Went to the Nether today.
First time round was utter failure, my portal sent me falling through mid air over a giant lava lake which lead to an unpleasant, slow, firey death. On top of that I had most of my tools and such with me + full suit of iron armour. SO they all got burned to a crisp.
After I restocked/built up my inventory, I dismantled the portal and moved it elsewhere.
Second time round was slightly better...slightly.

Off to the side a bit of a distance away was luckily another floating island that was much, much bigger. So I built a bridge and went exploring.
I chickened out though and set the difficulty to peaceful |D.
I'm not looking forward to collecting feathers again for arrows ergh.