08.14 There are sounds from the room's TV and from the shower. We are at Hotel Akureyri (http://hotelakureyri.is) and soon we will have breakfast before having a walk in Iceland's second largest city. Then we will drive further west.

09.21 A hearty breakfast is over. Now, let's tie things up stay here. Things need to be prepared, completed and paid for. We don’t exactly know when all this is done. What we know is that the Icelandic word for breakfast is morgunmat (morning food).

10.10 Now we have checked out and talked a while to the guy at the front desk. We complimented the beautiful weather here. He then mentioned that the town had been isolated two weeks ago, incoming roads were completely blocked by snow. Akureyri is located by a fjord with high mountain massifs around. Now we are resting on a bench down by the fjord. Birds are swimming in the fjord's water and next to us is a small monument. It may represent a fish fin, but it is my spontaneous interpretation. A gym is located at the water edge and the window shows some intense cycling enthusiasts who have an awesome view in front of them during training.

10.38 The sun warmed nice but we have decided to walk towards the town center for a last visit there before our departure from here. The town is full of small groups of children who are herded around by their preschool teachers.

10.51 A small dirt road heads down towards the town's main street. The gravel road is at my right hand. We sit at a table outside the cafe Kaffi Ilmur. Here it will be coffee and pastries. The elderly lady at the counter, like many Icelanders do, spoke perfect English. The question is whether we have been in any other non-English-speaking country where people speak such excellent English?

Akureyri with snowcovered mountains in the background.

Christer and Roberth enjoy the excellent sunny weather.

A nice coffee break at Kaffi Ilmur.

Kaffi Ilmur, Akureyri.

11.20 When you sit and have coffee in the beautiful spring sunshine, various topics is discussed, so again this time. Afterwards, you rarely remember how the different topics came up.

11.42 It's time to head on from Akureyri. Now we're at the OB petrol station. Here we filled up with petrol, 28,06 liters for 6 939 ISK. The meter is now at 994 km.

12.32 Someone has carved in "Little Rut" and "VF, KG 11.7 2003 ' in the wooden table here at the rest area. We have been travelling west in a snowy landscape through the Öxna Valley and has made a stop to stretch our legs in the middle of the white, springlike and wonderful. Around here as in many places in Iceland, it is a majestic landscape with mountains and plains.

13.27 The journey started again. We have passed Varmahlíð and now it will be a change of driver, Christer will take over the driving. Roberth just successfully attracted some Icelandic horses at the side of the road. Here at the rest area is a monument, cairn. I may come back with more facts about what this is.

13.53 The landscape is dry. We see a river to our left and a mountain to the right. In front of us is a car with two French women in. How do we know this now? Well, they stopped at the same place as we just did. The monument in question is raised in memory of the Icelandic-Canadian poet, Stephan G Stephansson.

Going west through Öxnadalur.

Christer is enjoying the Icelandic landscape.

Roberth and Christer look small compared to the impressive mountains and valleys.

Roberth said hello to a group of horses outside Varmahlíð.

Breathtaking views in northern Iceland.

14.08 The car trip in the Ford Fiesta proceeds on Road 1. Soon we will be in Blönduós. It might be the place where we will have our lunch. Now we and the ladies from France turn right for a stop at a N1 petrol station. Here is the restaurant Nesti, I wonder what they have to offer? Christer is about to find out.

14.23 Nesti offered hot dogs and other simple dishes. We will instead have lunch at Potturinn Restaurant (http://www.pot.is) here in Blönduós. Roberth has ordered Pizza Carbonara. He changed quickly to Pasta Carbonara and finally went for Pasta Bolognese, which Christer also have chosen. For my part, it is a current (?) stop trying new animals. It will be a pepperoni pizza.

15.02 It was a great and welcome lunch. We were the only guests in this large fancy restaurant. One wonders how they get enough guests to run it. Blönduós has just 871 inhabitants after all. Now we have bought some snacks at the N1 petrol station. We are now aiming at Laugarbakki where there will be a driver change and hopefully coffee. Here we can also see the town's small church. It is gray and it has a very interesting look. The tower is more like a truncated cone, a classic volcanic cone.

15.08 No sooner had we got started and out on the moor again as the radio cranked up and offered. Soul II Soul with "Back to life, back to reality". Talk about good timing.

The church in Blönduós has interesting architecture.

Lunch at Potturinn Restaurant in Blönduós.

15.27 We just passed the farms Arnes and Solgruppi. To the left of us are marbled mountains, sometimes white snow sometimes slightly darker. Look there, more Icelandic horses!

15.48 Now there will be a driver change in Laugarbakki. We will not have coffee. Here it is only a self-service pump. The building we thought was a cafe has Christmas decorations left in the window, which does not look promising. We will just roll on, roll on towards new goals.

16.19 We sighted a N1 petrol station in Stađarskáli. Here we stop for coffee and water.

16.51 We are once again surrounded by a snowy landscape. A light rain falls from the sky. We are thinking about how the evening will be spent. During the trip, there has been talk on the radio about Icelandair again. Has something happened? We still do not understand Icelandic well enough.

17.17 It is 37 kilometers left of today's stage. Soon we reach the village Bifröst. A mighty mountain rises up from the dry plains on our right. The road is becoming curvier and now we have reached a new lava field.

18.04 Left in the car is Christer's charging cord to his cell phone. We are in room 17 on Borgarnes Hostel (http://www.borgarneshostel.is) in Borgarnes on the Icelandic west coast. When we came here, it was completely empty at the reception. Christer telephoned from the desk phone. Soon a young, blonde woman arrived. Shortly after, her father appeared and now everything is clear with our room. Tomorrow we are welcome for breakfast at a hotel outside Borgarnes. A hotel owned and run by the same man. Now is the time for evening plans.

Borgarnes Hostel.

Christer at Borgarfjörður.

The sunshine is fighting with the clouds.

Borgarnes church.

18.44 We have left the hostel. I'm sitting on a small concrete column and write this. Christer looks in the Lonely Planet guidebook and Roberth mimics a bird and look out over the fjord and mountains. That's how it is. Now the receipt from Örnsköldsvik library blew from the guidebook and out into the fjord. Here by the water is a memorial commemorating an event in Egils saga where Egil's father killed a woman named Thorgerdr Brak right here. Therefore the place is called Brakarsund.

18.57 We've walked around a bit more here in Borgarnes. In what could be called the center there are lots of new apartments for sale. They seem hard to sell.

19.03 We have walked to our new hometown church. Here we look out over Borgarnes and the roof of our home. All that is heard is romping children and cars driving around. Roberth's hungry and dizzy. It's time to find a restaurant that is not expensive.

19.23 Now it's dinner at The Settlement Centre (www.settlementcentre.is) on Brákarbraut 13-15. This should taste good. The restaurant is adjacent to the museum built here due to Borgarnes is one of the first settlements in Iceland.

19.54 It was really good here. You must come here to eat. Roberth had burbot, Christer a filling hamburgers with meat from local farms and I pasta with lobster tails.

20.36 Now there is coffee time home in the hostel. Some young people seem to have fun inside one of the rooms. Roberth do not drink coffee, he drinks tea. It was taken with two tea bags from the hotel in Reykjavik. Now, one of these comes in handy.

21.40 We drank our coffee and tea and took the car to the N1 petrol station on the outskirts of the town. There we bought a few things for the evening. Now we plan the upcoming day in detail. We should start by waking up but first we need to sleep?

22.34 Now we know more regarding tomorrow. There is so much to see and do before we return the car at 17:00. Now it will be nice to sleep.

Tonight´s dinner was inside a museum.

Icelandic words of wisdom.

Monument at Brakarsund, a famous place in the Egil Skallagrimsson saga.

Thursday 24th of April

07.13 Roberth feels as stiff as a whole retirement home. Christer is heading into the shower. I sit on the edge of my bed and write this. Today we will cover the last part of our Icelandic tour. We will take ourselves and the car to Keflavik. There will be many stops along the way.

07.35 One thing just occurred to me. There is a reversed geyser in our room. It sprays water and smells of sulfur. The spraying is, however from above. I refer to our shower. Now we are about to leave the room and head towards the breakfast that we eat in the hotel of the owner to this place.

08.27 After a hearty buffet breakfast at Hótel Brú outside Borgarnes and a thank you and goodbye to our host, we are out on Road 1 again. Bye Borgarnes! The accommodation gave us what accommodations usually give, no more, no less. Today is a holiday. Today is considered the first day of summer here in Iceland, a day that tends to be rainy and cloudy. That's exactly right. Christer has called Sweden and congratulated his father on his birthday. The journey takes us south. Roberth is driving.

08.49 We just paid 1000 ISK in road fee or maybe I should write tunnel fee. We're going in Hvalfjarðargöngin under the fjord Hvalfjörður. Reykjavik is visible on the horizon on the other side of the fjord. We have just about made a full lap around the island. The tunnel is 5 762 meters long (including 3 750 meters below the fjord's water) and it is at its deepest 165 meters below sea level.

08.55 We are out of the tunnel and here the sun shines. Now we continue.

09.07 We switched from road 1 to road 36 in the middle of a roundabout. Further along this road is Þingvellir. There we will make the first of many stops this last Icelandic travel day.

Approaching an expensive tunnel.

The rift through Iceland is most visible hear in Þingvellir.

Þingvellir

Curious visitors gather at the place where the first Icelandic parliament had its seat.

09.47 So, we finally arrived at Þingvellir, a national park around a beautiful lake. Here democratic decisions were made from the 900´s to the 1200´s. Here the Eurasian and North American continental plates part. Everything is brought to life in the rift valley and it is on UNESCO's world heritage list. We have started with the visit to go into a small building which we left just as quickly. Here the sights are outdoors.

10.05 The rift Almannagja with its high walls is impressive. The valley widens by 5 millimeters each year. Now I stand where the judge announced the decisions, laws passed on Althingi below from here. The view of the plains is magnificent. Here are plenty of tourists, including Irish and Germans.

10.21 We leave Þingvellir with law making and land stretching. It feels like we are well on time this intense day. Now it's off to the next stop, 60 kilometers away. We continue straight to the east.

10.37 We pass through the National Park and therefore our speed is low. We have been overtaken by some monstrous vehicles with huge tires. On the radio, the BBC has reported on the continued unrest between Russia and Ukraine. It has also been reported from the Indian elections. The voters will queue up to the polling station, find their name on a list, identify themselves, go to the voice booth, push a button for the party you vote for and get a dab of ink on the fingertip.

10.57 The shop Samkaup in Laugarvatn has given us an opportunity to stock up. Roberth bought a hot dog.

11.14 We have now arrived at Geysir, the place that gave its name to the phenomenon of geysers, volcanic heated water boiling over and thrown into the air.

In Geysir the water is boiling both here and there.

Strokkur is preparing for the next eruption.

The geyser Strokkur shows what it can do.

The tourists gather to see a geyser perform on the location which gave the phenomena its name.

Christer is having a coffee at Geysir Glima.

11.25 After a short walk we have now arrived at the geysers, Geysir, which has sadly passed away and Strokkur which send up water at between 80° and 100° in a mighty column of water and steam every fifth, tenth minute.

12.07 Now we and the rest here have seen the Strokkur show. We have photographed the geyser from different angles and distances. Roberth has also helped and photographed an American family of Asian origin. The landscape here is barren and desolate. The air carries on the classic scent of sulfur. We would love to stay longer here but more is approaching this day.

12.23 Christer and I have some coffee inside the Geysir Glima, a large new restaurant here in the visitor's center.

12.34 We're off again along the road 35. There will be a short trip east before the next view, the next landmark and the next change of drivers.

12.50 We have arrived at the next sightseeing goal. We'll go and look at Gullfoss. It is one of Iceland's most visited waterfalls and is located in River Hvítá. It is very windy here. We have made it quite far to Iceland's interior parts. After our visit here, we turn to the southwest and travels to the sea again.

Gullfoss waterfall.

Before we left we decided to take a closer look at the waterfall.

Green lava stones west of Þorlákshöfn along the south coast.

13.14 We're back in the car which now passed 1430 km. Gullfoss was and is a mighty waterfall cascading in two installments, the first 11 meters and then 21 meters into a ravine. Roberth now opened the car door. He wants Christer to start the car. Christer doesn’t want to start it. He has not changed into the more comfortable driving shoes yet.

13.39 Roberth just got a text message. Tomorrow’s flight from Keflavik Airport is, due to a strike, moved to 11.00. Good bye connecting train! Is it this strike that they talked about on the radio? Who are on strike? Why have only Roberth received a text message about this?

14.06 Plans have been posted. We will, when we leave the car within some hours, get to the airport right next door; there we will ask about the flight tomorrow.

14.15 Christer currently drives our Ford through Selfoss for the second time on this trip and we head south towards the sea.

14.38 Just before Þorlákshöfn we turned onto Route 427 toward Grindavík. It smelled of fish from the town. It was a strong scent of fish in the car despite the fact that the road passed a bit off. There is no doubt about what we live by here. Besides fish scent will also football player Jón Guðni Fjóluson from Þorlákshöfn. He plays for GIF Sundsvall, the team from Christer's home town.

14.55 After a brief photo stop at green moss overgrown lava fields along the rugged south coast, we are now on the move again. The landscape is desolate and we are starting to run out of petrol. We don’t want to be stranded here in the wilderness.

15.35 The car has stopped. It's stopped at a petrol station in Grindavík. Here it will be filling up for us and the car. My last Icelandic note was spent here. All that remains is a little small change of the Icelandic currency.

16.35 I have with the good help of my friends taken us back to Keflavik. Here we found a petrol station where the car was cleaned by us internally and externally. We have also filled it up with petrol. Now it's off to the rental car company out there at the airport.

We have checked in at G.G Guesthouse in Keflavík.

G.G Guesthouse, Keflavík.

17.04 The car is returned without any criticism despite a hubcap was missing. We then got a lift to the airport. Here we have been told that there is the security people who are on strike. However, only a small strike that extends up to 09.00 each morning. There is little but enough to delay us. Well, we will of course set off at 11.00, approximately. Next it's off to the last accommodation on this trip.

17.41 A bit calmer, we are now heading towards our home in Keflavik. Once again we go by taxi, slightly shorter and much cheaper than the trip on Saturday though. Our nice driver has a smoker's cough of the worse kind, but took us safely to our destination on Solvallagata 11.

18.09 We have checked in and got informed by Eirikur at our last home, GG Guesthouse (http://gguest.is). We have been promised to get a transport out to the airport tomorrow. Now we're going to kill the remaining time here. Christer and I live in room 2 and Roberth in room 3. We are the only guests here, perfect!

19.22 After a bit of slack in the living room section where we watched a DVD of Jackass, we will now go out to see what Keflavik has to offer.

20.08 It has been researched restaurants and an ATM. No ATM is found. However, we have seen a car with U2 lyrics painted on the car and a license plate, I LOVE U2. Moreover, we have seen the town's church. Now we are continuing.

20.12 In addition to its international airport Keflavik has been best known for the U.S. military base that was here from 1946 to 2006. Now the city has Iceland's highest unemployment rate and an American-inspired restaurant as a memory of what has been.

20.29 There will be pizza at Fernando's our last Icelandic evening. After that, we continue searching for an ATM. Eirikur wants us to pay in cash tomorrow morning.

21.49 The pizzas were OK. The guy at the counter told us where there was an ATM. After a bit of walking Christer and I found it, not so central but nevertheless an ATM. Now I have been in the store 10-11 and bought an evening beer. I'm waiting for the friends who are inside shopping.

22.11 On the shelf, it was 219 kronor for the beer Christer bought. The guy at the counter wanted 299. He changed his mind though and let Christer get it for 219. Now we are home. Christer and I drink beer while Roberth takes a shower. In a bookcase here are 65 books of EIMREIĐIN. I don’t know what that is.

22.50 Now let air go out of the room, let in some fresh air. Then we crawl into bed, good night!

Keflavík.

Keflavík, a very calm town after the Americans left.

Jesus Christ is the answer.

Friday 25th of April

07.39 An advantage of the strike is that we got a late morning. Now Christer headed for the shower and I'm going to set the table for breakfast. We do not know if Roberth asleep but we believe it.

08.40 Roberth did not sleep! Our pleasant stay at this accommodation was completed with a hearty breakfast. Now, let's pack the last things before we await transportation out to the airport. I wonder how it will go well there, when we get off and on, and how we get to the home district.

09.16 Our nice host Eirikur drove us to the airport and told some of his previous professional career in the fishing industry for us. Now we checked in at a machine here at the airport. It's time to queue up with everyone else in the queue to baggage drop. Some in the staff go around and offer water in PET bottles and even chocolate.

You need patience for the wait at Keflavík airport.

We hope this won´t be necessary.

10.06 The bags are, after an eternal queuing, finally released and left. Behind us in the queue we heard whining people and not surprisingly, it was the Swedes as it always is. A young couple felt sorry for themselves, complained about the strike and told everything and everyone how tough they had it and how bad this is. Why it was harder for them than anyone else in the queue wasn´t clear. Now we and a lot of other passengers are in the next queue. It's time for security screening. Within an hour we'll be on our way. Will it be so?

10.54 During the queuing, I have seen more empty PET bottles than I ever had before in my life. Now we´ve boarded the plane to Stockholm Arlanda and this is it. There is actually a row 13 on the plane.

CHANGING TIME ZONE

14.15 A quiet journey to the home country has an extra element of excitement today, questions are asked, when will we arrive and is there a train north to catch? How much for a ticket?

SWEDEN

16.04 Now we have landed in Stockholm. Now we need to get our train tickets.

17.02 Tickets were arranged at SJ's travel shop. Roberth pulled directly off towards the train to Östersund. Christer and I have had dinner at Alfredo's. It's a half hour to our train departure that will take us to Sundsvall. There is no panic, everything is in control.

17.40 Now the train is on the move and it is good. We are on it and it's even better. We will arrive in a reasonable time and it is the best.

19.08 The sun is shining between the trees here south of Söderhamn. We have quickly seen more trees than we saw on the entire trip in Iceland. Are trees really a human right?

20.55 Our train is waiting to roll in to Sundsvall Central. It has become a stop just before our final stop. Now we roll again. Once out, we will get to Christer's apartment. Some tasks remains before we step into the apartment.

Yet another trip has its last meal at the restaurant Alfredo´s at Arlanda airport.

On the train going north.

21.05 We're at the bus stop Tullgatan opposite Forex. It darkens around us and we are waiting for the bus 4. This time, we should not dismiss it.

21.23 I've put myself on a pile of 40-liter bags of soil. Christer is at COOP Haga supermarket to buy breakfast for tomorrow.

21.42 We are now at the home of Christer. It has been an amazing journey. Iceland offers attractions wherever you are travelling and the freedom to have your own vehicle made that much could be done and be seen shortly. The expensive taxi trip to Reykjavik plus fiddling with the strike made the trip unnecessarily expensive and complicated but this happens. The trip to the island Iceland is over but there will be more islands as we return to the Caribbean later this year.