rómantísk komast burt | a romantic getaway

Day 6: nearing the end of our roadtrip around iceland

Check out this amazing breakfast spread prepared by the hotel. All this work for four patrons..

We saw alot of gorgeous Icelandic horses along the side of the road. They were brought in as ponies by early settlers from the 9th and 10th century.

Rain up ahead as we continue west on a very remote journey on route 54. The Icelandic Meteorological office was so helpful and accurate. I was checking this website every few hours: http://en.vedur.is/

At Kirkjufellsfoss. It was raining but thankfully it stopped for a few minutes which was just enough time for us to capture this photo :)

So we randomly turned into this road hoping to capture another angle of Kirkjufellsfoss which didn't work out well because our car nearly flipped over as we allowed another car pass through on the opposite direction. One important tip, never ever drive off the road because it can be unexpectedly steep and you can get stuck in the mud. Luckily nothing happened except for some mud flying all over the car. So after this near miss, we discovered a prison in the middle of nowhere. Like who on earth commits crime in Iceland? So as we were taking some photos, we realized....


..there was a man walking out!! We were both like uhhh..... (O__o)||  You have to remember that roads in Iceland stretch for miles and there's no public transportation.. So this guy was probably planning to walk back to the closest town? He didn't look like he was going to wave us down for a free ride. As we drove away, we wondered what was this guy's story. Afterwards I googled and found out that there's five low security prisons here so I guess no need to worry :P

Lots of dramatic scenery along the way...

Last stop on the road as we checked in at Hótel Búðir, a romantic and secluded spot on the south coast of the Sneafellsnes peninsula.

After we settled down, we decided to explore the grounds. I think on a nice sunny day, the surrounding area around the hotel would be even more beautiful. I can imagine a very picturesque outdoor wedding here in the summer.. <3

Love how cosy this place is.. Oh and when you arrive, you might be greeted by a very playful dog. See him running outside?

We couldn't get enough of the fresh whipped butter with specks of volcanic salt.

One of the best meals we've ever had, great service and fresh local ingredients. In general we heard alot of bad rep about the food in Iceland but so far we were just so blown away by sophistication and delightful flavours.

 Because I'm happy :)

ferð til norðurs | journey to the north

Day five | Myvatn to Laugarbakki | 289 km

Just another extraordinary skyline..

Can sleep in abit and still catch the sunrise :)

Our view during breakfast with dark blue/purple tones..

As we packed our bags and made our way on the road again, we saw these beautiful orange/bronze colors in the sky. If I were on Mars, is this what I would see?

Passing through Goðafoss waterfall. We wanted to check out Dettifoss (where they filmed Prometheus) but the roads didn't look too safe and we didn't want to be caught driving through at night. Still pretty amazing..

J dashing across slippery rocks to capture this shot. :P

Sunny yet cloudy plus lots of shadows along the way..

Lunch break at Akureyri, a small city in northern Iceland.

Seafood soup and all you can eat salad..


Mysterious, foggy and grey. Maybe some people don't want to go on vacation looking at sceneries like these but I love the spectrum of surprises that this country has to offer.

Arrived at hotel Laugarbakki. We were abit worried when we arrived because it looked like a big place with guests or cars parked outside at all. However, the lady working there was very nice and the place was very clean and pleasant inside. We did feel abit uneasy being the only ones here until another couple checked in at dinner time. hehe us city dwellers who watched one too many scary films.. :P We originally booked hotel Hvammstangi but they emailed us asking us to book here instead. Not sure why but this place was a great find.

Sharing our thoughts and reflecting on what we've learned so far on this trip. We both agreed that compared to all our other adventures since we've been together, this roadtrip has gone above and beyond our expectations. And we're only here for two weeks out of 365 days, seeing a small fraction of Iceland's natural beauty.

kysst af eldi | kissed by fire

Road trip around Iceland continues on day four where we continued to drive north-east through the mountains towards Myvatn.  

After waking up at around 9:30am, we made our way downstairs for breakfast and the two Icelandair hotels that we stayed at offers make-your-own-waffles :P This one I made looks abit like Iceland and uber crisp.

Heading from Egilsstaðir to Mývatn and seeing alot of sheep scattered along highway one. During our trip we were able to see a good mix of autumn colors to the desolate snow-covered lands.

So right after this photo was taken, J decided to try test how slippery the road was. Despite having studded tires, we were this close to driving off the cliff *eeek.. I don't understand how the drivers here can drive sooo fast. Roads were really icy so after that mini heart attack, we drove super safe hehe

The wind was blowing at least 20m/s and sweeping the snow across the terrain creating with this hazy warm glow. Feels like you've just arrived on another planet.

You can definitely ice skate across the highway :)

After a slow, cautious drive we were awarded with this beautiful scenery. So breathtaking and magical.

This was one of my favorite stops along the side of the road. The calm after the snow: sharp but smooth, cold yet warm and dark next to the light.

One of many single lane bridges.. this was one of the bigger ones.

Arrived at Hverir, a geothermal area with sulfurous, boiling mud springs. Hella smelly but intriguing colors on the ground.

"You know nothing Jon Snow." @Grjótagjá cave, the thermal spring which inspired the Game of Thrones scene where Jon Snow and Ygritte had a steamy evening together ;-) According to the signage it says this was a popular bathing place for several decades until the 1975-84 volcanic eruptions at Krafla.. Today, bathing here is strictly prohibited but I've seen some photos of people taking a dip.

Right above the cave where the cracks allow sunlight to illuminate interior.. Doesn't look like anything special from the outside.

Passing through Hverfjall, a circular volcanic crater right next to the Lake Myvatn area.

The sun finally setting at around 4:45pm..

Arrived at Hotel Laxa, a very clean and spacious hotel.  Although a lot of the hotels are closed during the winter time leaving you with only a few good options, the rates are much better and I love how everything is more quiet and less crowded.

 Happy hour which means half price on draft beer and wine before dinner.

Food here however was not that great. My first time trying reindeer and it was overcooked so it didn't leave a good impression but the arctic char was the saving grace. The other diners were piling their plate full of food but we really craving some greens or something less creamy.

After dinner we stepped outside to walk off our meal and after 30 minutes of gazing up the stars, a mysterious glow slowly appeared. Everyone says there's no guarantee that you'll see the northern lights when you're in Iceland and after several cloudy evenings, we were super excited and giddy when we saw the auroras appear before our eyes. Pictures do not do justice to the actual experience.

On J's camera.. lol sooo crazy and no one was outside at 9pm. Alot of the guests prefer to wait for the 'morning call' but after 30-40 minutes the clouds rolled in and the other guests were only able to capture max 10-15 minutes of less intense photos. The early bird definitely catches the worm..

Remember to be prepared at all times and bring extra battery. Because we stayed out right after dinner, we weren't really expecting to see the northern lights. When the aurora became super intense, J's camera ran out of battery so I had to use my digital camera to take the above photo. It was so amazing to see the lights dance across the sky and the coolest thing is that it's not static (which I thought it was). Loved seeing the different shades as well like pale green, turquoise and violet. On the Iceland meteorologic website, the forecast for aurora was four out of nine but we were already completely blown away. This experience was by far my best memory in 2016. <3