Dal

Iceland is trendy and a hot tourist destination right now. Because of that, I wasn't super excited to go but it was honestly worth it. If you love nature/outdoorsy trips, this should be at the top of your list.

We flew from San Francisco to Reykjavik nonstop on WOW Air for $240 round trip (killer deal). They get bad reviews because they're a budget airline and you have to pay for literally anything extra (think water, food, baggage, etc.). But we've been on a lot of planes and this was by far the most legroom we've ever had in economy seating.

We paid for one carry on bag and shared it. We also bought a bunch of solid food on our way to the airport (creams/liquids not allowed) and carried our grocery sack on the plane.

For transportation we rented a car so we could see more of the island. This is definitely the way to go because we saw so many people tied down to their tour operator and whatnot. It was great having freedom to explore the non-touristy areas.

Hotels there are boutique and every room is different. We used about 50,000 Chase points for all of our hotels. You're allowed to camp anywhere on the island (as long as it's not a nature reserve), so most people do that.

The food is a little different and there's some exotic options for sure. Most beef is lamb, which was pretty tasty. But we just stopped at Costco right after we landed and got food for our week there. You'll save so much money that way because eating out is $$$$.

We went in June so it never got dark. It was the strangest thing to see it light outside at 3am. If you want to see the northern lights, you need to go in the winter.

Erika

Animal Person? Be prepared to see the sweetest baby Lamb and most majestic horses you may have ever seen.

If you're chronically cold (or just a woman), bring a coat. And layers. Or just hike everywhere and find spontaneous moments to bust a move and get the blood pumping.

The waterfalls are quite honestly to die for. Some are more touristy, but for good reasons. Message us and we can tell you some that were more low key, and some that are quite honestly stunning and busier than most, but a must-see.

Blue Lagoon: I loved it. Worth the money and honestly we just did one of the "cheaper" packages, but you get a free drink (smoothies included) and a free face mask. It's HUGE, so it's not like an overpacked hot tub (gross).

I would recommend going to the Blue Lagoon late at night. It never gets dark there and later at night it's way more low key and chill. We went around 9:00 PM.

First stop: COSTCO! All restaurants are going to be crazy expensive. We stocked up on groceries from Costco and ate when we wanted, while traveling and saved SO much that way. We ate out once and had awesome fish and chips and a burger from a food truck. (still so expensive though).