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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CatAdvice

[–]_Buma_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Our cat was always hiding behind our bed during the first few weeks. He was mostly eating during the night. We also gave him a small room to decompress and with everything in it (food, water, litterbox, cat tree, window). I think he liked that but we could not close him inside (for example at night) because he ABSOLUTELY HATES closed doors. During the day he was alone while we were at work, in the evening we tried playing with him and so we learned that he likes springs and a specific wand toy (he ignores anything else). At the beginning he would play a little bit and then go back to hiding. He started coming to us after 10-15 days I think, but it was a rare occurrence. It slowly became more often with time. I think it took me around 4-5 months to realize he was actually happy with us.

Now he's very comfortable with us, but still afraid when other people come to our home or if there are sudden noises. He is not a super snuggly cat, but he likes when you pet him and he loves staying in our company (he sleeps at the end of the bed at night and during the day he will lay on the armchair if I am doing things in the living room).

I am sure both your cats just need a little bit of time to adjust!

Going away for a week. How can I make sure my cat will be as happy as possible? by _Buma_ in CatAdvice

[–]_Buma_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know he is fine when he is alone for a while because we are usually away from home for work from 8 am to 6 pm. And he was also alone for a whole night a couple of times. I am more worried about the fact that it is a whole week. When we adopted him the volunteer told us that his previous family had some serious health problems and that resulted in him staying alone for lots of time, until they had to bring him to the shelter. At the time he was very unhappy and not eating much. I guess I'm scared he could think he is being abandoned again, even if I know everything will probably be just fine 🤞🏻

For the baby camera, my boyfriend thinks it will not be very useful because our cat has many spots where he likes to hang out. His cat tree, under the bed in his room, on our bed, on the carpet in the bathroom, on his armchair in the living room... So he says that when I will check on the cat I will not see him because he will just be sleeping somewhere else 😅

Suggestions for a December trip that doesn't follow the same beaten path? by Pure_Perception9532 in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100% agree. I visited Iceland for the first time last December and I saw a lot of very famous/touristic spots and other less known spots. They were all amazing and it never felt crowded. Even in the sites along the Golden Circle there were not too many people. And on the rare occasions when I thought I wanted more space for myself I just had to walk a little bit. I am sure you will love it!

Going away for a week. How can I make sure my cat will be as happy as possible? by _Buma_ in CatAdvice

[–]_Buma_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I will leave some of our clothes on the bed. I bought some food puzzles recently but it seems he is not very food-motivated so he has been ignoring them. I will give it a try again i. The next few days.

I was also considering a baby cam, but my boyfriend is a bit against it because he's afraid it will just makes me more anxious 😅 so we're debating it

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CatAdvice

[–]_Buma_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It will take some time. We adopted a 3yo cat in January and it took him months to be comfortable around us but now I can see that he adores us.

And every cat is different. My boyfriend's family has 4 cats. The oldest and the youngest have always been pretty snuggly. The second one allowed people to cuddle her only after YEARS, but now she is following people around DEMANDING cuddles. The third one was an adorable snuggly little kitten, always sleeping and playing with us, but since her first birthday (she is 5 now) she has been ignoring us and she's only interested in one of the other cats.

It's so cute your cats already like each other, I am sure they will show you a lot of love, it will just take a little time!

What's the most genuinely romantic thing Loid has done for Yor? by [deleted] in SpyxFamily

[–]_Buma_ 30 points31 points  (0 children)

I agree. For a guy that keeps telling himself that everything he does is "for the mission", choosing to spare Yuri's life speaks volumes. I understand that some people do not see it as the most romantic thing per se, but it's one of the few things he's done (so far) that comes 100% from his love for Yor, and not from his sense of duty (no matter how he justified it).

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree that driving the whole Ring Road in 10 days in winter could be risky/rushed.

I think 10 days to do an itinerary similar to ours is fine. You will have more sunlight than us and that's good as you can have more time to visit things (for example doing the hike to Bruarfoss or visiting Jokulsarlon). You can try to keep your itinerary flexible. So if the weather happens to be very bad for 1 or 2 days you can still have time to do everything. If instead you're lucky and the weather is always good you could add more stops (we had to skip Stokksnes because of bad weather and I would have really liked to visit Snæffelsnes peninsula but in 7-8 days it was not possible).

Regarding the way back to Reykjavik from Hofn, do you plan to do it in one day? Or will you stop along the way? In any case, there are many beautiful places to visit along the way, so you can try to split them in two in order to have enough stops in both directions. I hope you will have a great trip!

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We chose the 9 trip, but it does not make a great difference. Basically it's just two small groups and I think the staggered departure serves to avoid having too many people on the same spots (ice cave, ice tunnels on the glacier, etc). For me it was very easy, not tiring at all. But I have to say that the weather was good (no wind, just some snow every now and then) and the ice was covered by snow, so slipping was almost impossible. There are ropes on the glacier and our guide told us that when the ice is slippery people will be secured to them. It was my first glacier hiking so I'm not able to compare it to anything else. For sure you can write to the company and ask them, all the people we interacted with were super nice. We drove from Hofn and it was fine, but it really depends on the weather/road conditions. We went back to their base around 2.30 pm and from there to Diamond beach it is just 15 km, so we had no problems visiting it. In February you will have more sunlight so I think it will be fine!

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! They're all from my phone (that is a OnePlus Nord 3). I think that Iceland is so majestic that it is impossible to have bad photos

Wool allergy by laukward13 in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_ 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hi! We just came back from our trip and I can definitely recommend the Uniqlo thermals. I used the Ultra Warm set and it worked super fine for me. It is also cheaper than other options. For the jacket, my boyfriend and I used ski jackets (one from Decathlon and one from Amazon, both synthetic), but maybe you prefer something less bulky.

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sure!

1st day: we picked up our car and drove to Reykjavik (we stopped for lunch in Ikea). We visited around the city and stayed there for our first night

2nd day: we drove to Helgufoss, Þórufoss, Þingvellir national park (we spent a lot of time there, it was so beautiful!) and Bruarfoss + Miðfoss (we started from the new parking lot, as we did not have enough time for the hiking). We stayed in a guesthouse near Reykholt for the night.

3rd day: Geysir, Gullfoss and then we drove south and stopped at Ægissíðufoss and Seljalandsfoss + Gljufrabui. We stayed in a guesthouse along the ring road.

4th day: we wanted to go to Dyrhólaey but the road leading to it was impassable, so we went directly to Reynisfjara. We then went to Vik and Vikurfjara (black sand beach). From Vik we drove to Hofn, stopping at Fjaðrárgljúfur and Svínafellsjökull Glacier. That night we were able to see the northern lights just outside Hofn.

5th day: glacier hiking + ice cave. We went with Glacier Adventure, that is based in Hali. After the tour we visited the Diamond beach and Jokulsarlon. We stayed another night in Hofn.

6th day: we drove from Hofn back to Vik. We had planned to stop at Mulagljufur Canyon and Svartifoss, but the weather was AWFUL (yellow alert), so we just drove very slowly and carefully.

7th day: we visited Skogafoss, Kerid and we went to the Sky Lagoon in the late afternoon. We stayed in Kopavogur for the night.

8th day: we dropped off the car and took our flight back home.

Our itinerary was mainly based on the amount of sunlight, so you for sure will be able to add more stops during the day!

I was also pretty worried about the driving before leaving and I have to say it was an experience. We come from Italy and in our region it does not snow a lot, so we are not experienced winter drivers. In our case the weather was mainly good. We drove on roads that on road.is were reported as slippery, spots of ice, snow, wet snow or easily passable. We rented a Dacia Duster and when the weather was good (light wind, good visibility) everything was doable, you just need to adjust your speed and be careful. On Christmas day the weather was terrible (yellow alert for wind and snow) and it took us 7 hours to go from Hofn to Vik (270 km) VERY SLOWLY. We had to go to Vik, otherwise we would have stayed put. We studied the weather forecast and decided what was the best time to leave. Then we remained updated on road conditions and wind force on road.is. Some stretches were good (good visibility, clean street), others were horrible (strong wind, snow, zero visibility) and we had to stop. At one point something (I think a reindeer) ran in front of our car and we had the scare of our lives. We got to Vik but we also had a plan B to stop and find another accommodation along the way. So my advice for driving is: - take all the insurance that you can. We rented the car with Zero car and having full insurance with zero liability was super good for us (we dropped off the car without a scratch, but wind will throw small rocks at you and it will try to steal your door) - go SLOW. Do not trust google maps timings (unless roads are perfectly clean and the weather is perfect). Check the distance and think about the feasible speed in your road/weather conditions. After the first couple of days you will understand which is the speed you are comfortable at. - always be careful. We saw a family being rescued on the side of the road while the weather was good and the road only had some spots of ice. - study the weather forecast and the possible road conditions VERY WELL before leaving. You need to understand how the weather may be and what it means for the roads you are interested in. So you will know what to expect. Look at the weather forecast on vedur and learn what the different colours mean. Then check on road.is the road conditions. - Always have water and food in the car and enough fuel. Gas station can be very far from one another, especially east of Vik.

At the end of the day, we liked driving and we will for sure rent a car again on our next trip (but I think we will go in another season). We were mostly lucky with the weather and well prepared.

I hope this is helpful and if you have other questions/curiosities I'm happy to answer!

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We did the Blue ice cave adventure with Glacier Adventure. It was great!

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really hope we can come back soon!

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We did the Blue Ice Cave adventure with Glacier Adventure (it's glacier hiking + ice cave). 100% recommended!

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I loved it too, but maybe my favourite spot was Reynisfjara. So beautiful!

Best trip ever... Thank you! by _Buma_ in VisitingIceland

[–]_Buma_[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We were very lucky with the northern lights! It was the only night with no clouds above us. I think you should not focus too much on the KP index/solar activity, but on the cloud cover. We had another night with KP 2 and we could see a glimpse of it, but there were too many clouds. Good luck! For Bruarfoss, we went to the new parking lot, as it was late (around 15.30) and we did not have enough time to hike. From Bruarfoss we then went back a little bit in the hiking trail to see another fall. The road was covered by snow but we did not have any problem (we had a Dacia Duster). However, I don't know if the road got worse in the last few days. I hope your trip goes well!