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Seeking Northern Lights

September - October 2018
Iceland Summit 2018 and more Read more
  • 65footprints
  • 3countries
  • 21days
  • 273photos
  • 2videos
  • 21.0kmiles
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  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights

    Inception

    August 29, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 63 °F

    Jill and I have talked often about wanting to see the northern lights as one of the items on our bucket list. In early August, we became aware of the Iceland Summit 2018. One of the two photographers leading the workshop is Kerik Kouklis, someone that Les has taken two workshops on platinum printing.
    The workshop will be centered in the mysterious and stunning, Strandir Coast in the spectacular West Fjords of Iceland. Our group of 9 or more participants and two leaders will have the Hotel Djupavik to ourselves for 9 days in early October.
    This is not a photo tour of the hot tourism spots in Iceland. The area is remote but includes a variety of deep fjords surrounded by mountains, cliffs and waterfalls and small fishing villages that have not been changed by modern times. And if the weather and solar winds cooperate, we will see the northern lights.    Read more

  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights

    Getting to Iceland and Back

    September 4, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    Our vacations of the past have always involved campers, back packs, or motorhomes, but since Iceland is an island and our motorhome does not float, we decided to fly there and back.
    Planning air travel is quite different than just packing the motorhome and driving away. It involves finding a flight there and back that lets us meet up with the workshop, but also have some time to visit the tourist sites that the workshop won’t. We considered extending after the workshop but found that getting a flight that would come in right when we needed to meet up was difficult. So, we opted to come in early and rent a car for a week before the workshop.

    The travel information online suggested days of the week that were cheaper. We ended up getting tickets from United and its affiliates. Ticket pricing is a tricky thing. We found that the cheapest ticket, you also had to pay for checked bags. However, the for just a little more, one checked bag was free. And as it turned out, the more expensive route was $20 less expensive.

    Going to Iceland will involve changing planes in LA and Toronto and will take about 17 hours with layovers. Getting back is entirely different. It seems all flights (on United) from Iceland go to Frankfurt, Germany where there is a 12-hour layover. Then it’s on to Chicago and Denver and finally home to Reno for a total of about 39 hours.

    So, I guess we will be visiting Europe on this trip, though we will likely not leave the Frankfurt airport. The trip is currently planned for leaving on September 27th and returning home on October 17th. Of course, there could be delays and cancelations to potentially deal with in route.    Read more

  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights

    Packing

    September 11, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    Packing for this trip is way different than just throwing everything you can think of into the motorhome. We will each have one free checked bag and a carry on and a personal item. In our case, the medical equipment and medications must be planned carefully and fortunately these are not counted with the carry on. But the medications must be in their original bottles, so prepackaging in pill bags won’t be permitted. Jill has packed different bags several times and we even bought a new bag as well.

    We also had to buy clothes for cold wet weather. Les bought new waterproof boots and several layers of coats. Thank you, Costco! The other question was how many days to plan for. We will have to do laundry a few times while in Iceland and that we will have to play that by ear.

    Then there is the art equipment for the trip. The workshop is a photo workshop, so Les will take a camera. But the heavy, bulky large format camera is a bit much for air travel. In addition, the winds in Iceland can make using it extremely difficult. Not to mention the risks of taking exposed film through airport security. So, Les will take the new DSLR with 2 newly purchased lenses and the laptop computer for post processing. Jill on the other hand, will be taking watercolors and pastels. This has been an additional challenge for Jill to packing. She has repacked a whole series of bags in the last week.    Read more

  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights

    Pet Vacation

    September 23, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    The pets, Sampson and Cinnamon won’t accompany us to Iceland. Instead, they are going to stay with April and Brent (Jill’s sister and brother-in-law) in Swall Meadows near Bishop.

    Sampson will enjoy the daily 4 mile walk. Cinnamon likes to explore the loft area of the house.Read more

  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights
    Day 1

    On our way

    September 27, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    We left yesterday and traveled to Reno. After stopping at a camera store for another UV filter, we checked in at the Atlantis Resort and Casino. We valet parked the old Chevy Tracker.

    This morning, we got up at 4am and went down to catch the 4:30am airport shuttle, which we missed by 2 minutes. So we had to wait for the next shuttle at 5am.

    We were TSA pre checked, so the line through security was shorter and faster than the regular line. We had both purchased slip on shoes, so of course we didn’t have to take them off.

    Jill bought us a breakfast sandwich that we ate on the plane as it began loading at 5:50am. This was a short flight to LAX. After a 5 hour layover, we are off to Toronto Canada.    Read more

  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights
    Day 2

    Cafe Sol and Minni-Borgir

    September 28, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ 🌧 46 °F

    Arrived in Iceland. We have been going since yesterday at 4:30 AM. So, sooo tired. Pouring, AKA horizontal rain, and the wind rocked the plane while we waited for a gate. Jill got us a no frills rental, so of course we had to stand in the wind waiting for a shuttle to Blue Rental Car. Got our really plain-Jane car... has anyone heard of a “Dacia Sandero? We headed out, Jill was planning for us to stop at the famous Blue Lagoon Hot Springs, but too tired, too wet, to stop.

    Drove along the coast and even though it’s 4:30 am our time, 11:30 Iceland...we stopped before we fall asleep for lunch. Cafe Sol, a small out of the way local place in Porlakshofn for lunch on the way. Of course Jill always finds a bakery. Very nice owner, soup was so warming, also great bread and Icelandic donut. He gave us a map and showed couple places to go. We asked him how to say Thanks... Tak (spelling a guess). Our Icelandic word of the day. We didn’t need to learn the Icelandic term for toilet, as they use the English "WC" for water closet.😃After lunch we drove 45 more minutes to our home base for the next few days.

    We final dragged ourselves to Minni-Borgir Cottages 16km north of Selfoss. We were hours early for checking in, so we started napping in the reception area. They felt sorry for us and let us check in. WOW, they are really charming! Our cottage is one bedroom, private bath and living room with kitchenette. There is a TV with two stations, microwave, and hot tubs. We took a nap and of course then sun made an appearance. So far no Northern Lights to cloudy tonight.    Read more

  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights
    Day 3

    First Morning

    September 29, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 39 °F

    Stilll misty, but saw a small patch of blue. Breakfast at the restaurant, expected some kind of fish dish from what I read beforehand. Instead nice eggs, bacon and little sausages. Plus homemade bread and jam. Icelandic words for the day ... kaffi = coffee, Heitt vatin = hot water. Jill hopes to get Les in heitt vatin today...Read more

  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights
    Day 3

    Gullfoss and crowds

    September 29, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 43 °F

    I miss Les’s cowboy hat! We stopped at Iceland’s biggest water fall and even in the off season everyone is here. So Les and I walked to the overlooks and got lost from each other. Boy are there a lot of blue coats here and everyone has their hoods up. Also lots of tall people. Where is that cowboy hat when you need it.Read more

  • TravelerSeeking Northern Lights
    Day 3

    Seaside

    September 29, 2018 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 39 °F

    Headed to Selfoss for dinner, drove right through to the little seaside town Eyrarbakki and went out to the jetty. The wind blowing the surf backwards. Les took a lot of photos, but we will have to wait to see those shots as we need the computer, so most of these picture initially are just Jill’s IPad. We were so cold, we stopped in the Redhouse in the little town, had hot coco and little lobster tails for dinner. Very beautiful day with plenty of shine.
    Jill didn’t get Les in hot water...yet!    Read more

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