WARNING!!! Long post. Because we planned a LOT for our first day.

BLUE LAGOON
When we first started researching for the trip, the Blue Lagoon was always the first thing we found. And the pictures look amazing. But then we read how touristy it is and how you can get to some amazing pools off the beaten path. And then we remembered we were going to Iceland with a 5 and 6 year old. And decided a little touristy might be appreciated after a long day traveling.

So a few weeks before we left we made a reservation for the first of the day 9am. We were on the road with our rental by 6 so we had time to kill and got to watch the sunrise out at the lagoon. I'm sure the price of admission and whatever we paid for two towels was way overpriced. But the place was spotless and amazing. So glad we went when it opened and there were very few folks. We got to explore all the hidden nooks. It was absolutely freezing outside but nice and toasty in the water. Not sure what is in the water but we were urged to load up on conditioner before heading in. I probably went overboard and had the kids dripping in conditioner. By the time we were done exploring and taking pictures in the midst of the steam, the crowds had come. We showered, grabbed sandwiches t and grimaced at the number of buses.

STAYING CONNECTED
Everything we read said we needed to buy a SIM card with as many GBs as we could find, to switch out in our iPhones. Sounded easier than it was. Four stops later we settled for 1GB cards to make sure we had something. We are halfway through our Golden Circle drive and have yet to get Google Maps to work.... Update: Apparently, activating the SIM cards like the handy instructions say is helpful.

STOCKING UP
You can't do a road trip without loading the car with snacks and drinks - and SIM cards, if I could find them. Kids were passed out after the lagoon so I headed into the first Bonus we saw. I grabbed a lot of Icelandic snacks I couldn't read, some Coke for caffeine and some American snacks, just in case, and some strange giant chocolate egg that every other mother was buying. I wanted to feel "in the know" for Easter. I should have bought stuff for dinner....

STROKKUR Geyser
According to the guidebook, we did the Golden Circle backwards. Mainly because of where we were spending the night. So first up was Strokkur Geysir. Not to be confused with the Geysir 10 km down the road. That confused the heck out of my navigation. Basically right off the road was this big geyser that performs every 5 minutes. Kind of a lazy traveler delight, but no complaints. I convinced the kids not to run under scolding water while we got some shots and a bit of exercise.

PONIES
We ran into our first large group of Icelandic Horses on the way to our next stop. We shamelessly pulled over and taunted a bunch of horses by not allowing our children to touch or feed them. That worked great... Don't worry my phone was never harmed and we think that horse was just giving our son's jacket s kiss. They really are cute beasts in person.

GULLFOSS
Gullfoss Waterfall is ginormous and loud and terrifying. Those kinds of places terrify me with children. I cut the looking short because I couldn't take the anxiety with two exhausted and active kids. Luckily the snow covered path out to the rocks at the rushing falls was closed.

THINGVELLIR NATIONAL PARK
Research showed this was the most historical part of Iceland due to the history and home to the government for a very very long time. But what we really cared about was seeing where the two tectonic plates (North America and Europe) were meeting and causing Iceland to grow a bit each year. No, we didn't snorkel. Won't risk drowning like that with the kids for a while (bad Cruise encounter sung scared kids). I had scene pictures and pictured huge cliffs. It was beautiful but much smaller. There were a lot of quarters (or silver coins) thrown in at the bridge. No one told me the logic behind that.

SLEEPING
By now we were exhausted. 5:30 but we really had only slept a couple hours the night before. We purposely stayed up today to get onto the right sleep pattern. It was hitting is hard. Worried about missing our cabin, it became apparent it was impossible. We had rented one of the Cottages of Lake Thingvellir through Icelandic Farm Holidays. Luckily we found out LATER that the reservation hadn't been communicated to the owner and she didn't blink. Our cabin had a breathtaking view and was perfect. Simple cabin with two bedrooms. One double, two twins. We checked to make sure the forecast wasn't good for Northern Lights this night and headed to bed after dinner. (Dominoes rub nearby because we were in the middle of nowhere)

WHY THE HECK ICELAND?
That's a great question. Iceland hadn't been added to our bucket list until recently. We hadn't been to Europe since Croatia and I was ready for somethings closer than Tanzania or Cambodia. A friend of ours, who happens to be an extraordinary photographer, went a few months ago. We saw her at a wedding in December and by the end of breakfast she had me convinced. Three months later...

FLIGHTS
When I found round trip tickets from Boston to Iceland for $300 we bought them immediately. How could we not? We flew American from CLT to Boston and then WOW for our super cheap flight. I was a tad terrified after my Africa passport fiasco. We made sure to fill out the APIS forms and got all the passport info uploaded ahead of our flights. The hardest part was actually the CLT airport. I have never seen it that crazy. Luckily, we had taken an Uber and all have TSA Precheck. Otherwise it was a 75 min wait for security. Checking a bag was still an adventure to even find the priority area. But the flight was fine. We planned a long layover in Boston to be safe. And at 7pm our family of four boarded a plane of twenty somethings heading out for spring break. We might have been the oldest passengers.

For anyone wondering about Wow, they were fine. You have to pay for everything. Checked bags, upgrading the carry on to a normal size, snacks, water, an iPad to watch movies. Everything. However, even with baggage we saved a LOT. New plane. Seats were tight but we slept the whole time.

SETTING OFF
We landed about 4:15 and were quickly through with our bags. Our car company was supposed to be waiting but I had to email. All was forgiven when they delivered us to their office that felt more like a lounge or the lobby to s trendy hotel. Our Defender was brought up and we were quickly on our way. Blue Car Rental is who we used. If we were to do it over, we would have just walked vs pay for the pickup. We were worried about arriving so early. It was literally a 3 min walk.

This post is late and normally I have a day by day recap from a week long vacation. I don't think that is needed in this case. Instead I will try and put all the important stuff here in one post. Enjoy! 

If you don't know, most of our travels are no longer J & J trips, but are now J & J +2 trips. We are now doing most of our traveling with our two kids because they are finally old enough to go to the bathroom without needing help, can actually manage the day without a nap and most importantly seem to appreciate the difference between a foreign country and a trip to Dairy Queen. 

There are a few things we said we would never do. Go on a cruise is one of them. I won't turn this into a Pro and Con cruise post. We just thought (think) you are either cruise people or not. The simple fact that we prefer to be in the middle of the jungle with no WiFi or even English speaking folks should explain why we most likely aren't cruise people. We like to explore, be unconfined and immersed in as much culture as possible. We travel to learn and experience life at a new level. 

With all that said, our extended family wanted to try and spend the holidays together. With the ages of our group ranging from our 5 year old daughter to my 80 something year old grandmother, and a lot of ages in between, a cruise was suggested. We preferred the week between Xmas and New Year's but the prices were a lot higher. So we picked a week during Xmas on Celebrity Silhouette. With stops in San Juan, St. Maarten and St. Kitts. Here would be my overall breakdown. 



Celebrity Silhouette
If you like cruises, I would imagine this boat would be pretty great. I don't have much to compare it to but it was much smaller than the other ships at port with us. It seemed more boutique. Everything was clean. The service in our rooms was great. Our personal attendant made different towel animals every night. The kids loved her. At dinner our waiter would spend enormous amounts of time entertaining the kids with tricks. He was great. 

For Kids
Even though it was Xmas there were very few kids on the boat. Therefore most things were geared towards adults. Day 1 our son got in trouble at the Kids Club so they spent the whole week with us. They just wanted to swim. That was fine, but it wasn't really a kid geared deck. Most of the pool games seemed for adults. So unless they were in kids club we were providing the entertainment. A few exceptions were the daily movies in the theatre. That was a nice break in early afternoon. There was also an egg drop contraption competition that we did and the family loved. I wish they had more stuff like that. 

The Food
Was probably our favorite part. We ate at two specialty restaurants and thought the food was just as good in regular dining. On Christmas Night the four of us ate at the restaurant on the very back of the boat at the window. There was an amazing moon. It might have been a harvest moon. Definitely a full moon. The light on the water was amazing. 

Christmas
This was the hardest part for me. I love Christmas and I love traditions. I brought our stockings and bought little decorations to put around the room. We made a xmas tree out of wrapping paper and put it on the wall. We tried our best, but I was depressed having Christmas on a boat, at sea. They had Santa and some activities on Christmas morning, but it was just hard. I missed my Christmas Eve Service (the only one was a midnight mass, doesn't work with a 5 and 6 year old), breakfast casserole and running outside to watch the kids play with their toys. 



The Ports
I enjoyed these but having such short time was difficult. I've been to Puerto Rico before with a friend who lived there so I know how beautiful it is. We arrived to Port around 5 (two hours late) and only had a few hours in San Juan. Our kids normally are asleep by 7:30 (yes they are early risers) so we got to eat dinner and that was it. The forts were already closed. St. Kitts was our favorite because we got very off the beaten path. I researched and found a local guide (Myislands Tours by Javin). We loved him. He grew up on the island and took us to all sorts of places, including an old gin factory where he played when he was a kid. There were some "adventuresome" moments using a rope to get down to the black rock beach. Beautiful island and money well spent to see it away from the cruise crowd. St. Maarten was our last stop. We were there on Xmas Eve. We had booked a private boat to beach hop. When we arrived we were told the water was choppy and they would give us a full refund if we wanted to back out. We have been on some bad boat rides and new that could ruin a day. We weren't going to risk it with the kids. Instead we took a taxi over to the Airport Beach (Maho), watched the planes and grabbed a table at the cafe to eat and watch some major planes land. The kids loved it.