Month: December 2019

Guatemala – Cliff Jumping in Lake Atitlan

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Our flights were booked, AirBnb reserved, and we were all set for our visit to Lake Atitlan in August 2019. Pictures of this lake were absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t believe we were going to be soaking in the sight for ourselves in just a few weeks. We were really hoping to go swimming in the lake, but kept reading that the water was too contaminated in many places for swimming to be safe. Especially in the water near the larger towns around the lake. So we had to seek out locations where the water was known to be safe for… Continue reading

Guatemala – Antigua (Kid-Free!)

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Day 3 Coming from our stay at Lake Atitlan, we thought Uber might be scarce, so our Airbnb host arranged our driver from Panajachel to Antigua. We wanted to spend a night visiting the historic town of Antigua, and it was going to make a good base for our trip to the airport the next day since it was much closer to Guate City. The drive away from Lake Atitlan was much quicker this time, but unfortunately, was much more for difficult for me. The stomach bug was back and the smell of cigarette smoke permeated the car. That combo… Continue reading

Guatemala – Lake Atitlan (Kid-Free!)

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This past summer, Scott and I found ourselves with a chance to take a long weekend away, just the two of us. Meaning, we decided it had been FAR too long since we had taken a vacation just ourselves, and my super accommodating parents excitedly agreed to handle the kids for a few days. For anyone keeping track, it had actually been over FOUR years since we took a trip for just the two of us – our inadverdant babymoon in Greece (found out J was on the way a few weeks before leaving). Guatemala was a relatively quick, direct… Continue reading

Iceland – Snæfellsnes Peninsula

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Day 7: Our day on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula was one of the hardest to plan. There are so many things to see, and the peninsula looks deceptively small on a map of Iceland. The area itself is only 90 km long, but once you see how the roads around the peninsula are laid out, visiting all of the sights would take much longer than a day trip. So we had some tough decisions to make when planning our day. Fortunately the forecast looked good – just some cloudy weather in the morning that would burn off for a sunny afternoon…. Continue reading

Northern Lights in Iceland

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When we first starting talking about taking a vacation to Iceland, the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights immediately jumped out as a main attraction. Going into the trip, we were so hopeful we would get to see the lights, and about halfway through, we were very fortunate to get to see them! We ended up seeing the Northern Lights three nights in a row. It was incredible! Northern Lights Outside of Borgarnes The afternoon that we checked into our house outside of Borgarnes, Scott and I had a good feeling about our chances to see the Northern Lights. We… Continue reading

Blue Lagoon with Two Toddlers

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Day 8: Our last full day in Iceland was going to be another fun day because we saved our visit to the Blue Lagoon until the end of the trip. Since it is located so close to the airport, we thought it would make sense to go to the Blue Lagoon and then spend our last night in Iceland in Keflavik so we could get to the airport easily in the morning. It seems to be pretty common for travelers to visit the Blue Lagoon first thing after arriving in Iceland. I can see the appeal of soaking in the… Continue reading

Day Trip to Reykjavík

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Our trip to Iceland was jam-packed with activities. One of the hardest decisions we had to make was how much time to spend in Reykjavík. Being the largest city in the country, at first it seemed like a natural home base for exploring more of Iceland, but once we started looking at distances and drive times, we realized that we would probably just pass through Reykjavík a couple times. We still wanted the chance to visit the city, so, we planned a day trip to Reykjavík between our stay in Selfoss and our stay in Borgarnes. We would be driving… Continue reading

Western Iceland & Into the Glacier Tour

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Day 6: We woke up on a high note today after seeing the Northern Lights the night before, and we were not too stressed about time since Scott was headed right into town to get our flat tire replaced. Don’t get me wrong – this was NOT something we wanted to have to deal with – but at least the kids could have more time playing around the house before we set out for the day. Our original plans for the day included a tour into a glacier cave at 12:30 pm and other various sightseeing in the area. Since… Continue reading

Iceland Golden Circle

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Day 4 We woke up to pouring rain this morning. Scott was the first one up and made an executive decision to let the rest of us sleep in. Very much appreciated because it had been a night of restless sleep for all of us. While the weather was a discouraging start to the day, it ended up being a much-needed relaxing morning. Our original plan was to hit up the major Golden Circle sites: Gulfoss, Geysir, Þingvellir, including a stop for lunch at Efstidalur II, and possibly visit a thermal springs if time allowed (considering either Secret Lagoon or… Continue reading