Iceland- Day 1
Tuesday and Wednesday - July 10th and 11th
I’m back! And by ‘I’m back’ I mean back on vacation. The time when I come alive. Or, like, my soul comes alive... because I was already living before.
I landed in Reykjavik at 9:30ish this morning and have been in Iceland for 13hrs.
I’ve met some cool people already :)
1st: Airport Larry (he told me his name but I’ve forgotten it) was really friendly- told me all about his home in Texas the ‘cattle cutting capital’... or maybe it was ‘horse cutting capital’? He was one of those guys that likes to talk to everyone. He helped me with my bag a few times as we were getting on the plane.
For both of my flights here- there was only me and another person in our row of 3 seats so that was nice getting the extra room. I almost missed my connecting flight- I had to run through the airport like in #HomeAlone and right as I got to the gate then announced ‘final boarding’. Just like a movie.
And here are some travel selfies for your enjoyment:
I landed in Reykjavik at 9:30ish this morning and have been in Iceland for 13hrs.
I’ve met some cool people already :)
1st: Airport Larry (he told me his name but I’ve forgotten it) was really friendly- told me all about his home in Texas the ‘cattle cutting capital’... or maybe it was ‘horse cutting capital’? He was one of those guys that likes to talk to everyone. He helped me with my bag a few times as we were getting on the plane.
For both of my flights here- there was only me and another person in our row of 3 seats so that was nice getting the extra room. I almost missed my connecting flight- I had to run through the airport like in #HomeAlone and right as I got to the gate then announced ‘final boarding’. Just like a movie.
And here are some travel selfies for your enjoyment:
Cool people #'s 2 and 3: On the drive to the rental van place- I chatted with two guys from the states (the United ones). These guys hadn’t really done their research on where to go in Iceland so I spread my knowledge. Because I did my research #that’swhat’sup
When we got to the camper van place we inspected our vans and drove separate ways. Never to cross paths again. I guess I can’t say ‘never’ yet, but you get the melodramatic tone right?
Once I got my van, I got really giddy. FREEDOM. Me + a van with a bed + the open road = endless possibilities. I headed to the grocery store and then blew that town. (Reykjavik)
So my plan for this trip is to spend as little money on food as possible. So I’m gonna use the stove in my van and eat refried beans around the campfire 🔥
Like the ol’ romanticized West. Me and the land. The wild frontier. My windshield’s a painting that hangs in my room. That changes with each mile like a radio tune. #nocopyrightinfringementintendedToby
So the first thing I did to connect with the land was snorkel. Lesson time. The North American and Eurasian tectonic plates are slowly drifting apart. This causes some cool stuff to happen in Iceland. There is a large lava field between the two plates. And I found out today there are a lot of blueberry plants growing on that lava field. So- there’s a fissure between the two tectonic plates and it’s underneath melted glacial water. 2. Degrees. Celcius. Which is 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit. I went with a company called ‘Dive Iceland’ and they gave us dry suits to snorkel in.
I don’t know how many of you have used dry suits but they’re awesome!
A dry suit goes on over your clothes- they gave us a layer of ‘long underwear overalls’ to go under our suits. The suits cover your feet and then have rubber around the wrists and neck. The air is trapped in close to your body keeping you dry sand making you float. On top of our dry suits we had gloves, flippers, and hoods.
I was surprised how dry it kept me but I was still really cold by the end 😨
The water was super clear and didn’t have any fish (the fish don’t swim upstream in glacial water normally because there’s not enough food). There was grass growing but it looked weird to me- it was neon green and really stringy. It looked like someone just sprayed a ton of silly string underwater.
It was a really cool experience!
There was an extra charge to buy the pictures the tour guide took of you with her underwater camera... and... guess what... :) I was joking with someone later that I could just Google a picture and no one would know who it was because the hood and the mask obstructed your face so much you can't tell who's who. They had us stop between two ridges of the tectonic plates and pose for a picture. If I had bought the picture I imagine it would look something like this:
It was a really cool experience!
There was an extra charge to buy the pictures the tour guide took of you with her underwater camera... and... guess what... :) I was joking with someone later that I could just Google a picture and no one would know who it was because the hood and the mask obstructed your face so much you can't tell who's who. They had us stop between two ridges of the tectonic plates and pose for a picture. If I had bought the picture I imagine it would look something like this:
Cool right? Oh the lengths I go to save a buck :)
I then headed deeper into the Golden Circle (a nickname for a bunch of cool sites near Reykjavik along a series of roads that form a circle. The name of the road that goes around the whole island is called the ‘Ring Road’ aka Route 1)
I had heard about this place ( Efstidalur II ) that sells really good ice cream. You know I had to go :)
And it WAS pretty good- the cows that gave their milk for the cream stared at you through the window while you ate it. I’m being serious.
I had heard about this place ( Efstidalur II ) that sells really good ice cream. You know I had to go :)
And it WAS pretty good- the cows that gave their milk for the cream stared at you through the window while you ate it. I’m being serious.
Near the end of the day I headed to Geysir. Which is an Icelandic word actually. The area had two geysers and the Geysir one didn’t go off as regularly- Strokkur was right next to the bigger one and it erupted like every 5ish minutes. I wasn’t patient enough to get the whole thing on camera- but I did catch parts of it on film as I was wandering around the area :)
I then went to Gullfoss. That. Waterfall. Is. Breathtaking. I’ve never been to Niagara or Angel Falls (or other famous waterfalls I’m not going to list. Okay. Victoria Falls too.) but Gullfoss has got to be one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Also take into account I was pretty tired when I saw it. Though I’m 97% sure I didn’t hallucinate the awe inspiring scene.
I then drove to a campground and took a super hot shower and remembered what warmness in your bones feels like. More tomorrow.