Flatlanders In Iceland - Day 9 - Spend the morning in Reykjavik and then head home to Kansas City - Sean and Deb

Welcome to the day 9 travel details for our recent nine-day trip to Iceland. We’re hopeful that this series of posts will assist you in the creation of your own unique Icelandic travel itinerary. This is the eleventh article in our Iceland travel guide series, detailing the route we chose for our ninth day, the activities we enjoyed, the lodging we selected, and a some of the food we sampled along the way.

Below are the links to the individual articles in the series.

Flatlanders Guide To Iceland Blog Post Index

NOTE: To “watch” the visual story of our trip, you can review all 100 photos in our Iceland 2019 Instagram highlight. The story progresses in the order of the nine-day itinerary as listed above.

At Flatlanders In, we sometimes include affiliate links in our blog posts. If you click the links and use the services or make a purchase, we receive a small portion of the sale. This helps us create new content and provide you great recommendations. We assure you that our reviews and recommendations are not impacted by these affiliate programs. We work hard to share with you our honest, unbiased experiences.

The Day 9 Route – Breakfast And Shopping In Reykjavik, Returning The Rental Car, And Flying Home

The day nine itinerary was pretty straight-forward. Our flight didn’t leave until the afternoon, so we had some time in the morning to go for a walk around downtown Reykjavik, find a local bakery for some coffee and treats, and then head back to the airport to return the rental car and fly home.

We allowed ourselves some extra time because of the gravel chip in our windshield, since we figured that would take some extra time to deal with.

Day 9, marked in neon green on the map above shows our trip from Reykjavik back to the airport at Keflavik to head homme.

The planned activities for day nine looked like this:

Pack up our gear in the car and check out of the Center Hotel
Walk the Reykjavik shopping district and find another coffee shop and bakery for a treat
Finish up any last-minute shopping
Return the rental car at Keflavik and address the gravel chip
Board our flight from Keflavik back to Kansas City and head home

The trip from Reykjavik to Keflavik is about 1 hour, so we enjoyed our last few hours in Reykjavik before heading home.

TIP: Remember when you head back to the airport, you need to request your sales tax refund. The lines can be long, so be sure to allow for about 30 minutes to complete the process. Bring a pen with you while waiting in line so you can fill out the necessary forms.

Once they process your request, they will refund the money back to your credit card.

Day 9, Stop # 1 – Breakfast In Downtown Reykjavik

Remember in the day eight post when I encouraged you to take strolls down the side streets in downtown Reykjavik? This is one of those examples of why to do it. We were walking a different route from the Center Hotel to the shopping district and came across the Braud & Co bakery.

The smells coming from this little bakery and the line out the door pretty much told us we HAD to check it out.

If you visit Reykjavik, definitely find Braud & Co for some of the best baked goods in Iceland.

I feel pretty safe in saying that the cinnamon pastry that I got from this bakery was one of the best things I ate during the entire Iceland trip. I wish I could visit this place every day for a different baked treat.

The baked goods from Braud & Co were seriously some of the best things we ate in Iceland.

The other thing that was great about Braud was their coffee It was hot, bold, and a perfect compliment to their pastries.

Seriously…don’t miss out on this one.

Day 9, Stop #2 – Hertz Rental Cars At Keflavik Airport

With our bags packed and our bellies full, we fired up the Volkswagen Polo and pointed it toward Keflavik for the final leg of our nine-day Icelandic journey.

The last order of business was dealing with the gravel chip that we received on day 6. We had heard about the infamous gravel chip, but declined the gravel insurance (bad idea).

So…we weren’t quite sure about how much this was going to cost us. We had done some research and some folks indicated that their rental company charged them $500 for a new windshield. Honestly…that would suck.

I was prepared for the worst, but I didn’t want to let it cast a shadow on our amazing Icelandic trip…so we just decided that whatever we had to pay for the gravel chip was worth all the other amazing memories we had received as a result of the trip.

If it cost us $500 to return the car to the condition we received it, so be it. The Polo had been a great car for our needs and we were just going to chalk it up to a lesson learned when traveling to Iceland.

Grrr…the infamous Icelandic gravel rock chip on our Volkswagen Polo rental car.

When I turned the rental car in, I explained that I had called the day before and the person I spoke with just asked me to come into the office so they could assess the damage. Once they had assessed the chip, they could tell me the next steps.

The woman who checked us in was extremely friendly about the situation and it was readily apparent that they see these rock chips ALL THE TIME! We went outside and took some photos of the chip and then headed back into the office.

After some tapping on the computer, she let me know that the cost of the repair to the windshield would be an additional $80.00 US.

WHEW!!!

Huge sigh of relief and I feel like we definitely dodged a bullet on that one.

I approved the charge and we were on our way over to the terminal to check in and board our flight. The total time of turning the car back in was about 15 minutes.

Based on that experience and the performance of the car we rented, I would wholeheartedly recommend Firefly Car Rental to others. We got a great car for a great price.

Next time, though, I will be purchasing the gravel insurance 😉

TIP: One other note that I wanted to pass along about car rental insurance in Iceland. On a whim, I emailed my insurance agent back in the US to find out if my auto insurance would cover any part of the windshield, had we been required to pay $500 for a new windshield.

The answer was no.

Our insurance only covers travel within the US and Canada, so no part of our insurance would have been covered in Iceland. When we purchased our rental through Fireflay, it came with collision and comprehensive damage, but the gravel insurance was an add-on. We should have just paid the extra $3 for the add-on and not had to worry at all.

I hope, though, that our experience with car rental and gravel rock chips helps someone else in their Iceland trip planning.

Day 9, Stop #3 – Iceland Air And Our Flight Back To Kansas City

With our car returned and our luggage in-two, we headed back to the terminal, checked-in, and headed back to Kansas City with no issues. Once again, the flight crew at Iceland Air was top-notch, making our six hour return flight home as comfortable as a coach class fare can be.

When we in the Keflavik airport, I saw this quote on the wall and snapped a photo. I thought it was the perfect way to wrap up a beautiful trip to Iceland.

This beautiful quote caught my eye in the Keflavik airport in Iceland. It seemed like a great way to end our nine-day trip.

I hope that our experiences in Iceland are helpful to others who are considering the trip.

Iceland may not be as trendy as Paris, or as warm as the Maldives. I can promise you, though, that a trip to Iceland will be one that you will never forget and will tell stories about for a long time.

Reflections On Day 9 Of Our Nine-Day Icelandic Trip

So, that’s the summary of day nine of our amazing nine-day family trip to Iceland. With regards to the day 9, the things we saw, and the accommodations we chose, here are what Deb and I think:

From Deb – It was sad to end our trip to Iceland. These last nine days have been amazing and we will definitely be returning for more trips. This trip went just about as perfectly as it could have. Even with the bike rental incident and the gravel rock chip, those were such minor inconveniences that we weren’t going to let them impact the rest of our trip. The beauty of Iceland is evident in the scenery, the history, and the people. This was truly and amazing experience.

From Sean – I am a storyteller. Just ask anyone who knows me. I will be telling stories about this trip for a long time and I cannot wait to return to Iceland to experience more of what this magical island has to offer.

There you have it…day 9 of our nine-day itinerary in Iceland. We hope this helps you in the planning of your trip and gives you some ideas as to what to explore.

Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram to see more photos from our adventures!

See you on the road!