What happens when were you travel to stinks, literally. As in, smells so bad you want to plug your nose as you walk around. No matter how badly they smell, I can’t get enough of geothermal areas. Geysers, hot springs, bubbling pools of mud, show me all of them in every place I go.
My first geothermal area was in Yellowstone National park on a family cross country road trip. Everything fascinated me. How could the heat come from so far down, why was it reaching the top, why where there so many swirls of different colours, and most of all, why did it smell soooooo bad?! Even with the smell of sulphur around me, I could sit watching a bubbling hot pool for ages. I unfortunately lost my pictures from Yellowstone (back in the days when I didn’t have external backup for my computers) but have since been to two countries ripe with geothermal activity, New Zealand and Iceland.
During our time in New Zealand we lived really close to Hanmer Springs, who used the natural geothermal energy to heat up hot pools to relax in. Did it stink? It sure did, but you get past it after a while and just enjoy the warmth. Even better when it’s cold outside and you can hop from pool to pool.
We also went to a few thermal areas in the North Island when we traveling, Orakei Korako and Waimangu volcanic valley in Rotorua filled with bubbling hot pools, geysers and pretty coloured formations from all of the minerals found in the area.
In Iceland we went to see Hvrerir Geothermal area where it felt like we were on a different planet, with the bubbling mud pools and steam covering everything in big bursts. 
Right down the road from that were the Mývatn Jarðböðin hot pools to relax in, which I wrote about here. We went to another hot springs while we were there in the golden circle, as well as seeing geysers. Which I still have to write about, but were amazing! I know some people don’t really want to sit around smelling sulphur waiting for geysers to erupt, but the ones in the golden circle were pretty regular, and it was so funny hearing the shocked cries of people every time they would blow.
Would you put up with bad smells to see incredible sights? Have you already? Let me know your favourite smelly place!
If you want to hear other traveler’s stories, this post is part of the monthly travel link up with Emma, Angie, Jessi, and Sus. Pop over to any of their blogs to see everyone else’s posts.
