We did not sleep well last night. At first, I thought one of us might have left a device off of ‘Do Not Disturb’ – there was vibrating and buzzing throughout the night, joined also by a caterwauling cat sometime around 3 am. But no – it wasn’t us. Seems strange to think that the sound of a buzzing phone might transmit through hotel walls, but that seems the likely explanation.
Ah, well – nothing for it but to hop in the car and get underway. We have a five-and-a-half hour drive from Akureyri to Keflavik – not including stops – so we’ll count ourselves lucky if we make it in before dinnertime. We stop at a breakfast joint named Cafe Berlin near the port:
Photo Credit: Cafe Berlin
Here my wife and daughter each get a hot chocolate:
Icelandic restaurants seem to love putting chocolate chips in their hot chocolate – and we’re not about to stop them
And I order eggs and waffles – but miss the fine print regarding the double bacon:
They’re not kidding about the double bacon
Our daughter gets the kid’s brunch, which essentially includes two meals at half the price. But if she’s happy, we’re happy.
While here we spot a woman wearing the same king penguin buff that my wife and daughter have from Grytviken, South Georgia. My wife compliments the woman on the buff, and learns that she was there two years earlier. Funny how us expedition-type people seem to run into one another wherever we go.
From here, we hop on the road and get underway. With more than 400 kilometres between Akureyri and Keflavik, we seriously considered flying – as we had done on our first trip in 2018. But between the trip to the airport, security, the flight itself and a transfer to Keflavik, we soon realized that driving would be our best option. Also – the logistics (and costs) of returning a Reykjavik rental car to Akureyri are extensive.
At least the scenery is pleasant:
And ever changing:
We pass some construction along the way. Interestingly, Iceland is the only place where we’ve ever spotted ‘Follow Me’ vehicles leading across the construction area:
Though I do wonder how many drivers blindly follow them when they turn off into the makeshift parking lot containing the construction equipment.
We go for about two hours before we break for lunch. Well, ‘break’ isn’t quite the right term – more that I get gas, and we all pick up some Icelandic hot dogs. They also have burgers, fries and the like but it would be a much longer wait than just picking up a hot dog, and time is not on our side.
Back on the road once more:
We pass Grábrók Crater while we’re enroute:
Photo Credit: Icelandia
It’s tempting to get out and stretch our legs, but we really can’t spare the time, unfortunately. Maybe next trip.
Only afterward do we learn that Grábrók is considered part of the “silver circle”, a west Iceland counterpart to the golden circle. The silver circle includes a wide range of spas, waterfalls, caves and historic site:
Photo Credit: Arctic Adventures
This is our third trip to Iceland, but the Iceland list only ever seems to grow longer.
We once more reach the town of Borgarnes – which we passed through on our way to the Snæfellsnes peninsula. Here we again spot signs questioning whether James Bond was Icelandic, and encouraging us to visit truespy.is.
Photo Credit: TrueSpy.is
The site advertises a one-hour lecture that recounts the life of Sir William Stevenson.
From Veterans Affairs Canada:
“[Sir William Stevenson] was a soldier, airman, businessman, inventor and a true spymaster. Stephenson was pivotal in the creation of Special Operations for Canada and the Allied war efforts worldwide. One of his greatest successes was the establishment of a secret spy-training school during the Second World War that bordered Whitby and Oshawa, Ontario, known as Camp X. More than 2000 covert operators were trained at this school including Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels. Fleming said he used about 15 different spies as models for his character James Bond and William Stephenson was definitely one of them.
Spying was Stephenson’s greatest gift and he landed a position as Sir Winston Churchill’s most trusted confidant. As early as April 1936, he began voluntarily passing confidential information to Winston Churchill about how Adolf Hitler was building up his armed forces while hiding his military expenditures. He was given the name Intrepid by Churchill after he led the team that broke Enigma, the essential German coding machine.
He travelled between London and Washington, to convince President Roosevelt to join the Second World War. Stephenson was a key player in the establishment of an American intelligence service during the Second World War, which eventually became the CIA.”
The links between Sir William Stevenson and Iceland are somewhat spurious, however – his mother was Icelandic, but there’s no evidence that Stevenson himself ever lived in Iceland. So the correct answer is of course that James Bond was Canadian.
Even so, the TrueSpy.is lecutres have an exceptionally strong rating on TripAdvisor. Their website also notes that they will be launching an “Icelandic secret cellar” escape room soon.
We briefly pass through some rain:
But it’s not enough to clean the dust and mud off our rental car. Blue asks that drivers not clean their rentals before they return them – though the cynic in me wonders if that’s so they can tell who’s been driving the F roads.
Another stop for coffee and treats – this time grabbing some very authentic Icelandic Doritos and a Snickers bar.
We don’t even need to stop for gas this time, as we still have plenty from our first stop.
Back on the road again:
We make good time, and it’s not long before the roads – and traffic – of Reykjavik come into view:
We reach Keflavik shortly before 4 pm. There’s actually a proper town near the airport, which is right by the waterfront:
Photo Credit: Hotel Berg
It would be nice to wander around by the water and perhaps visit a coffee shop, but instead we check into Hotel Berg:
Photo Credit: Hotel Berg
We know from experience that it’s quite the hike from Reykjavik to the airport, so we have opted to stay as close to the airport as possible. (This decision is seeming particularly wise as Keflavik airport seems to still be working through added traffic following the eclipse – security lines were apparently longer than 2 hours even just a few short days ago.)
The rooms are comfortable enough:
They’re also close to each other, exactly as we’d asked. (That’s something else that surprised us about Iceland. It’s the only place where – when we asked for connecting or adjacent rooms – the hotel proprietor actually confirmed they would be available in advance. Incredible, I know.)
I then head off to gas up the rental car then visit Pylsuvagninn for – you guessed it – more hot dogs:
Hotel Berg seems to have a lovely, upscale menu, but we just don’t have another fine dining extravaganza in us right now. But it’s sort of like a ‘greatest hits’ of Icelandic junk food – there’s hot dogs with remoulade (garlic mayo), French fries with Icelandic potato seasoning, and leftover chocolate from Highland Base. Plus, they are considered to be South Iceland’s tastiest hotdogs.
Pylsuvagninn definitely seems to be doing a brisk business – there’s a steady stream of locals coming and going when I order. (Both times that I order, as I did not get enough hot dogs the first time around.)
Time to finish packing up. We wrestle with what to do with our now-larger luggage – as we have elected to bring our Ponant parkas home with us, which are in addition to the Silversea parkas we brought for our initial foray on Zuza way back on the Scotland portion. So we decide to unfurl an additional duffle bag so we don’t need to be extra-thorough while rolling our dirty laundry. This will mean that the kids will have a second duffle on the seat between them, but it’s only for five kilometres so they should be able to manage that without too much trouble.
Additional guests check into Hotel Berg, and it soon becomes apparent that the walls are less than soundproof. Ah, well – we’ll just have to hope we have quiet neighbours with an early flight. Sound also carries from the lobby, but I quietly go up and close the door leading to our hotel room wing. That seems to do the trick.
With our bags mostly packed, we load what we can into the car so we’ll only need a single trip to load the car in the morning. We’re hoping for a smooth departure tomorrow – with our alarm set for a not-too-terrible 6 am wake-up for a 9:50 am flight back to Toronto.
We’re hoping that the early morning will limit the long lines at security, but we won’t know for sure until tomorrow morning when we enter… The Travel Vortex.