My Iceland Experience: Day 1 - Þingvellir - Öxarárfoss, Geysir, Kerið crater, Gullfoss

After one and a half days of flying...ohh...I meant, 2 and a half days of flying actually...because we missed our flight from Dubai to Oslo -.- Will talk about that in my post on "My Dubai Experience"...we FINALLY ARRIVED in Keflavík International Airport (KEF), Iceland :D

Velkomið! or Velkominn! they would say. That means "welcome!" which is somewhat similar to the Norwegian's "Velkommen"

Touched down to a not so fancy airport as compared to our own Changi Airport...HAHA. Ok, not comparing airports here anyway...

Thankfully, my travel buddy booked a shuttle bus transfer from the airport to our hostel...because I thought we'd be landing in Reykjavík airport, which is right smack in Reykjavík...however, that is a private airport...and you'd probably enter Iceland via KEF unless you got your own private jet.

The thing about Keflavík International Airport is...it's about 50km away from Reykjavik!! That's a good 30 to 45minute drive away from where we landed! If we had cabbed...I think it'd have cost us a hundred sing dollars! So, here's a shout out to Ryan "THANKS BUDDY! :D" LOL. Missed that one. Haha.

The awesome thing about the shuttle service is...they take you to any address in Reykjavik! Which means they stopped right our hostel's door step! Of course, they'd group all the passengers by location already...So, they're pretty good at this.

The first thing that amazed me about their locals when we landed in Iceland is...they speak perfectly fluent English! Some of my friends told me that you wouldn't be able to understand their English...I think those friends either traveled to Iceland like 50 years ago or they're just bullshittin' me. So yeah, they're all pretty friendly and speak really good English! And most of the guys also groom a really macho, dense moustache and beard...HAHA! I'd like to call it, their face-warmers. HEE HEE!

Yup, we dropped off at Reykjavik City Hostel, washed up and went grocery shopping :D The hostel has fantastic cooking and bathing facilities I must say. Very clean and cosy lil' hostel. And yes, groceries are a MUST! Good luck to your wallet if you choose to eat out. No kiddin'.

Our room was a 6-man room which was kinda squeezy...but thankfully, there were only 5 of us in the room...My 2 travel buddies, myself and this young German couple that were on their grad trip. I must say that they had an amazing command of English...they didn't speak like Hitler or those Nazis that we always watched in movies. LOL!

Once we grabbed our car (a jeep Cherokee) the first thing we had to do was to get used to the left-hand drive...Haha...Well, we got used to it in good time...so off we were to Þingvellir or the English equivalent Thingvellir National Park.

The weather was HORRENDOUS. The wind was SUPER STRONG - you have to walk with your head tilted against it if not it will push you backward - and the wind was SUPER COLD...The wind made the 0°C climate feel like a good -5°C...No kidding. The skies were entirely clouded and it was perpetually drizzling :(

It was so cold that as we were walking to our first attraction, we didn't realize that we were actually walking on the edge of a frozen lake! Here's the lil' video I shot upon realization that I was literally walking on thin ice:

There are many attractions in Þingvellir National Park but one of the main ones was Öxarárfoss - a mini waterfall which looked pretty in the Google images...but upon arrival then we realized that...70% of those super pretty shots were taken during summer and the remaining 30% that were taken in winter were heavily edited by the photographers that took it... -_-" Here's the expectation VS reality summary:

Öxarárfoss expectation:

What is was supposed to look like

Öxarárfoss reality:

What it actually looked like

80% OF THE WHOLE DAYUM WATERFALL WAS FROZEN!! How do I deal with such heavy disappointments? I make funny faces and take pictures of myself with the failed expectation...LOL!

Expectation management measures...LOL

So you see the lil' segment above my head? That's the part of the waterfall that's not frozen...A small part of it is still flowing like how a waterfall would...LOL

Group photo! :D

Apart from just taking photos with ma funny face...I also did a lot of Vlogs to self-entertain and to educate you people watching it...yes, you're welcome...LOL. Here's the Oxararfoss Vlog:

But don't strike it off your itinerary that readily...I do believe if you go when the weather's good, you'll see a really pretty Öxarárfoss.

The walk from the carpark to the waterfall wasn't that near...so here's a few pictures of the signboards to look out for when making your way there:

First sign to tell you where Öxarárfoss is

2nd sign to look out for

Missing the signboard could mean missing the turn...and you'd be walking endlessly in another direction, discovering the undiscovered parts of Þingvellir...LOL...My friends actually missed the turn...I had to go back and find them -_-" And yes, I was jogging to the destination in order to keep warm...I don't know why my friends like to chillax and walk like a sloth in such frigid weather conditions -.-" #slothtravellers

If you actually saw my itinerary, you'd realize we only covered one out of the 5 planned stops in Þingvellir...that's because:

1. The weather was too FREAKIN' RELENTLESSLY COLD
2. The other 4 were secondary attractions aka, don't go also can
3. We missed our flight and are 1 day off our itinerary...LOL

Yup, Þingvellir was a major disappointment for us because...the weather just sucked. It's not a *boomz* attraction anyway...the main thing about Þingvellir is Silfra...where you can dive between the two tectonic plates...WHICH IS WHAT WE DID! :D That's on the last day of our Iceland journey :D :D

Our next stop was the more famous Geysir. If you've been to Iceland but have not seen the Geysir erupt...buy a ticket, fly your ass back there and wait for that Geysir to erupt. LOL. The Geysir is an integral part of Iceland. All my friends that been there have seen it.

Nothing spectacular or out-of-this-world-amazing about it...just a a lil' hot pool in a frozen country that explodes every 3 to 5 minutes. A sight to behold nonetheless.

The first sight that greets you when you enter the Geysir land - smoke billowing out of the ground 

Group photo at the Geysir's entrance :D

This is little (litli) Geysir...so cute right? :D

This is the main dude where it erupts every 3 to 5 minutes or more...

If pictures are not your thing, don't worry...videos are ma thang too...LOL. Here's my vlog of the place :D

Here's the Geysir site map for reference...in case you OCD, detailed people wanna know the whole floor plan of the place...HAHA

Geysir site map

The irony of it all is that this perpetually frozen country actually has a lot of hot water and hot gases! A lot of geothermal activity in Iceland and FYI, that's really where they get their hot water from! That is why when you actually drink the hot water from the tap in Iceland, it reeks of sulphur because it's natural! The hot water is heated by the earth's geothermal energy!

Anyway, before we left the Geysir for our next destination, the most amazing thing happened - THE SKIES BEGAN TO CLEAR!! We could finally see some blue skies!! We had to take a photo of this memorable, God-made moment:

First sight of BLUE SKIES in our Iceland trip!! Praise the Lord!! :D :D :D

From the Geysir, we then headed to Kerið crater lake. It was another moment of failed expectation :( We had to face the cold reality of the site upon arrival...#punintended LOL

Here's the expectation VS reality chart again:

Expectation of Kerið crater lake

Kerið crater lake's cold reality

I could only console myself with a Vlog there:

Once again, my friends who went there had great views because they went in summer...all I got was a frozen version of the otherwise colourful and flamboyant Kerið crater lake.

With a heavy and disappointed heart we carried on to our next destination, which DIDN'T disappoint - Iceland's most famous waterfall - Gullfoss :D

There are a few vantage points for Gullfoss. Where I was standing was the middle. You can go lower...there's a staircase down or something...which we didn't go...but we saw people below...Haha...and there's a higher vantage point which we went...but left after taking a few photos because our hands were freezing off. LOL.

Gullfoss really means "Golden Falls" and is considered one of the biggest and most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland...It's not my favourite falls though...My favourite falls will be the one covered tomorrow :D Nevertheless, Gullfoss was still an amazing sight to behold :D

Here's my trademark jump shot :D

Gullfoss waterfall, the biggest waterfall in Iceland😁 Jumping for joy at such a magnificent work of art is but a natural response to the work of His hands😌😌 📷:@ryanazaniahwong thanks for freezing your hands off for me☺😊😌😘 #gullfoss #gullfosswaterfall #jumpshot #iceland #ice #frozen #waterfall #landscape #nature #waterfalls #sunset #dusk #scenery #jonavanjourneystoIceland #jonavanjourneys #iceland_tourist #thetravelintern

A photo posted by Jonavan Lee (@jonavanlee) on Mar 12, 2016 at 4:23pm PST

Group shot! :D

Trademark ODAC pose at Gullfoss :D

Getting to Gullfoss is easy...if you can't find it, just go somewhere nearby and follow the crowd...LOL. Once again, here's the few signboards along the way to Gullfoss that will light your path.

Gullfoss signboard 1

Gullfoss signboard 2

Yup, this is a MUST-GO WATERFALL! If you miss this, you miss Iceland! LOL! And I'd recommend you go during summer...Gullfoss looks so much more attractive in the summer! But of course, the wintry Gullfoss has its mysterious allure too :D

That was my day 1 in Iceland! Had two major disappointments and the weather really played punk with us but thank God, it got better with each day :D

So stay tuned for the rest of "My Iceland Experience" series :D