Our Europe Trip Report, Day 2!
Posted by
Mop🧹 (aka rburriel)
Sep 5 '24, 15:04
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Landed in the morning in KEF, which is about an hour from Reykjavik. First priority was activating my eSIM for Europe. The point is to set up my phone as a hotspot. Kids are antsy to get internet access so we're trying to get through security and get our checked bag, and I'm fumbling with my phone. Plus, I haven't booked the bus travel to Reykjavik yet. Plus we need lots of water and a bathroom break. I hit up the ATM and the default cash options are for the equivalent of $100, $200, and $500. Fortunately, I figure I only need about $20 or $40 worth to tip drivers here and there and the ATM does smaller values.
I get it all sorted out and make it out front to the bus. It's pretty straight forward. Everyone does this bus ride into Reykjavik. It's cold and wet - colder and wetter than I remember, but KEF is out in the tundra. Maybe Reykjavik will be better?
For Pokemon Go fans, my first Pokemon is a red (Europe) Oricorio... *SHINY*. Lucky me!
Bus driver felt a little pushy and bossy. I guess when you have a virtual monopoly, you don't need good customer service. But at no point in Iceland was I concerned that I wouldn't be able to speak English with anyone.
Once the bus is full, we start driving out to Reykjavik. The roads are flat and new and straight and about halfway between KEF and Reykjavik is where the "famous" Blue Lagoon hot springs are located. You can also look out to the side and in the distance there's smoke rising because... VOLCANO! There's also signs directing you to exits to a town and the town name is crossed off because... VOLCANO.
My oldest kid got a kick out of all the roundabouts on the highway.
The best arrives at the bus depot and then you transfer to smaller sprinter busses that take you into town and they drop you off somewhere nebulously near your hotel.
You was cold and wet in Reykjavik. *sigh* We walked a couple of blocks and checked into our hotel. But we wouldn't be able to get into our room until after 2 PM. It was maybe 9 AM. We could hang in the lobby, but we were tired. I knew we would be arriving early so I scheduled us to join a walking tour at 11 AM. It started just outside the hotel so I figured it would help us kill some time. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the hunger, but we were just not into the tour, despite the tour guide being very good. We dropped out one-by-one and made our way back to the hotel. I tipped the tour guide and we were back in the lobby by around noon. Fortunately, the hotel had our rooms ready.
To be clear, I booked very nice hotels throughout. These rooms were a bit stark in a Nordic way, but still very nice. I shared a room with my oldest daughter while the other two shared a separate room. My oldest daughter never liked the showers in any of the hotels, and I get it. It's more a matter of luxury hotels have these walk-in showers and flush floors rather than tubs. Water would escape from the shower regularly. I doubt this is the last time I'll mention the showers during this trip.
My daughter and I spent a lot of time watching the BBC and BBC News. We caught some Zzzzz's then I rallied the troops and we made our way around Reykjavik, looking at some of the sights while also seeking a place where we'd all be able to eat something.
Ultimately, we spent a lot of time at grocery stores throughout our trip, and drank a lot of Coke Zero (except in Iceland, where Pepsi has conquered the market, so we drank Pepsi Max) and ate Pringles.
Two of my kids are vegetarian while the third pretty much only eats chicken nuggets or pizza. Dinner was a challenge but finally we ate something. After that, although the weather didn't change much, we weren't ever as cold or tired.
It was very important to me to book breakfast at all the hotels since I didn't want to spend every morning needing to have the "What should we have for breakfast?" debate.
We planned for breakfast in the morning. We needed to be careful with our schedule since we had a day trip planned. And we turned in for the night. Well, my daughter actually moderates a game server and spent the entire trip carrying on her duties, so I'm not sure she slept at all. This will be a factor throughout.
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