Iceland: Winter - March 2017

What can I say? This country is the most beautiful of all the countries that I have been so far. Most likely going to stay at the top of the list for quite sometime. The Icelandic people are very smart. Mother Nature has done all the work for them. They just need to take care and capitalise on what was given to them on a silver platter. There is no need for them to build the tallest, the fastest, the biggest whatever to attract people to visit their country. They even have natural laser shows! What a blessed country :)

They should give something to Shah Rukh Khan though. Due to his film Diwale, suddenly Iceland became a must visit place for Malaysians! We are forking out serious money due to our weakened currency just to visit Iceland but I personally think that it was worth every penny :)

Never before when I went through pictures of my travels, I keep on mumbling "cantiknya" (Malay word for beautiful) like a broken record. Iceland's untarnished beauty simply makes me happy. The country gives a very peaceful aura. Even the tap water tastes great!

It was a long journey to Iceland. We have to board 3 planes with a total travel time (including transits) of close to 30 hours. We flew via Qatar Airways for the first 2 flights and Icelandair for the last leg. Qatar Airways inflight meals were great. Their inflight meals should be made standard airline practice if you ask me. No cold sandwiches should be served on board. Icelandair only provides drinks but you can purchase overpriced snacks on board. They however accept payment via credit card only. No cash.

March is a great month to visit for people from countries without four seasons. The weather is not so cold. It was still snowing lightly at some places and clear blue sky in others. Maybe it is just me but when I visit ICEland, I expect to see ICE. So March is a good month for me. There were ice everywhere :) Awesome!!

I am usually not very adventurous when it comes to food. There are a lot of things that I don't eat. Since this trip is very expensive, I've decided to turn a new leaf and tried every single dish being served. I am not saying I will eat them again under normal circumstances but I tried to be less squemish in Iceland. With the aid of chilli flakes, happy to say that I enjoyed every single dish served to me :) I even ate whale meat :P What surprises me is the use of coconuts in their dish. I don't think coconut trees are native.

The trip is very short but just right for me. After my 40 days "holiday", I find that I prefer short trips. By the time you have to go home, you are still feeling excited with the country that you visit instead of feeling tired or worse bored. A great feeling to close a holiday don't you think?

Our itinerary was as follows:
13 March 2017    Kuala Lumpur - Doha
14 March 2017    Doha - Oslo - Keflavik - Reykjavik
15 March 2017    Reykjavik - Langjokull - Reykholt - Reykjavik
16 March 2017    Reykjavik - Golden Circle - Selfoss
17 March 2017    Selfoss - Seljaland - Vik - Skoga
18 March 2017    Skoga - Vatnajokull - Jokulsarlon - Skoga
19 March 2017    Skoga - Reykjavik - Keflavik
20 March 2017    Keflavik - Oslo - Doha
21 March 2017    Doha - Kuala Lumpur

I have to confess that I am having a tough time trying to hashtag the pictures. When I surf the net or check the address, I'm not sure which is the city (or town) or whether it is a region. Normally I hashtag the cities but in this case I even hashtag the glaciers as the cities :P They are big enough!

This trip is organised by Mien Travel & Tours. It costs RM15.5k per person. My most expensive tour so far. Roughly about RM3k per tour day (minus journey time). Mien Travel & Tours only takes care of logistics. So if you go with them don't expect their tour leader service to be on par with established tour companies like Trafalgar, Apple Vacations, Parlo Tours or even Poto Travels. They are just an agency to gather seasoned travellers, takes care of logistics and leave the travellers to fend for themselves during the visit. They rely totally on the local tour guide to manage the group while their agents behave like tourists themselves. Since their customers are generally friends, I suppose that level of service is acceptable :P

Our Icelandic tour leader Johann was acceptable. I don't quite understand what he was saying most of the time though. I think he pronounces the English words with Iceland sound :P He is so patient with us. Calling us "naughty children" who refuses to come back to the bus. He didn't do a lot of explanations though. Aren't we lucky that we are only a fingertips away from the internet? So the shortcoming (of not giving proper explanations) was no longer unforgiveable. We can always rely on Professor Google :)

Our driver Arie was good. Very helpful and cheerful :) I wish he cleans up the bus window though. We cannot get good pictures or videos from the bus because the windows were so dirty :(

This is my third visit overseas that I did not exchange even a single cent of local currency. All my purchases are charged to my credit card. Didn't shop much in Iceland. Just bought some chocolates and fridge magnets. This is one of the reasons why I like to join full board organised tours. All fully paid for. You only need to bring shopping money :)

I have uploaded 652 pictures and 177 videos for your viewing pleasure. I had a great time in Iceland due to the friendly and sporting people in the tour group. Some of them are really wacky :P The food were great too! All in all a successful short holiday :)

You can access them here:
http://instagram.com/mkhasha.n.travels

Hashtag specific for this trip:
#mks2017Iceland
 

Njoy!!