Iceland

Well we are now in Iceland which is the last place on our epic journey around the world. We arrived at 11.30 last night and got picked up by Runar and his partner who's apartment we are staying at. The guys are very friendly and give us a quick tour of the surrounding area so that we know where things are. The flat is very nice with two bedrooms, kitchen diner, and lounge area which we have all to ourselves, well almost as they have a cat that will be keeping us company. They have left us food in the fridge and a list of directions for the local shops and using the bus and taxi's if required. Well time for bed as it's been a long day.

Day 2

Well it's another day and we have a late breakfast before heading into Reykjavik city centre. Below the apartment we go to the video shop where we have been told we can buy tickets for the bus as you either have to use these or have the correct money for each journey. We buy ten paper tokens which you can use on any bus for any length of journey.

We first go to the Harpa building which is on the harbourside and is a very modern angular glass building used for concerts and exhibitions. It is a very interesting building as the glass is flat on the outside but inside the glass is used to form cubes and oblongs which interlock with each other to create an uneven surface and reflect the light on the inside. There is a great exhibition about Iceland, how it was formed, it's history and wildlife being shown on tv screens.

From here we head into the City and have a walk around and go into the Cathederal which is located on a hill at one end of the city. Inside the Cathederal is very simple and has only one stained glass window. The main feature is the impressive organ at one end of the building.

If you don't mind the queue you can take the lift to the top of the tower and get a good view across the city and to the mountains beyond.

We continue from here back through the city and end up at a nice square where we have a few drinks and dinner whilst enjoying the lovely warm sunshine. After we catch the bus back to the apartment and get to bed as we have an early start tomorrow.

Day 3

Today we are up early and out at 7.30 am and dropped off by Runar into the city centre where we pick up a guided tour bus to take us on a tour called The Golden Circle that will take about 8 hours and showing us some of the natural wonders of Iceland.

We head out of the city and out towards the mountains which you can see even at this time of the year still have some snow on them. You can also see steam coming out of the ground and in places this forms large plumes of vapour that billow up into the sky. The whole of Iceland is a geothermic area with many active volcanoes which provide the Islands homes and businesses with heat, hot water and power.

The first place we stop at is a small village that is built on a fault line and here there is a small museum telling you about earthquakes and the effect they have had on many areas of Iceland. Within the building is a glass floor where you can look down into the bed rock and see the fault line.

After a short stop we then head to The Faxi Waterfalls which are small but still beautiful. You can't see them from the road so have to park up and take a short walk to the viewing area to get a good look. To the side of the waterfall is a man made salmon ladder constructed to help the fish get upstream during spawning time.

Our guide also introduces us to some Icelandic food and drink which consisted of smoked lamb on thin bread and a dark malt drink that is like beer but non alcoholic.

Our next stop is Gullfoss falls which are much larger and more impressive than the last ones. The wide river flows down the 32 feet rocky cascade then plummets some 70 feet over the last rock face and into the gorge to the river below.

From here we then go onto The Great Geysir which is another site of geothermal activity where you can see steam coming out of the ground and varying sized pools of bubbling hot water. The most impressive one being the Great Geysir itself that erupts a large jet of water and steam from its crater every 10 minutes or so reaching approximately 100 feet into the air. Its quite a spectacular sight.

After a spot of lunch and a walk up onto the mountain behind the Geysir it's back to the tour bus and on to an area where you can see where the American tectonic plate meets the Eurasian tectonic plate along with the volcanic activity has formed this rock and lava landscape where you can walk into one of the fault lines. It is very rugged and beautiful.

Then it's back on the tour bus and back to Reykjavik to end the tour and back to our apartment for dinner and an early night. Tomorrow we will need to be up at 3am to get our transfer to the airport to catch our last flight back home.

Day 4

Well its almost over and we get up early as planned, a taxi collects us from the apartment and takes us to the main bus terminal where we get the connecting coach to take us to the airport.

At the airport it's the usual self service system again which we are now getting used to. Well check in done, bags tagged and got rid of and through security no problem and now just waiting for our flight back to London - Heathrow.

Unfortunately the plane has been delayed until 9am and should have left at 7.40am which is a bit of a pain but nothing we can do about that. We then board the plane and should be off but we just sit there until the captain makes an announcement that they are waiting for a connecting flight from America and passengers to join us.

We sit on the plan until 10am, how frustrating. Eventually we are off and Its a lovely sunny day so we get a great view of the Icelandic landscape as we fly over.

The flight time to London Heathrow is three hours but we will miss our scheduled coach transfer from there back to Bournemouth. We have checked the time table and should make the next one at 3.15pm.

As we descend into Heathrow we get a great view of the city and can see The Shard, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and many other familiar landmarks.

We land and proceed through the usual checks and are soon through to baggage claim and should get the next coach home. No such luck,

the baggage conveyor system is painfully slow as it only lets other bags onto the main belt if there is room and as the bags build up we the waiting passengers start to group the remaining bags together to try and over come this issue. Eventually after three quarters of an hour we get our bags.

We now have 15 minutes to catch the next coach but when we get to the Central coach terminal the line at the desk for tickets and queries is so long we haven't got a chance, when we do we find that the tickets we have bought is now not valid as National Express Coaches policy is that it is only valid for up to an hour after the booked time on the ticket therefore we have to spend another £66.00 on new tickets, what a rip off . We are now booked on the 4.45pm coach

Luckily from here the trip back to Bournemouth goes ok and by 7.45pm we are back home where we started out from all those weeks ago, it doesn't seem possible that we have been away for three months and been all the way round the world.

Well I think it's time for a cuppa, make a few phone calls to let people know we are home safe and sound and then bed.

Its been quite an adventure and we have seen some amazing sites from the hussle and bussle of cities to beautiful countryside all being different but interesting and varied in each country we have visited.

We have met some wonderful people and made some new friends, experienced different cultures and foods, it has been a truely wonderful journey and gone unbelievable quickly.

What next ? Who Knows, we are home and look forward to catching up with family and friends and reflecting on our travels and now will take time to digest all the wonderful experienced we have had.

Here are a few statistics from our travels

Number of flights = 19

Miles flown = 31,808
Kms = 49,637
Hours in the air = 64

Number of trains = 3
Miles travelled by trains = 1378
Kms travelled by trains = 2219

Number of Boats / watercraft = 10

Number of different beds = 35

Number of steps walked = 1,301,197

Miles walked = 557
Kms walked = 900

Total days away = 95