Glacier Hiking in Iceland

I was going through my blog the other day, trying to figure out what I was going to do with it, and I realized that I never shared the best day of our Iceland Adventure! You can read about our first few days here and here. But, I seemed to leave out the best part.

We woke up really early one day to meet our tour guide and take a 2 hour drive up the coast to a glacier. The early morning and long drive was worth it. Joe and I spent the day hiking a glacier, ice climbing, and seeing an amazing waterfall.

Once we arrived at the glacier, we had to put on our crampons, harness, and helmets. We were also given ice picks.  The first thing I noticed was the view. It was amazing up there. I am not a huge snow person, but I could have spend hours, maybe even days, up there. There were some clouds on the horizon and you could see the sea. It was breathtaking.

Once we were geared up, we followed our guide and began our trek up the glacier. We went on small ridges, we went in ice tunnels, and went to a spot where we got to go ice climbing. It was amazing. Here are some pictures of our hike on the glacier!

The View

Our Guide

Joe on a ridge

The Ice Tunnel 

I had to lick it!

We had to take a selfie. 

We reached a place were our guides set us up for ice climbing. Let me you, it was hard. I thought it would be kind of difficult, but it was really tough. Like I barely made it to the top tough. But it was a great experience and I would do it again. 

Finally we headed back to our hotel, but stopped at Skogfoss waterfall. It was beautiful. The day couldn't have been any better.  Iceland it very beautiful and I recommend the trip if you are looking for something different and adventurous. 

Would you ever go to Iceland?

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Fun New Things at Disney World!

Earlier this year, Joe and I went to Disney World to Run the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon! I was a Disney World Passholder for 5 years so I figured it was just going to be a normal fun trip to disney. However, I noticed many new things. 

Magic Bands 

Joe and I stayed on property and I was really excited when our Magic Bands were delivered to our house. The box was really nice and the concept was neat. Magic Bands are given to all guest who stay on Disney property, their primary purpose is a way to get into your room. However, you can attached a credit card to the band which allows you the ability to purchase things through out the park. You can attach your ticket to your band. You can also use the bands for Fastpass+. Once you have made your reservations you can go online and set up your vacation. The website is really easy to use and has a ton of information. You can choose your favorite color and your band will be sent to you in that color with your name printed on the inside. The use of Magic Bands start the moment you arrive at Orlando International, so be sure to put them in your carry on. 

Over all the Magic Bands were great, they were not that bad to wear and easy to use. At times it was difficult to get the band to register, you really need to make sure the Mickey ears touch at the right spot. We did decide to attach our credit card to the band and all of the charges were correct. Although Magic Bands are in the test stage, I am sure we will continue to see them at the park. 

Fast Pass+

The Fast Pass is one of Disney's greatest inventions, if you plan your Fast Passes correctly you can spend almost no time at all waiting in lines. Fast Pass+ gives you the tools to plan correctly. You use the Diseny World website or an awesome app called "My Disney Experience" to plan your trip. You are allowed 3 Fast Pass+ passes in one day and your Magic Band to enter in a special Fast Pass+ line. The concept is amazing and I am sure once Disney figures out how to get all of the kinks worked out it will be awesome! But, there are currently kinks... You only can use your 3 passes at one park. For example, if you are spending half of your day at Magic Kingdom and half of your day at Epcot, you have to choose which park you want to use your passes at. Once you use 1 pass at a park you must use the rest at that park. You only get 3 passes a day, but if you have a hard ticket also, you can use both the Magic Band and your hard ticket to get regular Fast Passes. 

Interactive Games 

One last new thing that I wanted to share was Interactive games that were put into Magic Kingdom. There were 2 of them that we found. The first was called Sorcerers at it can be found at the fire station on Main Street. You are given a deck of playing cards, showed how to play the game,  and then handed a map of where all of the locations are.

To play the game you have to place your Key card against the card reader and a video will play. You have to watch the video carefully and then cast your "spell" in order to beat the villan.  Then the video will give you a clue to where you need to go next. The game takes you to a few locations through out the park. I was really impressed with the creative ways that the videos played. It is a good way to entertain small kids or good for someone who has been to the park many times and is looking for something new to do. 

The other game that we found was called A 

Pirate's Adventure. It can be found in Adventure Land just before you get to Frontier Land. Joe and I really liked this game. You are given a pirate map and have to go around and figure out the clues to go to the next spot. The animation for the clues were really good. I would recommend this game for people of all ages. There was no wait to play and only took 15-20 minutes to complete it! 

Joe and I had a such a fun time at Disney and I will be posting a Marathon Recap later this week! I will also be putting together a review of the new Fantasy Land at Magic Kingdom. 

When was the last time you went to Disney World?

Do you know of any fun new things at Disney World?

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Traveling to Iceland - Lava Tube and Blue Lagoon

Back in December, Joe and I went to Iceland! You can read about the first part of our trip here!

Day 2 brought an exciting adventure! We woke up bright (not so bright, the sun didn't rise until close to
10:30am) and early to meet our tour guide at our hotel. We were booked on a Lava Tube tour. Iceland is just a giant volcano with lots of lava tubes (kind of like a cave). I was really excited to get going to see what adventure awaited us. We drove for about an hour to a remote place that looked like it was out of a space movie. When we arrived we were given these awesome jail outfits. Bright orange jumpsuits, gloves and helmets. There was nothing but snow as far as I could see. We walked about a half of  a mile and found the entrance of the lava tube. Once at the entrance our guide told us that we would nee to have a leader to guide us through the lava tube. No one volunteered so I did. I was going to be the fearless leader that squeezed into very tight spots and make it through the cave. Our guide wanted or experience to be as authentic as possible, so he stayed back and only helped when I asked.

We all slide into the tiny opening in the snow down to the lava tube. Once our group was together I began to take lead and wander into the dark. Our head lamps gave us enough light to see right in front of us, but not enough to see ahead. It was fun and scary all at the same time!

I made it as far as I can go to the end of the lava tube. The guide let us all sit down and told us to turn off our head lamps. It became extremely dark. He told us old Icelandic tales of people who lived in caves and he also shared with us stories about christmas elves. After the short rest and story time, we headed back. There was still so much more of the lava tube to explore.

I finally found our way out of the lava tube and we headed back up to the cold snow. On the way back the guide had told me that I was one of the best leaders he has had. I was able to take my group through the lava tube with little guidance.

Fun facts about Lava Tubes:

• They are formed from lava flowing though old lava
• It was warmer in the tube then it was outside
• There aren't any animals that live in them

Blue Lagoon

After the Lava Tubes we headed to the Blue Lagoon. I guess the Blue Lagoon is a tourist must if you are headed to Iceland. I had read many things on the internet talking about pros and cons of the lagoon, but we decided to go. If I was to plan my trip again, I would have went to the Blue Lagoon in the day time. It was far to dark to see the lagoon in its entirety. Other then that the lagoon was a good stop. We only stayed there for about 2 hours, Joe said it was too warm. It is pretty much a giant hot tub with minerals in the water. They also have a steam room, sauna, and face masks for you to enjoy.  Overall the Blue Lagoon was just ok, I would say a 3 out of 5. I was slightly disappointed. But, at least I can say that I did it, right?

 

Tell me about a tourist "must" that I should go to or one that I should avoid!

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Traveling to Iceland Part 1

It's been about a month since Joe and I got back from our amazing trip to Iceland. We had such an amazing time and I am so excited to share with you some of our highlights! I know what you are thinking...Who goes to Iceland in the middle of the winter? Joe was thinking the same thing but went with me anyways.

Preparing for Iceland
Iceland is such a beautiful country and it was really inexpensive to get there and to stay in a hotel there. I was a bit shocked by the cost of food, but other then that everything was affordable. The weather was much nicer then the weather that we were experiencing in Colorado so I think we may have over packed. We took a ton of base layers, hiking pants, snow boarding pants, sweaters, and 2 snow jackets. GoLite and Colombia were the 2 shops that we got most of our clothes from. I highly recommend GoLite if you are planning any type of out door adventure.

Our Flight
We left Friday in the afternoon and arrived in Reykjavik  bright and early on Saturday morning. We took Iceland Air and our flight was amazing. We were greeted at the door of the plane with a happy flight attendant  who gave us a whole bottle of water and snack. Each seat had blanket and pillow in it and a personal t.v. for everyone that was FREE!! There were free movies, free tv shows, and free clips about Iceland! The flight attendants were very friendly and helpful. It really couldn't have been any better.

Our Hotel 
We stayed at Hotel Odinsve in Reykjavik! We got a really good deal on Orbits for $70 a night (half off regular price). The hotel was in a perfect location, we were able to walk almost everywhere in Reykjavik. It was a boutique hotel with a great staff. There is an amazing restaurant  on the first floor and Bjork can often be found there. The room was a bit small, but not smaller then our NYC hotel room. Overall I was very pleased with the hotel and I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Iceland.

Day 1 - Northern Lights Jeep Tour
I was really excited to see the northern lights. It was on of the main reasons why I wanted to go to Iceland. Joe had booked a Jeep Tour with one of the best companies there was and we were waiting in the lobby of our hotel, it was getting close to our pick up time, so I asked the concierge if they knew anything about the tour company. He had told me that our tour has been canceled. This didn't make any sense because we could see the northern lights from the city earlier that evening, why would it be canceled? He quickly booked us on another tour, but it was a bus tour. I was beyond upset, but tried to make it seem like everything was fine. I had been talking to another couple who was very disappointed with their bus tour of the northern lights. So I was disappointed to learn that we would be taking the same tour that night.

Joe can always tell when I am not happy, so he went back to the concierge to fix the problem. By this time most of the tours had already picked up their passengers and were already headed out to see the lights. But he managed to have a company pick us up, in their personal car and take us to meet the rest of the group. We met the group just outside of the city and we saw the lights!! They were so beautiful. I quickly took out my camera and realized that I needed a tri-pod for the log exposer needed to capture the lights on camera. Luckily the tour company, Super Jeep, had a photographer there that was able to capture all of the photos we wanted. The company puts the photos on their facebook page and you can email them to you!

We stopped at a few locations and were able to see the northern lights. It was amazing. They served us hot chocolate with vodka to keep us warm. After the sweet treat they took us on an off roading adventure. It was a rush of excitement as we went up and down piles of snow and ended up over looking the city.

This is what happens when you don't have a tripod!

A View of the Lights

Another long exposer photo. 

On top of the Mountain

Day 1 - Icelanders like to party!

After the tour we went out for a few drinks. A fun fact about Iceland is that beer was illegal until the 1980's. So they are making up for the lost time. Most of the time they don't go out to drink until 11:00 pm - 2:00am and stay out until 06:00am. We only stayed out until 2:30 and the crowds were still coming. Everyone was so friendly and the dancing was....uh...entertaining. 

Be sure to check back for more of our trip to Iceland. We went Ice Climbing, Glacier Hiking, to the Blue Lagoon, and hiking in a Lava Tube. 

Have a great day!! 

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