Let’s talk about how it felt to travel abroad post-pandemic! My trip to Iceland in April was the first time I’ve been abroad since the plague got started. My first time on a plane. My first time in a city bigger and busier than Salisbury. I was nervous. I had a plane to face, I … More How it felt to travel abroad post-pandemic | Iceland 2022
The day after the horse riding and the hike, I did the Golden Circle and made my first visit to the Secret Lagoon. It didn’t start particularly brilliantly. A lot of my stuff was wet from the previous day. My waterproof jacket fortunately dries very quickly and my coat had never got soaked so they were … More The Golden Circle and the Secret Lagoon | Iceland 2022
If you’re going to swim in a delightful outdoors naturally heated geothermal pool in Iceland, you’re going to have to face the dreaded Obligatory Naked Shower. Icelandic pool water comes straight from the ground. They don’t put chlorine in it or any other chemical disinfectant. The way Icelandic pools remain clean is to demand that … More Public nudity post-pandemic | Iceland 2022
The hot river hike was part two of my horse riding day. The lovely Eldhestar at Hveragerdi were the only people I could find who’d do a guided hike to the hot river valley so I went for it. The reason no one else does it is because it’s a 3km hike on a pretty … More I hiked up a mountain to the hot river valley | Iceland 2022
The horse’s name was Vorboðar, which means Bringer of Spring and he was not doing his job. Naively, I’d expected spring in Iceland to look quite a lot like summer – sunshine, leaves, people in lighter clothes – and what I’d seen of it so far had been winter but without the fun stuff like … More Horse riding in the rain | Iceland 2022
The second* thing on my to-do list for my trip to Iceland last month was to go to the Sky Lagoon, Iceland’s newest geothermal spa and it… well, it was good enough that I went back a second time five days later. It takes a lot of what the Blue Lagoon does well and – … More Iceland’s newest spa: The Sky Lagoon | Iceland April 2022
Yes! At long last I have new travel content – and new Iceland content at that! I got on my first plane in over two years and we’re starting with a bang: I visited the new Icelandic volcano! It still hasn’t been officially named, to the best of my knowledge, but it’s usually called Fagradalsfjall … More I visited the new Icelandic volcano! | Iceland 2022
I can’t believe I’ve never done this one! In January 2013, I went on one of the most expensive but also one of the most amazing and exclusive day trips I’ve ever done: a superjeep tour out to Landmannalaugar in the snow! At the time, it was either with Grayline or Reykjavik Excursions; the former … More Landmannalaugar in the snow
Let’s keep going with the winter and ice content! It’s a new year and it doesn’t look like there’s going to be much international travel in 2022 either but that’s no excuse for not writing about it. So today we’re having some really cold content: what to wear in Svalbard in winter – and literally … More What to wear in Svalbard in winter
I’ve been yearning just a little bit to go to Svalbard lately and I knew I wanted a post about the place in the Polar Bear Winter Festival, because what’s more wintery than a frozen archipelago in the High Arctic? But I wasn’t sure what to write about. So I had a look at what … More Svalbard: the polar bear story
I Am A Polar Bear 