15 days Iceland - day 1 & 2 Singapore - Keflavik, Iceland

Day 1,    15/10/2019, Tuesday     Singapore - Iceland

We had intended to go Amsterdam to do some visiting and add a place to visit since we will be flying so far. After some thoughts, Iceland came into my mind. I had wanted to see the northern lights after both our kids shared their experiences. We could spent a week in Iceland and Amsterdam each. But flight connecting Amsterdam and Iceland seem not in our favour. If we fly KLM , our connecting flight to Iceland is fine but the returning is a torturing 11 hours with all the transits.  If we do a separate flight, it's too expensive. After many tries, we decided to fly Iceland, transit at Helsinki with the lowest cost available. 
We had planned to visit on end December to be able to celebrate the new year in Iceland. My  girl shared that the new year's fireworks are really beautiful. I noticed the days will be really short, we don't like to drive in the dark, especially when we know there is going to be no street lamps most of the journey. We  hope to go slow to enjoy so we decided to bring forward to October with more daylight hours. Even then, our daylight will be shorter each day. The sunrise will come later and sets earlier. Secondly, the weather will be unpredictable too. We hope we could get good weather.

Since we are only visiting Iceland, we will spent a longer time here.
(I had actually invited my sister-in-law, who told me they could go with us if we visit Europe since they are both retired there, but for some reason they could not join us, which gave us more  flexibility to play around with our schedule.)

AY0132 S’pore  -  Helsinki     T1             T2	AY0991 Helsinki – Reyjavik     T2  -     (Keflavik)
23:25    -    06:15 (15/10)      (16/10) 11hrs 50mins	0745   -   0835 16/10 1hr 30min

As I was planning our 15 days trip to Iceland, I was totally overwhelmed. I couldn’t decide which sites  will be best for us. I marked them all and tried to read more and hoped for the best. The more I read the more I wantwd to go.

First thing I learned is that the weather in Iceland  can change on a dime. Wow! four season in a day???


Next, everything is expensive. I should plan some cooking to cut cost so we could travel more . . .

Singapore Changi Airport T1

 As we took a red-eye flight from Singapore, we try to do as little and have a good rest on our arrival . Thus we could  start our trip fresh and energetic tomorrow.  .

relaxing @ Plaza premium lounge before our flight

Our flight wasn't full, I managed to sleep a few hours on a few seats. This was great for me. I just don't enjoy food on flight nowadays. bread and yogurt was good.

first glance of Iceland

First, we collected our rental car from and was pestered to purchase the extra insurance. Mr. hubby give in and we parted with 400 euro.
( and these insurance didn't even cover the tyres portion, I think it is important to include this in general. a lesson we learned )

   Then we bought the wifi which include local calls. This is also important too. You may need to call and confirmed your tour booking or call the stay. Most importantly (in our case) to call the car rental should anything happen to the car. They will asked tons of questions and at least a few call to make any progress. ( we had 3 experiences, how terrible :((  )

                                                      same post?

we have 237,800 residents in 20.89sq, km. in my town. WOW!!!!

first alert at the airport 

Stekkjarkot

Our first destination was Stekkjarkot. It is a  traditional 1800s fisherman's cottage made from turf, stone ; timber . It's free to visit!

Then, we visited the Bonus and Kronan @ Fitjar . Personally, I prefer Kronan. In Bonus, you walk into the freezer to buy the poultry and also a seperate room for vegetables and fruits. Kronan had it's poultry lay in the feezer as most supermarket does. We bought our groceries from both in our trip.

Issi fish and chips
Read about this, so here we are. it is open at 11am.

18900 kr

Bridge America-Europe
It probably seems impossible to walk from Europe to North America within a matter of seconds, but Iceland makes this unimaginable feats completely happens. The Bridge between Continents or Midlina is a 15 meter (50 ft) footbridge in the Reykjanes Peninsula spanning a gaping rift between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.

Bridge America-Europe

 Gunnuhver
This steamy area has an incredible sulfur vapor.
A unique characteristic of the Gunnuhver hot springs is that the groundwater here is 100% seawater, unlike other geothermal areas on the island. The colorful minerals in the ground provide vibrant hues, but danger is very real with temperatures over 300°C (570°F) so it is important to tread lightly and stick to the trails. Iceland's largest mud pool resides at Gunnuhver; it is 20 meters (65 ft) wide of violently boiling earth., especially with the winds, it seem to be roaring.

roaring 

casting group

We had wanted to visit Valahnúkamöl but there was a casting on, so the place was blocked. We could still walked to the lighthouse and have a great view if the surrounding.

 

Reykjanes Lighthouse

The view at Brimketill lava rock pool was panoramic.

The waves was gigantic but it forms a beautiful backdrop

                                           

free to use, toilet.
 

Seltun Geothermal area
 the site is dotted with bubbling pools of mud, fumaroles and hot springs. There are well-maintained wooden walkways .
it is sad some choose to ignore the sign and take their risk.

screenshots from my video

boiling

Seltun Geothermal area

After checking into our airbnb, we have a good early rest to start fresh tomorrow

 
the lamb is tender and no gamy smell

distance travelled : 124km

Hokkaido day 7

date travelled : 19/4/2019, Friday

Finally, I am going to Toyohira park, it is just a minute or two walk from Toyohira station. When I arrived, the nursery was not opened yet. I strolled the park and was totally immersed in this lovely environment.   It seem to be a short cut to the station for some working people, I noticed. While they need to walk quickly in my opposite direction, I strolled slowly absorbing the fresh crisp air along with some birds singing occasionally. I felt like a Disney princess. (heee...)

Towards the end of the park, I saw some flowers and followed a little path that lead me to  a little wonderland of  Corydalis ambigua. They looked sparse but are beautiful all the same. The Corydalis ambigua were in shades of blues, pinks and purples, very beautiful. I had this place to myself for a little while and was joined by a few others later. Some came with their dslr, some used their handphones. Some blooms were more beautiful than others, we did gave ways to each other though we don't speak. Flower power - harmony.
My photo didn't do justice to it.  the cool fresh air, the peacefulness, occasional  singing birds...soft breeze.........

Corydalis ambigua

managed to took a photo for this busy fellow. followed and waited for quite a while.

relax and listen to each crisp step I made on the dried leaves. it's like a mind message. 

                                                             'frozen' ?

enjoying the flowers with a cup of hot chocolates, while the weather is cold outside,  it is warm and cosy inside the nursery. watching people come and go, it's a thing I learned in later part of my life.

Then I head to Tanukikoji shopping street. I walked only a section,  stopped for a set Takoyaki, decided to return to do some washing and packing to welcome Mr. hubby. Then, we shall starts our 18 days driving around Hokkaido. I am looking forward to it. :)) Yeh! 

This evening I visited the onsen again. I noticed one of the tree has started to bloom a few flowers  . It was still closed a few days ago. I am sure it would be more gorgeous when they are fully bloom. An outdoor onsen with the flowers must be magical too. (it's an onsen, no photography) That's mean spring is really round the corner! I hope I could see lots of them.

Looking forward to tomorrow!!