THIS IS NOT THE FULL BROCHURE We invite you to call Sarah or Gwen at 1-800-762-4216 to request the full brochure. The brochure will include Important Traveler Information (and answers to most questions) and a Reservation Form. We can send the brochure through the Postal Service or as a PDF attachment. If you would like to receive a PDF, probably the best way to keep the message from going into a SPAM filter is to send a message to sarahb@serioustraveler.com. If you are already on our mailing list, no need to complete the entire brochure request form. October 10 - 16, 2010 7 Days • $2430 per person double occupancy from Boston, BOS or $2510 from Seattle, SEA

Day by Day Itinerary

October 10 Depart U.S.A.
Sunday
Choose from two gateways: Seattle or Boston to start your journey.

October 11 Arrive Reykjavik
Monday
The flights from the U.S. arrive Keflavik airport around 6:30 AM. Welcome to Iceland! Our professional driver guide and friend, Fridrik Brekkan, picks us up at Keflavik airport. As an introduction, Fridrik’s homepage is www.brekkan.info, and remarks from some of our past travelers are noted there. Due to the early arrival and the fact that our rooms the Radisson SAS Saga hotel will not be ready until noonish, we will have breakfast in the wonderful rustic Viking style hotel - Hotel Viking in the town of Hafnarfjordur right on the oceanfront overlooking the picturesque small boats harbor. www.fjorukrain.is/fjorukrain/en/ After a relaxed buffet breakfast, we are invited to a short tour of the premises of the Viking Village, which includes a couple of restaurants where there are Viking dinners with song and fun nightly. In June every year, there is an international Viking festival at this location with the surrounding area filled with tents and booths selling Viking paraphernalia. We continue to Reykjavik, check in and relax for two hours. Refreshed, have a short sight seeing of the downtown Reykjavik area. On the island Videy, five minutes boat trip, from the harbor there is a great hiking trail and the enormous 60,000 watt light called IMAGINE PEACE TOWER in honor of John Lennon. http://vimeo.com/1957790. We can go there and back in one hour. From the unpopulated island, you can see the Reykjavik skyline in the distance.

Near our hotel: The National museum, the West City swimming pool and a movie house across the street. In the hotel there is a bank and two souvenir shops, spa, two restaurants and a hairdressers salon. (B)

****Radisson SAS Saga Hotel

October 12 The Golden Circle
Tuesday
Visit a historically and geographically remarkable place, Thingvellir National Park. At Thingvellir, the settlers of Iceland who came mostly from Norway in the 870’s, founded an outdoor Parliament which they named the Althingi, the Parliament for all the people, and it is still in operation today. As such it is the longest working democratic parliament in the world. The Althingi building is today at East Square in Reykjavik and there are 63 parliamentary members (MP’s). At the Thingvellir Parliament Plains, we can see the Rift Valley that divides the two continental shelves from each other - the Eurasian and the North American. This is the only place in the world where this rift is visible. After Thingvellir it goes underground northeastward and into the ocean floor to the south. We move on to the famous Gullfoss Waterfall, which originates in the Langjokull Glacier about thirty miles to the northwest. Langjokull is the second largest glacier in Iceland covering about 650 square miles. If we have a sunny day we will without doubt see the beautiful rainbows forming in the spray of the falls. We then go to the Geysir hot spring area with Strokkur Geysir that gushes at seven-minute intervals around the clock. This area is named after the famous Geysir hot spring the third largest in the world, and the one that has given its name to all of these concepts internationally. Geysir has been dormant for many years now due to changes underground. It does however give a shot occasionally, and if we are lucky we will experience one. From here we drive to the lovely waterfall Faxi en route to the beautiful site and former bishopric Skalholt with its impressive church and magnificent stained glass windows by Mrs. Gerdur Helgadottir and the altar mosaic by Mrs. Nina Tryggvadottir, who lived in New York and was very active there. She designed the logo for Waldorf Astoria Hotel - a woman holding a globe. Later she designed the interiors of many well-to-do homes in NYC. Thereafter we stop by a volcanic crater, Kerid, and proceed back to Reykjavik in the afternoon. If we have time, we go back via the town Hveragerdi where we have the possibility to try out an earthquake simulator that is actually situated in the town’s post office and library. Through the public building there are several glass encased cracks in the ground that one can see and better understand the enormous crack system and various canyons that make up the rift valleys between the two continental shelves that we experienced at Thingvellir this morning. The return will be via a brand new geothermal power, one that uses high-pressure geothermal steam to produce several hundred megawatts of electricity through its strong turbines. About seventy percent of the electricity in the country is produced with water turbines in the mighty rivers, and thirty percent is produced in the various geothermal power plants with turbines placed on top of high power steam vents. It can however be pointed out that ninety-three percent of the electric energy produced in Iceland goes to the foreign-owned aluminum smelters that produce aluminum ingots from imported raw materials. (B)

****Radisson SAS Saga Hotel

October 13 Day in Reykjavik
Wednesday
Start the morning with a visit to the Hofdi House reception building of the Reykjavik City, which ultimately became famous as the venue of the October 1986 meeting between former General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev of the former Soviet Union and the former President of the United States of America Ronald Reagan. We have a short city sight seeing tour to visit museums, and from there drive to the Bessastadir Mansion, which is the official resident of the President of Iceland. As we come back from the residence area we go through Hafnarfjordur and stop briefly in the small shopping mall and have a cup of coffee. All Icelanders believe in the “hidden people”, the good little people that live in the rocks and hills throughout the country. Hafnarfjordur is especially famous for its hidden people areas and we will walk through the park of Hellisgerdi and possibly we will meet some of the small ones. In the afternoon we could visit the exhibition “The Volcano Show” in the city center. In the evening dinner is at Geysir Bistro, located in the same building in the city center as the official tourist information center. (B-D)

****Radisson SAS Saga Hotel

October 14 Saga Circle
Thursday
Today we have a day tour to the Borgarfjördur area in the western part of Iceland where we experience an unconventional combination of impressive nature, the Icelandic settlement and saga-history. We also visit Reykholt, where the historian Snorri Sturluson lived and died, Hraunfossar and Barnafossar Waterfalls in the Hvita River. We visit the largest hot spring in Europe at Deildartunga. The well supplies house heating water to most of the area including two big towns, the Akranes and Borgarnes. We proceed to the farm Borg and learn about Egill Skallagrimsson, the great Saga character, living in the 11th century. When we arrive in Borgarnes town we have the opportunity to visit the very interesting Settlement Exhibition. Our guide will possibly have an opportunity to show us a private vintage car collection, including an intact 1936 Mercedes Benz and several top items from the U.S.A. Our guide knows about many extras that if there is time he will show us and make us feel privileged and at home all the time during the stay in Iceland. Lunch will be at the wonderful lodge at Fossatún. The owner will show us a prototype DVD featuring beautiful landscape videos and coordinated folk music performed by eighteen Icelandic folk singers. www.steinsnar.is This retreat is next to the Troll Falls on the Grimsa salmon fishing river and the owner has written two books about the troll families that live in the rocks facing the restaurant. We return to Reykjavik via the underwater tunnel at Whale Bay. The Whale Bay was one of the most strategic places during the Second World War. It was from here that many of the escorted supply convoys left to re-supply the Soviets in their battle with the Germans on the Eastern front. The ships docked at Murmansk in the Kola Peninsula. (B-L)

****Radisson SAS Saga Hotel

October 15 Free day
Friday U.S. Embassy Visit
We will pay a call at the U.S. Embassy (subject to scheduling) and possibly the Russian Embassy. Special options today will depend on the consistency of the group and their interests, and should be mentioned prior to arrival so they can be arranged. For instance we can visit the public gallery of the Althingi Parliament and possibly meet with a top government official. Other interesting cultural institutions, and meetings with relevant authorities, may include the City Hall, the Federation of Icelandic Industry, or the Tourist Director of Iceland. The immigration authorities or the International House could also be good options. (B)

****Radisson SAS Saga Hotel

October 16 Depart Reykjavik
Saturday Arrive U.S.A.
We have an exciting day before returning home. On our way to the airport, we visit Straumur, www.vikingcircle.com, a private information and sculpture center for Nordic Mythology. A top authority on the Edda of Snorri, Mr. Haukur Halldórsson one of the owners of the museum will meet us and give a lecture on the Nordic mythology and perhaps you will recognize some features in the Mythology in your own culture base. We drive via the Krysuvik road by the extremely scenic Lake Kleifarvatn and to visit impressive lava fields and see the steam vents at Seltun. We proceed the beautiful South Shore-trail to the Internationally well known Blue Lagoon where we can have a relaxing bath before the flights back home. Our driver guide takes you to the airport right in time for your return flight. (B)

B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner

Note: Flight schedules always subject to change.