingly clear. We quickly packed up our stuff and headed into town (the guest house is about 10 minutes walking distance from the main town, but I decided to just drive to save us time). With a noon reservation at the Lava Tunnel, we had about 2.5 hours to pass before we needed to be on the road.
I was happy to find a coffee shop with pastries, which we gladly indulged in.
My $3 small coffee!
Afterwards, we wandered across the street where we happened upon Hallgrimskirkja. I remembered that Catherine had visited Hallgrimskirkja and that she even mentioned it again as something we should strongly considering taking the time to experience while in Reykjavik. Since the weather was beautiful and we had time, we decided to go ahead and head up the observation tower.
Although the inside of the church was nothing to write home about, the views of Reykjavik from the top were simply astonishing. We spent a good 20 minutes just checking out the city from every angle.
There is only one elevator that brings visitors to the top and capacity is limited to 6 (although people definitely squeezed in more), so there is a bit of a wait to get to the top. Luckily, the one elevator set up helps to limit the number of people on the observation tower. My son had a great time pointing out the coffee shop we had just had breakfast at 20 minutes prior. Admission for one adult and one child under 12 was just under $10.50.
The Hallgrimskirkja experience from start to finish occupied almost an hour of our time, so by then, it was time to make our way back to the vehicle and get on the road to our next adventure, the Lava Tunnel!
When I decided to take a trip to Iceland with kids, I never imagined that the opportunity would present itself for my older son and I to take a solo mommy-son trip. We were super excited for our trip to Iceland as it was really a stolen weekend of sorts. My 3.5 year old was spending the week with his grandparents and this really gave me and my eight year old an opportunity to bond and enjoy each other’s company.
Our Wow Airlines Flight from Baltimore to Keflavik:
The night before our departure, I eagerly logged on at exactly 23 hours and 59 minutes to check in for our flight. I was prompted to enter our passport information and within seconds, confirmed that we were checked in and seated next to one another. Wow did not give us the option of changing seats or even seeing the seat map to ascertain how full the flight was. But, I was pleased to have been seated next to my son (in a window and aisle seat – our preferred and default seating arrangement when traveling just the two of us).
The drive from our home in Alexandria, VA to Baltimore Airport took nearly 90 minutes, so I was very glad to have left with plenty of time to accommodate the heavy traffic. Upon entering the airport, we quickly dropped off our one checked bag and made our way over to The Club BWI, which I was able to enter for free using the Priority Pass membership that comes with my Chase Sapphire Reserve Card.
Although The Club was very full, we were able to secure two adjacent seats and I was more than willing to take advantage of the complimentary beverages, including not one, but two manhattans (it was a long drive up there after all)! After about 30 minutes at The Club, we made our way over to the boarding gate, noting, along the way, a few extremely family friendly features about the Baltimore airport: playground and nursing pods, like the ones they had at Kidspace in Pasadena.
The kids’ playspace at BWI
Once on board, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was ample leg room and available charging ports. A lot of people complain about the fact that Wow doesn’t provide free beverages but I just picked up a bottle of water at a shop on my way to the gate. I also planned to purchase a meal for my son as it was essentially our dinner time, and the $15.99 WOW Deal was perfect.
I appreciated that for $15.99 my son could get a pizza, drink, and a candy bar (which we shared) and to my surprise, the flight attendants did not heat up the pizza until after we ordered, so it was basically as fresh as it could be given that we were up in the air.
The only negative thing I can think of to say about Wow is that the boarding and deplaning process was extremely slow. I’m not sure what the issue was, but on both legs of our flights, there was a lot of waiting on the boarding bridge and then a lot of sitting after the plane doors opened before we could get off the flight. Nevertheless, given that I went into the Wow experience with bated breath, I was pleasantly surprised by just how enjoyable the experience was. In fact, the standard seat we were assigned seemed just as roomy if not roomier than some of the most recently revamped American and United flights I’ve been on.
Our arrival at Keflavik Airport and Viking World:
Everyone gushes about how amazingly beautiful Iceland is, but I certainly did not expect to be greeted with an arrival rainbow.
Our arrival rainbow at KEF
The customs experience and baggage retrieval was standard and within an hour of our arrival, we found ourselves in a shuttle on our way to the rental car. Picking up the rental car was a seamless process. They quickly found our reservation and went over the terms of the agreement with me. I was moderately perturbed by the excessive bolded warnings that damage from wind, hail, and gravel was not included in the provided insurance as… well, Iceland is the land of wind, hail, and gravel. I was also surprised when the rental agent recommended that I take photos documenting the car prior to leaving the agency and then again on my return back. I had read before that Iceland takes its rental cars very seriously and this was clearly the case.
I really enjoyed driving an X1 around, despite the heartburn over every possible flying rock that might hit the car and cause me to incur additional liability.My rental came with a broken rear view mirror, which I documented heavily prior to departure.
Once I had taken about 100 photos of the rental car, we made the 10-15 minute drive over to Viking World, which has an exact replica of a famous Viking ship as well a Viking millennium exhibition produced by the Smithsonian Institute called Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga. Importantly, Viking World also opens at 7am and has a cafe. Having not slept, at all, on the red eye flight, I desperately needed something other than a 2.5 hour drive down to Reynisfjara to wake up a bit.
Knowing that I needed something to eat, I signed my son and I up for the Breakfast Buffet, which includes museum admission. For a total of ~$32USD, we spent the next hour snacking and wandering around the museum.
The breakfast buffet that I was thrilled to nibble from.
My son’s favorite part of the museum was, as expected, the replica ship that we could actually walk on to and explore.
On board the Icelander.
Personally, I loved the Settlement of Iceland exhibit, which deals with archaeological findings from the Suðurnes/Reykjanes region, including remains from the oldest occupation on Reykjanes peninsula from the ninth century.
icelandic burial at sea?
After spending about an hour indoors, we went to check out the traditional Icelandic settlement located just outside the museum’s doors. Unfortunately, it was so bitter cold that we really could not stand to spend much time outside. I’ll also note that there did not seem to be much by way of explanatory information, so we were clueless as to what we were looking at.
The outdoor viking settlement.
Our drive from Keflavik to Reynisfjara:
After nearly freezing our tails off exploring the outdoor settlement, we piled back into the car and began the journey down to Reynisfjara. I knew that it would be a long drive with multiple stops along the way, but I was not really prepared to find that most of the attractions were on the second portion of the drive. In other words, although the scenery was beautiful, it was a long hour to 1.5 hours before we hit the first item on our list: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall.
My son quickly fell asleep in the backseat of the car and I had to pull over a full times and step outside just to wake myself up and get some air. Luckily the scenery was so gorgeous that I didn’t mind the detours and stops.
Taken on one of my many “fresh air” stops.
By the time we reached Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, I was tired enough that I knew we weren’t going to be able to get out and explore every item on our original list of things to do. I parked and took a quick peek at the waterfall and was happy enough that my son stirred enough to go “oooooo…waterfall!” In other words, despite Seljalandsfoss being one of the waterfalls that you can walk behind, we did not actually walk to the falls. We just enjoyed it from the parking area and were happy to continue on our journey.
Despite the novelty of walking behind a waterfall, I also really did not want to get wet, so opted to just enjoy the waterfall from the parking area.
The next stop on my list, Eyjafjnallajokull, the site of a major 2010 volcanic eruption that required the evacuation of 800 people living in the town immediately below the volcano. Although there used to be a Visitor’s Center, which featured artifacts and a 20 minute video of the eruption, the Visitor’s Center is now closed, with no signs of reopening. We were only able to enjoy the information signs located outside the Visitor’s Center, which is located across the road from Eyjafjnallajokull.
View of Eyjafjnallajokull from the now shuttered Visitor’s Center.
View of the area surrounding Eyjafjnallajokull.
From Eyjafjnallajokull, my next intended stop was Gljufrabui Waterfall, which is partially hidden by a large rock wall. With my son happily snoring in the backseat, I had no desire to wake him up and go searching for a waterfall (which I was previously told required wellies to discover). I simply continued on driving to Skogafoss waterfall where we again admired the waterfall from a distance. My original intention was to walk the path leading to each and every waterfall (after all, when in Iceland…), but I don’t regret that we did not. We were literally so tired that my goal was just simply to get to our cottage in Reynisfjara in one piece.
View of land around Skogafoss.
As you can see, the country is so beautiful that simply being there and taking in the entire surroundings was plenty. From Skogafoss, I stopped quickly at Solheimasandur Beach to take a look at the walk and signs, knowing that the walk to the US navy plane wreckage would have to take place on our return journey, if at all.
After Solheimasandur, I decided that it was really time to get to Reynisfjara. Although it was only 1pm, that was a good 8 hours after our arrival at Keflavik airport after not having slept at all on the plane. Although the drive from Reykjavik to Vik is billed as 2.5 hours, the numerous stops and detours we had taken quickly added to the driving time and thus the late hour. Our cottage check in was not until 4pm, however, so my son and I spent a few minutes on Reynisfjara after locating our cottage, which was located just above the beach. In fact, I was thrilled to see that our cottage was one of three cottages that are the closest accommodations you could secure to Reynisfjara beach and would highly recommend it to anyone looking.
Our two nights at Reynisfjara were spent at the middle cottage.basalt columns at Reynisfjara
At the beach, I noted the existence of Black Beach Restaurant and filed it away as a possibility for the next night, our second night at the cottage.
Black Beach Restaurant, located within walking distance from our rental cottage and literally on the beach.
Given that we had some time to kill before we could check in, we ventured into Vik for lunch and some groceries.
Our cottage was only a short 15-20 minutes drive to Vik and just prior to entering the village, I spotted a sign indicating the existence of a brewpub, Smiojan Brugghus. A burger, fries, and a beer was just what the doctor ordered.
The service was great, with the servers offering me samples of their various brews before having me commit to one. My son devoured his burger and I relished very bite of mine. I ordered the combo meal, which included burger, fries, and a non-alcoholic drink and my son had the kid’s burger which came with fries. In addition, I ordered a beer (giving my soft drink to my son) and the total for our meal was approximately $45 USD. A tad steep for two burgers, fries, and a beer, but the quality was good.
After lunch, we stopped at the grocery store, Kronan, where we picked up a few essentials: milk, salami, crackers, and yogurt, before returning to Reynisfjara where we were luckily able to check in about 90 minutes prior to the stated 4pm check in. The cabin was small, but included everything we needed: a small kitchen, microwave, private bath, and wifi! My son was pretty energetic, having slept most of the journey down to Reynisfjara, but I really needed a nap, so I set him up on his iPad and took a very glorious 2 hour nap.
Upon waking up, we briefly contemplated what we wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon/evening, before deciding that we really just wanted to enjoy the quiet. Having had a large, late lunch, we decided to just snack on salami and crackers (luckily, I had a bottle of wine I picked up from the duty free shop on our way out of the airport).
Photo taken at 11pm at night – it never got dark!
Our evening at the cottage was peaceful and just what we needed. From our front window, we could gaze out at Reynisfjara beach and eventually, we noticed that sheep were wandering over and all around. That night, we slept with one window open and could hear the crashing waves and the sheep baa-ing well into the night.
Although there was a lot that I had hoped to accomplish on our first day but did not actually accomplish, I was so thankful to get us down to our cottage in one piece. Everything had worked out smoothly, I simply decided to just make up what we missed on Day Three, during our drive back up to Reykjavik. Fortunately, my son is pretty easy going and was perfectly content to be along for the ride. The fast wifi was definitely a bonus and he had no trouble hanging out and relaxing in the cottage with me.
Our room was small, but clean, and provided everything we needed for our overnight stay. The downstairs level contains a small kitchen/dining area with free coffee/tea, but we did not use any of the amenities. Nor did we take the time to check out the rooftop spa on the deck, but it was nice to know that we had options if desired.
Although the inside of the church was nothing to write home about, the views of Reykjavik from the top were simply astonishing. We spent a good 20 minutes just checking out the city from every angle.
At the beach, I noted the existence of 
