Twenty four hours in Iceland. What would you do?

What would you do with 24 hours in Reykjavik?

In a stroke of Marketing genius, Icelandair offers free stopovers in Iceland at no extra cost on your ticket. Christa and I took up this offer, only to realise that even one day in Iceland will set you back at least $500. Even with the high price of everything on the island, we set off with just over 24 hours to explore Reykjavik and the surrounding area. We found that even one day was enough to get a feel for Reykjavik, even if we didn't have a chance to explore further inland to find the real beauty of this wild country.

6amWe landed after an overnight flight from Denver. We slept most of the way, but still got off the plane feeling dazed and confused. The car hire situation was confusing, but eventually we found our way to the Sixt building and got a tiny little Chevy Spark (the most pathetic car I've ever driven). We had some drama trying to exit the airport because the parking brake had got stuck on. We didn't realise until we were on the main road heading towards Reykjavik, which was really scary. We found an icelandic truck stop for breakfast. Work crews came in dressed way more appropriately than us. Heavy boots and thick winter over trousers. We sat in the corner with a really good latte and ate Kleinur - a dense fried donut covered in bitter chocolate. After a face wash in the bathrooms, I felt a lot more alive, and we got on the road.

9am

Jetlag, a hangover and a flight to catch meant we didn't have too much time in the morning. We made our way to Hafnarfjörður, a little village just outside of the city. We found a tiny bakery, finally the only place in all of Iceland where no-one could speak English. It's nice to be able to travel internationally and be understood almost anywhere, but it also takes away the mystery of foreign countries. The Icelandic language is completley indecipherable, so without everyone talking to us in perfect English we would have been lost. This little bakery was staffed by two very friendly girls who responded to our pointing and gesticulating by serving us freshing made pastries and good coffee. It was a great end to our little stay.