Iceland pre-trip hotel question

[TeeKo]

Plan on arriving one day before the tour begins. Looking at flights and will likely arrive at 4:30am.

We have a room booked at Fosshotel Reykjavik for the day we arrive but wondering about booking also for the night before we arrive so we can have a room available as soon as we get there.

If we paid for the room in advance and told them we would be checking in around 7 am the next day, is there any reason this wouldn’t work?
Thank you experienced travelers!

 

[carpenta]

Good plan in my opinion. The rooms are always full so they probably don’t open early. The airport is about an hour from Reykjavik.

 

[sayhello]

We were told no checking in early in Reykjavik, so I would say that would work if you really want a room available as soon as you arrive. Are you planning on skipping the Blue Lagoon?

Sayhello

 

[TeeKo]

We were told no checking in early in Reykjavik, so I would say that would work if you really want a room available as soon as you arrive. Are you planning on skipping the Blue Lagoon?

Sayhello

So it’s actually the Backroads trip. Which ends at the Blue Lagoon rather than starting there. I’ve been reading the “other options” thread...we have Backroads and Thomson Family trips booked for 2019. No ABDs

Thank you Sayhello for always being so helpful

 

[sayhello]

So it’s actually the Backroads trip. Which ends at the Blue Lagoon rather than starting there. I’ve been reading the “other options” thread...we have Backroads and Thomson Family trips booked for 2019. No ABDs

Thank you Sayhello for always being so helpful

Make sure to confirm with them just before you leave for Iceland that they know you are checking in REALLY late. It never hurts to double and triple check.

Sayhello

 

[TeeKo]

Make sure to confirm with them just before you leave for Iceland that they know you are checking in REALLY late. It never hurts to double and triple check.

Sayhello

I thought about that. I have a little anxiety that the intent won’t translate well and the hotel might give up our room. But with all the international travelers, surely it’s nothing new.

Did you have your Iceland trip yet?

 

[sayhello]

I thought about that. I have a little anxiety that the intent won’t translate well and the hotel might give up our room. But with all the international travelers, surely it’s nothing new.

Did you have your Iceland trip yet?

Make sure you call the hotel directly, not the reservation line!

Yes, I just got back from Iceland on Saturday! I'm hoping to start my Trip Report soon! Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer what I can!

Sayhello

 

[aggiedog]

I think you should have no problem doing that. So many flights arrive super early that booking a room the night before is not that uncommon. It's a recommended "tip" over on the TripAdvisor forum for Iceland. I would email the hotel directly.

 

[BluesTraveler]

This is what we did. We communicated over e-mail rather than phone directly with the hotel and it was no problem at all. It of course added expense, but when we arrived at the hotel at 8am, or whatever time it was, the ability to go straight to the room and shower/crash was worth every single penny.

We arranged it about 7 months out (? - maybe longer), and then I just confirmed via e-mail a couple time as it got closer.

 

[BluesTraveler]

Yes, I just got back from Iceland on Saturday! I'm hoping to start my Trip Report soon! Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer what I can!

I know one of the things you were concerned about was whether you would be able to do some of the activities - horseback riding, hiking, etc. Did it all work out? I hope you loved your trip. I'm curious to know how many you had on your adults only?

 

[sayhello]

I know one of the things you were concerned about was whether you would be able to do some of the activities - horseback riding, hiking, etc. Did it all work out? I hope you loved your trip. I'm curious to know how many you had on your adults only?

I did the horseback riding! I had a couple of people (like @kristilew) encourage me to do it, and a fellow Adventurer who had a bad back and rode horses also encouraged me. One of the Adventurers told me she'd been told to hold herself up and not just sit on the horse, and that really helped (and was a great ab workout! ) I enjoyed it thoroughly, and my back was fine. I opted out of the glacier hike. Drew our Adventure Guide said some people had complained that the hike up to the glacier had hurt their backs. There was an alternate walk out to another glacier that sounded fun to me (it was!) so I decided to not push my luck after horseback riding the day before and did the alternate walk. I thoroughly enjoyed that, too. I also did the River Rafting, and was relatively fine. It's sad, but what did me in was walking on the Lava field in my tennis shoes instead of my hiking boots. My foot slipped slightly, and was just enough to torque my pelvis and pull my piriformis muscle! I've been to the chiropractor, and it's getting better. You just never know!!

I did love the trip! But we had 37 people, and I agree with folks that it was just too many people. The bathroom situation was not good for that many people. And there were folks on this trip whose first name I never learned.

But Iceland is amazing. The weather I'm sure has a lot to do with enjoying this trip. The first day was atrocious, and I was dispairing. Fortunately, it improved. Most of this trip is outdoors (aside from the crazy amount of bus time) so I really think I'd have enjoyed it less if the weather had continued bad.

Sayhello

 

[TeeKo]

This is what we did. We communicated over e-mail rather than phone directly with the hotel and it was no problem at all. It of course added expense, but when we arrived at the hotel at 8am, or whatever time it was, the ability to go straight to the room and shower/crash was worth every single penny.

We arranged it about 7 months out (? - maybe longer), and then I just confirmed via e-mail a couple time as it got closer.

Glad to hear it worked out. Was this for Fosshotel Reykjavik?

We try hard to kick jet lag in the face when we arrive at our new destination. But we arrive at 4:30am, other than spending time in transferring from the airport, I’m not sure there would be much to do for several hours!

 

[BluesTraveler]

No different hotel, but the request seemed routine to them.

 

[TeeKo]

No different hotel, but the request seemed routine to them.

Did you just grab a taxi from airport to hotel? I sort of assume the cabbies know that planes are landing at weird times but on the other hand, it sounds like Iceland is still adapting to tourists.

One difference between ABD and Backroads is Backroads does not offer airport to hotel transfer. The tour starts at 8:30am and they want you and bags in the hotel lobby ready to roll.

 

[TeeKo]

But Iceland is amazing. The weather I'm sure has a lot to do with enjoying this trip. The first day was atrocious, and I was dispairing. Fortunately, it improved. Most of this trip is outdoors (aside from the crazy amount of bus time) so I really think I'd have enjoyed it less if the weather had continued bad.

Sayhello

Curious, was this the most bus hours you’ve logged on a tour with ABD? Does this rival Scotland?

 

[sayhello]

Curious, was this the most bus hours you’ve logged on a tour with ABD? Does this rival Scotland?

Drew, our Adventure Guide, said that the Iceland trip has the most bus hours of any ABD (28 hours). Of course, they've re-worked the Scotland ABD, so maybe it used to have more hours than 28 hours, but I don't believe so. Scotland had a few days with a lot of bus time. Virtually every day of the Iceland trip had significant bus time. Some days, like the Vik day, had a LOT of bus time. I don't remember Scotland being this bad. Iceland definitely felt like it had the most bus time of any ABD I've been on.

Sayhello

 

[BluesTraveler]

Did you just grab a taxi from airport to hotel? I sort of assume the cabbies know that planes are landing at weird times but on the other hand, it sounds like Iceland is still adapting to tourists.

One difference between ABD and Backroads is Backroads does not offer airport to hotel transfer. The tour starts at 8:30am and they want you and bags in the hotel lobby ready to roll.

We did the ABD trip, so we had a transfer. That's a good question about transportation when you arrive that early - maybe checkout the Trip Advisor forums? Or e-mail your hotel and ask.

 

[BluesTraveler]

I did the horseback riding! I had a couple of people (like @kristilew) encourage me to do it, and a fellow Adventurer who had a bad back and rode horses also encouraged me. One of the Adventurers told me she'd been told to hold herself up and not just sit on the horse, and that really helped (and was a great ab workout! ) I enjoyed it thoroughly, and my back was fine. I opted out of the glacier hike. Drew our Adventure Guide said some people had complained that the hike up to the glacier had hurt their backs. There was an alternate walk out to another glacier that sounded fun to me (it was!) so I decided to not push my luck after horseback riding the day before and did the alternate walk. I thoroughly enjoyed that, too. I also did the River Rafting, and was relatively fine. It's sad, but what did me in was walking on the Lava field in my tennis shoes instead of my hiking boots. My foot slipped slightly, and was just enough to torque my pelvis and pull my piriformis muscle! I've been to the chiropractor, and it's getting better. You just never know!!

I did love the trip! But we had 37 people, and I agree with folks that it was just too many people. The bathroom situation was not good for that many people. And there were folks on this trip whose first name I never learned.

But Iceland is amazing. The weather I'm sure has a lot to do with enjoying this trip. The first day was atrocious, and I was dispairing. Fortunately, it improved. Most of this trip is outdoors (aside from the crazy amount of bus time) so I really think I'd have enjoyed it less if the weather had continued bad.

Sayhello

I am so glad it all worked out!

 

[aggiedog]

Did you just grab a taxi from airport to hotel? I sort of assume the cabbies know that planes are landing at weird times but on the other hand, it sounds like Iceland is still adapting to tourists.

One difference between ABD and Backroads is Backroads does not offer airport to hotel transfer. The tour starts at 8:30am and they want you and bags in the hotel lobby ready to roll.

Most people use Flybus: https://www.re.is/flybus/

They are there after every flight, no matter what time.

 

[sayhello]

One difference between ABD and Backroads is Backroads does not offer airport to hotel transfer. The tour starts at 8:30am and they want you and bags in the hotel lobby ready to roll.

Oh, I remember that now. (It's been a looooooooong time since I did a Backroads trip!) I did a couple of pre-days on my own, then packed up & headed to the hotel where the trip started from in the morning. It was a camping trip, so we didn't stay there.

Sayhello