November 2024

Our wintry Icelandic trip got off to an adventurous start because we flew into Reykjavik a day after a volcano started erupting.

Everyone on the right-hand side of the plane got a bird's eye view of the and saw lava seeping out of a fissure. We were sitting on the left-hand side of the plane.

The volcanic activity would put a kibosh on our first day plans.

We had made reservations for the Blue Lagoon spa that morning.

But it closed because it's right by the volcano.

A couple of days later, I saw a news photo of lava covering half of Blue Lagoon’s parking lot.

I guess, apparently, hot springs are near volcanoes.

We were going to do Blue Lagoon and then tour the nearby Reykjanes Peninsula with its cooled lava fields – but it’s now an area of very active volcanic activity and most of it was closed to visitors.

It was fine. It all worked out.

I mean it was probably ambitious for our first day because we landed early and didn't sleep a lot over on the flight over.

We landed, picked up our rental car, and saw the volcano from the highway.

It was really stunning. Five to ten miles off the highway, you could see this huge plume of smoke and the orange glow from the lava as the sun rose.

We stopped to take some photos, drove to Reykjavik, checked into our hotel early, and promptly crashed.

We slept away most of the day away because there's only 6 hours of daylight.

But it was good to rejuvenate and then grab a bite at Islenski Barinn, a gastropub that served Icelandic foods.

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Paul Niccolls