Top Places of Northern and Southern Iceland
I went to Iceland only because WOW Airlines generously allow a layover in Iceland anywhere from 1 hour to 1 year with no difference in prices. I figured, why don’t I have a 2-week layover in Iceland? Sounds like fun!
Transportation

Are you ready to hear about the prices of public transportation? Too bad, I don't really remember. To get from the KEF airport, where all international flights land to Reykjavik, is $27, the same price to get back. It is CHEAPER to rent a car than to travel by bus. I'd recommend learning how to drive BEFORE you go to Iceland (and practice driving manual, just in case). Galen and I rented a car through SadCars.com, the cheapest company you can possibly find - they rent out used cars, and that's why the price for a low-level class car can be as low as $28 a day. The automatic transmission is incredibly pricier - starts with $60 a day. I didn't want to pay $60 a day so I opted for a manual transmission.

The main problem was that the last time I drove a manual was back when I was 15, in a small Russian village. One of my ex-boyfriends generously tried to teach me how to drive his rusty "shesterka" (lada 6, just google it) for one hour. Then he said "Sorry, I love my car more than you - you will burn the engine." My lessons (and relationships with this guy) stopped indefinitely: until I needed to rent a manual car in Iceland because it's cheaper. My husband is definitely more patient than my ex-boyfriend with shesterka. That's one of the reasons why I married my husband and not that village guy. Galen is a good teacher - he managed to teach me how to drive manual in just 1.5 days. If you want to save your time and don't care about the price - he is good at teaching anything - hire him!

With my days (1.5) of experience driving, I rented a car (note: I had a driver's license). The hardest part of driving a manual was probably to get out of the rental company garage so that they didn't notice that I had no idea how to drive. The rest of Iceland is one long flat circle - so it's really not that hard. I'm still alive and writing this post (my friend Polina is also alive and writing her blog too).
Northern Iceland
1. Swimming Pools

Oh, swimming pools and hot tubs really deserve a separate paragraph. There is at least one really good ($6-15) swimming pool in any more or less big town in Iceland. Hot tubs are a cheap and really nice way to relax over the book (though some pools prohibit electronic devices because of the privacy concerns). I've been to at least 4 swimming pools and natural baths over 2 weeks and I wish I did it every day. Any time you're tired of driving, you can stop at a nearby town and just go to the swimming pool for a couple of hours. All hot tubs are heated by naturally hot water: they don't use the hot water itself because there is too much sulfur.

Two biggest "swimming pools" are definitely the Blue Lagoon south of KEF and the Myvatn Natural Bath north of Iceland. If you want to the Blue Lagoon, make sure you book your tickets and time at least two weeks in advance, as the best spots are always booked. I didn't get a chance to visit Blue Lagoon (and decided it's not worth $60-80 for a couple of hours) but went to the Myvatn instead. It's cheaper than the Blue Lagoon and they allow beer right in the huge hot area - that's probably the best thing about the Myvatn baths! As in any other pool, Myvatn has several little areas with different temperature: an ice-cold pool, an average temperature pool (27-31 C), and a couple of heated pools (35-37 C and 41-43 C).
2. Hverir

The mud bubbling pots are located a couple of miles east of the lake. The pots are actually bubbling and lots of fun to watch!
3. Grjotagja Cave

Just a little cave on the way - I think monks used to bath there, now it's just a huge crack in the middle of nowhere next to the cave filled with hot water (really hot water).

4. Dimmuborgir

Very gloomy rock formations, not incredibly photogenic.
5. Godafoss

Probably my favorite waterfall in Iceland. The Waterfall of the Gods - lots of water! There is one more cool waterfall - Dettifoss - on the way, but we didn't have enough time to check it out.
Southern Iceland
1. Bridge Between Continents

Well, we weren't really big fans of it, as the bridge just looks like a normal bridge over a big ravine - even if it was a division of two continents (Northern American Plate and a European Plate)
2. Gunnuhver

Apart from a big circular water pool - that I thought had hot water, but no, it's just an ocean water - there are amazing views of the coastline. Definitely worth walking around - it's not the most popular tourist attraction, so there is plenty of parking.
3. Hveragerði

I missed several turns and thus we ended up skipping several planned spots. Turning back was a bit of a hassle. Hveragerði is a neat town on the way to a hot river and several cool pools.

4. Urridafoss
A huge waterfall on the way - I guess it's not that famous, but quite cool!
5. Seljalandfoss

Another waterfall - you can walk behind it - amazing feeling, although quite wet.
6. Skogafoss

I already saw Skogafoss at the end of my Laugavegur Trail, but thought Polina would like to see it too!

7. Dyrholaey
Dyrholaey is a small peninsula with a lighthouse on top of the hill, in theory, is a home for thousands and thousands of birds, but I guess by the time we got there, the birds all flew away. While I was driving on the hill I surely killed the car, so I had to ask the person behind me to help me start it. It all turned out really well, avnd I think it could be considered a new way of hitchhiking - you have a car but don't know how to drive.
8. Black Beach

Black beach is just a beach, but black - nice place to just walk around.
9. Skaftafell and Svartifoss

By this point, we were determined to get to the icebergs far east. We had only4 days together, one of which we spent in Keflavik, so, unfortunately, couldn't do the whole circle, and had to come back the way we came to the east. Driving in Iceland is a total pleasure - neither rain nor hail stops you from being two times faster than what google predicts. While I am driving in LA, I consider myself lucky if I got to the place right at the same time as Google thought I'd get there. In Iceland you can drive as slow as you want and still get to the next sight faster than you think.

We skipped a lot of spots on the way, but stopped to walk around these two waterfalls. The park is huge and has a lot of trails, it was rainy, so we picked a more or less short trail, and walked around.


10. Jokulsarlon and Diamond Beach

If you have never seen icebergs, that's a great place to see them! I just got back from my trip to Greenland and was quite familiar with what big chunks of ice could look like. They are gorgeous! We headed back and stopped near Hof - found a place where at least two more cars were parked for a night, and went to "bed". In the morning, we headed back towards Keflavik - in the middle of the day it started raining as never before - so we had to take a break from driving. We got to our Airbnb by 4 pm and spent a quiet afternoon talking and reading.
11. The Golden Circle

The Golden Circle is the first thing you learn about Iceland - it's a bunch of cool nature sights really close to Reykjavik. There are several major stops on the Circle: Lake Kerið, a church Skalholt, Gullfoss, and Geysir. The rest are optional - it takes about 1.5-3.5 hours to drive around, depending on the weather conditions.

We rushed through the lakes and geysers to get back to the airport on time. Unfortunately, the drive back was through Reykjavik, and, alas, people in Reykjavik drive worse than in LA. It was a nerve-wracking experience of almost killing my car in 10 roundabouts. Initially, I was planning to say goodbye to Polina and then go back to North-West, drive around Snæfellsnes, and maybe even further away. Sadly, even the thought of driving through Reykjavik two more times by myself was anxious enough for me to change my tickets (only $90 for the next day!) for the earlier dates and fly back to LA. I was ready for the new year of work.