Cave and Pool Diving

Reykjavik - July 15, 2022

Touch down in Reykjavik. It's 4:00 am, and we're heading out on pretty much no sleep. We have a few hours to kill before we go cave trekking in one of the longest lava tunnels in Iceland. Maybe not the best decision, descending into a dark lava tunnel half mad from jet lag and only a Slim Jim for nourishment, but WE'RE DOING THIS!! Well...in a few hours. In the meantime, the city will keep us occupied.

We stop at the hostel to drop off our bags, er...bag. One backpack each for this trip. It's way too early for check-in, so we stow our bag and head to town. First stop, like always, is the largest building in the city - usually a church. That's how I get my bearings. I use the building as my anchor and then my mom thinks I'm magic because within the day, we are wending our way through the city streets without a map. I like pretending that I'm magic.

That's my crazy, half-mad face. Very similar to my everyday face, actually. You can definitely see the fatigue in my mom's eyes.

After finding the church, we stop across the street at Cafe Loki. My friend Sarah has been to Iceland twice and recommended the restaurant. Being that it was directly across the road from the church, it really wasn't a hard sell. Less walking = A OK.

After a lunch of smoked trout on flatbread we head to the bus depot to catch our bus to the lava tunnel.

Turns out, Iceland is COLD! I mean, really cold. It's between 50-58, so you'd think it would be like spring in New York, but it's NOT. With the wind and the relentless misty rain, it is really quite cold. At the depot, I buy a new winter hat and some gloves. I'm still pretty cold when we go wait for the bus, which means my mother is freezing. This is a lady who was cold in Cancun. She's cold, and I can already tell she's not happy. She does not have a great poker face. Also, she told me, so there's that too.

At the bus depot, there are a bunch of regular looking city buses and vans lined up. None of them are ours. So we wait. As we are waiting, a massive bus comes in with huge tires lifting the carriage of the bus at least three feet. It looks top heavy and prone to flipping over in the wind. I assume it must be for some off-roading adventure, and I make a joke to my mother knowing that she was already thinking about how unsafe and unstable that bus looks. She laughed and expressed some nervousness for the tourists that would have to get into the doomed bus.

The driver stops and pulls out a sign. Of course, it says "Lava Tunnel."

Well - day 1, hour 4 - it had to happen eventually. Mom turns to me and says, "I don't understand why the bus looks like that. I don't think I want to go, Amy." Honestly, I don't know why either. I didn't imagine there was going to be any off-roading on this trip.

"Maybe they were out of regular buses," I offer. "It's really going to be fine, I promise."

That's more of an educated guess. I can't imagine that it is not going to be fine. It's just a standard day trip.

At this point, she's so tired that it is mirroring a drunken state. We get on the bus, and the driver says something about needing hard hats just in case of falling rocks. Mom's response is: "What he say...What?!?" That's not a type -- she's now missing verbs in her sentences.

"It's fine mom. You should try to sleep on the bus. That's what I'm going to do."

She is not going to sleep.

We get there and it really isn't a big deal. We get our hard hats on a descend into the lava tunnel - which is awesome!

Nature is cool. Iceland has 130 active volcanoes, and all over there are remnants of past volcanic explosions. And I am literally in a tunnel that was created by flowing magma! As we descend deeper and deeper into the tunnel, all-natural light is lost, and there is only the artificial light. The guide turns off the lights, and we plunge into complete darkness. It was weird; your brain keeps making you play with your eyes so that you can adjust to the light, but there is zero light to adjust to, and it remains black. The tour guide keeps talking, and we just sit there in darkness for 3 minutes. I am not listening to her fully, but I did listen just enough to hear that Iceland has no bats. I find that interesting, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it is because my mother has a fear of bats.

The Lava Tunnel, Raufarhólshellir

After the tunnel, we head back to town. On the way back, we stop at the Hallgrimskirkju Church, and I see that people are going in to climb to the top. I ask my mom if she wants to go in...she doesn't. At this point, she's like a tired toddler, and I tell her that I think she needs a nap, but she outright refuses. I then decide that the best solution is for me to go back to the hostel and have a few beers before we head to the spa.

So, mom didn't sleep. Instead, she decided to down three beers, which is a pretty good amount for her. Iceland is CRAZY expensive, so I decide to use the bus system to get to the spa.

After two buses, we finally arrive "close" to the spa. We still have a kilometer walk. There are two girls that heading to the spa, and I can tell that they have no idea where they are going. Since I'm heading there too, I decide to strike up a conversation and see if they want to join us on our journey to the spa. They are happy to tag along. Along the way, I have to reassure them multiple times that I am NOT a serial killer as we keep going further and further into closed roads and construction zones. I promise them that while it looks like we are heading to nowhere, I am sure we will end up at the spa. After a lot of twisting and turning, we make it to Sky Spa. The girls ask me when I will be leaving the spa so that we can meet up and head back to the city together. Since I'm not sure that I will even be coherent by the end of the night, I give them advice for their walk back, and wish them the best of luck. They will need it.

The spa is, hands down, one of my favorite places on earth!! We paid extra for a private shower, because my mother refuses to shower naked in a communal shower (understandable). Once we showered, we enter the pool, which was incredible!

The Sky Lagoon, Reykjavik

It was a hot spring that was designed to look like you were still in nature surrounded by volcanic rocks. Once you slowly (very slowly and enjoyably) make your way through the winding pool, you come out into the infinitely pool that looks out to the ocean and has a waterfall and a swim up bar!

Three drinks in, mom's hair is getting wild. You can determine her level of intoxication by the height of her hair, and even wet, it was getting pretty messy so I suggested that we start the seven step Icelandic spa ritual. This clearly means I've had enough to drink, since step one is a cold plunge (err...ice plunge) that I would normally never do willingly! Let's just say, I did it twice so that should give you an idea about how loose my inhibitions were at that time.

Once the plunge was done, we went to step two - the sauna. No exaggeration, this was the best sauna I have ever been in! I mean, I've never been in a sauna with a view!

I did feel a bit like I was swallowing fire in the sauna so we only stayed about five minutes before heading to step three - an ice cold mist room. Mom didn't want to be sprayed with ice cool mist but, after swallowing fire for five minutes, I was ready!

Once the cool mist was done, we had to cover ourselves from head to toe in oil and salt, and then go into an extremely hot steam room with over a dozen people - steps four and five. After that was done, we were both so hot and uncomfortable that step six, another communal shower, was NO problem! After the shower, we eagerly ran for step seven - relaxing in the giant hot pool.

It was the most amazing experience, and if you go to Iceland you MUST go to the Sky Spa Lagoon!

The way back to the hostel, however, was less amazing. We were both very tired, and the buses had stopped running at their regular intervals. This meant that we had to walk pretty much the entire way back, all on six beers, 44 hours of no sleep, a Slim Jim, and some smoked trout.

Despite that, I would say it was a great start to our vacation.