Iceland 🇮🇸

Well, we had some bumps. The plane ride in was pretty windy, so we had them physically, but we also had some emotionally. Once on the ground, we discovered at one point in time (we believe while in Amsterdam) our debit card info was stolen. We went to withdraw some cash and were denied. Finding this odd considering we had more than enough to make the withdrawal, we called our bank. They said someone tried to withdraw $1,400! 😵 So they shut down both cards and froze all transactions until we get new debit cards and pins. 😭

Really glad that our bank is so on top of fraud, because we went over all other transactions and that was the only one out of the ordinary, whew! However, this left us with no access to our accounts. In a foreign country. Not great. 😔 We have credit cards, but not all places take credit. So we’re doing our best for the next three days to survive off those, so far so good! 🙃

Once we got off the phone with our bank and respective credit card companies (an hour later after landing,) we took a taxi to a hotel I booked for us to rest our head for the night.

Putting behind the stressful arrival, we woke up excited to be in Iceland and ready to explore! We headed to the rental place to pick up our campervan. Our home for the next few days!

We hit the road and got to Reykjavik by 10am and went straight to CrossFit Reykjavik for a WOD. This gym is deluxe. Cream of the crop. They have a protein smoothie bar at their check in desk, along with bulletproof coffee and more! They also have rain showers, hot and cold soaking tubs, and a ton of space in the workout area.

We quickly changed and were waiting for class to start when I spied Annie Thorsdottir and Frederik Aegidius training together! 😍

I wanted to say “Hi!” Soooo bad, but I didn’t want to interrupt their workout, plus we had started warm up for the class we were in. Instead I settled for blatant staring and grinning at them every chance I got! Annie is so much more petite in real life, easily my height. Zaq and I were just over the moon – we were working out next to Annie and Frederik!!! We joked about it multiple times, but to have it become a reality – UNREAL!

The WOD was so hard too.

Warm up

400m Run
EMOM x 4, adding 1 rep to each, every round:

5 Burpees
5 Air Squats
5 V-Ups

E3MOM x 7 (Every 3 Minutes on the Minute)

400m Run
12 T2B (Toe to Bar)

This is us “wilting” after the WOD.

The coaches there were amazing! We learned so much about good form on Toe to Bar.
After a shower we went to a place the local CrossFiters recommended called, Glo. It was a super healthy make your own bowl of deliciousness kind of place. And let me tell you, after France, Belgium and Amsterdam, I was elitied to see dark green veggies in plenty!

On our way out of Reykjavik we stopped by there amazing and well talked about church, Hallgrímskirkja. It was breathtaking to finally see it in person! Too bad I didn’t realize the camera was in B&W effect mode… 😐

We went inside and saw this huge Organ, we could imagine how it would fill the space with wonderful harmonies, especially since it is positioned at the back of the church.

We also took a lift to the top and got a 360 degree view of Reykjavik, it’s so small and colorful.

Afterward we walked around a little. We found a cafe that had grass growing on its roof…cool and odd, ha ha ha.

Hitting the road we drove toward Gullfoss Falls, and the drive there was beautiful. The sheep really do roam free here, they are everywhere. Some areas even have slower speed limits because of sheep crossing.

Once at the falls, we were immediately met with roaring water and splash and spray, it smelled so clean. We got to hike along the falls, right up to them! As well as above with so many spectacular views!

To give you a concept of how big these falls are, if you look closely to the left of the photo, all those small dots are people, standing right next to the falls.

Then we headed to our campsite for the night. We were extremely excited to find that our camp manager had a washer and dryer, because hand washing only works so many times…we quickly gathered all our stinky clothes and plopped them in for a true wash.

Our camp site is right next to a bunch of Geysers, so we went to explore and strolled through the Geyser fields, while waiting for our laundry to finish.

I also should mention the days of posting mighty feasts is over, at least for this trip. We stopped by the grocery store before leaving Reykjavik and stocked up on fruit, bars, nuts, and sandwich makings. So we filled our tummies, drank some hot tea and called it a night. We have a very early start tomorrow and the weather looks clear! Can’t wait to share more of our Iceland adventures, but for now, good night or in Icelandic, góða nótt!