Looking forward to a great adventure!

Best wishes,

Bob

Only 9 weeks to go now.

Sally

Best wishes,

Bob

I was thinking it might work better to try for the helicopter flight on the last morning, as our flight home isn't until 16.30? On the 2nd day, I think the Blue Lagoon visit doesn't finish till 14.00, which might make it a bit late to do the helicopter flight that day as it might still get dark quite early? Anyhow we can see what the local guide says!

Cheers,

Bob

Sounds great whale watching and helos two of my favourite things!!!!

Cindy

I'm booked on this tour and would also be interested in taking a helicopter flight. I'd always wanted to fly in one and finally got my wish 2 years ago over the Grand Canyon - totally amazing!

Look forward to seeing you on the 15th.

Mike

Would that be the same 'MikeW' that did 'Inspirational China' last October?? Gosh, there really are going to be a few Community 'regulars' on this trip - I think we just need Mick and Cindy and we'll have the complete set:D

There certainly do seem to be a few helicopter options - lots of different itineraries and prices with several different companies. Most seem to need a minimum of two people (no problem for the JY Hordes!) but some require booking a week in advance. I'll do a bit more research and see what I can come up with but, as Bob says, as a last resort we can check with the TM when we arrive and I'm sure we'll be able to squeeze in somewhere.

I've done whale watching in Tadoussac on the Eastern Canada Trip and also following the orcas in Vancouver on the Rocky Mountaineer tour - both incredible adventures and I'm more than up for some more if we've got time.

Does anyone know if you can order Icelandic Kroner in advance (Post Office etc) again now? I believe the currency was closed for a while during the banking crisis a few years ago and wasn't available outside the country. Any thoughts?

Looking forward to meeting you all (and showing Mike the photos of our Chinese dumpling making adventures....) very soon

All the best

Mandy (in Jersey)

Yes, I'm the very same Mike that did the China tour last October and I remember my very poor attempts at making Chinese dumplings....not to mention the 18 course dinner afterwards! I'll bring some photos and tell you about the Yangtze add-on.

Regarding Icelandic Kroner, I looked on the Tesco website at the weekend and it shows up on their currency list (they were quoting 182 Kroner to the pound), so I think we should be able to order them in advance. I'll also check at the exchange booth in my local Asda later this week and let you know what I find out.

Looking forward to seeing you again on the 15th.

Mike

I reckon I'll be getting currency once there and will just bring euro. My local banks (rural Ireland) won't order in foreign currency beyond the major ones so I'm kind of stuck! I'm sure it'll be easy to get once there and I'm going to let my bank know when I'll be away so I should be able to use my credit and debit cards while there.

Best wishes,

Bob

I think this trip will be slightly colder than our trips to South Africa and Hawaii but if you're still thinking about the Polar Bears later on this year it will be positively tropical!

See you in less than nine weeks now.

Sally

South Africa and Hawaii.......happy days! I expect Iceland to be somewhat colder so I'll be packing my thermals, woolly hat and gloves, together with lots of layers.

I'll be driving down from Birmingham this time and stopping in a hotel overnight, so I should be in T1 just before 10.00am.

Look forward to seeing you on the 15th.

Mike

So, I've done a bit more searching and I'm afraid the bad news is that the helicopter tours are VERY, VERY expensive.. As most of the volcanoes are around 2 hours flying time away from Reykjavik, the majority of the heli-tours are 3-4 hours long and cost between £650 - £1200 per person!

The good news is that I've found a 'Geothermal tour' of lava fields and volcanic craters by helicopter which is 40-75mins and costs £228 or there's a 1 1/2 hour 'Ice and Fire - Glaciers and Volcanoes' tour by Cessna light plane for about £318. Unfortunately both have to be booked a minimum of seven days ahead. There are some cheaper heli-tours but they mostly seem to just fly over Reykjavik itself. All of the tours are bookable on line though so once we've decided what and when we want, we could all book ahead independently for the same trip.

I'll keep looking for other options but I doubt any of us would want to spend more on a helicopter trip than we did on the whole holiday! Let me know your thoughts.

Mike - Haha - I know what you mean - my attempt at the 'goldfish' dumpling looked more like ET! But the dumpling banquet was divine - all 18 courses of it! Looking forward to hearing more about the cruise add on - after hearing from a couple of the others, I really wish I'd been able to join you all but I didn't have enough leave days from work.

All the best

Mandy

Many thanks for the research you've done - the Geothermal tour sounds good to me. I wonder what others think? Perhaps if we can decide on one of the tours, Julia could contact the local tour company and see what they think about booking - for which day/time and with which company? Perhaps they might even book it for us?!!

All the best,

Bob

The Geothermal tour sounds like a good option to me as well. The volcano flights are very expensive, but the lava fields and craters flight you suggest seems to be more reasonable.

All the best

Mike

Just some information on the Icelandic Kroner...after consulting my local currency exchange it is possible to pre-order the currency which can be available within 72hrs. They even had some in stock, so pre-ordering shouldn't be a problem.

Mandy, hopefully that applies in the Channel Islands as well.

Mike

Julia - would it be possible for you to find out what time we depart our hotel for the airport on our final morning so we can see if the helicopter trip is viable?

Thanks

I spent NewYear in Iceland - marvellous break. My bank could not obtain Kroner, but ordered online through Travelex which arrived next day, so being in Channel Islands should not make any diffrence..

The team have contacted our overseas agents - I'm just waiting on confirmation of the timings.

Kindest regards,

Julia