1. Plan realistically If you're like us you don't envision yourself getting a whole lot of chances to go to Iceland. We only got to go because we won a contest from SadCars. Although it is sometimes seen as a stopover on the way to European destinations most people who do that only spend a couple of nights in Reykjavik. (And that would be worth doing.) However, if you have … [Read more...]
Planning travel to other hemispheres
Planning travel to other hemispheres When you're planning to travel to another hemisphere a good starting place is to answer the question: What other hemisphere are we talking about? The world has two circles around it (not literally). One divides it in half horizontally and uses the equator to separate the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The other one is vertical and … [Read more...]
Enjoying Reykjavik in the winter
Enjoying Reykjavik in the winter - seriously? Yes, even a Florida-living blonde enjoyed Reykjavik in the winter. Misgivings about Iceland being brutally cold and dark in winter proved to be unfounded. Over the course of a 4 day visit 3 days featured bright blue skies and one was snowy but not impressively (or depressingly) so . The temperatures were in the mid 30s … [Read more...]
Capturing Amazing Photos of the Northern Lights
Prepare, before you leave home, to photograph the Northern Lights When Blonde received a call, in early July, to go see the Northern Lights in Iceland in February she immediately agreed and fantasized about how she would take amazing photos of the Northern Lights. She would become an admired and sought-after photographer, silencing any naysayers who may have criticized her … [Read more...]
Travel where terrorists don’t go
What attracts terrorists? Terrorism and travel have, sadly, become topics that many of us now consider in tandem when we do our trip planning. We may not like to admit to ourselves that terrorists scare us away from travel destinations we would like to visit. And we all know that terrorists could theoretically strike anywhere at any time. But there are places that have not … [Read more...]
Weekly Photo Challenge: Street Life
We haven't participated in a weekly photo challenge in a while but this topic was intriguing. We don't do a lot of street scenes because we aren't very good at getting them (we're looking for our cameras and the whole thing is already over) and we're more likely to be in settings such as beaches, deserts, glaciers and gardens that don't have street life. But in thinking about … [Read more...]
Trip insurance: get the right coverage (Not exciting, but important)
We know this isn’t a sexy topic (although we’ll at least try to get some questionable taste comments in here) but if you are spending a fair bit on a trip, and you don’t have the budget left to fund unforeseen events, you’d be very smart to buy trip insurance for issues that could potentially cause you to incur major additional costs. Ever since we started buying trip … [Read more...]
Places we’ve loved: Akureyri, Iceland
Blonde was fortunate enough to win a trip to Iceland courtesy of SadCars. Brunette has a highly uncooperative respiratory system that would clearly have gone on strike in the chilly climate of Iceland. Luckily we have a third "honorary" sister, "Pinky". (OK "Pinky" refers to {some of} her hair color. You should respectfully think of her as Nola of NewTake Travel but we … [Read more...]
A few of the many reasons you should visit Iceland!
Reykjavik Iceland’s capitol city is a very manageable size, hustle and bustle free without being a slacker, and so honest that even if two women were stupid enough to leave their car doors locked but the back gate to their SUV unlocked for hours, allowing anyone instant access to the contents of a medium-sized electronics store with a respectable selection of women’s clothing … [Read more...]