Touring Iceland during a layover
 

I'm planning a trip for my daughter and mother from Seattle to Helsinki
in the fall, with one stop in Iceland. The shortest flight, which is
also among the lowest cost, makes one stop in Iceland, so they want to
lay over there a day or two and check it out.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what a 12-year-old and a senior
citizen might do in Iceland on a short visit? Also whether they will
feel like doing anything on a short visit, or if they will likely need
time to rest up first?

Thanks,
Lee

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

In article ,
Lee Choquette wrote:

I'm planning a trip for my daughter and mother from Seattle to Helsinki
in the fall, with one stop in Iceland. The shortest flight, which is
also among the lowest cost, makes one stop in Iceland, so they want to
lay over there a day or two and check it out.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what a 12-year-old and a senior
citizen might do in Iceland on a short visit? Also whether they will
feel like doing anything on a short visit, or if they will likely need
time to rest up first?

They might find the Blue Lagoon relaxing and different.

--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar)

You can't reason with someone whose first line of argument is
that reason doesn't count. --Isaac Asimov

Erilar's Cave Annex: http://www.chibardun.net/~erilarlo*

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

In message , erilar
writes
In article ,
Lee Choquette wrote:

I'm planning a trip for my daughter and mother from Seattle to Helsinki
in the fall, with one stop in Iceland. The shortest flight, which is
also among the lowest cost, makes one stop in Iceland, so they want to
lay over there a day or two and check it out.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what a 12-year-old and a senior
citizen might do in Iceland on a short visit? Also whether they will
feel like doing anything on a short visit, or if they will likely need
time to rest up first?

They might find the Blue Lagoon relaxing and different.

The original Geyser. The place where the E. and W. hemispheres meet and
you can walk across.

There are day tours designed for stopovers, so it shouldn't be difficult
to find something.

No one can predict how they will feel, but getting out into the light is
one way of getting over jet lag.
--
---
Sheila Page

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

In article ,
Sheila Page wrote:

In message , erilar
writes
In article ,
Lee Choquette wrote:

I'm planning a trip for my daughter and mother from Seattle to Helsinki
in the fall, with one stop in Iceland. The shortest flight, which is
also among the lowest cost, makes one stop in Iceland, so they want to
lay over there a day or two and check it out.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what a 12-year-old and a senior
citizen might do in Iceland on a short visit? Also whether they will
feel like doing anything on a short visit, or if they will likely need
time to rest up first?

They might find the Blue Lagoon relaxing and different.

The original Geyser. The place where the E. and W. hemispheres meet and
you can walk across.

There are day tours designed for stopovers, so it shouldn't be difficult
to find something.
Day trips from whence? There was no mention of where they'd be
staying if they do the stopover. A day tour is what I'd probably do if
I had occasion to go through Iceland, but I've been there before.

No one can predict how they will feel, but getting out into the light is
one way of getting over jet lag.

Yes, that's a great idea!

--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar)

You can't reason with someone whose first line of argument is
that reason doesn't count. --Isaac Asimov

Erilar's Cave Annex: http://www.chibardun.net/~erilarlo

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

"Lee Choquette" wrote in message
...
I'm planning a trip for my daughter and mother from Seattle to Helsinki
in the fall, with one stop in Iceland. The shortest flight, which is
also among the lowest cost, makes one stop in Iceland, so they want to
lay over there a day or two and check it out.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what a 12-year-old and a senior
citizen might do in Iceland on a short visit? Also whether they will
feel like doing anything on a short visit, or if they will likely need
time to rest up first?

Thanks,
Lee

I think you'll find that Icelandair have all sorts of offers to cover this
eventuality. Since they will be flying with Icelandair a quick phone call
is probably all that is required.

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

Thanks for the tips, everyone!

In article , Erilar wrote:
Day trips from whence? There was no mention of where they'd be
staying if they do the stopover. A day tour is what I'd probably do if
I had occasion to go through Iceland, but I've been there before.

Silly me, I didn't mention where they'd be staying because I hadn't even
thought about it. They will be staying with relatives in Finland, but
they don't have any in Iceland, so they will have to pay for lodging of
some kind.

What's a good place to stay, somewhat on the less expensive side, that
is easy to get to from the Keflavik airport and makes a good base for
day trips?

Takk,
Lee

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

Lee Choquette wrote:
Thanks for the tips, everyone!

In article , Erilar wrote:
Day trips from whence? There was no mention of where they'd be
staying if they do the stopover. A day tour is what I'd probably do if
I had occasion to go through Iceland, but I've been there before.

Silly me, I didn't mention where they'd be staying because I hadn't even
thought about it. They will be staying with relatives in Finland, but
they don't have any in Iceland, so they will have to pay for lodging of
some kind.

What's a good place to stay, somewhat on the less expensive side, that
is easy to get to from the Keflavik airport and makes a good base for
day trips?


If you are planning on that route because of the cost you might want to
check out the prices on hotels and food first. I know a few people who
have been to Iceland in the last two years and they were astounded by
the prices.

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

Dave Smith wrote:
Lee Choquette wrote:
Thanks for the tips, everyone!

In article ,
Erilar wrote:
Day trips from whence? There was no mention of where they'd be
staying if they do the stopover. A day tour is what I'd probably do
if I had occasion to go through Iceland, but I've been there before.

Silly me, I didn't mention where they'd be staying because I hadn't even
thought about it. They will be staying with relatives in Finland, but
they don't have any in Iceland, so they will have to pay for lodging of
some kind.

What's a good place to stay, somewhat on the less expensive side, that
is easy to get to from the Keflavik airport and makes a good base for
day trips?


If you are planning on that route because of the cost you might want to
check out the prices on hotels and food first. I know a few people who
have been to Iceland in the last two years and they were astounded by
the prices.

The Icelandic currency has dropped sharply, due to the banking crisis -
it's much cheaper than it was last year.

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

"Lee Choquette" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the tips, everyone!

In article , Erilar
wrote:
Day trips from whence? There was no mention of where they'd be
staying if they do the stopover. A day tour is what I'd probably do if
I had occasion to go through Iceland, but I've been there before.

Silly me, I didn't mention where they'd be staying because I hadn't even
thought about it. They will be staying with relatives in Finland, but
they don't have any in Iceland, so they will have to pay for lodging of
some kind.

What's a good place to stay, somewhat on the less expensive side, that
is easy to get to from the Keflavik airport and makes a good base for
day trips?

Takk,
Lee

Keflavik is in the boonies. There is one (or maybe two) hotel in the
adjacent town.

Try here
http://www.icelandair.us/offers-and-...es/item201519/

Touring Iceland during a layover
 

On Tue, 7 Apr 2009, Lee Choquette wrote:

I'm planning a trip for my daughter and mother from Seattle to
Helsinki in the fall, with one stop in Iceland.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what a 12-year-old and a senior
citizen might do in Iceland on a short visit?

The interesting part of Iceland is the scenery, there aren't really any
monuments. Keflavik international airport is not that close but also not
far from Rejkyavik, which is a modern town where most of the inhabitants
live. Actually when we did an organized tour around Iceland, for the
first and last night we stayed at the Icelandair airport which is near
the Rejkyavik domestic airport (i.e. not Keflavik). We were on a tour,
so were not interested in travelling with public transport, but I
believe the main bus station is near the domestic airport.

I have no idea of current costs after the currency crisis. Iceland used
to be an extremely expensive place. I also have no idea of accomodation
opportunities in Rejkyavik. Elsewhere in the countryside there are bed
and breakfast accomodations, and during summer most schools work as
hotels (Edda hotels). Sometimes also offer sleeping bag accomodation.

The following sights are around Rejkyavik, any other interesting places
will be definitely too far for a short visit (at least one week to do
the island circuit on national road 1) :

- the Blue Lagoon is located midway between Keflavik and Rejkyavik.
It is a sort of thermal water resort which uses, I believe, the waste
water used by their power plants (by "waste" I simply mean that water
of geotermic origin is first used to produce electricity, and then
for people to bath in). I would consider it the less interesting and
more touristy of the list, but the surrounding scenery is ... ehm ..
interesting/

- The geysers (including the one Geysir which gave name to the whole
category) and the Gullfoss ("golden fall") are somewhere SE of
Rejkyavik, and suitable for a day trip. It is likely there will be
lot of tourists in the geyser area. The fall is instead less crowded.

- the Thingvellir is somewhere NE of Rejkyavik, and is definitely
worth seeing, specially if you've read something about the Viking
colonization of Iceland. Its name means more or less "Parliament
Plain". It's a large area where the family heads of the island
met once a year in the middle ages, that's considered the first
Parliament in the world. The area is characterized by some large
fissures ("gya"), which are actually parts of the mid-Atlantic
ridge, where the american and european crustal plates separate
itself. In fact the ridge crosses Iceland, and the two most
accessible plates are Thingvellir and the lake Myvatn area, but
that's too far for you

Depending on the season, bring mosquito protection (repellant and nets).

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
is a newsreading account used by more persons to
avoid unwanted spam. Any mail returning to this address will be rejected.
Users can disclose their e-mail address in the article if they wish so.