ICELAND - the blue lagoon...

to end our first day in iceland, we went to the blue lagoon. to sum it up in one word: wow. 

a few things to note:

• book your entry long before you go as they do sell out and you definitely don't want to be disappointed;
• of the 4 price point options, we went with the second option ('comfort'), giving you a towel, mud mask, and your first drink free. i'm kind of glad we didn't jump to the next level thinking it would be great to have a bath robe to come out to because it probably would have been taken by someone else. when we got out, our towels were gone and all that were left were damp ones hanging up;
• the whole showering naked thing that is required. so, about that. i'll be honest, i was pretty nervous about this and felt a little sick walking in thinking about it. i was totally not down with stripping naked in a room full of people. i heard there were some private showers, but that they were limited. i'm here to tell you not to worry about a thing. i saw the showers with curtains before i saw the public showers (in fact, i'm not even sure i noticed where those were?), popped in, used the shower quickly, and headed into the pool area; 
• i put my hair up as high as it could go as i read that the silica in the water makes it very hard and tough to deal with. my hair still got wet and when i was blow drying it back at the hotel after showering, it was felt like straw and it was awful. but i think within the next wash or two, it was pretty much back to normal;
• it's awesome and you should go.

i had read/heard mixed reviews - people either loved it or said it was a total tourist trap and super packed and they were disappointed. we are definitely in the loved it camp. we didn't find it busy at all, but maybe that was just because of the time of day we went at. you see pictures of this place all over the internet and on instagram and you think that they must be photoshopped, that the water can't possibly be that blue in real life. it is and it's incredible. we got our drinks from the swim up bar, swam around to the different areas, and just kind of stopped and looked around and said, look where we are right now. seriously. 

the first few pictures of the landscape are of the road leading up to the blue lagoon. it was one of the coolest things. they were also taken on a different day. we drove back on our way to the airport to get some better pictures since when we went it was 6:30 and we wanted as much time in there as possible (everyone has to be out by 8:30).

what planet are we on?!

it truly is this blue. 

unfortunately, it was hard to keep the gopro case clean of steam and water droplets, so the pictures are a little fuzzy and it definitely didn't pick up the true color of the water. a lot of people brought their phones in with them, but i didn't want to chance it falling in the water. ready for a lot of selfies?

cheers!

swim on over to the station set up on the left hand side of the lagoon, dunk that ladle in the silica mud, and slap it on your face!

overall, yes this is a touristy place (i highly doubt the locals go), but it's so worth it. i feel like it would be going to paris and not seeing the eiffel tower, you know? by this point in the day, we had been awake pretty much since 6:30am the previous day (i have no idea how i was still standing, probably pure adrenaline), got back to our hotel by 9:30 and basically crashed. until our alarm went off at 7 the next morning, of course. no time for sleep when you only have a weekend in iceland.