Our Iceland Itinerary: No Kids Edition
A daily breakdown of our 7 day trip with a map of our route, photos, drive times, costs, restaurant recommendations and more.
The day after Mazzy and Harlow left for sleepaway camp, Mike and I hopped on a redeye and flew to Iceland. At 9am the next day, while the kids were making their beds and figuring out if there were any good cereals in the dining hall, we were swimming in the Blue Lagoon.
Mike and I have taken couples only trips before (most notably a trip to Sonoma for our 10 year anniversary), but this felt very different. It took me a few days to realize why. It’s because it was the first time we have gone away on our own where it felt completely guilt free. We knew the kids were having an awesome time (thanks to photos and updates sent from camp) and there was no way to get in touch with them even if we wanted. We got to enjoy our break from the kids, while also feeling like good parents, which is what sleepaway camp is all about!
But back to Iceland. A lot of people have been requesting a detailed itinerary, so Leah (that’s my new assistant) and I have spent the last two weeks putting together the most comprehensive itinerary possible. It’s got an overview, frequently asked questions, a breakdown of each day, a map of our route with all our destinations plotted out, photos, drive times, costs, fun facts, restaurant and hotel recommendations, etc. We even included additional hotel and restaurant recommendations from my followers, a section called “Mike’s Tips,” and made some minor adjustments to include a few things we missed and wished we had seen.
I’m really happy with how it turned out.
Since the itinerary was a ton of work, initially, I was only going to share as a post for paying subscribers. But then, when we were putting it all together, I realized we could create a much more user-friendly document as a downloadable PDF. So, with that in mind, I decided to offer “The Mommy Shorts Guide to Iceland” in one of two ways:
For paying subscribers, it’s free to download. Just use the code below the pay wall at the bottom of this post. If you are not already a paying subscriber, you can become one by clicking here. Once you pay (it’s $6 a month or $60 for the year), you will have access to all past subscriber-only posts, like the post about my eye surgery, the Big Kid Support Group discussions and TV Club. You will also get an invite to join my “close friends” group on Instagram.
If you would really like to get your hands on the itinerary, but do not want to commit to a subscription, you can click here to download for a one time fee of $7.50.
The entire document is 19 pages. Here’s a little sampling:
Initial feedback has been that I should be charging more for this. Even my mom, who is the self-proclaimed “cheapest woman alive,” says that she would pay $20. She is actually planning a trip to Iceland based on our trip for next summer. (FYI, I gave her the itinerary for free, of course!) It’s also worth noting that when we were doing our research, we saw a few platforms offering Iceland itineraries for $100, but to be honest, I assume those people are a lot more knowledgeable about the area. They also offered a variety of different trips, which is ultimately why I didn’t download any of them. I didn’t know which one to go with and didn’t want to make an $100 mistake! My itinerary is based on the trip Mike organized that you saw me post on Instagram. You know exactly what you are getting.
Since this is the first time I’m making a travel itinerary PDF and I want as much feedback as possible, $7.50 for non-paying subscribers seems like the right starting price. The more people who purchase, the more likely I am to keep the price low, so if you are considering a future Iceland trip, now would be the time to download!
Free code for paying subscribers available after the paywall. You do not have to provide any credit card information if you use the code.