nykeiko travels: Hiking to Iceland's tallest (second tallest?) waterfall with a baby- Glymur

Nope that's the wrong way!

OH HELLO! I'm alive! Yes, yes. New job, semi-new baby and life is getting in the way of me posting a proper blog post here. Not yet ready to share a glimpse of my daughter's life makes it very difficult to blog about anything at all since she is 100% part of my life now. She just turned 16 months (December update: she is now 23 months. This is a very late post) and I am finally in love with her cuteness, personality and quirky personality.  It is hard not to find a picture without her in it on my phone. I could blog about her all day (not really, because I don't have time for that anymore!.  Don't ask me where I'm writing this at the moment. Could be on the poop bowl, on the bus, lunch time, in bed...).

I am determined to write at least one blog post about our Iceland trip and it's going to be about the time we went for a hike to find Iceland's tallest waterfall and got lost one too many times (with a baby in tow!). 

Here is what we wanted to achieve on our 7-day trip in Iceland:

nykeiko travels: My travelogue for Iceland-Hiking Fimmvörðuháls (Fimmvorduhals) from Skogar to Basar on September 1-2 2014 [over 60 pictures]

Euh..this post was drafted the same week we came back from Iceland back in September. I was so determined to post something before I forget everything about this amazing trail but I just never finished. There are over 60 pictures to share and I wanted to share as much detail as I can remember for other hikers out there who are thinking about doing this hike.

Well, six months later, the post is finally finished. Without further ado, here is one of several posts I'll write about our trip to Iceland!

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What happened during our 25 km (15.5 miles) 2-day volcanic hike in Iceland has topped our short list of most adventurous hiking adventures (See Torres Del Paine, Kalalau lookout, Kalalau trail (not finished, oops.)

This time, we did the Fimmvorduhals  trail. From Skogar, over the Fimmvorduhals pass (between Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull ice caps) with an overnight stay at the lovely Fimmvörðuhálsskali hut (~5500 ISK/person) and making our final stretch to Basar (towards  Þórsmörk). The trail itself was a fairly easy one except maybe near the end of it approaching Basar where one slip can lead to your death or a serious injury. But overall, it was an easy hike. The difficult part was the unpredictable weather which we read much about and knew what to expect but we were not prepared for a hurricane. The remnants of hurricane/cyclone Cristobal was upon us during our hike and was responsible for the high wind and constant rain we endured. That's when I learned that my gear and shoes were NOT waterproof. They were way past their water repellent capabilities when the rain just kept coming down.

Rain, wind, freeze and no waterproofing made the hike just super unpleasant. Dave's shoes and clothes held up but not his bag pack. What should have been a moderate and glorious hike alongside Iceland's most famous volcano became a series of ups and downs.We found ourselves in a pickle many times but with the wisdom gathered from watching hours of Bear Grylls show and Dave's quick thinking, we survived our trek and came out empowered.

#TBT=My #ThrowbackTravels #34: Svartifoss, Iceland [September 2014]

Svartifoss Iceland 

A very popular short hike in Vatnajokull National Park... It took us less than an hour from the visitor center to get there and needed to wait for space to get this shot without people.

Souvenirs from Iceland...Not what you're expecting

I will be featuring a couple of things I brought back from Iceland...

I got two bottles of Nutella. Not what you're expecting right? I have been obsessed with trying European Nutella. Apparently it tastes better! The only difference I can see in the ingredient is vegetable oil being used instead of palm oil. I don't have any American one to have a taste off but I like what I taste so far.  I actually have not bought a bottle of Nutella for a really long time.

I know, Iceland is probably not the best place to purchase this but this was the first time we ever set foot in Europe. It was less than $5 for a 400 g jar at a local grocery store (Bonus). Now that I think about it, I could probably find a grocery store in New York city that imports these? But with two stores dedicated to serving Nutella, it's probably a rare find.

Totally enjoying it, so totally worth it for me.

#TBT=#ThrowbackTravels #22: Jökulsárlón Lagoon, Iceland

This is throwback to last Thursday (okay, Wednesday)... 

There's going to be a ton of posts about Iceland. You have been warned...

nykeiko travel: Instead of the aurora borealis, we saw this... [Bárđarbunga, Iceland]

Red glow from Bardarbunga volcano seen from our campsite by Lake Myvatn  

(Tomorrow is our last day in Iceland. Feeling pretty darn sad right now).

After almost a week of rain and cloudy skies, we finally enjoyed some sunny days and clear(er) skies north of Iceland. That's also when I started waking myself up at random times during the night in hopes of catching a glimpse of the aurora borealis. At our campsite by Lake Myvatn with minimal city lights, I was hopeful to see some light action. I peaked my head out of our tent at random hours of the night (1:00, 2:00, 3:00 a.m.) but saw nothing. Just plain old boring shiny stars (no, no, they were also pretty especially the shooting stars.) At around 3 a.m., I decided to make a trip to the bathroom to make good use of my time and that's when I noticed a bright red glow from afar coming from the direction where Bárđarbunga is suppose to be. About 110 km away. You know Bárđarbunga, that volcano on the news you surely heard about and that has made many people question why we were still going to Iceland for our vacation destination. The fact is, we knew (hoped) that the volcano would not affect much of our itinerary and it really didn't. 

As you can see on the map below, everything north of the volcano was closed off due to the potential risk of flooding, but we had no plans of going there at all. Lake Myvatn falls right on top of the closed off area and that's where we spent one night close to "danger". Just close enough for me to get these pretty cool pictures. It's no spewing lava or anything but that's perfectly fine with me. (If you want to see spewing lava, click on the volcano's live webcams here!)

More pics..

nykeiko eats: New in Iceland! Dirty Burger and Ribs [Reykavik, Iceland]

Dirty Burger and Fries opened in August in an old gas station in Reykavik

Dave wanted me to blog about Dirty Burger and Ribs because he is proud to be in the know of what's new and hot in Iceland even though we're just here for 10 days. What's hot in Iceland right now is Reykavik's newest burger and ribs joint, Dirty Burger and Fries, opened by Iceland's only Michelin-starred chef, Agnar Sverisson. This is where we went for lunch on our first day in Reykavik. There was a short line inside when we got there but it was not too bad. We were probably the only out-of-towners and the menu was in Icelandic. I was going to give up at first and just ask what they offered but after reading the menu over and over and seeing what was churning out of the kitchen, the words hamborgari, franskar, grisarif and gos became obvious. This place only served hamburgers, ribs, fries and soda (oh and beer too!)

Dave ordered ribs and fries while I ordered the burger and fries. We both thought the burger and ribs were finger lickin' good  (We didn't lick our fingers though because they were pretty dirty from our travels.) The best part of the burger was obviously the meat and then the sauce and the pickled onions. It tasted clean and wasn't greasy at all. I said it was better than Shake Shack burgers only because there was no grease soaking through the bun making the burger too soggy to enjoy. It was just a plain delicious burger made with 100% Icelandic beef. Dave's ribs were also excellent. They were so tender and fell right off the bone. The BBQ sauce was also good and there was more of it in a bottle if you wanted to soak each bite with sauce which is exactly what I did. The only thing we thought we could have passed on was the fries which was a bit stale for our taste but maybe that's just how Icelandic fries are and we don't know any better since it is our first time in Iceland. There was indeed a cheaper combo where you can get both a burger, ribs and fries plus soda which is what we should have done (and a bit cheaper).

One combo with one burger or ribs plus fries and soda is 1380 ISK (~$12). Burger, ribs, fries and soda combo is 2380 ISK (~$20).

nykeiko eats: Reykavik Roasters [Iceland]

First meal in Iceland at Reykavik Roasters

Currently writing this in our rented Airbnb house in Seyoisfjorour right beneath a beautiful waterfall. We have been in Iceland for 5 days now.

On the first day we arrived to Reykavik, we landed just before 6 a.m. but waited for more than an hour and a half on the tarmac to debark due to heavy winds from the remnants of hurricane Cristobal (The captain confirms it was over 56 knots and although I don't know what that meant, it was just too windy to do anything.) We had a pretty turbulent landing so I'm just happy we landed safely. There was also some heavy rain which was not the best welcome from Iceland we could wish for but as soon as we hopped into our rental car and started driving, the vast beautiful landscape made it all okay.

We arrived in Reykavik still bright and early and our first stop was at a coffee shop Dave read good things about, Reykavik Roasters. I needed some coffee and we were both really hungry. I knew European croissants would be different so I got one of that and Dave got a scone with jam and butter. My croissant was so flaky and good. The coffee was strong. Perfect to start our day but with only a couple of hours of sleep on the plane, even the coffee didn't help.

The prices in Iceland are shockingly high. My latte was 560 ISK (just a bit less than 5 bucks), croissant was 360 ISK (~$3 USD) and Dave's scone was 600 ISK (~$5.20 USD). Well now that I wrote it out, it is not too far from New York city prices...

Update: On our last day in Iceland, we returned and I got myself a super nice smooth cappuccino and a 'pain au chocolat'. Both I would recommend!

In pictures: All I see is green...prepping for Iceland! [Hudson Valley hike]

We are planning a trip for our honeymoon anniversary and the destination is Iceland (Já!) Why honeymoon anniversary? When we set our dates for our trip and booked the plane tickets for the end of August, we realized that we are going to fly out on the same date we flew out for our honeymoon to Hawaii last year. Total coincidence. Anyway, we will be celebrating our one year wedding anniversary here in the city (July 26!) and Iceland is one of our dream destinations.

Dave recovered a Google chat conversation from back in 2009. He asked me if I would eat whale meat and out of nowhere he said: "Let's go to Iceland!" At the time, we were just friends and half way across the world. But now, 5 years later, we're together, married and going to Iceland! Will I eat whale? Will I ?!?

In Iceland, we are planning to do a few hikes and because we really haven't hiked since last year (on Kalalau trail), we really needed to step up our game and put our hiking shoes back on. So this past weekend, we decided to borrow the parent's car and drive to the Hudson Valley for a moderate 2.6 mile hike up North-Point. It was also a chance for us to test out our new fancy backpacks before our trip. It is so fancy we even drove by REI to have mine fitted to make sure it's the right size.

The hike was short and sweet. The view from North Point supposedly overlooked all 5 states surrounding New York state. We also saw the Hudson river and the North-South lakes. We were not even sore the next day so we think we can challenge ourselves a little more with a harder hike before our trip.