Iceland was a country that I had wanted to visit for a long time, but always avoided going there for a number of different reasons, mostly because it was too far away, too cold, and awkward to reach. I finally decided to go about halfway through my European adventure in 2017/2018. I spent some time in Lithuania and luckily I got a direct flight from Vilnius to Reykjavic. It was by far the most expensive country that I’d ever visited. I’d been to a couple of expensive countries before, for example, Japan and Norway, but they didn’t even come close to Iceland’s absolutely obscene prices. Everything, I mean everything, was so heavily overpriced it was almost comical. A block of cheese in the local supermarket right beside my hotel cost 2,140 Icelandic Krona, almost 20 Euro, yes 20 Euro for a block of cheese, when the exact same block only costs 2-3 Euro in Ireland or elsewhere in Europe. It was absolutely crazy and not worth the price at all, but sadly, in reality, there is no cheap way, or non bargain supermarkets in Iceland. I arrived in November 2017, then took the bus from the airport to downtown Reykjavik, the capital city, and the bus cost almost 50 euro roundtrip. That was the first reality check and without even trying to spend money, accidentally spent a few hundred Euro in Reykjavik. Iceland is far away from everywhere, so they need to import a lot food, meaning they have different tax regulations and the exchange rate to the Euro isn’t so good. Though Iceland is a really cool place to visit and really scenic and adventurous, I would prefer to spend my holidays in Thailand, knowing that I could spend an entire month in Phuket, for the same price a s a three-day trip to Iceland and I’d also be guaranteed some nice weather.

There’s a lot to see in Reykjavik and my favorite place to visit was the ice cave, located just a few minutes from the the downtown area. It was an amazing feeling going deep into the ice cave, though it was absolutely freezing,  they provided us all with an extra layer of clothes and gloves. After the tour we were directed up to the main observation deck and we had a cool view over the entire city, definitely the most scenic view anywhere in Reykjavik.

The downtown area is the most visited and Hallgrimskirkirjka is the main tourist attraction. You will notice it almost instantly when you arrive in Reykjavik and it’s the largest church in Iceland. There are plenty of tourist shops around that area, some restaurants (heavily overpriced) and a few coffee shops (again heavily overpriced) some museums and a hop on hop off tour, though too expensive. I just spent the entire time walking around the city on my own, unwilling to spend anymore money because my wallet was already dry at that stage.

I took the bus back to airport and enjoyed the ride, mostly for the nice views. I didn’t go outside of Reykjavik, but I’m almost certain that there would have been some other cool spots around the country. I then got to the airport and decided to take a trip home, my the first time home in over two and a half years.