Northern Lights
Just before Christmas, I embarked on an epic adventure across the Atlantic via two very different places: the land of fire and ice, and the city that never sleeps…
Speaking of never sleeping, Iceland in December enjoys a meagre three hours of daylight so the locals have to find ways to keep themselves busy under cover of darkness. That was our challenge when we touched down in Reykjavik after a delayed three hour flight from Gatwick. From the huge snowdrifts that greeted us out of the gloom, to the awe-inspiring shimmer of the Northern Lights we saw from our freezing boat trip, and the sensual assault of swimming the geothermal heated Blue Lagoon during a blizzard, Iceland gave me memories that will last a lifetime in just 24 hours.
Iceland spending for two
Blue Lagoon
(in Icelandic Króna – approx. £1 = 200 króna at time of writing):
780 coffee
300 soft drink
15135 hostel
3180 dinner at burger joint
350 soft drink
1800 drinks
700 soft drink
12700 lunch at Blue Lagoon restaurant Lava
€6 (approx. 928 króna) luggage storage
700 shot glass souvenir!
6173 presents
ICELAND SUB-TOTAL: 42,646 króna (approx. £216 or £108 each)
Next up we flew to New York for a thrilling three days, featuring a trip up the Rockefeller Tower, an NFL game at Meadowlands and some serious Christmas shopping!
NYC spending for two
Empire State Building from our hotel rooftop
(in US$ – approx. £1 = 1.50 USD at time of writing)
28 meal on plane (we flew with Iceland Airways)
17 subway tickets
168.24 Presents
21 Train tickets to Meadowlands
30 nachos/beer
7 drink
66 Hard Rock Cafe
4.35 shot glass
Meadowlands Stadium, New Jersey
45 burritos at Lucy’s on Penn Plaza
4 drink
50 dinner
6.95 cheesecake
283.30 Hollister & American eagle goodies!
12 hot dogs & drinks
40 airport meal
17.01 magazines etc
15 subway tickets
NYC SUB-TOTAL: 814.85 USD (approx. £525 or £262.50 each)
Payments made in advance
FLIGHTS (for two): £1,186.58
Top of the Rock tickets: £19 each
NFL Jets tickets: £91.77
NYC Hotel Metro: £419.11
US Visas: £19
ADVANCE PAYMENTS SUB-TOTAL: £1,754.46
Total for 4 days in NYC & Iceland
£2,495.46 or £1,247.73 each
Whaddup JP 
Hope you had an amazing time! So fantastic that you got to see the Northern lights with such a brief time there! Must have been an awesome trip. I absolutely love NYC – one of my favourite trips in the world – I always find that it’s the tips in the US that absolutely kill the budget and they’re quite hard to plan for in advance! Happy New Year!
Thanks Shikha – Happy New Year to you! It was an awesome trip, I love NYC too but yes I agree tips and taxes are hidden menaces to a budget haha!