Iceland trip report

[BluesTraveler]

@tsgirl, can’t thank you enough for your regular updates and for being such a good sport about all of us jumping into your report. I’m only sorry you won’t be in our travel group in August - it seems like you look at things with a practical eye yet always ready to find the good stuff.

I agree and just wanted to say thanks again. I'm packing now (our trip starts the 21st but we leave home the 18th) and you've been SO helpful. It's tricky when these trips are new and there's not much to go by.

 

[kristilew]

Kristilew, Tauck river cruise boats are superb......you're going to have a wonderful time with the crew. I'm sooooooo jealous.

This will be our second Tauck river cruise - we are so excited! Between the meals and all drinks included, the constant pampering, and the great excursions, it’s such a civilized way to travel. Not to mention the free pre-night. ABD is nice for family travel, but Tauck is now my go-to for just DH and me.

 

[Nhebron]

@tsgirl Thanks so much for this trip report! Loving it. We are leaving for our Iceland trip July 21st, but doing it on our own. Many similarities in the itinerary (except for food...we will be self catering and eating cheap!), so I love reading your experiences.

 

[carpenta]

@tsgirl Thanks so much for this trip report! Loving it. We are leaving for our Iceland trip July 21st, but doing it on our own. Many similarities in the itinerary (except for food...we will be self catering and eating cheap!), so I love reading your experiences.[/QUOTE


.......take your Costco card to purchase the less expensive food on the island. Have a great trip.

 

[EllinK]

I am also really enjoying your trip report. We did our first ABD this summer and I know how busy they are. Thanks for taking the time to share your travels with us.

 

[tsgirl]

Today is our last day. Yesterday,
Day 6 included a bird exhibit, a tour of a family’s small smokehouse in their home, a visit to a cave which was featured on Game of Thrones, a fantastic lunch in a restaurant run by a local family, a kids oriented improv show, and a very casual demonstration of the local bread baking- baked in the ground. The touring ended with a visit to another thermal bath, where about 12 people opted to stay in the waiting area.
Last night, we ate on our own at the nearby hostel. Food and drinks were good and the prices reasonable. There are local botanical gardens behind the hotel. If you walk the steps up to the church, you just follow the signs. We leave here at 7:15am this morning to drive to white water rafting. It is a 2 hour drive. After rafting, there is lunch and then a 3 hour drive to our more casual farewell dinner. Please ask any final questions you might have so I can inquire before leaving!

 

[WeLoveABD]

Today is our last day. I was not a fan of most of yesterday’s itinerary, but maybe my opinion is unique, so I’d rather not go into detail. Basically, I found it too long and I thought the time could have been allotted to something different. I can answer questions privately. Last night, we ate on our own at the nearby hostel. Food and drinks were good and the prices reasonable. There are local botanical gardens behind the hotel. If you walk the steps up to the church, you just follow the signs. We leave here at 7:15am this morning to drive to white water rafting. It is a 2 hour drive. After rafting, there is lunch and then a 3 hour drive to our more casual farewell dinner. Please ask any final questions you might have so I can inquire before leaving!

Thanks for the reports! We arrived this AM and are currentky at the Blue Lagoon (pre-day with ABD). We arrived at the BL when it opened at 7--more than enough time, including some needed down time in an indoor relax room. Nice to have this soak after a long flight! Our guides are Stefan and Drew.

 

[sayhello]

Thanks for the reports! We arrived this AM and are currentky at the Blue Lagoon (pre-day with ABD). We arrived at the BL when it opened at 7--more than enough time, including some needed down time in an indoor relax room. Nice to have this soak after a long flight! Our guides are Stefan and Drew.

Have a wonderful time!

What is an indoor relax room? That sounds wonderful!

Sayhello

 

[tsgirl]

We just completed our white water rafting with Viking Rafting- what a great company! All the guides were skilled and so much fun! I strongly recommend using them. They use dry suits which keep you dry even if you fall in the water or opt to swim. They also provide helmets, hats, and mittens. If you aren’t on ABD, they also do 3 day tours. We are now off to lunch.

 

[Casspooh]

Today is our last day. Yesterday,
Day 6 included a bird exhibit, a tour of a family’s small smokehouse in their home, a visit to a cave which was featured on Game of Thrones, a fantastic lunch in a restaurant run by a local family, a kids oriented improv show, and a very casual demonstration of the local bread baking- baked in the ground. The touring ended with a visit to another thermal bath, where about 12 people opted to stay in the waiting area.
Last night, we ate on our own at the nearby hostel. Food and drinks were good and the prices reasonable. There are local botanical gardens behind the hotel. If you walk the steps up to the church, you just follow the signs. We leave here at 7:15am this morning to drive to white water rafting. It is a 2 hour drive. After rafting, there is lunch and then a 3 hour drive to our more casual farewell dinner. Please ask any final questions you might have so I can inquire before leaving!

Did you see any Puffins at the bird exhibit? I heard Iceland has a lot of them.

 

[tsgirl]

Did you see any Puffins at the bird exhibit? I heard Iceland has a lot of them.

No- these were stuffed birds. We only saw puffins once from very far away

 

[tsgirl]

Some final thoughts, now that we are back home:

I think the large size of the group made some intimate experiences impossible. For example, we would have been able to get a brewery tour the very first night if our group hadn't been so large. All the meals were phenomenal but they would have been enriched by our group size lessening. At the indoor tomato farm, I really would have enjoyed learning and seeing more. ABD used to pride itself on the special behind the scenes experiences. We found the included activities that one might describe as “behind the scenes” experiences to be on the silly side, as opposed to educational and professional. As far as the horse back riding is concerned, I wonder whether we were supposed to do the riding in smaller groups, but for some reason, this didn't happen. In a few instances, we broke up into smaller groups with outside vendors, and this worked out great.

Also a negative, we found the hotel rooms too small, too bright, with little bathroom privacy.

To be fair, this is a brand new trip and I'm sure they will learn and adapt to what works best.

Positives? The food and the scenery were incredible. The guides were warm, knowledgable, and helpful. The glacier hike, whale watching, Turf House Tour, and white water rafting were unbelievable!

 

[carpenta]

Tsgirl thanks for your review. I agree that most hotel rooms don’t measure up to western standards but one must remember that Iceland’s tourist business is quite new and as you can attest a little overwhelming for a country of 650,000 people. Thank’s again and happy travels.

 

[BluesTraveler]

Tsgirl, thanks again for your review. Really appreciate you taking the time to do it.

 

[sayhello]

I echo the others. Thanks, @tsgirl for your report. It will be interesting to see if any "adjustments" happen by the time I go in September!

Sayhello

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Thank you so much for doing the report and for the great feedback. I hope ABD is listening. Many of us here agree with your thoughts about group size. It can have an extremely negative impact on a trip. We certainly had that on our ABD Baltics Cruise with 49(!). To my knowledge they've never repeated that ridiculous number, but it doesn't make up for the fact that our very expensive experience was impacted by a bad management decision to accommodate a large party. I would love to see them reduce the max sizes overall, but especially on a trip like this where clearly things aren't set up for large groups.

 

[WeLoveABD]

Thank you so much for doing the report and for the great feedback. I hope ABD is listening. Many of us here agree with your thoughts about group size. It can have an extremely negative impact on a trip. We certainly had that on our ABD Baltics Cruise with 49(!). To my knowledge they've never repeated that ridiculous number, but it doesn't make up for the fact that our very expensive experience was impacted by a bad management decision to accommodate a large party. I would love to see them reduce the max sizes overall, but especially on a trip like this where clearly things aren't set up for large groups.

We are on the trip now. Group size is 37, and I have had no issues with that. Great guides (Drew and Stefan), terrific itinerary, beautiful scenery...and no rain for our main events so far (first horseback riding without rain). It has been an unusually cooler and wetter summer here than normal- but we adjust. The hotels are fine-- yes, unique designs which is to me part of the charm and adventure of travel. More later on all of this, but I am happy to be here! Sorry, no detailed report now-- just wanted to jump in to say that from my perspective a large group may slow things up, but we are meeting lots of interesting people. Our cultural encounters are very intimate and greatly enhanced by Stefan. (And in chats with the bus driver, or the woman whose family has run a dairy farm for 200 years).

 

[Bunless]

Sorry if I sounded ominous about the ice cream stop. I think most people enjoyed it, but the story behind the stop is that it is a family run business which used to be run by the older parents in a very traditional way. One of the daughters explained that the kids took it over and now the cows are milked by machine and all else has been modernized. It was disappointing because, to me, it had lost the charm it probably once had, and the daughters story was a bit sad to me. Lots of guests enjoyed the visit though. I just would have preferred some free time in Reykjavík instead.

We enjoyed the ice cream stop but I am wondering if there was a different family member doing the talk. We actually heard a lot about the old ways and how things have changed. And the ice cream was yummy. But this stop is highly dependent on the family member doing the info session.

I am curious if this is the farm I've been to a couple of times with a local tour group. Efstidalur is in the Laugarvatn area http://efstidalur.is If it is, both times that I went I would have to echo cmcgardner and wonder if it depends on which family member was giving the tour. One time when we were there, they gave us samples of cheeseburgers that were made from cows that had lived their whole life on the farm, only leaving to be slaughtered. Probably the best burger I've ever had. The guy giving the tour also made us a sweet that reminded me of Norwegian Lefse, and went on and on about how his grandmother would make it for them. Really fond memories for us. Of course, we were also there in winter and early spring, so not as many people around.

 

[tsgirl]

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[tsgirl]

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