Bergjord Boarding

Jump to Iceland Itinerary Rundown

Way back in November of 2018, Luke changed our lives forever by asking me to be his wife on Thanksgiving Day. We opted for a year and a half engagement over planning a wedding in about 6 months and being restricted only to vendors that hadn’t been booked already.

Part of this planning process was picking where we would want to go on our honeymoon. Several ideas were floated around, but we settled on Norway. A big deciding factor in this decision was the fact that Luke has family from Norway and grew up enjoying many Norwegian traditions and foods. Now wielding a very Norwegian last name myself, I was very excited to explore and share in the traditions of my future family. I also knew that Norway was a very safe, clean, and beautiful country which was very appealing to someone that had never travelled internationally.

Since neither of us had flown internationally, we invested in very thorough research. Luckily, we had an amazing in-person source as well as my vocal instructor from college had lived in Norway for a while and made trips there and had a lot of great insider information for us! One of her suggestions ended up being the greatest blessing in disguise we could have asked for on our travel journey. She mentioned that the easiest and cheapest way to get to Norway would be to fly into Iceland. Keflavik is a small airport, and there are large layovers between flights, so instead of waiting around at the airport for 8 hours, we decided we might as well spend a few days in Iceland before making our way to Norway. Best decision ever.

So with our wedding date set for July 18, 2020, we confidently booked our flights in August. However, if you are looking at that date, specifically the year, you may have already figured out that a world wide shutdown due to the COVID 19 pandemic had other plans. We forged ahead with our wedding and had the most wonderful backyard wedding limited to 50 guests, but our flights were unfortunately cancelled. We were issued refunds or vouchers for all of our purchases, but our hearts still ached and mourned the loss of our big honeymoon adventure, especially since we didn’t know when things would be returned to “normal” so that we would be able to go on this big adventure we had invested so much time and money planning.

While we patiently (well somewhat patiently) waited for international flights to reopen, we instead took a “mini-moon” trip to Wisconsin Dells and still had a lovely time celebrating our marriage. The year 2021 rolled in, and international travel was slowly being reopened in some countries, but the restrictions and requirements meant we would be quarantined for 14 days before getting to start our exploring, so we knew 2021 would be a no-go for our honeymoon as well. In 2022, my sister and future brother-in-law were getting married, so we flew out to Los Angeles to spend some time with them and host a bridal shower for Alyssa. We wanted to give them our undivided time and attention for any planning questions or help in any way we could, so we decided to postpone our honeymoon one last time.

That brings us to 2023. Our flights were officially rebooked and all our accommodations and special event tickets purchased. Our passports were updated (I never got to use my first one because I had ordered a passport for the first time for our 2020 honeymoon in my maiden name and had changed my last name by the time we actually were going on our honeymoon), and we were confident we had everything ready to go and couldn’t wait. While we had originally booked our trip in August, we decided we would rather go in May. Winter would be almost completely faded away, but the tourism and big crowds wouldn’t have started to flock and fill the streets yet, so everything (including the plane tickets) would be just a little bit less expensive. At first we thought we might go right after the school year ended, but in my years of teaching experience, we had always had at least one snow day to makeup. However, we had never gone past Memorial Day, so we decided to depart the Sunday before Memorial Day.

Once again, life threw us a curveball as we were hit with one of the worst winters our town had ever seen. Before winter break, we had already missed 7 days of school. We then proceeded to miss 6 more in the spring. This number of makeup days was unheard of, and everyone was starting to panic. At this point, school would go into June, and I would be paying out my ears to have a sub cover my days because I had already used my paid leave for Alyssa and Evan’s wedding. Luckily, our district decided that instead of pushing school an extra two weeks, teachers would make up extra time before or after school, and we would just come back the extra 5 days and be done before Memorial Day.

While this was, of course, overall great news, it also meant that school was ending Friday the 26th, and our flight out of Minneapolis was Sunday the 28th. This made May a very busy and hectic month for us, but we were happy to do it because it meant we were finally going on our long-awaited honeymoon.

The day had finally arrived, and we were anxious to get to the airport. We were so anxious, in fact, that even though our flight wasn’t scheduled to depart until 7:25 pm, we arrived at the Minneapolis airport at about 2:30. It was our first international flight, and we were very unsure of what to expect, and we knew we wouldn’t be able to relax hanging out at home, so we decided just to get there. Then we knew we at least wouldn’t be rushed and could take our time while experiencing this exciting adventure.

We felt fairly comfortable knowing what to expect going through security as we had flown out of the Minneapolis airport just one year prior for our trip to Los Angeles to visit my sister and her then fiancé. It proved to be another easy go of it, as we were through security and wandering around by 3:20. Our gate wasn’t even posted yet, so we found an empty booth within the terminal with a charging port to cozy up while we passed the time. After filling a few hours with some Netflix and charging devices, we had a thought that we had better find something to eat for supper before our flight because with the change in time zones, we would be arriving in Reykjavik at around 6:45 the following morning. We picked up our things and made our way over to Zona Cocina and ordered some chips and salsa. By the time we were finished, our gate had appeared, and we were ready to make our way over.

We were glad we got there early because there were a few extra steps needed to be taken when boarding for an international flight, or at least for this one. First, they checked our passports, which we weren’t surprised by as we figured they would. Next, they checked the size of our bags and carry on suitcases by having us put them in the baggage sizer. This step we were a little less prepared for but still not super surprised since we knew there were listed measurements for carry-ons when we purchased the plane tickets and had seen baggage sizers around. Thankfully they passed the test! Last, however, they checked the weight of our luggage. This was something we had not prepared for or checked in any way as we had put all our attention on squeezing 10 days worth of clothes for cold and warm weather alike into a carry on suitcase. We were completely taken by surprise. My luggage just barely came in under the weight limit. Luke’s, unfortunately, was just over and had to be checked. We had never checked luggage before. Luckily, they checked it for free, but we knew that could be something that we might have to come to terms with forking over fees for on other flights. Fortunately we were able to come to terms with this fairly quickly, as it meant we were going and were willing to splurge a little if it meant having a worry-free and enjoyable honeymoon.

Once comfortably boarded, we tucked in and waited for our plane to take off. It was quite prompt and timely for pulling away from the gate close to the expected 7:25 time. After getting up in the air, we did our best to get cozy, knowing we would need to try and get some sleep on this 6 hour flight because we would be hitting the ground running right away Monday morning. We did not get nearly as much sleep as we expected to. We dozed in and out while listening to audio books, but I don’t know if it was the excitement, not quite being able to get fully comfortable, or the fact we had never slept on a plane before, but rest did not come easy for us. Over the duration of the flight, we were able to squeeze in just a couple of hours and landed in Iceland enthusiastic but quite exhausted.

Upon arrival, it was fairly easy to follow the signs that took us to baggage claim to get Luke’s suitcase. In the baggage claim area, they also had a duty free store where you could buy different snacks, food, and beverages before making your way into the city. They did mention that if you wanted to get alcohol, this would be a good place to purchase it because, unlike here in the states, they don’t sell alcohol just in just any grocery or convenience store. You have to specifically find a liquor store. We decided it would be easier to get a sample pack of some Icelandic alcohol here where it was easy to find instead of risking having to go on an extensive search for it later. We then made our way to immigrations where we were met with a surprisingly long line. We waited our turn until an immigration officer called us forward to ask us a few questions about our stay and ultimately stamp our passports. We had now officially entered the country of Iceland!

I am going to include a rough itinerary of our time in Iceland that will be later linked to posts where we will be able to go into more detail about each adventure or excursion instead of trying to squeeze everything into one post here. (Hopefully you stick around and check in for when these posts are shared!)

Our very first stop in Iceland was at the Blue Lagoon, about a 20-25 minute bus ride where I was barely able to keep my eyes open. This ended up being the absolute perfect first stop and provided us with some much-needed rest and relaxation. We felt rejuvenated and ready to make our way into Reykjavik where we took a pleasant walk to find our Airbnb. Our host had a very easy and contactless check in. They had left us a wonderful little note, a chocolate bar from an Iceland company, and a bottle of champagne. Once settled into our Airbnb, we took an awesome nap before venturing out to explore the city and find some supper and get some groceries. We called it a day early because we’d already had a full day, were getting an early start the next day, and had a jam-packed day ahead. The next day was a bus tour called the South Shore adventure that took us, as the name suggests, along the south shores of Reykjavik to see many of the different landscapes and features of Iceland, including glaciers, waterfalls, and unique beaches. Our final full day in Reykjavik was a more relaxed schedule that included hopping on a boat that took us puffin watching, some delectable lobster soup at a renowned eatery, trying the best hot dog we’ve ever had, souvenir shopping on Rainbow Street, and treating ourselves to a little cafe dinner.

Coming back into Iceland after our time in Norway, we also treated ourselves to a special dinner eating out at a restaurant called Bastard Brew and Food. Before departing for home the next day, we got to enjoy a delicious breakfast and coffee at Te & Kaffi, exploring Rainbow Street some more, enjoying another round of lobster soup at a 101 Reykjavik Street Food, and finishing with some dessert at Eldur og Ís.