Thursday,
July 11th, 2013
I’ve never been a fan of the phrase
YOLO to describe poor decisions, but today I couldn’t think of a better term
for what happened.
With a full night’s rest, I awoke
and took a warm bath, ate a tasty breakfast, and just enjoyed familiar
civilization – intermet, music, youtube, ect.
Bryan texted me alerting me he’d be heading over to my place, and about
the time he arrived I was browsing Reddit’s /r/Iceland. We’d been talking on the phone about visiting
the country; I’d always wanted to see the home of one of my favorite bands Sigur Rós, Bryan because he loves the
combination of exotic travel and hidden gems.
Our conversation escalated quickly, and before lunch, we’d decided to
head to Iceland after his class let out at 4:30.
Time began to move very quickly
after our decision. I used Google Flights to help locate the
cheapest flight, an 8pm WOW AIRLINES
straight shot from London Gatwic. I
booked the cheapest car rental I could, along with the cheapest double room for
tonight. I ran upstairs to the room of
the eldest son who lives here, and borrowed a duffel bag and a few jackets and
pants, and just like that, headed off to a common Tube stop to meet Bryan.
We took a tube to Victoria station,
a train to the airport, and had dinner and a few pints before boarding what
seemed to be a made up airline’s flight to Iceland. Indeed on the plane, it seemed like we’d
chosen a sketchy flight. The
announcements and pamphlets were made in Icelandic, yet the aircraft was pieced
together with mostly Spanish parts with, American made windows. Needless to say, I was thrilled to land
safely outside Reykjavik.
We headed outside to our rental car
after exchanging some USD for some Icelandic Krona, a hyper inflated currency that is over 100X less than the
dollar.
I hopped in the front seat of
out Toyota Yaris, popped it into first (it was a manual engine like all the
cars here), and headed off to a bed and breakfast shortly after 11pm. Immediately I was struck by two things: 1 –
the sun was NOT going to set tonight; it would only get slightly darker before
getting lighter again, and 2, I was witnessing the most alien, beautiful
landscape I’ve ever seen. Wild, mossy,
volcanic earth that stretches for miles, punctuated with flowers here and
there, not roads and people.
We arrived at our “cheap” double for
the night, only to find that it’s an incredibly luxurious apartment all to
ourselves, complete with a spa and a shower that has a ceiling mounted raining
structure. Very cool.
Feeling hungry, we made our way down
the road to a subway for a midnight snack.
I got a six inch sub, which cost 700
Krona. I felt like I was on a whole
new planet, but of course, that’s been my life recently. Tuesday night in Ghana, Wednesday night in
London, now it’s Thursday and I’m in Iceland.
It’s an adventurous summer, that’s for sure.
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