Pre-Iceland Preparation (Part 1)

I have always been a DIY, Own Time Own Target (OTOT) type of traveller. I just don’t like to be chased around like brood of chickens by the tour leader. This time round, I have to suck it up…because it is my first time in EUROPE and everything looks so alien to me. You throw me in Japan, Korea, USA or China, I think I can manage my way around…but with Europe + Winter, I think it is better to follow a tour group. Furthermore, my main motive is to chase Auroras and therefore I think leaving it to the experts to bring us around, would be a better choice. So I started searching for information from travel fairs, travel agencies….I went to a few fairs and packages for two start from SGD $9000+. Not exactly cheap. So I collated all the information and went home to do some research.

So I started searching for information from travel fairs, travel agencies….I went to a few and packages for two start from SGD $9000+. Not exactly cheap. So I collated all the information and went home to do some research. With the information at hand, I did some keywork search, Iceland Tours, Iceland Northern Lights, Iceland Aurora etc. After a few websites, I found a website which had the same description as the tour pamphlets collected earlier and it is exactly word for word! So I emailed the tour company to get some information. The date that I wanted was not in the website yet (Yes! We have to plan way ahead, if you want to manage your costs etc) and there was a glitch in their website dropdown option. Therefore I dropped them an email  enquiring on the package and dates available. They replied 2 days later and funny thing is, the sales rep told me that they are riding on another company for Iceland Tour Packages. Why would you reveal your vendor to your customers? Funny right? and so I was directed to this company, Guðmundur Jónasson Travel and apparently they are a very established player in Iceland. I checked a few reviews from travel forums to determine that they are legit and hopefully no bad reviews…So far so good! The BEST THING is the tour package NORTHERN LIGHTS EXPLORATION @ EUR 1430 per pax! (If you check the link, it is now @ EUR 1700! (Reiterate again that we have to plan ahead!)

With air tickets all in, its SGD $7491 and flying by SQ via Heathrow. For the package the flight is by British Airways. So I consider it an upgrade as I am flying by SQ. The flight from Heathrow to Iceland is by Icelandair.

Looking forward to Iceland!!!