May 30, 2017

Reykjavik City Guide - What To Do In Reykjavik, Iceland 2023

May 30, 2017/ Sonia Nicolson

Welcome to Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland, and home to 122,141 (2015) people. This colourful little nordic city is the most northern capital in the world and has been my home for a couple of years now.

Back in February 2016, I followed my heart and relocated to Reykjavik to join my Viking, Ingimar (now husband). A new city, and a new adventure - so I decided to keep a weekly video diary in the form of vlogs on my YouTube channel.

Over the last years, I’ve made Reykjavik my home and consider myself very lucky to be surrounded by such dramatic and picturesque landscapes, living under the northern lights and escaping for day trips to chase waterfalls, be amazed by the dreamy moss-covered lava fields, glacier, and other magical sights.

READ: Northern Lights in Reykjavik

I’m guessing you're lucky enough to be planning a visit or adding to Bucket List research, so let’s get into my Reykjavik City Guide.

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DIY Walking Tour

There are a few free walking tours in Reykjavik or you can go off and do your own.

Start at the Sun Voyager and walk along the coast to Harpa, then head towards the Parliament and its public square. If you're hungry, on the way you can try the local Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur for yummy hot dogs, or a bowl of lobster soup at nearby Sægreifinn on the harbor, or for more of a family-friendly spot then head to the recently reopened The Laundromat Cafe (free coffee refills & kids play area in the basement). The pond is lined with cute Icelandic houses and on the opposite side, you will see the very Scandinavian-looking church of Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík and the modern City Hall which had a huge topographical map of Iceland in it - worth a look. From here you can either wander around the downtown area and check out some bars and shops, or head up towards Hallgrimskirkja.

READ: I also run an Air BnB Experience walking tour

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From here, cross Fríkirkjuvegur and walk up the side street (taking in the street art). Walking around you might spot some little statues and superheroes on the street signs too. Keep going until you arrive at the magnificent Hallgrímskirkja church, inspired by flowing lava and buildings such as the Chrysler Building in New York City. Here you can buy a ticket to gain access to the top of the spire by lift for views across the city, alternatively, drive up to the city water towers at Perlan for a free view from their cafe - their exhibition is great, especially the Aurora Planetarium.

READ: Perlan - Wonders of Iceland Exhibition

Finally walk down the main street of Skólavörðustígur which joins the main shopping street of Laugavegur before you'll arrive back near Harpa.

EDIT: Summer 2019 Perlan is no longer free to access the viewing deck but the cafe on the floor above is nice and the view is free

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local swimming pools with hot tubs

The pools in Iceland are fabulous and the main reason I survive living here in winter. Make sure to end a busy day by chilling out with the locals in a “hot pot” at a local swimming pool. The biggest and most popular one is Laugardalslaug, by the national football stadium. Make sure to wander around and try out all of the different hot pools here, including a saltwater pool right at the end. And yes, you do have to shower off before entering the pool or the ‘changing room police’ will get you!!

Adult 18+ 1000 ISK / Kids 160 ISK (under 6 & Senior Citizens free)

Laugardalslaug | a local pool with a huge indoor lanes pool, outdoor pool, kids flume, and a variety of hot pools - including a saltwater pool. Make sure to walk around and try out all the different round pools as they offer different temperatures. Steam room too.

Vesturbæjarlaug | a good outdoor pool and a big hot tub where locals meet to chat, and where I've previously spotted Bjork - twice.

Sundhöllin | a downtown pool with both indoor and outdoor pools, and a hot tub. Cool building and very handy if only spending a short time in Reykjavik.

Árbæjarlaug | a great pool (yes, it’s my fave) mainly because you can swim from the indoor pool to the outdoor and then get straight into a hot tub. There’s a kids pool inside and out, the slide and lanes pool is outdoor. Steam room too.

Breiðholts | a very local pool offering an outdoor lanes pool, kids pool, slides, and hot tubs.

Laugardalslaug Swimming Pool

Sundlaugavegur 30, 105 Reykjavik

Look for bus number 12 and 14 (stop near Laugardalslaug)

Mondays - Thursdays: 6:30am - 10pm
Fridays: 6:30am - 10pm
Weekend: 8am - 10pm

READ: Local pools in Reykjavik, Iceland

Grótta lighthouse and hot pool

Ever fancied a stroll along a black sand beach? Watch the sun set with your feet in a natural hot tub? Get all bundled up watching the northern lights with the reward of a hot chocolate after?! Head to Grótta, an easy 10 minute drive along the coast from Reykjavik's Harbour and take in the view across to Esjan.

If it's sunny, why not grab an ice cream from Valdi in Grandi on your way there.

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Botanical Gardens - Free admission

I’m adding the Botanical Gardens in because I love them, we are often walking here as a family and the cafe here is just beautiful and offers some delicious treats.

If the weather allows, you can spend a morning wandering the paths of the botanical gardens and heading towards the allotment where you'll find a fantastic Café Flora (open May 1st - September 30th and open at weekends in December, closed Dec 24th, 25th, 26th, 31st, Jan 1st) where you can sip a coffee and nibble on a homemade treat in the beautiful greenhouse cafe.

Botanical Gardens - Free admission

Laugardalur, 104 Reykjavík

Summer (May 1st - September 30th) 10am - 10pm
Winter (October 1st - April 30th) 10am - 3pm

Viðey Island

A short ferry ride (1,500ISK) from Reykjavik harbor is the island of Viðey (summer ferries leave daily from Skarfabakki, Harpa, and Aegisgarour pier and in winter ferry from Skarfabakki weekends only). The island was where the 'father of Reykjavík' Skuli Magnusson constructed his home and a church in the 12thC and has archaeological remains from the early 10th C.

On this island is the Imagine Peace Tower, a beam of light that shines high into the night sky from a wishing well bearing the words "imagine peace" in 24 languages. Designed by Yoko Ono, widow of John Lennon, it is lite annually between his birthday and his death: 9th Oct - 8th Dec.

this post was originally written in 2017 and has been updated

5 Tips To Grow Your Instagram fast

April 17, 2017/ Sonia Nicolson

We’re sharing our top tips to help you grow on Instagram fast. We all know that being consistent is crucial on social media, but with the removal of Instagram likes, we need to focus more on the shares and saves. Let’s get focused on educating our audience, sharing value, and prepping for launches, new product releases, and sales. We’ve got the best 5 tips to grow on Instagram.

Consistency - post consistently on Instagram
be consistent in when to post and how often so your followers know what to expect. Find out what time is best for you to post on Instagram and stick to that. Post daily, weekly, or whatever your schedule allows but stick to a plan.
Show more of YOU on your feed
by you, we mean your face. Don’t be shy, post pictures where you’re in them to help your audience connect with you. Use Instagram stories to capture your normal life and share more of a behind-the-scenes view. Once you feel ready, try Instagram live to really connect with your followers.
Educate
Share value with your followers and build trust, build a brand, and educate them on what you are doing by sharing more. Prepare them for when you’re ready to launch or sell; the more they know, the more they’ll be ready to support you.
Save and Share
the save and share options on Instagram are the new likes so you want to create content that your audience is going to save and share with theirs. Write in the caption that you want to be tagged and credited, and do the same if you share someone else’s post. Graphics work well as they often share value and work on other people’s feeds.
Use the DM
feature to connect, not spam - send genuine messages to people to reach out and build community. Send a friendly message to new followers thanking them for the follow and ask what they like and want to see more of. Connect with people, it is social media after all.

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What are you doing to grow on Instagram?

Instagram Tips For Growth 2023

April 04, 2017/ Sonia Nicolson

Instagram is still one of the most popular social media platforms and growing on it takes time and work. The best way to succeed is to plan out what you want to post and have a clear direction for your account - niche - this will help you understand who your audience is and know your community.

The Algorithm

Possibly the bane of your life if you’re trying to grow your account. The algorithm changes and it’s there for a good reason. Don’t fight it, don’t get frustrated, and don’t blame it. Just get on with it. Yes, they recently removed likes and that made a huge impact on how we quantify success on Instagram. Rumour has it that saves are the new likes.

Posts

Post consistent, relevant, and relatable content which is of value to your audience - bonus if it’s sharable. Instagram will reward you if your posts get an audience to spend more time on the app.

Editing

Yes, you can edit on Instagram itself but there are so many other options to edit pictures. I use the Adobe Lightroom app and have a preset.

Description/Caption

Each post allows for 2,200 characters which are about 300 words of a caption for your post. You want your caption or description to be interesting, relevant to the post, and interactive so that people want to like, save and comment. You’re looking to receive rich comments so that each comment can be built on to feed the algorithm and show it how valuable your posts are.

Hashtags

Do your hashtag research, select 5-10 hashtags that are on brand and are relevant to the image you are posting and its caption. You can use up to 30 but it looks a little spammy and it’s often better to use 5 really relevant hashtags than 30 mediocre ones.

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Location

To attract a potential new audience, tag your location. Tag real locations, not just random trending locations. This too can be flagged as spam.

When To Post

Use the ‘when to post’ app as it tells you the 3 times a day when you get the highest engagement on your account, this is when you should post. As you build your feed, people will come to expect a post from you at whatever time or however many times a day so try to stick to it. Consistency is key. The more active you are, the more the algorithm will favor you.

Be Social

Engage. Don’t just expect people to comment and interact on your posts, do so on theirs too. Be active within your niche and interact with accounts similar to yours and with an audience you want to attract. Engage with their followers’ comments and start a conversation. Answer questions, add value, and show them that you can help and that you are of interest to them. Do not spam. The more engagement your post gets in the first 30 minutes, the higher you will rank and the more reach you will get. For comments to count they need to be 4 words or more and not just emojis. The more comments, likes, and saves, the more the algorithm is triggered. Instagram is smart, don’t try to fool it.

DMs

Your DMs are your messages within the Instagram app. This can get annoying and build up but they are a good place to build a community and speak to your followers or potential followers. Use them to reach out and build an audience. Thank new followers, send them a DM of a message, voice message, or video. Make it personal and intentional. The aim is to build actual relationships.

Switch To A Business Account

Once you switch, you get access to your analytics, pay attention to these as they will help you know your audience and what they are looking for.

Reach

Your reach is the new way to measure how well you are doing, your reach is your audience (total number of people who have seen your content) but not just your following.

Instagram Stories

Use this feature to show your latest post, ask people to go click on it and it will take them to your feed where they can like and interact. Post to your stories every time you post to your feed, this helps with distribution and drives your audience (and potentially new eyes through location and hashtags) to your post and feed.

Shadowban

Shadowban is when your account is not favored in the algorithm or is flagged up because you are doing something dodgy and against the system; i.e using the same hashtags on every post, using bots, using comment pods, etc. If you get a shadowban then you can be banned on Instagram, without necessarily knowing what has happened. If you get a shadowban, leave your Instagram account alone for a few days. Don’t post, and don’t be active. Check over the hashtags you use and make sure they’re still active and relevant - better still, use fresh ones.

Avoid Comment Pods

Comment pods are when a group of people posts to a group chat with a link to their post in the hope that all members of the pod will go like and interact with their post, in exchange for doing the same for the members’ posts. This is seen as spam and playing the system and is not worth risking a shadowban. The algorithm is intelligent and will suss you out. It’s not worth it.

Plan Your Feed

Planning ahead will help you develop an aesthetic, stay consistent with it, and in posting to a schedule (posting often). Planning out the appearance of your feed is a personal preference. Have a look around and see what style of feed you like.

I use the app PLANN which allows you to plan out days, and weeks ahead of time. I sit down once a week or fortnight and plan out my content. This means I know what is going live, and when, and have the caption written ahead of time with hashtags ready to go. This is great beautiful it saves me time in the long run and, on the days when I am just not feeling it, I don’t have to find something to post and write about it because it’s already in my planned feed. PLANN lets you upload pictures, add captions, and hashtags, and save lists of hashtags to easily copy and post when needed. You can also move posts around to plan the layout and look of your feed so you never post similar pictures beside each other or similar colours together.

READ: 5 Tips To Grow Your Instagram

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The Self Employed Uniform

February 09, 2017/ Sonia Nicolson

I was getting dressed, cleaning up this morning, and making the bed, the usual routine, when it occurred to me - I wonder what other self-employed people actually reach for and tend to wear on a daily basis.

The Architect

Previously I've worked as an Architect in an office so I had to look both professional and also wear clothes that I would pop out onto site in. This meant a cheap-ish wardrobe of smart trousers and layered tops, usually from Primark or whatever. There was never anything cool or trendy about my work wardrobe - I mean I was in a hard hat and steel top-capped boots 50% of the time.

The Lecturer

Then, moving into Academia at a private design school, my wardrobe got a lot more fun - the fact the school was in India meant I could experiment with what I wore a lot more and never felt judged or unprofessional. I could express myself more, try Indian outfits on our 'cultural days', and wear what I really felt like 'me' in.

be comfortable, be yourself

This idea of feeling like 'me' is an interesting one, something that I thought would have developed over time and I would have my own style but in reality, I maybe dress up into the style but I live in and spend most of my time in my jeans and a simple top. I think it’s more about the material; the soft worn-in feeling is just so comforting. I tend to wear Zara skinny straight-legged blue wash jeans and a simple top. The top never matters much but I'm so lazy in my hunt for comfy clothes in the mornings that I also tend to live in sports bras. Maybe that’s TMI??

an identity

A uniform to me is something that helps present you in the role you have. A Doctor, a Firefighter, a Bus Driver, a Sale Assistant, etc. But if we don't work in professional or service-related jobs then the 'uniform' is more a perception thing, perhaps the way we dress is more about the way we think we should dress for that role or be seen as that employee.

Dress the part, for success

I dress for comfort but also to feel more confident, to empower myself. I vlog looking, however, I do at that time but I make more effort for a sit-down video. I want to be seen at my best and my best is neat and presentable - teeth brushes, hair done, make-up on, thoughtfully selected clothes. My jeans are comfortable and they make me feel good, so I am more confident. I'm sure you'd agree, I don't want to wear something I'm not comfortable in as I'll feel self-conscious.

inspiration

Don't get me wrong, I completely appreciate a good pair of PJs or leggings - I'm often wearing PJ bottoms when I sit down to film - but I thought I'd put this out there and see what you guys tend to reach for, what are your "comfies" and if you're also self employed, what do you consider your uniform.

what's your Self Employed Uniform?

FREE Mini Course #RockYourDegree

December 18, 2016/ Sonia Nicolson

It's almost a year since I left my role as Senior Lecturer back in the UK to move to Iceland. In that time I've achieved so many goals that were on my To-Do list but there was a 'Student Advice'. I wanted to form an output, a way of offering my answers to all those questions previously asked to me and pass on the same advice to other students. So I got typing and created my first email course.

It simple. You sign up for the FREE emails and you will immediately be sent Day 1 of the 5 Day email course. The course runs over 5 days so you'll get an email each day. Each email focuses on a different topic and they're packed with information and useful links. I hope you get loads out of this email course so let's get started and #RockYourDegree

DAY 1 - Clear Your Space, Clear Your Mind

How to be organized and focussed
How to best storage equipment and materials
How to store stock for online shops, i.e. Etsy
The importance of storing and keeping all student project work
What to do with physical models, saving and backing up digital work
Online Portfolio

DAY 2 - Inspiration + Motivation

How to stay focussed, inspired, and motivated
How to create moods boards and sketchbooks
The importance of evidencing your design process within the sketchbook
How to get in the habit of using the Library
Sorting your Instagram feed to reflect you as a designer
Pinterest
The benefits of teamwork and a study group
How to look after number 1

DAY 3 - Plan + Prepare + Present

How to be organized so stress doesn't get the better of you
Staying onto of dates and deadlines
The Library
Apps to help you stay organized in project management
How to prep your mind, space, supplies, and food ready for any project or challenge
Presentation tips for before, during, and after your presentation
What is professionalism
What to do if you fail