How to cross Iceland off your Bucket List in 4 days

For years, swimming in the Blue Lagoon has been on my Bucket List. But, it’s one of those Bucket List items that you’re not sure it’ll ever really happen. However, while looking at flights to the Faroe Islands to join the Logos Hope, I noticed that we were going to fly through Iceland. So, of course we had to stop there for a few days since it overlapped my Birthday and what could be better than swimming in the Blue Lagoon on my 41st?

In case you get the chance to visit Iceland and want an itinerary, here's what we did below. 

Before you arrive:

-Rent a car

-Reserve a stay for 2 nights in or around Hella on the South Coast

-Reserve a date and time for Blue Lagoon

-Reserve a stay for 2 nights in or around the capital city, Reykjavik

-Reserve a stay for 1 night next to airport

You should know:

-Maps on the iPhone got us everyone we wanted to go

-You must pay for parking almost everywhere you go

-You can rent swimsuits and towels at Lagoons if you need to

-Most people speak English

-The roads are easy to drive and directions easy to follow

-If you don’t know what to do for meals, just focus on the bakeries, large grocery stores and hot dog locations.

Day 1 - Fly in, pick up your rental car and drive to your Airbnb in Hella (on the South Coast).

Day 2 - Explore the South Coast

          - Start by driving a little less than one hour and parking at Seljalandfoss waterfall, seeing that waterfall and then walking left over a small bridge towards three other waterfalls, including Gljufrubul, which is a hidden waterfall.

        -Jump back in your rental and drive to Skogar waterfall, where you can walk right up to the falls, hike up beside it to look over it and then climb back down and enjoy lunch while viewing the waterfall from the restaurant next door.

       -Head back out in the rental and drive towards the Dyrholaey lighthouse at road #218 to try to spot puffins and at least take amazing photos from high up. On the drive to the lighthouse, be on the lookout for an enormous glacier around road #221.

       -Keep driving a bit more to get to the town of Vik. You can stay to see the museum, black sand beaches, ice caves, etc, or just stop at the grocery store to use the restroom and grab snacks for the long drive back to Hella.

Day 3 - Explore and relocate to Reyjavik

          - Drive about 40 minutes to Kerid, a volcanic crater. You can walk down into the crater and around the water level inside, and also hike back up and around to walk along the ridge. The colors are beautiful and it’s a unique experience.

          - Get back in your rental and get ready to relax. Drive about 30 minutes to the Secret Lagoon, the oldest Lagoon in Iceland. There are plenty of places to sit in and around lagoon, drinks and snacks that can be bought, a kids pool and a cold plunge pool. They don’t provide towels, but you can rent one. They do provide showers, shampoo, body wash and hairdryers. After a few hours here, finish the 1.5 hour drive to your next Airbnb in Reykjavik.

Day 4 - Blue Lagoon (the real reason I came to Iceland)

        -Grab a leisurely breakfast in Reykjavik and walk around the shops until it’s time for the main event.

        -Drive about 45 minutes to Blue Lagoon. You’ll drive through lava fields and even walk through one as you head up to the entrance, which is a unique experience and actually made me feel nervous if we were safe. I bought the cheapest tickets to the Lagoon and they came with the basics. They provide towels, showers, shampoo, body wash and hairdryers. Also we each got one complimentary drink and we got to enjoy the white face masque. There are saunas, steam rooms, hot massaging waterfalls, a swim up drink hut, a swim up masque hut, many areas to explore around the lagoon, a snack bar and restaurant inside and several more upgrades for the more expensive tickets. This was even better than I had imagined and I would come back again to Iceland just for this experience. It would be an amazing couples get away or a fun girls trip with friends or sisters. Put this on your Bucket List!

Day 5 - Golden Circle

          - Drive about 2 hours to the Gullfoss waterfall. 

        -Hop back in the car and keep driving in the same direction. Shortly after the waterfall, you'll come to Stokkar Geyser.

        -Most of this day trip, you’ll drive through Thingvellir National Park. It’s so empty and beautiful in it's own way.

Day 6 - Fly home

Although the photos are gorgeous, they don't do Iceland justice. It was a beautiful country and I would definitely go back again, even if it was only a short weekend trip to revisit the Blue Lagoon. Crossing this off my Bucket List was everything I had hoped and more. I definitely recommend taking the time to do this trip. Take even longer if you are able! 

What should I cross off my Bucket List next?

Emily's Chocolate Chip Cookies

     I'm a lazy baker, but love baking.

     So, one day when Nick was craving cookies and I didn't want to disappoint, but also wasn't feeling it, I skipped all the proper steps of mixing dry ingredients separate from wet ingredients. Instead, I threw it all in a bowl, mixed it up, made the cookies as fast as possible so I could kick back and relax. Turns out, they were my best yet, so I'm thrilled to have discovered that my best cookies are my easiest. Here's my recipe below!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick softened, salted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tbsp milk, or creamer (seriously, I didn't have milk so I used coffee creamer)

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-Throw everything, except the chocolate chips, into one bowl and mix until fully combined.

-Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly incorporated.

-Use a spoon to scoop batter and place on cooking sheets (this receipt makes roughly one dozen cookies)

-Bake 9-11 minutes. (These are gooey, so bake slightly longer for less gooey cookies)

-Let cool a bit before removing from cooking sheet because they will fall apart when hot!

Enjoy!
 

“We’re from Greenville”

As I heard these words coming out of my mouth this past January, I felt like I was having some sort of out of body experience. I was shocked when I replied to “Where are you from?” with “We’re from Greenville”. From as far back as I can remember, I somewhat hate when someone asks me that because I never know how to answer. 

Should I say “I was born in Florence, SC”?

Or is it better if I say “I was born in Florence, but grew up overseas”?

Maybe I should just say “I grew up in Ethiopia and Bolivia”?

I’m probably overthinking it and should just say “I grew up overseas” and see if they ask where?

Depending on how curious the person looks, I might go all in and say “I was born in Florence, but my parents were missionaries so I grew up in Ethiopia and Bolivia”.

Honestly, this is all too much so it’s probably better if I say “I’m from Florence” even though I don’t really feel like I’m from Florence at all, but I also don’t know where I feel like I’m from. 

I’m from a lot of places. And I’m from nowhere.

So, it’s better if we just don’t cover where we are from and I really hope they don’t bring it up.

I’m not sure when this dilemma began. I moved to Ethiopia at 7-years-old and remember feeling slightly awkward a few times. I looked different and spoke different. I obviously didn’t fit in. Then I came back to the USA and was no longer home there either. I was called “The Ethiopian” by a handful of kids and my new best friend was a girl from South Africa. She felt the most safe because we both didn’t quite fit the mold.

A few years later, I moved to Bolivia and didn’t really fit in there either. Again, I looked different and spoke different. Friends called me Gringa (white girl) and Granjera (farm girl since they assumed South Carolina is just farms and hicks). My best friend was a girl from North Carolina since she felt the most like me.  

When we would take a furlough and spend a few months in Florence, friends called me “The Bolivian” because I didn’t quite fit in with the American girls. To them (and myself), I was a foreigner. I couldn’t wait to get back to Bolivia. It felt better to be a foreigner in a foreign country, rather than in my home country.

Finally, when I graduated high school and moved back to South Carolina for college, I did so kicking and screaming. I didn’t want to be here and only connected with new friends who were also either foreigners or missionary kids. If anyone asked me where I was from, I would never reply “Florence”, which was only an hour away. I would reply “Bolivia” because I felt I belonged there more than I belonged here.

Since 1992, I’ve wondered how to reply to “Where are you from” and my answer changes constantly, depending on who asks, how I feel, who I’ve just caught up with, whether I’ve felt awkward or re-experienced some form of culture shock or almost said a sentence in Spanish while talking in English. It’s a constant mystery, trying to figure out where I’m from because what does that even mean? 

Am I from the place I was born? The place I spent the most years? The place that was my favorite? The place I had the most connections and friendships? The place I want to say I’m from? The place I currently live? 

So, in January when we were onboard the Logos Hope and someone asked “Where are you from?”, I answered “We’re from Greenville” for the first time in my entire life. I couldn’t understand myself for answering that way because I’m not from Greenville. Oh my word now I have another place to add to my list of questions I ask myself when someone wants to know my origins.

I kept replaying my answer in my head, wondering what brought me to say that and realized: Ivy. In a way that I was never rooted anywhere before, Ivy being born in Greenville has grounded me here. Although Nick is from Greenville, I never was. I couldn’t figure out where I was from. But Ivy’s birth turning us into a family gave Greenville a permanent location in my heart.

Ask me on my own, “Where are you from?”, and I’m still not sure. But ask me “Where are y’all from?”, and my answer is “Greenville, my family is from Greenville”. 

Emily's French Bread

I don't cook or bake many things, but when I do it's almost always a hit because I just use the same tried and true recipes over and over and over. Can't go wrong because I've been using some of these same recipes for over a decade. These beloved recipes are my french bread, my cinnamon rolls, my molasses cookies, my quiche and my granola.  Whatever it is we ate, our guests usually ask for my recipe. So, I'm sharing them all here on my blog, for all my readers!

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of warm water

1 tbsp yeast

1 tbsp sugar

3.5 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

Directions:

Whisk together the warm water, yeast and sugar in a bowl and let sit for about 5 minutes. It should bubble up. Add in the flour and salt. Mix all ingredients and let your electric mixer knead the dough for a minute or so. Put the dough on an oiled cast iron pan, cover with a dishcloth and let sit for 20 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400, use a sharp knife to cut slits into the top of the risen dough, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with course sea salt. Bake for 35 minutes or until top of bread is golden brown. 

Enjoy!

Emily’s Molasses Cookies

Not trying to brag, but people love my molasses cookies. They are my go-to dessert when company is coming over and Nick’s favorite for me to whip up when he’s craving a warm, gooey treat.

They never fail. Are always yummy. Even when I don’t follow the recipe exactly, they turn out great. So, don’t be nervous to change the spice measurements and feel free to throw in your Young Living Essential Oils when you have them on hand.

I’ve used YLEO Cinnamon Bark, Ginger, Cardamom, Clove and Nutmeg many times and just a couple drops of each really gives these cookies that extra zing that’s amazing in a molasses cookie. Don’t have the essential oils? Click HERE to order from me!

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cardamom

(Optional: instead of using cinnamon, ginger and cardamom, you can use 1 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice)

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened (use vegan butter to make this recipe vegan)

2/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 tsp vanilla

Sugar for rolling

Directions:

If you have an electric mixer, start by putting in the butter. Turn on the mixer and while it’s stirring, slowly add each ingredient. I like to do it in this order: butter, then brown sugar, then molasses, then vanilla, then all the spices, then slowly add the 2 cups of flour with the baking soda. Let the mixer continue stirring until ingredients are fully mixed, stopping to clean the sides of bowl if needed.

If you don’t have an electric mixer and plan to hand mix, combine all the dry ingredients and wet ingredients in two separate bowls and then mix them together into one bowl. 

Once all ingredients are fully mixed, place the ball of dough in the refrigerator for a 30 minutes or so. It’s not required, but the cold dough is easier to form into balls.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven at 350, form the dough into cookie sized balls, roll them in a bowl of sugar and press down with fork. Bake for 9-11 mins.

Enjoy!