We are 4 seasoned, high end world travelers from both coasts of the USA…read more
Tor planned a trip to Iceland for us that fulfilled our dreams.
He did not ask for money up front and edited our itinerary as needed. You have to put on your "big boy pants" and tell Tor what you want and don't want in a tour, and he delivers! You of course must proofread your itinerary and ask questions by text, phone and email and that is how you get a life changing adventure. He obviously picked the best hotels and restaurants, but what was stellar, was his careful selection of people and places that we were so hospitably treated to. We were guided by an architect and outdoorsman, named Waldi, who is one of Iceland's many, especially beautiful people, who date their Icelandic families back to the original 7!
We flew by private helicopter to the top of E15, the world famous volcano that erupted and sent ash veiling Europe in 2010. Gisli Gislison, our helicopter pilot, a friendly modern day Viking, soared us through a visual extravaganza in the sky! He made our tour a personal and mind blowing trek onto a cloud ringed glacier with fresh perfect snow in the stratosphere! We shuffled through a pristine white field on a volcano peak glacier in the sky to the edge of everything...where blue snow and the bluest horizon met in silence and purest sunlight . He deftly soared us over the island as if we were riding in a convertible on a Sunday afternoon, laughing and pointing at his favorite childhood spots for a view of boiling streams, frolicking Rams, smoking vents, hot rivers, and sea lions basking in azure waters (who dived and rolled for us when we buzzed closely over head). He pointed out his favorite sea side lobster restaurant, GIANT ELVES, Icelandic horses, lava fields and treated us to a colossal mosaic of colored ice, land and sea creating unimaginable art that we had never heard described and that was a sparkling spectacle forever indelible in our memories.
Tor sent us into the wilderness of "SNIFFLESNEEZE" as we fondly called the Icelandic name for a national park, on the western peninsula. We stayed in a fantastic small gourmet hotel featured in a mystery on the NETFLIX series "THE LAVA FIELD". The food was amazing, the SUMMER sun never set on this iddillic country manor , with freely roaming sheep, fields of wild flowers that put Monet to shame, and an antique church with its quaint and beautiful graveyard that told stories of struggles love and loss in a small heroic community.
We took a space aged trek into the world's only man made ice caves, burrowed by industrious farmers and colored by hidden lights. Our guide was a singing performance artist whose angelic voice echoed Icelandic ballads off the dripping catacomb.
The vehicle that conveyed us was a ginormous converted Russian Missile launcher with 5 foot wide deflatable wheels (they have an app for that!)
Should you book a tour with Tor?
I SAY YOW
BEST OF ALL, we sat at our hotel 101 window and cheered with the joyous country as they clapped and stomped their war cry approval to a world first victory cup over Great Britain in football.
