https://www.facebook.com/100317489183505/

From Point A with B - Brittany Rowland, Reykjavík (2026)

10/01/2023

Day 4: The Golden Circle. Our first stop on today’s tour was Thingvellir National Park. It's known for Althing, the site of Iceland's parliament from the 10th to 18th centuries. It is the only place in the world where you can stand between two continental plates. The landscape is unworldly.

The next stop was Gullfoss-The Golden Waterfall. Gullfoss is a double drop waterfall with a cascade of more than 30 meters.

Next we headed to another amazing feat of nature, Geysir & Haukadalur geothermal area. Strokkur sits nearby and is very active, reliably erupting to heights of up to 30 meters every few minutes. We walked up just in time to see it then headed back across the street for lunch and some souvenir shopping.

After eating way too much pizza, we got back on the bus and headed to Kerid volcanic crater. It is three thousand years old and more than 50 meters deep. We didn’t have time to walk down into the crater but we did make our way around it.

At this point we were getting tired and very ready for our last stop of the day, the Blue Lagoon. Our ticket included a drink, mud mask and admission into the lagoon. We soaked in the warm water, relaxed and talked about how amazing our trip had been. If you visit Iceland, a trip to the Blue Lagoon is a must.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned the Northern Lights tour, that’s because it was cancelled again due to weather. I rebooked for the next and last night of our trip. I was incredibly nervous. If they cancelled again, we wouldn’t have another night to rebook.

07/01/2023

Day 3: We chose a later excursion since we knew we’d be up late celebrating New Years. After some much needed sleep, we headed back to the harbor for our whale watching tour. As went approached the ticket counter, the lady checked us in and said “The seas are very rough today. Is that okay?” Anyone that knows me knows I get extremely motion sick. I nervously told her we’d be okay and grabbed a few complimentary motion sickness pills. I knew a whale watching excursion could cause me to get sick. I didn’t anticipate the seas being so rough. As we headed out to sea, snow started to fall. I took my sea sickness pill and said a prayer to see a whale and not need to use the puke bag I grabbed upon boarding the boat.

As the miles from land increased, the temperature decreased and the waves got bigger. Honestly I felt like I was on an episode of Deadliest Catch. When the cold reached a certain point, we both opted to add another layer and put on the overalls provided by the tour company. It helped some but my fingers and toes legitimately started hurting from the cold. The boat was rocking so hard that I was afraid to have my phone out in fear that I would drop it into the ocean. We saw more whales than the one in the video but I decided to keep my hands warm and my phone safe in my pocket. We ended up going back a little early due to the rough seas and heavy snowfall. Honestly I was at the brink of losing my battle with motion sickness so I was very happy to see land. An incredible experience and something I’ve always wanted to do but I think it will be my last whale watching tour.

The plan was to go back the hotel, warm up a bit then head out for our Northern Lights tour. Unfortunately it was cancelled due to weather so we rebooked the tour for the next night, grabbed food and called it an early night.

The cat in the photo is the Yule Cat, known as Jólakötturinn, a huge and vicious cat who is described as lurking about the snowy countryside during Christmas time and eating people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. He is the house pet of Grýla and her sons. Iceland certainly has some interesting folk lure.

06/01/2023

Day 2: We woke up to an email that our South Coast and Glacier Hiking tour had been cancelled. As you can see, there was lots of snow which caused road closures. So we decided to sleep in then head out in the snow for lunch. We went to the American Bar and had burgers. I also had a Somersby cider that’s from Denmark. It was good but on the sweeter side.

Before our NYE event, we headed to the Sky bar located on the top floor of our hotel. It has great views of the harbor and city. We had some drinks and enjoyed the cheese board.

Next we bundled back up and headed to our Champagne and Fireworks Midnight Cruise that we booked through Expedia. The meeting point was a short walk from the hotel. When we boarded, we grabbed drinks from the concessions located on the bottom floor of the boat then headed up top. I can honestly say I’ve never experienced a NYE where fireworks are continuously shot off hours before midnight. Then when the clock struck midnight, fireworks exploded across the city. Taking the harbor cruise was an incredible way to ring in the new year because we were able to see all the firework displays around the city. It was truly magical and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to do for NYE in Iceland.

04/01/2023

Day 1: We landed in Reykjavík at 4:55 am after a long travel day to a crisp 10°F. Ok crisp isn’t the right word…let’s go with cold to the bone. We scheduled a Walk with a Viking tour to get our bearings of the city and learn a little more about the history and culture. We showed up to our 10 am tour with a group of other cold travelers only to learn that our original guide had called in sick. We rescheduled for 1 pm and ventured out to find food.

We found a cute cafe called Laundromat Cafe. The food was good but expensive as expected. I was surprised to see several political posters on the wall referring to American politics. After, we went back to the hotel and was pleasantly surprised that our room was ready early.

After a power nap, we layered back up and headed out to meet our guide in the warmer 13°F. He was a jolly guy excited to share the sights and folk lure of the country. We saw the rainbow street. Reykjavík Pride has taken place every year since 1999 and each year the street was painted. In 2019, they decided to make it a permanent fixture and allowed the residents to participate in painting the street. Next we wandered up the street to Hallgrímskirkja, a Lutheran church located at the top of Skólavörðuhæð hill. Tjörnin lake was incredible. Most of the lake was frozen but is home to hundreds of birds year round.

After the tour we grabbed dinner and got some much needed rest, 12-15 hours to be exact.

29/12/2022

I know it’s been so long and I have a lot of trips to post about but today we spent time in Boston during our layover for Iceland! I can’t wait to share everything that’s been happening. In the meantime, enjoy a few pics from our Freedom Trail tour.

09/10/2022

These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Hear it for New York, New York, New York

08/04/2022

Well hello luggage! I’m glad you could join us on Day 6 of our cruise. I have so much to share about our journey to get here. From delayed flights, cancelled flights, Delta employees telling me they couldn’t help us, flying stand by on our flights that had been cancelled by God only knows who and not having luggage for 6 days, it has definitely been an adventure. But for now I’ll enjoy some downtime in my pjs until it’s time to get dressed for dinner. All I can say is these other passengers aren’t ready. It’s going to be a full fashion show tonight 😂

23/03/2022

It’s time to share my next adventure….I’m going on a Rhine River cruise!

As some of you may remember, in May 2019 I appeared as a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. Although I wasn’t the overall winner, I did win an amazing Rhine River cruise with airfare from Emerald Cruises during the prize puzzle round. My mom has always dreamed of seeing the tulips in Amsterdam so when I found out the cruise began in Amsterdam, there was no question as to who I would take. We had one year to use the prize so we booked it for April 2020 to ensure we’d visit during the tulip festival at Keukenhof Gardens.

Fast forward to March 2020 and as you know, life changed for everyone. We were three weeks away from leaving and had already began packing. An announcement was made that President Trump would hold a press conference from the Oval Office that night and in my gut, I knew what he would say. I watched in tears as he announced the international travel ban. I understood the reason but was still extremely sad. My mom and I discussed rescheduling dates. I suggested Fall 2020 to ensure the pandemic would be over and she felt we’d be fine to go by summer 2020. Clearly none of us knew that this would last much longer than the first few weeks. We decided to reschedule for April 2021. This would be during the tulip festival and of course things would be back to normal by then…WRONG! It was again cancelled. We rescheduled again for April 2022. Until the last month or so, we still weren’t sure it would happen but *fingers crossed* it looks like 2022 will be the year!

I’ve been on 15 cruises but this will be my first river cruise and I’m excited to share all the details. Stay tuned for all the details on my first international trip since Covid and exactly what life is like on a river cruise.

22/03/2022

Ready to hear about my next adventure?? I'm leaving in 11 days! Any guesses as to where I'm going?

First clue: The flight from Atlanta is international

From Point A with B - Brittany Rowland

10/01/2023

07/01/2023

06/01/2023

04/01/2023

29/12/2022

09/10/2022

08/04/2022

23/03/2022

22/03/2022

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Listing takedown request