Latest news with #Hella
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Anita Rani reveals Iceland's hidden gems - and why the country blew her mind
When she visited Reykjavik for the first time in 2000, Anita Rani fell in love with Iceland and promised herself she'd be back to explore more of the country. It may have taken 25 years, but the TV and radio presenter, 47, finally got the chance to return last month. And now, in an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Anita reveals why she found Iceland just as, if not more, magical the second time around, as she headed off the beaten track on a Discover The World tour. Rather than starting her trip in Iceland's capital, Anita drove two hours south to stay at Ranga Hotel, located between Hella and Hvolsvöllur, where she also did some stargazing. 'It's the most incredible hotel, in the most picturesque setting, and I had the most amazing meal, with delicious wine,' Anita tells us. 'But also the people who run it are brilliant. 'The owner, Fridrik, is amazing. He joined us for dinner and was the funniest, most brilliant person. 'Icelandic people have a great sense of humour, just very dry, but also so passionate about their country. 'They really love it and really live in tune with their land, and when you visit Iceland, you can understand why. 'It is so wild and so alive. The Earth is literally steaming and speaking to you. So you can understand why people are so proud of it.' It was flying in a helicopter over the Reykjanes Penninsular that Anita felt this most - as she saw Grindavik, which, two weeks prior, had seen its seventh volcano eruption in the last four years. 'It was still steaming and smoking, and that was really magical,' she says. 'It was incredible to see the steaming lava where it erupted from, fly over in a volcano, and then actually do a drive down to the town which had been evacuated. 'But they are so well kitted, they just know what to do. They are so on top of it, like these massive bulldozers are ready to move the lava where it needs to be. 'I was so impressed. It just felt very, very cool.' Another highlight for Anita was the Katla Ice Cave tour she did in a 'massive monster truck with tyres up to my head' - even getting the chance to see an arctic fox up close. She continues: 'That was unbelievable, because that was when I got a real sense of the landscape. 'We drove along the road for I don't know how many hours, through lots of hills, and just really picture perfect scenery. Anita says: 'The ice caves [pictured] are amazing because they're only there for a short period of time, because then they dissolve and they disappear, so you're witnessing something that is never going to be the same again, because it's always changing' 'And then we took a right and just drove across this glacier for ages, to these ice caves, and the sun was perfect. 'And then when we got to the ice caves, it started snowing, and this arctic fox appeared. 'I've never seen one before and it was just so gorgeous and so cute, just a fluffy white fox, and it was really curious. 'They must be used to people coming, because he sat around with us for ages. 'The ice caves are also amazing because they're only there for a short period of time, because then they dissolve and they disappear, so you're witnessing something that is never going to be the same again, because it's always changing.' Anita did also do some of the more popular tourist experiences - including snorkelling between two tectonic plates at Silfra, eating and drinking in Reykjavik, and relaxing in the hot springs at Blue Lagoon and Sky Lagoon. But Anita says neither Blue Lagoon or Sky Lagoon compare to Iceland's newest hot springs, Hvammsvik - which she says is the 'most amazing place'. She says: 'A chap who used to own an airline bought this area and converted these properties into these lovely cottages, so you can stay there. 'There aren't that many, but it's on the edge of this peninsula, and the sea comes in, and you've got these hot springs right there. 'It was the most amazing thing. I loved it so much. It was unbelievable. 'And the Icelandic people are so classy. They have bars at the hot springs, so you can drink champagne while in the hot water. 'I was in heaven.' Anita is already planning to head back to Iceland, and is thinking about booking all the accommodation at Hvammsvik for her and her friends to celebrate her 50th birthday - if not before. She says: 'I cannot rave about Iceland enough. To me, it was the perfect holiday.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
I Drove My Audi A3 E-Tron 20,000 Miles In 6 Months, Here's How It Went
When I accidentally purchased a 65,000 mile plug-in hybrid German hatchback with no warranty back in August of last year, I was optimistic—though not entirely convinced—that my ownership experience would be largely positive. After running back and forth across this great nation five times in the last six months, my 2016 Audi A3 E-Tron has proven that it might just be the greatest road tripper/daily driver I've ever owned. Despite the few struggles I had with wrenching on this machine, all due to my own dumb*ss mistakes, it has served dutifully in fuel-sipping fealty. My goal with this car was always to rack up the miles, but I didn't quite expect to add this many of them quite so quickly. I don't think I have ever added 20,000 miles to a car so quickly, but pushing the odometer on this little plug-in hybrid from 65,000 to over 85,000 now has to come with some side effects, right? Everyone always says German cars without warranties are bad ideas, so how has it been? With Volkswagen's venerable 1.4T engine and a small electric motor under the hood, this little machine makes a combined 201 horsepower and 243 lb-ft of torque, which is more than enough for me to consider this a warm hatchback. This is the same platform and drivetrain found in the Europe-only Volkswagen GTE, after all. It'll run from 0-60 in 7.6 seconds, which is certainly quick enough for modern traffic. Aside from a few cosmetic modifications and regular oil changes, this car hasn't asked me for anything. So long as I keep it fed with electrons and driven responsibly, it returns either 20-25 miles of full-electric city driving, 50-60 miles per gallon in hybrid mode, or high-30s to low 40s with a totally flat battery. Because I've spent at least two thirds of my drive time on long interstate hauls, it's unfortunately been a lot of the latter. The more city driving I do, the higher the average MPG score it returns, obviously. Read more: Hertz Is Selling Its Fleet Of Rental Tesla Model 3s For Cheap In the time I've owned this car I have purchased two different sets of wheels and tires—one for summer, one for winter—installed lowering springs, swapped the grilles to give the car an S3-style look, popped on a pair of Audi Ur-Quattro door decals, and added a pair of Hella fog lights. I really like how the car looks now, but if I had to do it over, I probably wouldn't have done the Hella fog lights because this move meant I had to cut out too much of the grille to make everything fit and that resulted in a grille that is a little too loose and floppy for my taste. This summer I might take the bumper off again and try again with a new grille. We'll see how I feel about it once the weather warms up. The ECS Tuning lowering springs I installed are just a smidge on the too-stiff side, but the car just looks so much better with an inch and a half taken out of its ride height that I can't complain about it. It's only really bad when I spend three days in a row ripping across the country on I-80 feeling every single one of its expansion joints in my spine. Sometimes beauty comes with a little pain. The only flaw I have been able to find in this car across six months of nearly constantly being behind the wheel is the clear coat on the hood (above). I had plans to get it to my paint guy last fall, but ended up needing to run it way more miles than I had planned after our Cayenne pooped out its high pressure fuel pump in October. The three small holes in the car's clear coat have turned into two small holes and one really big one. I'll get this rectified soon, but for now it hasn't been causing any deeper issues, so I let it go for a few months. As many of you pointed out in the comments of the brake caliper post, the rotors are looking a little worse for wear, so perhaps I'll get them resurfaced in the coming months, but right now it's hardly a drivability issue as they don't squeak or grind and a good bit of the braking is done by energy recovery anyway. Equally, I probably should have installed new shocks and struts when I had the suspension apart, because the rears in particular are getting a bit bouncy. That's to be expected with 85,000 miles on the odometer, I suppose. The only minor annoyance I've found, and this is really picking nits, is that every once in a while if I shift out of park too quickly after hitting the start button, the car kind of has a minor freak out and won't go anywhere, so I have to turn it off and turn it back on. This isn't so much an issue with the car but an issue with my patience. I have learned to wait an additional half second for the computers to boot up before slapping the shifter into reverse, and it hasn't happened since. Unfortunately, that's kind of the whole list. Like I said back in late August when I picked it up, I think I got lucky. The interior still looks the same, packed with chocolatey goodness, though it's a little on the dirty side right now. The fuel mileage has been pretty great. The car looks good, drives good, and feels good. It's a good car, and well worth every penny of the $11,575 I paid for it. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
