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Category: Travel

About traveling

  • Iceland in Words and Pictures

    Iceland in Words and Pictures

    Puffin on south coastReykjavik side streetLeirvogstunga horse farmReykjavik City CenterReykjavik mural

    This year, 2025, I made my second trip to Iceland. Part of the reason was that my photos from my first trip last summer convinced my wife to visit. But I think the main reason was that I simply fell in love with he country, its people, its geography and even its history.

    This is a section my website dedicated to Iceland. I plan to return, so expect it to grow in the coming years. But for now, I invite my viewers to share my fascination and my affection for one of the world’s most remarkable place.

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  • Why I Love Iceland

    Why I Love Iceland

    Leirvogstunga horse farm
    Leirvogstunga horse farm

    My second trip to Iceland led me to discover what truly makes a country “great”.

    It’s not the size of the land, the population or the economy. It’s not even the influence it has or had in history and world events. Nor is it measured by its contributions to art, culture, or science. What makes a country great is the quality of life it maintains for the people who live there. For that, I can say that Iceland is a great country. 

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  • Reykjavik: This City’s Made for Walking

    Reykjavik: This City’s Made for Walking

    Apartment block
    Apartment block

    Walking in the center of Reykjavik is wonderful. Driving, for the record, is not. The map apps on my phone led us through all sorts of alleyways and paths where no cars could go. Nearly all the streets are one way, and some unexpectedly dead-end onto pedestrian plazas that may have once been streets but now are wide walkways.

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  • Golden Circle – Iceland’s Most Popular Tour

    Golden Circle – Iceland’s Most Popular Tour

    Iceland Golden Circle
    Driving the winding Golden Circle

    The “Golden Circle” is the very popular 140-mile loop around west central Iceland that offers a sampling of the island’s geology and history, along with some outstanding sights and a stop at one of the country’s more traditional hot springs. With stops for lunch and a couple of hours at the hot spring, usually Secret Lagoon, it’s a full nine hours. Some options include the huge, manmade Blue Lagoon between Keflavik and the airport. If time permits, both hot springs are worth trying out. 

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  • Driving Iceland’s South Coast

    Driving Iceland’s South Coast

    Riders near Skógafoss falls
    Riders near Skógafoss falls

    Our plans for Monday called for a daylong drive along the spectacular south coast. I took this tour on my last trip and felt that there was more along the route that I wanted to see this time. Even though the weather forecast confirmed this, I could know without looking that it would be a rainy day. The south coast in summer is like that.

    Sólheimajökull Glacier
    Sólheimajökull Glacier

    What was amazing was that after driving through one heavy shower and putting up with some lighter ones at are first stop, the weather turned beautiful and sunny, albeit rather windy and cold. Our stops included two spectacular waterfalls, a glacier, a puffin-laden sea cliff, and a lot of walking. Oh yeah. A lot of driving, too. About six hours’ worth, with our turn-around point being Vik, 104 miles distant.

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  • Iceland’s Snæfellsnes Peninsula

    Iceland’s Snæfellsnes Peninsula

    Kirkjufell Mountain
    Kirkjufell Mountain

    Though, in my ignorance of the downtown parking situation, I had rented a car for the entirety of my first visit to Iceland, my only long drive was to the northwest peninsula, Snæfellsnes.

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  • Iceland Photo Gallery

    Iceland Photo Gallery

    Puffin on south coast
    Puffin on south coast

    Here’s my full collection of photos from our Iceland trips. Make sure you check out my Iceland blog, too!

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  • Images of Hawaii

    Images of Hawaii

    Magic Sands Beach, Kona Coast
    A collection of images, mostly from the Big Island, from some of my trips there. After going the usual tourist route, starting with Waikiki and then Maui, we fell in love with the Big Island (the one named “Hawaii”). It felt more like we thought Hawaii should feel like. The people were wonderful and lot of them were actually born there.

    Kona, where we mostly staid, has a comfortable, small-town feel to it. There aren’t many broad, white beaches there. Most are just lava boulders, but the ones that are there are fantastic. The island’s main city is Hilo on its eastern coast.

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  • Iceland: What I didn’t Learn from the Travel Guides

    Iceland: What I didn’t Learn from the Travel Guides

    Reykjavik mural
    Urban artwork in Reykjavik

    With all due respect to Rick Steves, et al, I found some glaring omissions that would greatly help a tourist get along on their first visit to Iceland. These were picked up on a one-week visit, so there are probably more.  

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  • Journey to Japan