Midnight Sun in Iceland (8 June to 22 June 2025)

8 June 2025 

We are flying to Iceland today. We spent yesterday morning to pack the luggage. It’s a 2 weeks trip so there’s a lot of things to pack, including winter wear and hand warmers. We bought 2 boxes of hand warmers (15x2 each box). It’s summer in iceland but it is still pretty cold below 10. I didn’t sleep well as I was sleeping on Lexuan’s bed on the floor. My backside is in pain and I dreamt a lot too. 

We woke up around 6am+ and it’s a raining morning. Because of the flight, we had to miss our ntuc income run. I heard that the race was delayed by an hour due to the rain too. 

It was quite difficult to get a cab in the morning. We finally managed to get one. It cost $37.90. We reached airport at around 8.30am. 

Self Check in is a smooth process. We got 3 luggage this time round as there are just too many things. Lexuan played the miffy memory game before we entered the departure hall. We ate Burger King and it’s strange that they are serving lunch menu even though it’s morning. So we ate mushroom Swiss burger. Then we also went to the coffeeshop nearby to drink coffee. The coffee isn’t very nice though. 

Then we walked to A10. By the time we cleared the security check, many people had already boarded the plane. We quickly boarded the plane and found our seats at 62. A380 is really big and spacious. So spacious until I cannot lean on the side window and sleep. 

I took a short nap before they served us lunch. Lexuan and I order chicken pastas which is not nice. She likes the peach and strawberry crumble with vanilla sauce. Jianhui’s sweet and sour fish is much better. 

I watched dogman movie before I slept for a while. I also watched Andy Lau’s move - Cesium Fallout. Don’t know why all these movies always make me cry a lot. I also watched Last Breath which was not too bad too. 

Then we had dinner. We ordered gong bao chicken with rice which was not bad. Lexuan’s creamy pasta is not nice. 

In the end, I didn’t manage to sleep at all. I watched pororo underwater adventure short movie. It’s such a long flight. 

Lexuan and I went to the toilet numerous times. And we finally touched down Frankfurt at Singapore 11pm+. 

By now I was feeling so sleepy and tired. 😴 We still have to queue for customs and security check. Then it was a long walk to Gate A64. I tried to lie down to sleep but failed. We came to come across the nap capsules where you can book a bed to sleep. It cost EUR34 for an hour. 

We are taking Lufthansa flight to Iceland. Our flight is at Frankfurt time 9.50pm (6hrs behind SGT) but it was still quite bright even at 8pm. I was already so tired and yet the flight is delayed.

We have priority boarding as we have a kid. We boarded at 10pm. The moment we boarded, 3 of us went to sleep while the rest still boarding. Lexuan also slept throughout the flight. Iceland is 8hrs behind Singapore. Feel like it has been a long day for 8 June 2025. Definitely a tiring day as we  have been flying since SGT10.50am. We finally reached Iceland at midnight. And it’s still very bright! This is really the so called mid night sun. Took some photos on the plane too. 

Compared to the other time, there were many people at the airport, waiting for their flight. Some shops are open too. After collecting luggage and we could exit to Iceland. No customs needed. 

Lexuan requested for a drink (orange and peach drink which turns out to be her favourite drink the whole trip) so we went to the convenience store in the airport. I also bought the Dubai viral chocolate to try. Haha. We took out our jacket and walked to the Aurora hotel. It’s cold! Lucky it was a short walk.

Checking in is easy and we got our room key very quickly. Happy to be able to rest finally! Lexuan can finally shit too! So for once she is the first one to shower. Jianhui cooked Maggie mee for us. 

Then we slept at 2am. It’s still so bright! 

I woke up around 3am and the sun is orange red. So it’s true that it is always so bright 24 hrs. 

9 June 2025 

Jianhui and I were up since 5am+. We rested on the bed. When Lexuan woke up, then we went down for breakfast. The breakfast not too bad. It costs us about $100 for the breakfast. 

We ate until quite full then we went back to the room. I was feeling quite sleepy so I took a nap after shower. 

Jianhui went to airport to change money at the airport. There is a processing fee of 1.9% so he went to ATM to change money from youtrip. He also got the car. It’s a silver KIA small car. We checked out at 12pm

We drove past the place where there was a recent volcanic eruption, close to the fishing town of Grindavik and the famous Blue Lagoon. It seems pretty deserted though. Not many people and cars. 

Then we drove the coastal route about 1hr30mins to Selfoss. We went to the supermarket and bought some bread, water. Jianhui also bought sushi. We ate the sushi inside the car. 

Then we drove to somewhere nearby for lunch. We chose this food hall place where you can order many different kind of food. We ordered carbonara which is super salty. At least Lexuan got eat a bit of it. It cost us about $39 for the pasta and a can of coke. 

Then we went to buy ice cream. Lexuan wanted to order her candy floss ice cream cone. Including my vanilla ice cream cone, it cost $17 in total. 

Then it’s about 50mins to our accommodation. It started to drizzle a bit. Somewhere near our accommodation, we pumped petrol. With our experience in 2023, Jianhui managed to pump petrol without an issue. He even taught another group of foreign tourists how to pump petrol. Over here, you must use a credit/debit card with a pin. So this time round, Jianhui got his pin for youtrip before coming here. 

We are checking in Bru Guesthouse. It’s 5km in with gravel road conditions. Our car gets very dirty. When we reach, Lexuan and I had the challenge to see who can open the lock to get the key first. For the first time, Jianhui gave us the wrong passcode. Lexuan managed to open it. Love our accommodation so much! It’s so close to nature with plenty of empty space! Lexuan loves this place too! The only issue they only give us 3 pillows. 

Lexuan likes this place and would keep asking to run freely outside. I love the scenery and nature too! It’s always very bright so Lexuan always doesn’t want to sleep at night. We had to force her to sleep and then she would fell asleep and slept soundly. 

I had quite a good sleep though I woke up a few times.

10 June 2025 

I woke up at 4am as I had a Teams training at 4.30am. Because it is so bright, I don’t feel tired after washing up. It’s an interesting training so I feel pretty engaged. Having training at such a beautiful place does make training more fun. 

Lexuan woke up around 6am and wanted to go outside to run. It’s so cold today! We ate hard boiled egg and drank coffee. 

We checked out around 10am and our first stop is Seljalandsfoss which is one of my favourite waterfall. There were a lot more people this time round. 

Then It started raining as we started to drive towards Vik. We stopped by Skogafoss. This time round, Lexuan climbed up the stairs with her in her crocs. Well done baby! Jianhui walked a bit more to explore more. 

We wanted to eat Fish & chips but no electricity. So we drove to Vik. Back to the same old place we are familiar with - Icewear at Vik. Lava cafe is crowded but we had no choice. We ordered chicken pasta, muffin and waffle + mocha. Damage is about SGD60. Lexuan is feeling a bit upset as she wants to buy a drink from Starbucks and there is only one Starbucks in Iceland and we won’t be there until next week. I couldn’t find my salt in the icewear shop, but I bought a new wool hat. 

Then we went grocery shopping at Krónan. We need to stock up on snacks and water for us to party in our accommodation. 

We started driving to Diamond Beach which was like 2.5hr away. There were a lot of the purple flowers, known as Alaskan Lupine. I read it online, it is not native to Iceland, but brought in to improve soil. 

We dropped by to pump petrol at Ob and then a quick stopover at Foss á Síðu - it is a waterfall that falls from the cliff behind the houses of the small town. We also took a quick a stopover to take photo of glacier from far. 

Then, it’s toilet break at the pink cafe we came before 2 years ago! I remember the food was yummy. Lexuan bought ice cream while Jianhui bought Starbucks double shot espresso. He must be feeling tired as he had been driving whole day! 40km+ to go to Diamond Beach. 

It was crowded and packed with cars. Luckily, we still managed to get a slot. This time, it seems like the glacier is bigger but the beach is being fenced off so we cannot go down to pick ice. But we found one big one so we took photo with it. I tried to carry it but I cannot while Jianhui lifts it up easily.

Then it’s another 50+ minutes to our next accommodation - Seljavellir Guesthouse. The lunch is so filling that I don’t feel hungry even it’s almost 6pm. 

The landscape looks different and in fact it reminds me of New Zealand’s

tongariro. We finally reached our accommodation! With Jianhui’s hint, Lexuan managed to open the door! So she won 2 times now. Haha. 

We had been driving whole day until Lexuan doesn’t want to drive out for dinner. This is a simple accommodation with no fridge so we ended up putting our drinks outside the room since it is colder outside. And apparently, our neighbours copied our idea too. There is no dustbin except one small one in the toilet. The toilet is exceptionally big though which I suspect it is probably handicapped or wheel chair friendly. 

The curtain is very good that for once we finally had a dark room to sleep in. Haha. I slept with Jianhui while Lexuan slept on her “Princess bed” with her toys. 

11 June 2025 

We woke up at 6am. I had quite a good sleep. Other than waking up a few times, it’s all good. We had breakfast in the room with coffee and bread. Lexuan had her frosties with milk. 

Then we went to our cafe to drink coffee and tea. Lexuan had apple juice. Then we went back to the room. 

We took some photos then we checked out. We drove a short one to Osland to take some photos of the glacier. It’s so windy and cold! My face is freezing. 

Our next stop is at Vestrahorn. The whole place is windy and gloomy! We had to run to the toilet. Viking cafe is the warm place for us to hide. According to Google, Vestrahorn is backdrop for various movie and television scenes. We had to pay Kr. 1,100 per person, free for kid. With the QR code, the barricade would open and we could drive our car in. But actually the barricade is open when our car was there. Haha. 

When walking to the film set, it was so windy and cold - so windy that Lexuan is like being blown away. My Ironman hat is so loose that I had to take it off too. We decided that it’s just too windy for us to walk further. We drove straight to the black sand and parked there. It’s worse here as it is even more windy and we got hit by the flying black sand. It was so bad that my pink jacket is spotted with black sand. I took some videos and we decided to go back to Viking cafe. Jianhui said the wind speed is probably about 40km/hr. 

At the Viking cafe, We bought grilled sandwich - ham and cheese. It’s nice and it cost about SGD11. Lexuan likes it that we bought the 2nd one to takeaway. 

From google AI - The Vestrahorn area in southeast Iceland is home to a Viking village film set, though it was never used for a movie. The set was built for a Universal Studios project but was later abandoned due to budgetary reasons. Despite not being filmed in, the village is now a popular tourist attraction and has been featured in other productions, like "The Witcher: Blood Origin. It’s gloomy today, if not it would be photography place. 

Then we continued our journey. We stopped by a place with a red chair out of nowhere. It is like a tourist attraction but I have no idea why is it there. It’s looks quite normal from below but it’s kinda scary when you are on it as you will feel like you are going to fall. 

We made a quick stop at Skutafoss. We walked about 400m inside. It’s still very windy. At least Lexuan didn’t complain much walking. 

Then it’s an hour drive to our lunch place - Djupavogsvegur. We are eating at Hafio so Lexuan can eat fish and chips. The town is pretty quiet. There are quite a lot of people at Hafio though. We ordered Fish & Chips and fried chicken, coffee, cola. The fish & chips is not bad. Lexuan finished the cola even before we started eating. Total damage = $80. 

Jianhui also bought Salmon roll from a nearby small shop. It’s not bad but the

Damage is SGD19. 

Then it’s all the way to our next accommodation with one stop in between for toilet. It was raining though out with not many pit stop. Initially we chose one pit stop cafe but it seems like a private house. So we chose another one, Cafe Sumarlina. This is also a cafe without a private house actually but the cafe word is more obvious and there were other cars parked there too. We ordered beer and apple juice for lexuan. 

Now we are just 30mins away from our accommodation - Mjoeyri Cottages! And it’s still raining. The thing about this route is, it is like S curve, you keep go winding and winding. 

We finally reached our accommodation. So Lexuan and I went to the reception to find Jianhui’s name. This time round I found it first but I let Lexuan find the key in the cottage 10. This little challenge is very fun. 

There is a stairs to 2nd level and Lexuan is so excited about it. She has been hanging out upstairs. 

The pillow is really small, so I hope we can sleep well. 

Update: Lexuan didn’t use her pillow in the middle of the night so I kop hers. Hahaha. 

12 June 2025 

Good morning! It’s still a gloomy day. I had a lot of dreams - even dreamt of doing a triathlon, working in branch, hanging out with my family and some other stuff I can’t remember. 

We had biscuits and coffee for breakfast. Lexuan had her frosties with Milo. Then we went to the hot tub to play. It’s so warm, totally the temperature that I like. Strangely after the hot tub, I don’t feel cold walking back to our room. In fact, I can walk around the place without jacket. The wonders of hot tub? 

We left our house about 10am. It’s 40mins drive to supermarket as we need to top up our food. We also pumped petrol. So basically the whole trip, we’re spending on food, petrol and water.

We stopped at Netto (Egilsstaoir) and started our grocery shopping. There is a pineapple chopping machine and we bought a pineapple to try. The restaurants haven open so we decided to buy sushi and chicken to eat it here. Yummy! This cost us SGD38. Our grocery shopping cost us SGD85, quite scary right? 

And the sky is blue again! Yeah! Starting our one hour drive to Borgarfjaroarhofn. Last 30km needs 30minutes. The scenery is so beautiful. We stopped by a parking place to take photos of the landscape and to go toilet. 

Then it’s a short drive to Borgarfjaroarhofn. We walked through the cafe to use the toilet. Then we went to find puffin. There are a lot of puffins up close. The way they shit is scary as it will eject upwards. I managed to see one puffin bringing in fishes. 

We decided to relax a while at the cafe. I bought Iceland chocolate ice cream, cappuccino and fuze tea for Lexuan. The ice cream is nice! It cost us SGD27. 

Now it’s an hour back to the town. Along the way, we stopped by a parking place where there is snow/ice. Lexuan and I played there for a while before we continued the journey.

Lexuan was looking forward to shop at Netto. She wanted to buy her lip balm. She told me she needs to buy the other 2 designs as she always loses her things. What kind of excuse is this? We topped up with more drinks. I also bought postcards. Nowadays I like to buy postcards too which I can write and give/send to my friends. 

We went to the nearby Salt restaurant for early dinner. As we are not that hungry, we ordered Pizza, Pepsi and beer. This cost us $54. Then it’s our way back to our nice cosy cottage. 

Weather is good now and temperate is about 18 degrees Celsius as compared to yesterday about 6 degrees Celsius. Scenery is so beautiful and majestic too. It’s strange that they have factories along such a beautiful route. 

We reached our accommodation before

6pm. It’s warm in the room. We decided to go to the hot tub to play again. Now that the sun is out with the temperate at 17, it feels really hot. I think I prefer to play hot tub when it is really cold like Finland. 

Our 2nd level room feels warm so we open a bit of the windows. Let’s hope we can have some good sleep! 

 Lexuan couldn’t sleep so she was playing on her own while I was trying to sleep. 

13 June 2025 

It’s so windy when I woke up so I closed our little window. It’s so windy that you can hear the howling of the wind. I dreamt a lot of funny thing. 

Lexuan tried her carbonara for breakfast. I ate egg and her leftover carbonara + coffee. After breakfast, Lexuan and I went to play hot tub for the last time. It’s windy so we had to quickly run to the hot tub from our accommodation. We played for a while before going back to shower. 

Jianhui and I went for a short hike just opposite our accommodation. It’s really windy. Just a short walk and I was already freezing.

We relaxed in the room before we checked out at 9.40am. We nearly left Groots here as they were hiding under Jianhui’s blanket on his bed. Lexuan rated this accommodation as no. 1 because she loves the 2nd level. With the good weather, our guesthouse has a good view of the fjord and the Eskifjorour town. 

We are heading to Dimond Cottage, somewhere near Husavik. We stopped by at our favourite supermarket, Netto! We planned to buy the chicken to eat for lunch. It’s yummy and value for money. We also bought more water to prepare for our next few days.

Then we are driving to Dettifoss. As it is relatively far, we put an additional stop at Rjukandi waterfall (Rjukandafoss). It is one of the many waterfalls we can see from Road Number 1. It is 139m tall and the best part it is an easy and short hike to the waterfall. It is majestic and nice! We had a quick stopover then we are heading to Dettifoss - 1hr and 30mins away. 

There is so much ice here on the road but no  place for us to stop. Lexuan is disappointed but no choice. We finally got a stop point but there isn’t any snow to play. Jianhui and I took some photos here. 

Then we had a quick stopover at a cafe for toilet. We bought hotdog bun, grilled ham and cheese sandwich and water. I also bought some postcards. It’s 45mins to Dettifoss. 

There were many cars and tourist buses at the carpark. We quickly went to the toilet before walking about 1km to Dettifoss. We are blessed with 2 rainbows. It looks so majestic and beautiful. Lexuan was complaining non stop though. We had to bribe her with 10 ice cream. Then we walked to Selfoss which is nearby too. Very nice too! Then we walked back to the car park.

We used the toilets again before making our way to our next accommodation - Dimond Cottage. To our surprise, there was a place where we could park and we can play snow - somewhere near Kopasker. Some other tourist had made a big snowman (from Australia) there. Lexuan was overjoyed. We had a great time throwing ice balls at one another. Jianhui and I made snow man that don’t look like snow man. It’s cold to make snow man with bare hands actually. We played about 20 minutes before continuing our journey. Lexuan was really happy to be able to play snow finally after seeing it for the whole afternoon. I was excited too as we don’t get to see so much snow before and it’s relatively clean since not many people came here to play. 

It’s another 1hr+ to our accommodation! Now it feels relatively hotter because of the sun. We stopped by at Netto to buy milk. There is no toilet so we had to quickly drive to our accommodation. 

It’s a landed house on its own near the Huvasik airport. It is big and just like a house with a big fridge! We have a suana inside the house too! 

Overall, it’s a nice place to relax! The only thing is, the whole living room is very bright until late at night. Luckily we can pull down black curtains in the room and close the door. Even after doing all this, it’s still a little bright. 

14 June 2025

I’m the first one to be up today! So I prepared hard boiled eggs, milo and coffee for them. 

We left house about 10am to go Goðafoss Waterfall in Northern Iceland. It’s a short 30 minutes drive so we are very happy! 

After parking the car, it is a short and easy walk to the waterfall. The water of the river Skjálfandafljót falls from a height of 12 metres over a width of 30 metres. We can see people getting close to the waterfall opposite us so we decided to explore there too.

Before that, Lexuan wants to go toilet so we went to the souvenir / cafe shop there. It cost 200 ISk to go toilet. Since it is a souvenir shop, it’s a nice place for me to shop! Lexuan bought a polar wooden toy which reveal many many different sizes of polar inside. Haha. Jianhui also bought a nice icewear jacket! We bought wool soap though I don’t know how it works. 

Then we walked the other side of Goðafoss Waterfall. Lexuan and I saw rainbow! It’s easy to go down to be close to the waterfall. Lexuan didn’t complain too. I like this waterfall a lot as the air feels fresh and I can feel the water too! So refreshing! 

Then we heading to Lake Mývatn - another 30minutes drive. First thing we do is to find toilet! We found the ice cream place - Skútaís - Farm Ice Cream. We also used the toilet, thankfully for free toilet after spending ISK200 per toilet entry per person earlier. The ice cream is yummy! 

Lexuan says she likes the lake and the snow on the mountains. I bought more postcards and they got sell stamps! We went for toilet before looking for restaurant. We had fish & chips.It cost ISK3,390 and the Pepsi cost ISK450 (SGD40). We ordered 2 sets of fish & chips as the portion is quite small. It is nice though.

Then we are driving back to our accommodation. We didn’t do much but ended up it’s also about 4pm+ when we got back. We also did shopping at the supermarket. We bought lamb sirloin (about SGD22) and sausage for Lexuan! Today we have Jianhui as our chef. 

The lamb sirloin is so nice! Thanks dear for cooking for us! A satisfying dinner. 

It’s only our 6th day in Iceland but we feel kinda broke as everything is expensive…. Food, Grocery shopping and everyday we are pumping petrol. Haha. 

15 June 2025 

Happy Father’s Day to Jianhui, to all fathers, fathers to be and uncles! 

We had our breakfast in the house before checking out at 9.30am. We got to remove the bedsheets and put together with used towels on top of the box. Today feels more cold. Even the mountains from far looks colder with more snow. True enough, today’s temperature is 6 degrees Celsius compared to yesterday above 11 degrees Celsius. 

It’s 45minutes drive to Akureyri where we can find red ❤️ traffic lights - the unique "Hearts of Akureyri" located all around the city. For a moment, I am so happy and excited to see red light. We first stopped over at Netto. But it is too early so the shopping centre is not open so there is no toilet. So we moved on to Kronan. And yes there is toilet. We happily shopping to stock up our food! Another $60 gone. We bought the viral Samyang Hot Chicken Carbonara Ramen to try. 

Then we went looking for food. There are slightly more people here at Akureyri but still pretty quiet. There is a playground so Lexuan was also happily playing at the playground in the cold. It is cold over here that I had to wear my gloves. We decided to buy hotdog bun to eat. And it’s the best choice! Cheap and good! We ordered one hotdog bun with egg and ham which was so good while the other one is a normal one. Lexuan didn’t like the onions so we bought one just hotdog and ketchup which cost $7 as well. So we ended up buying 4 hotdog buns. Probably our cheapest lunch so far. Jianhui went to get our favourite orange and peach drink so we could drink while eating hotdog bun. 

There are many ice wear shops here. Those

Icelandic sweaters are nice but it’s expensive. About $200 for one. But I guess it is hand knitted so this explains why it is not cheap. I didn’t buy it. Let me think about it for a few more days. 

Then we went to Netto for toilet. Lexuan went to shop at a kid’s shop and it’s scary that the toy cost 3 times more expensive than Singapore or market rate. I guess the toys are imported so it is more expensive. 

So it’s 3hrs to our next accommodation - Hraunsnef Country Hotel which we will break it up to 3 segments. 

First stop - Grill 66 which is a petrol kiosk with toilet and cafe! We ate ice cream and Jianhui ordered burger & fries. Still got 2 hours to go! We stopped at a petrol station about 35 minutes away. The toilets are like in a container. I also posted my post cards.

Let’s hope it will be delivered safely to Singapore. We had one stop at the petrol station for toilet break before driving to our accommodation. It’s already 5pm by now. 

We finally reached at 5.45pm. After so many days of contact less check in, this is one with people at reception. It has a restaurant too. And there is a nature hot tub. 

After rested a while, we went to the hot tub to play. As usual, Lexuan didn’t like the hot water. As for me, I am a natural. I love hot tub, hot water. Haha. We played a while then we went back to shower. 

It has been a long day since we have been out like since 9.30am. And now it is finally time to relax in the room. 

Lexuan tried her viral Samyang Hot Chicken Carbonara Ramen without the spicy powder. She likes it to my surprise. Then we ate the spicy dry Korean cup noodles which was very spicy. Lastly, we tried the beef noodle we just bought today - it tasted like mee Sua  actually. Haha. Lexuan likes it. 

After dinner, we went to see the cows nearby. The ducks are swimming in the pond. 

We slept at around 9pm+ 

16 June 2025 

I woke up at 4.15am for my 3hrs training. It’s early but I don’t feel it as it is bright and it looks as if it is morning or late afternoon. 

Lexuan slept until 7.30am after my training had ended. We had breakfast inside the room with Nutella/strawberry bread. Lexuan had her cereal with Milo. 

We went for a quick drive nearby to the Glanni waterfall. It’s an easy walk to the waterfall. We are done within 5 minutes? 

Then we went back to our room to do packing. We checked out around 10.20am. We are heading to the Westfjords. From the tourism brochure, Vestfjaroaleioin #TheWestfjordsWay is a new project - 950km circle route in Iceland Westfjords region.  It’s a short drive to the nearest and only supermarket. Nothing much to buy here. We stayed here for a short while to wait for the restaurant to open at 12pm. We went Blys cafe but the menu belongs to Dalakot. We ordered pizza and Dala Special burger + Coke. Quite a filling lunch. 

Then it’s 2hrs drive to our accommodation. According to Google map, there isn’t much things along the way - no restaurants, no supermarket, no cafe, etc. We are heading to Bjarkarholt Guesthouse. It started raining

And the landscape here is more green.

We stopped by Handverksfélagið Assa for toilet break. I bought 2 really cute key chains of the Icelandic sweater (hand-knitted Lopapeysa but it cost me $16 each. 

There is a self service small grocery place where you can get eggs, fish, chocolates, drinks etc and pay yourself. Quite fun. Somewhere near there, we saw a lot of chickens. We are going to try this tomorrow. 

Then we check in to our no. 7 accommodation - Bjarkarholt Guesthouse. Same as Dimond cottage, it is a spacious house. We love the space. And we have to put on bedsheets and pillow case ourselves. 

Happy to check in at 4pm today and we could relax. Not sure about others, but we are happy to relax early in our cosy accommodation. 

17 June 2025

I had a good sleep I must say though I woke up a few times. 

It’s still gloomy today. According to Jianhui, we are going to have gloomy day for the rest of our trip. Oh man. It’s Icelandic National Day today too!

After breakfast and shower, we went for a walk nearby. Errrd by NJ my are many of the purple flowers. We saw the swimming pool and nature hot tub - Krosslaug. It’s so cold that your hands will be frozen the moment we are out. 

On our way to our next destination, we saw 

Kleifaheiði - Kleifakarl which is a stone statue erected by road workers in 1947. Quite a surprise to see it while driving. 

Then we reached our destination - BA 64 - oldest steel ship in Iceland. It is built in Norway in 1912, beached here in 1981.

We stopped by at Patreksfjorour, one of the towns in the west. The restaurant Stúkuhúsið is closed due to National Day. So we drove back to Cafe West where we bought croissant, panini (ham & cheese) and cappuccino. 

While heading to Dynjandi waterfall, we passed by our accommodation so we went for toilet break. Then we continued our journey. When nearer Dynjandi, it seems like they have not completed the road so it’s gravel road, quite difficult to drive in. 

We finally reached Dynjandi and there is toilet!Need to pay for parking too (about 7). This is the biggest waterfall in the Westfjord. Other than this biggest waterfall, there are five other waterfalls of Háifoss, Úðafoss, Göngufoss, Hundafoss, and Bæjarfoss that grace the landscape below it. It’s a nice place with fresh air. Lexuan climbed about 50% up while I continued all the way up. I find descending down harder than climbing up as it is slippery. Nevertheless, I highly recommend you to climb up! You get to be real close to the waterfall. 

After this, we are heading to Isafjorour, biggest settlement city in Westfjords. There is this tunnel which is quite interesting as the other direction cars will stop at designated place (they call it pull-out areas) while we drive through. The question is, how do we know it’s our turn to drive through? We are lucky as we have one car in front of us and we just follow it through. According to online sources, to manage traffic flow in the single-lane section, there are designated pull-out areas where vehicles can wait for oncoming traffic to pass. Deep inside the mountain, the tunnel network branches off, with one section leading to Suðureyri. 

We went to Netto! Lexuan is happily getting her orange and peach drinks! Jianhui also got his ritz biscuits. Then we saw our favourite chicken so we decided to buy it back too.

It’s about 1.5hrs drive back. It’s kinda stressful to drive back the same tunnel back as we have to look out for oncoming cars and stop at M. And we are the lead vehicle so we had to be more alert. 

We stopped at the self service grocery shop! We bought fish, eggs (x6) and butter! We left kr 3,000 in the cash box. 

We ate our favourite Netto chicken. We were excited to cook the fish but the frying pan looks dirty, so we had to use our own precious pot. After frying one slice, it kinda burnt out pot so we decided we should boil the fish instead. The fish is not bad but a bit salty. 

I went toilet 2 times and my shit looks like diarrhoea kind. Hope that I feel better the next day. 

Lexuan was feeling hot sleeping in the room with me so she went to sleep with Jianhui on the single bed. But in the middle of the night, she came back to the room again. 

18 June 2025

I woke up a few times and didn’t really sleep well. Overall, I still don’t feel tired compared to being in Singapore. I think working in Singapore drains a lot of my energy. I still got LS a bit so hope I will be better later in the day. 

We checked out from our accommodation at around 9.40am. We stopped by to pump petrol and then go toilet too. It’s about 3hrs+ to our next accommodation - Eiohus Apartment. 

We stopped by the same place where I got the cute little sweater keychains - Handverksfélagið Assa. We bought more cute sweaters! We also bought coffee and mushroom soup (Yes, my favourite!). 

Then we went back to the same placed  (Blys / Dalakot) for lunch. We ordered chicken nuggets with fries, Hawaiian pizza, lamb chop, 500ml coke and one small tub of ice cream (which cost 9). Total bill = $100. 

We bought some water and our favourite gummy candies then we driving to our accommodation - 1hr+ to go! I was sitting behind and so I managed to take a nap. I remember the route is all gravel. With left than 30mins to go, we stopped by for a while and we were shocked how dirty our car is! My pants also kana a bit which we can still use wet tissue to clean a bit. 

And we reached our accommodation at 3.50pm! One of the earliest timing! It’s such a nice place with good view. Floor is heated too! I continued to have diarrhoea - think I had gone to the toilet 8 times so far? Hope I feel better tomorrow. 

We went out for dinner at around 6pm. We went to Hótel Snaefellsnes restaurant. We ordered kid’s fish and chips, lamb soup and coke. The lamb soup is nice! Didn’t get to try the fish as it only 2 small pieces and Lexuan finished it herself. 

And then I continued to have diarrhoea for a few times. It was really bad. The good thing is, after going a few times with a lot of shit, I didn’t have to shit the whole night. 

I would say I had a relatively good sleep. Lexuan is really sweet. She says she will sleep on the sofa bed so as not to disturb mummy. 

19 June 2025 

Good morning! I do feel much better today. Hope I will stop having diarrhoea today. I guess I am probably “killed” by the egg yolk on the Dala burger we had for lunch 2 days back. That’s the only thing I ate and Jianhui and Lexuan didn’t eat. 

We checked out at around 9.45am. 

We stopped by at Kolgrafarfjördur Viewpoint. Very scenic place where you can see reflection of the mountains on the water. 

Then we stopped by Grundarfoss - a small waterfall but there is a track walking toward it. We didn’t walk the track though. 

Then we went to the toilet. We need to pay $3/person. Seriously, I think we should appreciate Singapore’s public toilets. 

Next, we are heading to Kirkjufellsfoss. It’s a pity that today is gloomy so we don’t have clear blue sky for photos. I read it online it’s the location for some of the scenes in Game of the Throne. Pretty easy walk to the waterfall. It’s pretty cold here or rather today is a rather cold day. Parking fee is about $12. They even took photos of your car plate so I guess you just got to pay if not you will get a fine. 

After driving about 40 minutes, it’s toilet time. We wanted to find free toilet but the toilets are the visitor centre is not free. It cost $2. But I guess we got no choice. 

We heading for lunch place - Dirty Burger and Ribs. We ordered cheese burger & ribs, mozzarella sticks and chocolate milk shake. Lexuan likes the mozzarella sticks so we ordered another set (each comes with 4 small sticks) for her. Total damage is 90+. 

Then we went to Netto shopping again! To top up more water and bread. Lexuan actually wanted to buy those small incidual pack Nutella back as souvenir. Water here is cheaper! $11 for 4 big bottles compared to $16. 

We checked in around 3.30pm. Very convenient as they have already given us the code so we could enter the building and apartment (204). Think we stayed in 206 the other time. It is almost the same as the other time we stayed except for the layout. 

We relaxed in the room before we drove out for dinner. We went to Bonus and Netto and couldn’t get anything so we went to Domino pizza. We ordered a large Hawaiian pizza and it cost us $30 only. I would say it’s value for money. But we have been eating so much pizza that even our pizza lover Lexuan is sick of pizza. Pizza is good as usual except that the dough seems a bit semi-cooked. And the good news is, I think my diarrhoea has kinda stopped. Praying hard that I won’t be having constipation for now. 

And today is race day! I am taking part the Suzuki Midnight Sun Run 2025 - this race takes place in June every year in the Laugardalur valley, Reykjavík. Jianhui has signed up 10km for me but I decided to change it to 5km. The good thing is this race allows us to change the distance before you collect race pack. So he helped me to change to 5km. 

We reached the race site about 7.45pm. The crowd is still okay. I managed to collect my race bib very quickly compared to much later when there is a long queue. And 5km race started at 8.50pm. There are many fast runners. I was trying to run my own pace. It was very cold initially but it got better after a while. And my 2XU pants keep dropping. After a while then I realize I forgot to tie the string. Haha. Once I tied the string then I stop pulling up my pants and can concentrate running. 

It was a great run after not running for so many days! I completed it in 28mins59secs. So glad that I have chosen to run 5km instead of 10km. 

And most importantly, I am happy to have Jianhui and Lexuan with me! 

We then drove back to our accommodation. Lexuan is hungry so I cooked Maggie mee for her. We also drank beer which is not bad too! 

Tonight is the day we slept the latest in Iceland. We slept around midnight. 

20 June 2025 

Good morning! Today is the day we can chill. So we woke up a bit later than usual and slowly had our breakfast. My Nutella bread is highly sought after today. 

We left house about 11am to drive to Hallgrimskirka - a famous tourist attraction. It is the tallest church building and according to Google, it was built between 1945 and 1986. Apparently, it can be seen from all over the city. 

Then it’s time for lunch! We decided to eat KFC! This time round, we ordered 10 drumsticks for about $34 + Pepsi ($5.50). The kid meal cost $15 which comes with a toy (chalk) and a really small popcorn chicken. The popcorn chicken doesn’t taste anything like Singapore’s. Total damage = $53 which is more reasonable compared to the other time when we ordered family meal for 4. 

After lunch, we parked our car and walked around the city. Parking is so much cheaper here! About $3 for 1.5hrs parking compared to $12 when we were parking at the waterfall. We went to find the iconic rainbow street then shopped around. We stopped to eat the rolled ice cream which cost $12. It cost like the one we had in Singapore. Then we went miniso for shopping. Lexuan now knows that the things here cost more than Singapore. 

Then we went to coastal area for a walk before we drove back. 

We rested in the room for a while. In fact I feel like taking a nap though I didn’t. 

For dinner plan, we wanted to buy roasted chicken from Netto so we went to find the bigger one (24/7) but don’t have. So sad. So we went to previous day’s Netto to buy Lexuan’s ice balls. She bought kiwi and mango but she didn’t like the kiwi so I finished it. 

Jianhui bought lamb sirloin and cooked for us! Yummy! So it’s our last night in Iceland. We are flying back tomorrow. 2 weeks of holidays went by so fast. Lots of memories and precious time spent with Jianhui and Lexuan. I miss my family and Singapore food too! 

21 June 2025 

Good morning. In the middle of the night, I was very windy and dark. So dark that the street lights were on, so were the Christmas trees on the grass patch in front. I dreamt a lot as usual.

We had our breakfast and then slowly packed our luggage. We are ready to check out at 9.50am. 

Today is windy and the roads in front of us is quiet - not many cars. We are heading to Keflavík International Airport. Blur me keep thinking that we are going to Reykjavík airport. Haha.

Jianhui dropped me and Jianhui at the departure hall first then he went to return the car. Then we did self check in and did bag drop. However Jianhui’s bag barcode not working so we had to go to the counter to activate the barcode. We did it once but it didn’t work so the staff re printed the barcode for us. 

I went to queue for tax refund while Jianhui brought Lexuan to buy croissant, her orange and peach drink, mineral water (she loves the bottle for some reason and the Dubai viral chocolate. 

We then went to clear security and there isn’t a queue. We shopped a while at the duty free. Jianhui bought his gin while Lexuan bought smarties. Then we went to find some food to eat. We decided on cheeseburger + fries and some donut with Nutella. 

When we walked over to Gate A15, people were already boarding. So we quickly went to the toilet then boarded too. Our flight time is 2.20pm but the plane started to take off at around 2pm. 

I slept about 2 hours on the flight. This flight got no meal as it’s a short flight. They gave Lexuan 2 books to entertain her, not too bad! Now we are 6hrs behind Singapore! Hope this helps us to overcome jet lag. We touched down around Frankfurt time 7.30pm(SGT 1am). So should I sleep in the next flight? 

We had to clear customs. It is strange that we don’t get to have any Iceland chop on our passport but we have 2 Frankfurt chop. We had a quick drink at a bar. Thirsty for beer for sure since we are in Germany. Lexuan had cola. She comes a coke fan since this trip. 

We had priority boarding as we are travelling with kid. So we boarded since 9.35pm. The plane didn’t fly until 10.30pm then the pilot announced that our flight is cancelled due to the technical issue of the air craft. Omg! This is our first time encountering this! 

All of us alighted from the air craft and took the bus to the terminal. We were directed by the airport staff to clear customs (again?!) to enter Frankfurt. While queuing at the customs, Jianhui received a link to redeem the hotel voucher. He managed to redeem 2 rooms for us at Intercity. Was surprised that there are so many rooms available at this hour. I would say everything is very organised and structured. 

We bought some snacks at the airport. We went to Gate 5 to wait for the shuttle bus. Lucky we didn’t have to wait for long for the shuttle bus to Intercity hotel. 

There was a queue for check in but overall it was fast. We got 2 rooms at different levels and both are very far apart. In the end we chose to sleep in the room with double bed. 

Jianhui and I went to Pub Ju-52 downstairs for beer! Thankful that we can still drink at this time! It’s already 12am+. It cost EUR 11.80 for 2 beer. Not bad ya. The pizza cost about EUR18 which is cheaper compared to Iceland too. And after 2 weeks, we finally see the sky turning dark for night time.

What an eventful day! I guess I got to apply urgent leave on 23 June 2025. 

Time for a good sleep! 

22 June 2025 

I had a relatively good sleep as the bed is very comfortable. Though I did dream a bit, it feels good to be able to lie on the bed. 

We went for breakfast at 6.30am. The spread is not bad and it is still not so crowded. 

The bad news is I started to have bad shit after the breakfast. It is probably the milk Lexuan took and I tried to finish it with cornflakes. We all tried to shit in the room before going down to check out. We’re taking the 9.30am shuttle bus to the airport.

When we reached the airport, Lexuan wanted to buy her Starbucks drinks. I bought some melon flavour pearls drink for her. She says she likes it. Then we quickly went to clear security. Security was fast. However, our nightmare comes at the customs! Super long queue. Lexuan wants to go toilet and the toilet also long queue since it only has 2 cubicles. Luckily, we managed to use the toilet before joining Jianhui at the queue. 

Everybody in the queue is frustrated as some of them were going to miss their flights. The security last minute opened a counter and allowed us to use the special queue for kids and family. So we finally cleared the customs! 

Then we walked to Gate B23. There is a cleaner and bigger toilet inside with more cubicles. They made announcement that our flight is going to be delayed again… from 12.30pm to 12.50pm. Jianhui quickly went Burger King to buy 2 large fries for us. He waited half an hour for the fries. Then soon we can board the plane. We can finally board at 12.49pm but I don’t think the plane can fly by 12.50pm. Anyway, this plane got air con! Not as hot as yesterday! 

We finally started flying about 1.30pm (like finally?!). I slept for a while during take off. Lexuan learned to play reversi and she is not too bad in the game. She actually won the computer a few times. I watched the movie, Boss Baby. For lunch, they served us Thai chicken Curry and pasta. The Thai chicken curry is not bad but I didn’t dare to eat too much as I am worried I would have diarrhoea. 

I managed to sleep about 2hrs+. I watched a couple of sports documentary on rock climbing, free diver, ski marathon and reel rock climbing. Was feeling really hungry the whole flight as there wasn’t any food served until 12am (SGT 6am). Anyway, I can’t wait to be back home to eat local food! Craving for all home cooked food, local food and BBT! Haha. 

We finally touched down at 7.45am. It was raining and to avoid the morning crowd, we decided to eat breakfast first. After missing McDonald’s for 2 weeks, we decided to eat McDonald’s though I would want to eat Chinese food. 

Feeling so sleepy and tired. What a long day!

14 days with 9 accommodation with 3,077km covered in Iceland. Thanks Jianhui for spending so much time and effort to plan the route and being our best driver for the whole trip. Lexuan had been a really good girl too. It has been a relaxing trip for me too. Every adventure is special, and this Iceland one is definitely a memorable one. Adding one extra day at Frankfurt airport hotel - Intercity Hotel. 

Review of our accommodation for reference: 

Aurora Hotel - typical airport hotel with basic stuff like fridge with breakfast at $30 each (7) (8)

Bru Guesthouse - beautiful and no. 1 place with beautiful scenery, fridge and comfortable (1) (2) 

Seljavellir Guesthouse - basic house with no fridge, beautiful scenery, big toilet and black curtain that makes the room dark, no dustbin and no equipment for cooking (8) (7)

Mjoeyri Travel Holiday Homes - cosy cottage with 2nd level, beautiful scenery, small toilet and it has hot tub (3) (1) 

Dimond Cottage - one big house with good space to cook and put our food, view of snow mountain, need to put on bedsheets and pillow cases ourselves and to take it out and clear garbage (5) (4)

Hraunsnef Country Hotel - small guesthouse with 3 single beds with a smell which Lexuan describes it as Tuna smell (9) (9)

Bjarkarholt Guesthouse - big and spacious house with a good view, floor is warm, toilet is cosy and warm, got games for us to play, need to put on bedsheets and pillow cases ourselves and to take it out

and clear garbage  (2) (3)

Eiohus Apartment - nice view with beautiful landscape, floor is warm, only a bed (4) (5)

Blue mountain - familiar apartment, spacious and cosy (6) (6)

Tips: 

• Iceland is cashless almost everywhere so just bring youtrip and you don’t need to change too much cash. Even the most ulu cafe accepts card
• To pump petrol you need to have pin for your credit/debit card 
• Food is expensive so do bring Maggie mee and own snacks 
• Most of the accommodation allows you to cook so you can buy stuff to cook from the grocery stores (ie Netto, Bonus, Kronan)
• Weather is unpredictable so do bring all kinds of cold wear and hand warmer is a comfort item
• There aren’t much public toilets on the road so you can only plan cafe/supermarket/petrol stations along the way at pit stop
• Supermarket charge plastic bags/paper bags so you can bring your recycle bag 
• Bring swim wear so that you can enjoy the hot tub
• Do pay for parking fee if not you will be fine

If I were to own an air b&b, these are the things I would include:

1. Body wash, hair wash and conditioner, hand soap (Toothpaste and toothbrush and individual make up remover pack if I have more budget) - I think this is important for any travellers especially if their luggage is lost in transit (speaking from real life experience)
2. Coffee, tea, sugar and cups
3. Cold milk inside fridge 
4. Ice dispenser machine (especially for countries that are hot

Other facilities include cooking stove, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, free parking, free and strong wifi!