As someone who’s never traveled in a hostel – I’m finding it’s a perfect place to start meeting people if you’re doing a solo journey. KEX has a bar and a few common areas, so it makes it easier to meet new friends! I know this post has come a bit late – but it’s because I’ve been without internet mostly for today, so didn’t have a lot of time to write about yesterday.

Breakfast with Nicole

I met Nicole while at the KEX bar. She’s from America, New Hampshire to be exact, and also was interested in trying some craft beers before heading home on her last day in Iceland (I love that everyone is into trying craft beers now 😀). She had been with a group of friends here but decided to stay a few extra days to do some solo travel. Anyways, we decided after the bar hopping the night before that I’d get up and grab breakfast with her before she had to head off! Food is as good as any motivation to get me out of bed and moving! We grabbed a small breakfast – excellent espresso shot and ham and cheese croissant. We hung out and talked a little bit more and then headed to KEX so that she could make sure everything was packed and in order. Right as I was saying goodbye, I overheard 3 people talking about renting a car and planning a road trip around Iceland for the next day…

Let’s Plan a Road Trip

The 3 people I met at that table at KEX couldn’t have possibly been any cooler. I jumped in and asked if they were planning a road trip, and if so, if they were interested in a fourth to help make it cheaper. Nikki (from the UK, but has been in Asia for the last 6 years), Max (from Australia (but actually has French parents, but actually was in the UK studying recently)), and Connor (from Maine, but was studying abroad in the UK as well) are all the best of people, and we all just happened to end up at KEX at the same time. We decided to get planning and see if we could rent a car by the end of the night, and set out the next morning. We eventually decided on heading up North West, and then circling back to the Golden Circle (East of Reykjavík), staying there overnight, and then exploring that the next day before taking Connor to the Airport and me back to the hostel so I could get some work done. Nikki and Max will be traveling for a few more days.

We decided to head further into town to ask the tourist center people where we should go given that the weather is a bit spotty and there is so much to see. A nice guy helped us plan out a few possible routes.

SADCars, in Iceland, seriously rents old, sad cars for really cheap. My friend Stephen recommended it to me and it was very straightforward, and very affordable. We ended up renting the cheapest econo-box ever, and since both Nikki and I drive manual cars, and over 21, we were able to split the driving duties and stay legit!

We also found a really cool Airbnb in the middle of nowhere. More on that later…

Taking a Break – More City Exploring

Planning is actually really hard work, so we explored the city a bit more (probably just an excuse for us all to get to know each other better) and got hotdogs.

Tjörnin Lake

Just look at this Panorama. Nothing is on fire, the sunset is just pink sometimes. CAUTION – CLICKING THIS WILL LOAD THE FULL MEDIA FILE – IT’S BIG

Graffiti

Graffiti seems to be a big part of Reykjavík in some places. I’d love to learn more about it, but all over the city there is some reaalllyy cool stuff. Take a look:

Hot Dogs:

Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur is a famous Hot Dog chain in Reykjavík. There is something magical about these hot dogs, and they’re some of the cheapest things to eat in Reykjavík, seriously. About $4/per. If you say “yes” when they ask “everything?,” there are 2 crazy sauces on top of the hot dogs, and then some fried, crispy onion stuff between the dog and the bun. It’s glorious.

More  Planning / JAZZZ:

After we got back, it was time for some showers, some happy hour beers (much cheaper at KEX between 5pm and 7pm), and some more planning. I took an action shot, but turns out it’s not very good so I’m not going to post it. That said, when we came back, we realized there was a concert at KEX that night, and being free to us at least, we decided to stay. They were an amazing Jazz Quartet – super good stuff and also played some interesting renditions of christmas music. The drummer was outstanding.

Metrics:

• Miles Walked: 7
• Beers Drank: 2
• Git Commits: 2 (I’m going to make it up to you Corey, I promise)