Hey friends - long time no talk!

Candidly, the winter blues, grad school starting back up, an unexpected bruised rib and a lack of fresh produce have left me feeling uninspired on all fronts. However, there is nothing that sparks inspiration quite like an fleeing New York and traveling to an even colder location: Iceland!

This installment of Being Frank comes on the tail end of my CDMX trip, so stay tuned for my Rexico City newsletter!

Here is absolutely everything I did in Iceland (with probably too much detail). If you aren’t keen to read every last detail of my days, I have bolded, underlined and (when I could) hyperlinked my recommendations. Without further ado, let’s dig in!

To start, I wanted to include some general tips I would recommend for any Iceland bound travelers:

• Rent a car! While you could certainly take buses and enjoy yourself through excursions, having a car allows you to go at your own pace and allowed us more flexibility with your days.

  • And on the topic of renting a car, use a local company! We used Blue Car Rentals, as recommended by our Airbnb host, and between 3 people and 3.5 days of rental it came out to be a little over 100$ each.

• Bring sunglasses. Yes, even and especially in the winter. While the weather here can change on a dime, the bright sun showed itself more than anticipated and the reflection of the snow on the roads was truly blinding.

• Book major excursions like Blue/Sky Lagoon early as they tend to fill up, but also give yourself flexibility with your days to simply just explore. We had a few excursions as checkpoints, but also gave ourselves the flexibility to explore at our leisure.

• The weather changes SO quickly, so be prepared for 10 minutes of Dippin’ Dots sized hail followed by sunny blue skies. Everything seems to pass pretty quickly, so don’t get discouraged, but also be prepared for anything.

• FOLLOW THE SPEED LIMITS. We luckily had no issues but that was likely due to hearing a horror story of a 900$ USD speeding ticket. Besides, everything is breathtaking so slow down and take it in!

Without further ado, a day by day breakdown of Iceland!

Day 0 (flight day)

We took a red eye from JFK to Keflavik airport on a Monday night. The flight is honestly quite quick, taking just around 5 hours from taking off to touching down, which wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had, but also put us in with a full day ahead of us. We took off around 8pm EST and landed around 7am Iceland (GMT) time. Due to it being winter, it was still pitch black when we touched down.

Day 1

We landed at Keflavik airport (the more major airport, about 45 minutes outside of Reykjavik) around 6am and because it is March, we knew we would be in darkness until about 9am.

We breezed through, grabbed our bags and were able to quite easily shuttle from the main terminal to our rental car pick up. We hit the road into the city, which is about a 45 minute drive.

Our Airbnb check in was not set until 3pm, so we knew we had some time to kill and felt like zombies, so our first stop was coffee and pastries. Per a recommendation we received we navigated to Brau & Co (@braudogco), an Icelandic bakery chain with multiple types of pastries, but my top recommendation was their cinnamon rolls. They had multiple different types, but the vanilla was legitimately the best cinnamon roll I have ever had (edit: since originally writing this, I tried both the pecan flavor and the caramel and granola flavor. Asking me to pick a favorite would be like asking me to pick a favorite child, so I suggest picking the one that speaks to you, because it seems like you can’t go wrong). The rolls didn’t have traditional frosting, which I learned after the fact is Nordic style, but they were still imbued with flavor and I even managed to smuggle a few home for friends to experience. Brau & Co has multiple locations and I believe they all carry a similar spread of pastries. Other than the cinnamon rolls, I also tried the pretzel croissant which was a great savory option to cut the sweetness.

Vanilla cinnamon roll from our last day breakfast - was still warm. Shoutout to the cute poppy seed between my front teeth.

After Brau & Co we walked just around the corner to Te & Kaffi, what I would describe as Icelandic Starbucks but MUCH better. I got the iced latte with cold foam which was DELICIOUS, including both chocolate and vanilla flavoring for a bit of sweetness but also still had a strong coffee taste. It boosted my spirits and powered me through our next few hours of window shopping.

From there, the weather began flip flopping on and off for the next few hours, going from blue clear skies to Dippin’ Dot sized hail for small bursts then back and forth again. Because we were quite tired and didn’t have a destination in mind, but also weren’t keen to be trapped outside, we used the next few hours to explore Reykjavik.

prime example of the changing weather

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but I love scouring each and every souvenir shop I encounter and comparing what one has versus another, taking a note, then ensuring I get the best possible combination of goods. We mostly used the day to scout and plan future purchases, but I did have a impulsive purchase at Little Proud Puffin. Pictured below is said impulsive purchase.

no. no I did not see a real puffin on this trip and NO, I don’t want to talk about it.

While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, my advice would be to allot about a half a day to explore up and down the streets of Reykjavik, mentally plan your buy, then do your purchasing. The entire area is quite walkable and nothing is more than 15-20 minutes a part. Some other notable shops were Mamma Mia Vintage (quite expensive but great selection), Flying Tiger (European Five Below and great if you forget anything) and 66 degrees North (seemed to be the Iceland equivalent of North Face/Patagonia)

Before we headed to our Airbnb it was time for lunch and we decided to try Icelandic Street Food, lured by their advertisement of unlimited soup. It was a very simple restaurant, with three different soup options, the opportunity to add bread to your soup and a few different desserts. Lindsay and Jenny tried both the lamb and spicy tomato soup and both were delicious and great at warming us up from the inside out. While we joked we wanted to set the record for most free refills of soup, we learned that record was 21 bowls and decided to let that individual keep their honor.

After our 3 hours of wandering and window shopping, we neared our Airbnb check in time so we made a quick stop at a local grocery store (easily my favorite place to visit in a new country), picked up some snacks and then checked in. We stayed in Kopavolgar, a little peninsula just south of Reykjavik in a apartment complex with free parking. I would definitely recommend our Airbnb for a group of 3-4! After we checked in, we immediately split and took our respective power naps.

After our naps, we regrouped, showered and made our way back to downtown for dinner, because we had a late night ahead of us hunting for Northern Lights. We decided to try out a spot we had found earlier called Mat Bar, and we were very pleasantly wowed.

@frank.ie.goes.to x @youottogo collab all trip long

At Mat Bar, we ordered a round of drinks then decided to split everything for the table. Between the 3 of us, we split their crispy focaccia, the baked cheese, the cod crudo, the monkfish and then were very easily talked into an Icelandic dough pastry for dessert. The dishes had an unexpected Japanese flair and my favorites were the baked brie with caramelized onion with the most delicious, perfectly crispy baked pastry crust and the crudo, with the most delicious marinade. I could also see the chef poking out of the kitchen, watching from other the bar counter and enjoying our exclamations of deliciousness, which added to the fun vibes.

After hanging at Mat Bar, we made our way over to the city hall, our pick up location for our Northern lights tour. While there are a variety of options for tours we used this one, the cheapest option we could find and it ended up being perfect.

The tour left the city center around 845pm, and drove us about an hour out towards the airport, where the North American and European tectonic plates meet. While it was pitch black and beyond windy, it was still pretty cool to see, though we didn’t make our way over there in the daytime.

We ended up waiting nearly 2 hours and right as we began to reach peak cranky, the lights started. I can safely say I have never seen anything like it and the entire experience moved me to tears. The tour guide also explained a ton about how the Northern Lights are created as well as many of the legends surrounding them. While we didn’t get home until 2am after having been up since 6am, it was a cannot miss experience. Important to note that this year was a particularly vivid year for the lights, being the 11th year of an 11 year cycle where they reach peak activity, so we very much lucked out. Obviously the Northern Lights have a very specific season (roughly October-March) but definitely do you research if you plan to go and that is a must do experience on your list.

Another quick note on Northern Lights: they don’t look like the pictures you see, but they are still fantastic. By upping your exposure on your camera, you are able to draw out more colors than one can see with their normal eyes.

shoutout Jenny for capturing this beauty

Day 2

Day 2 was decided to be our big driving and adventure day. We grabbed a quick breakfast from Brikk, a bakery around the corner from us I found to be just okay compared to Brau & Co, and began our journey.

We had gone back and forth on going to Vik (the black sand beaches about 3 hours south west of Reykjavik) but having found a Tik Tok the night before showing tourists getting absolutely WRECKED by waves and cars getting pulled in to the ocean, so we decided that in March, the inland route may fair better. It ended up turning out to be a beautiful day.

We set our first destination as Geysir, which is, unsurprisingly, a big geyser with some extra smaller geysers and thermal springs surrounding it. However, on our journey, we unexpectedly stumbled upon Kerid Crater which I aptly continued to call 5$ Lake, because it cost roughly 5$ to explore around the rim and walk down to the surface. It was nice to stretch our legs and a stunning site.

5$ Lake in all her glory

From Kerid Crater, we continued onto Geysir, an area with a geyser that goes off every few minutes + a cute little gift shop, restroom and shockingly delicious lunch. The geyser was cool, but candidly packed and we only ended up staying a short while to watch it go off. We had a delicious meal in the cafeteria, browsed the gift shop but left empty-handed, then set off for Selfoss.

Selfoss is the Icelandic equivalent of their Niagara Falls. Again, it is near a little gift shop, restroom and parking area and you are able to walk down near the falls to explore and take pictures. You cannot go as close to the falls as you would in the summer, but it was a quick stop and definitely worth seeing. From Selfoss, it was time for ground bread!

Yes, ground bread is in fact bread baked in the ground from the heat from the thermal springs. We assumed it was a bakery, but we ended up in a secluded, hot springs called Laugarvatn Fontana where we just stopped for the surprisingly delicious and sweet ground bread. We agreed that on our next trip, we would come back to this hot springs. From there, we headed toward our final exploration day destination Thingvellir National Park.

Because we had been spending multiple hours in the car at this point, we ended up just circling the large lake in the center of the park, pulling off to the side to take some pictures and heading back to our Airbnb from there. After the fact I realized we had missed some of the walking trails, which was definitely a bummer but on my to do list for the next trip! Finally, after about 7 hours of driving and exploring, we headed back to our Airbnb to rest and freshen up for dinner.

Considering I am a food studies master’s student and Lindsay runs a food Instagram, I knew we had to have one spectacular meal, so I did some internet sleuthing and stumbled upon Sol.

Sol is a beautiful restaurant located just south of Reykjavik in a fully functioning greenhouse, where guests dine on a class floor quite literally above the lettuce being served on their plate. It’s a relatively small dining space and a relatively new establishment, but the meal we had was one of the highlights of our trip.

We started our meal in the little bar area within the greenhouse where we pursued their innovative cocktail menu. Lindsay got a basil martini, while Jenny and I opted for the bar tenders choice, where we explained a bit of what we were looking for and he made us a drink. Both of our drinks were delicious.

After our drinks (and a shameless photoshoot) we were sat at our table and collectively decided to go all in and opt for the tasting menu. The tasting menu included 6 courses and was about 100$ USD a person, which felt very reasonable.

While I want to give Sol all the credit it deserves, this newsletter is already dragging and therefore I will write a completely different piece on the menu itself. Stay tuned for that!

After Sol, we were grateful to crawl home to our beds and knew while we had sadly made it to our last full day, our next day was full of rest and relaxation.

Day 3

After long days and late nights, day 3 welcomed our rest and rejuvenation day. The singular plan for the day was “Iceland’s wonder of the world” (which is plastered as the phrase all around tourist areas) the Blue Lagoon.

Prior to heading to the lagoon, we ended up heading back into Reykjavik for a quick breakfast at BakaBaka (@bakabaka_rvk), where I had a delicious order of French toast with fresh berries and a lemon compote. BakaBaka is located very central in where we spent most of our time walking and had pastries available all day as well as converted into a pizza spot in the evening. From there, we hopped in the car and made the roughly hour drive from Reykjavik to the lagoon, which happens to be located quite near the Keflavik airport.

While I have heard slander of the Blue Lagoon being a tourist trap or overly crowded, I would highly disagree and loved my experience. We prebooked a few weeks out, and opted for one of their packages, which gave us locker room access, 2 free drinks from the in lagoon bar and 3 different face masks at the lagoon face mask station. The entry allowed you to come at a certain time, but stay for as long as you wanted.

We first, as any 20 something girl would, took a bunch of photos, then began the face masks. They are known for their masks, which you do three of, and wash off just within the lagoon. Between masks (and by between I mean with them fully on our faces) we made our way across the lagoon for drinks. Immediately upon arrival I saw people carrying a blue slushie drink, aptly named Blue Ice, and knew I had to get one for myself. I loved the Blue Ice and we all joked AMC needs to take notes.

We spent about two hours in the lagoon, then showered in the locker room, hit the store for various skin care products and accessories. After the Blue Lagoon, we went home to regroup then headed back into Reykjavik one final time for what we thought was trivia at Lebowski Bar.

Allow me to preface this by saying, 1) we went with the intention of playing trivia that had been advertised, 2) not one of us had any idea what exactly the Big Lebowski is in fact actually about and 3) I STILL do not know what it is about because upon returning home and insisting we watch it, I proceeded to fall asleep halfway through. What I will say though is the bar specializes in White Russians and has 24 different varieties to choose from. We all ordered some classic pub food, each had a specialized White Russians, made our own trivia game between the three of us and then went back to our Airbnb for our final night.

a trio of White Russians

Day 4

Day 4 was our travel day home, so we woke up, cleaned up our Airbnb, packed up and headed to grab some cinnamon rolls for our journey. We ended up seeing a beautiful quick snowstorm in the city center, I was able to finish my roll of film and then we were off to turn in the car and relax at the airport. After narrowly avoiding having to make a connection through Seattle to JFK, we boarded our flight and headed home!

Iceland had been on my bucket list for quite some time and it was an amazing trip with amazing besties! Hoping that one day there will be a Being Frank edition of traveling back in the summertime, so stay tuned!

If you made it this far, you’re my hero <3 talk sooner rather than later, I promise!

XO,

Frank