We’ve just returned from a few days away in Iceland, so thought I’d take the opportunity to blog about our experience, and what we’d do differently if we knew then what we know now!

The very first story I ever wrote was set in Iceland, and since our visit I’ve picked this up again but turned it into an erotic story I am considering self-publishing.

Anyway, back to the trip…

We intended to spend a long weekend, adults-only in Iceland, but as it was half term we decided to make a family holiday out of it, and took our 7 year old along.

We travelled with WOW air (amazing bright pink planes), and were very happy to get home an hour earlier than scheduled on the return home – I know, that never happens!

“What a great bargain!” – said no-one in Iceland, ever.  As you may know, Iceland is beyond expensive.  It even seemed pricier to me than Norway.  I stopped trying to convert the money, as it just depressed me, and resigned myself to the fact we were going to be poor for the next few months.

We stayed in Reykjavik at Hotel Klemmur, which was really conveniently located near the centre of town, and perfectly comfortable and serviceable.

The restaurants and pubs are gorgeously cosy and even the ones that look like ‘grown-up’ drinking holes welcome children.

The spent one day renting a car and driving around to see some sights along the south coast.  Here’s one thing I didn’t know – the major sights are distanced quite far apart from each other.  As we had our young child in the car, we didn’t feel it fair to drag him round for hours.  So, we decided to take the 90 minute journey from Reykjavik to Seljalandsfoss waterfall.  There was so much more to see on the ‘Route 1’ road we took, but it would have involved hours on the road, which we didn’t feel was fair with a child in tow.

It was worth the journey and the car hire though, and the route there was spectacular in itself, and lent itself to some fabulous photos.

Another day we spent exploring Reykjavik.  We visited the famous Perlan Museum, which has a 360 degree viewing platform, from which you can see all over the city.  Unfortunately, the day we went, the weather was abysmal and meant the view was seriously compromised.  However, we did do the glacier tour, which was fairly interested if not over rather quickly.  It costs a fortune to get in to Perlan (about £70 for 2 adults and a child) and the cookies were £5 each.  Ouch!  In retrospect, I’d recommend just going for the viewing platform, as you can pay a fee for that alone without seeing the rest of the museum.

I’d love to go to Iceland again, and next time I do, I’d organise it so we stayed at a different hotel every night, and could visit sites en route.  Returning every time to Reykjavik eats up journey time and means you don’t get to see that much.

On the final day we visited The Blue Lagoon, which was a long-standing dream of ours.  I’d highly recommend arriving at sunrise (which late October is around 9am), as you get some fantastic views.  I took this picture just as we slipped into the gorgeously hot water, and moments before I had my 9am glass of sweet fizzy wine at the lagoon bar.  I could get used to that!

More images can be found on my Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/ginahollands/