We all are children of nature, wether we still feel it or not. The further you go back in time and history the more us humans were connected to our planet, to it's soul, soil, water and wildlife. We did not choose to roam free it was just who we were. We knew which plant cured which sicknesses, which bird made which sound and which berries and mushrooms were poisonous. We don't have to go back to the hunter-gather lifestyle to find those roots, again but we are convinced that life should be lived outside. That wilderness is our most natural habitat. That roaming free is our elemental state of being. The two of us, especially being so connected to and intertwined with Social Media, are glued to our phones, laptops and tablets for most of the day and week. And even though we absolutely and utterly love our job we would both only be half of a person if we wouldn't put all those devices away for at least once every day and head outside to clear our heads. Fresh air and a cold breeze make everything else so absolutely irrelevant, driving out of town on the weekend for a little road trip is what feeds our souls, what keeps our hearts pounding and our brains functioning. To connect with your surroundings gets more and more important since it seems we are growing into a society that completely loses touch with mother earth and the great outdoors. It's about time we reconnect. That doesn't necessarily mean to go on intense hikes, sleep under the stars or cross an entire country by bike it just means to be out there, to feel the sun on your skin, the wind in your hair and to set your feet on ground that isn't a busy street or a fancy coffeehouse rug but a pathway that leads through moss or forest or dunes or hills or something alike. Out there, not in here. Eyes on the horizon, not on the phone.

We all are driven by something. Have a passion, a calling. We feel drawn to paintings, music, nature, sports, people or books. It's easy to find and difficult to live. For us, it all started with traveling. Our parents luckily felt and feel the same love for the world as we do and so for as long as we can remember we have been on journeys. Through Europe and the world. We consider ourselves very lucky that we had such privileges. That we were able to see what this planet has in store for us humans from our early years on. And we fell in love with all of it. The new places and spaces, the people, the always different smell in the air, the way the sunlight had a different color in all those corners of the world, the change in pace, the incredible range of languages, the beauty we got to witness in all four cardinal points, whenever we boarded a train, a plane or the family car to go somewhere new, somewhere exciting. Of course, you don't really consider it your passion when you are younger. It's just something your family does. Like all the other things you grow up with. When we got older we realized that traveling, like everything, of course had a price. One we couldn't really afford. So we dreamt ourselves to New Zealand and wandered the Californian coast in our hearts. We stood on rough cliffs of the arctic in our minds eyes and danced along white sand beaches in our conversations, instead. We traveled where we could afford to go to and worked hard to be able to visit a few places that had been in our dreams for so long - but it was never enough. Not enough to not see it all. It became our biggest dream to go abroad. To live someplace else. It was one of those dreams you hold dearly but never actually take as something that one day could be your reality.

What would you do if everything was possible/who would you be if I could be anyone? We all asked ourselves those questions a few times in our lives, right? And we most likely heard people say 'you shouldn’t think about that ‘cause it makes you unhappy, makes you feel like your own life is not good enough' just as often. I claim the opposite. I dare to say: go for it! Dreaming is such an important thing as is opens your mind, gives you a certain kind of freedom, keeps your fantasy alive and most importantly: it makes you happier. - At least this is what I experienced. Reality can be harsh sometimes so why not go someplace else every now and then, jump into another life for a while and make it one hell of a trip? Even if the experience itself isn’t real your feelings very well are and isn’t that what life is all about? Feelings? I mean, what about that subconsciousness everyone is talking about? Which you can apparently influence so greatly and positively by thinking only positive thoughts. I read a lot of guides about getting rid of negative thinking because I had a phase when I got sucked into that spiral of negativity pretty bad. So I read and read and read and they basically all said the same: write down positive stuff and read it out to yourself every single day; if you notice you have a bad thought turn it into a positive one – so I did and it felt nothing but wrong and totally stupid. So I quit. The reading. The writing down notes. There had to be another way for me which is why I started looking for the reason I ended up on that one way road of unhappiness in the first place. I digged deep and concentrated on what was so different back when I was happier person. At some point it hit me: I stopped being happy when I stopped dreaming my life away.

A hot bath is the Icelanders best friend. We would definitely dare to claim so. More than 600 bathing spots are marked on the map of Iceland by now and around 200 of those are natural hot springs or hot streams, most of them not made by men (the leftover 400 are public swimming pools). We made it a sports to pay as many as possible of those 200 a visit - give us a couple of years and we at least went for a dip in all the natural baths. There hardly is anything that makes us as happy as sitting in warm water somewhere in the middle of nowhere, all alone and surrounded by nothing but the endless beauty of nature, musing on everything and nothing. Iceland is our home by heart, our favorite place on earth and it has a lot of advantages - the thin Earth's crust and incredible geothermic being one of them. Even though we have 'only' been living here for three years by now (and spent quite a bit of those years in Germany, as well) we still got to test more than just a few springs, streams, ponds and pools. We have found our absolute favorites by now and some we consider overrated. We also have a must see list of at least five places we want to visit this summer. All of this we want to share with you today - Iceland's most famous, beautiful and pristine bathing spots. The list is not complete, yet and of course highly subjective. Maybe you will come to a different conclusion when visiting one of the springs we recommended or consider overrated but at least, after reading this, you will know where to find them. We furthermore would like to equip you with some tips and hacks when it comes to 'hot-springing' in Iceland. So without further ado - here comes our hot pot guide:

There are so many restaurants in downtown Reykjavik by now that you can easily lose track of where to go and what to try during your stay in beautiful Iceland. On top of that lots of myths and wild stories rank around the eating habits of the small population with the ridiculously difficult language in the Far North and around the gruesome dishes that you apparently will get served. It's also a common misbelief that vegetarians and vegans would be in quite some trouble when spending time in the northernmost capital of our amazing planet, which is very, very wrong!. What is a fact, indeed, is that there is no such thing as cheap food up here. (But there is cheapER, at least.) Due to all of those reasons just mentioned, we sat down and wrote an article filled with our favorite places and spaces, with the ones we consider reasonably priced, plus some overall useful informations and handy tips on grocery shopping and saving money. Being a vegetarian or vegan in Reykjavik is easy - no matter if it's eating out, cooking yourself or grabbing a snack on the go. There is plant milk of literally all sorts available, from vegan pasta sauce to cheese to ice cream to super foods - you will find whatever you are looking for. No matter what diet you prefer exactly or how your budget is - we want to make sure you'll find your perfect spot for great food. Reykjavik can be a true paradise to all those wo love slow food and local delicacies (like arctic thyme <3), are vegetarian or vegan and opt for fresh ingredients. It can be IF you know where to go. And we want to make sure of that! So dive in and find out. Verði þér að góðu!

Welcome to Reykjanes peninsula - one of the most underrated parts of Iceland and at the same time one of our personal favorites. We just installed a new series here on Dear Heima where we will introduce you to the perfect day trips from Reykjavik, both summer and winter edition. Winter in Iceland is a time of gold, literally. People will tell you that Iceland in winter is nothing but dark and gloomy, but well, they are wrong. Spring is the time of storms and hail, of grey skies and foggy mornings. But the middle of winter (mid of November to mid of January) and therefore the time with least daylight is the most colorful and dreamy time we know. From sunrise around 11am until sunset around 3:30pm the sky is a magic show. From rainbow to liquid gold then back to rainbow you will witness spectacular views for a little more than for hours. Since the amount of time is that limited we suggest you to stay in Reykjavik during winter and opt for easy day trips where you don't have to drive for hours and will still see a lot of beauty. Reykjanes peninsula being one of said trips. Make sure you get a suitable car (either a 4x4, if that is too expensive than make sure the car you go for is equipped with winter tires) and always check the roads and weather before you make you way out of town. vedur.is will tell you the exact forecast for the day and road.is will inform you which roads are closed and which ones are icy/snowy or otherwise hardly passable. The good thing about Reykjanes is on one hand that the roads are almost always free since it's the way to the airport and on the other that most of the sights are inland or on the western coast so that you never get hit by possible storms THAT hard. But lets map out the perfect road trip for you to go on when chasing gold on a sunny winter day on this amazing peninsula: