Day 3 & 4 - Mt. Esja & Blue Lagoon

More fun from the other planet called Iceland!  We ventured out of the city yesterday and today to discover that the Iceland landscape can easily be compared to that of the planet Mars.  Miles and miles of moss covered rock land with some man-made rock sculptures called "cairns" that can be seen every couple of miles or so along the road.  Wednesday we went hiking up a mountain called Esja located about 25 minutes from Reykjavik.  Hiking Mt. Esja was rainy and windy, and Ines was put to the test (part of the training for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro!).  She made it about 45 minutes before we turned it around and found a coffeehouse to dry off.  The training will continue!

We met some travelers last night, Joan and Stephan from Yorkshire, England, who had us laughing so hard we forgot to eat dinner.  We learned about "The Raccoons" and why the English think raccoons are friendly cuddly animals (look it up on youtube, it's apparently one of their main impressions of America).  They learned that Americans can be friendly and fun (we hope!).

Today was Korey's first spa experience....caution, the photos of Korey in the spa may be disturbing to some viewers...  But we had a great day in the hot thermal springs of the Blue Lagoon.  Big thanks to the SLC College Girls for the wonderful birthday upgrade to the "Luxury Package" which included champagne, a private changing room, exclusive access to the best Blue Lagoon Pools, and a lovely Icelandic concierge that replaced Korey's robe as it kept disappearing from the common room!  What a special treat.

Things we learned the last few days 1) Ines will need formal hiking training to be ready for Mt. Kilimanjaro, 2) Ines, cell phones, and Blue Lagoon water do not mix (Korey's phone being the victim, we think it will be okay), and next time Korey will remember to bring the waterproof GoPro!

The mountain looked much more intimidating than it was!

Ines slowly but surely making it up Esja

The landscape of Iceland, pretty crazy

The waters of the Blue Lagoon were truly spectacular.  It's one of the 25 wonders of the world!

Ines torturing Korey with a moisturizing face mask, made straight from the silica based waters

The sun setting behind us while at the Blue Lagoon.  The sky looked like it was on fire!

Day 1 & 2 - Reykjavik

Velkomi∂ to Iceland!  Hello friends and family from the middle of the Atlantic ocean.  We arrived to the friendly city of Reykjavik and have been roaming around for the last two days, eating fried "plaice" fish and chips and drinking local Viking brews.  This morning we devoured a set of three traditional "Smorrebrod" open-faced sandwiches, washing it down with Krombacher pils.  We traveled to the tallest point in the city, the steeple of a church called Hallgrimskirkja, to bring you the amazing photos below.  We also hit a few art exhibitions to get some culture in and we think we're over the jet lag at this point.  It has been windy and a bit rainy so far, but that's not stopping us.  Well, not Korey at least.  But we can't wait to venture around the rest of this country this week to see some of the "other worldly" parts.  Two things we have learned this far, 1) No travel decisions before eating, and 2) This town has a nightlife!  Which means Ines has to have a nap at 3pm if we expect her to stay up past midnight and not turn into a pumpkin.

Thank you to Ashley, Max, and Travel and Leisure for sharing your itineraries, your recommendations have been awesome!

Thank you all for the support you have shared with us, the travel tips and itineraries you are sending, and the friends you are connecting us with.  Keep it coming, as you are helping us to plan this trip!

 The cute cobblestone streets of Reykjavik!

Ines loves the cappuccino here! (It also keeps her awake...)

The Sun Voyager sculpture, the Vikings are alive and well!

View looking north from the top of Hallgrimskirkja

Our buddy Leifur Eiricksson with Hallgrimskirja in the background

View looking west out into the Atlantic from Hallgrimskirkja.  Lake Tjornin in the heart of Reykjavik also visible.

A little message from the Grand Rapids airport

Couldn't be more appropriate!  Our first words of encouragement.

Our itinerary!

Hello everyone and welcome to our blog!  Ines and I have made the crazy decision to put work on hold and travel the world for 5 months before we get married next June (of course that’s assuming we get through traveling together for 5 months!).  

We’ve created this blog to chronicle our journey and share our stories.  We also know that many of you have traveled this great planet and we’d love to have ideas/suggestions of things to do in the various countries we’ll be visiting!  Below is our tentative timeline along with destinations.  For most of the trip we are using a round the world ticket we’ve purchased to get us to an area or region, then we are flexible from there as to specific cities or countries.  So even if a place isn’t mentioned below, if there is somewhere nearby that you think is worth the trip we’re open to checking it out!  Feel free to post a comment using the comment box below, or if you’d prefer to email us separately, we can be reached at inesmvigil@gmail.com or kdrmsu1@gmail.com.

Also, in talking to some of you, we hear that you have friends or friends of friends in some of these areas.  If you think they’d be open to meeting us and/or sharing information with us please send along their name and contact information!  We’ll let you know on the blog if we connect along our travels.

10/26/15

Leave USA!

10/27/15 to 11/3/15 

Iceland

11/3/15 to 11/13/15

Scandinavia (as of now planning on Norway, Sweden, and Denmark)

11/13/15 to 11/29/15

Central/Eastern Europe (as of now planning on Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria)

11/29/15 to 12/7/15

Turkey (as of now planning to do Istanbul and Cappadocia)

12/7/15 to 12/13/15

Dubai

12/13/15 to 12/31/15

Tanzania (safari and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro)

12/31/15 to 1/7/16

Maldives

1/7/16 to 2/2/16

Southeast Asia (as of now planning Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand)

2/2/16 to 2/13/16

Australia (as of now planning Sydney, Melbourne, Great Barrier Reef area)

2/13/16 to 2/26/16

New Zealand

2/26/15 to 3/7/16

Argentina/Chile/Patagonia

3/7/16 to 3/25/16

Peru/Galapagos Islands

Estimated return end of March!  (just in time for Tigers Spring Training in Florida)

We're excited and ready to go!