*Edit* - for those who read this and are thinking that this is a wonderful thing that I met the girl of my dreams... i followed up seeing her and things did not work out between us. Sorry. Its such a shame.
I suppose I can start with saying that this place is wonderful, simply full of beauty from both what it has to offer, it's scenery and its people. Icelandic's are some of the kindest people I have encountered on my recent travels, meeting genuinely amazingly kind folk having hitch hiked a few times and meeting unbelievably helpful people I had a fantastic experience with every Icelandic person I came into contact with on this trip.
This beauty comes at a price, and a very hefty one at that because pretty much everything you may want to do, eat and see is outrageously expensive, normally in these situations I would normally find some alternative means to travel to bring these costs down, this normally involves me spending a few nights in my tent and cooking basic food; unfortunately for me the weather was in no means conducive to camping, although some days being sunny with a slight breeze the air temperature at night and with no exaggeration would (and does) freeze cascading water.
When I first arrived in Reykjavik I met some cool travelers, people from all about the world who I quickly introduced myself to who then suggested to join them to go jump in the ocean, at first I thought this was a crazy idea, but I like crazy ideas and as I tell people about my philosophies of life to 'get involved' with whatever situation I joined them. The god forsaken water was painfully cold - freezing your limbs to a point past shivering but the good news was that there was a thermal bath beside the ocean that was used to warm back up again. Put simply it was invigorating, to endure such torture wasn't a necessity but boy was I awake up after doing this even after a restless night at the airport the day before.
Later on the same day I joined Nadja and Jason on the Golden Circle route that covered some points of interest that people visiting Iceland for a short time would try and cover. This involved the Geyser that named all other geysers of the world and also Gullfoss , a spectacular waterfall that cascades into an narrow valley where the frozen water forms steep ice shelves on the opposing walls. This afternoon trip was a great way to visit some of the sights nearby to Reykjavik and especially with the company of these two I had a great time.
This is many of many road trips that I joined in on or put together to venture away from the capital and see the rapidly changing landscape of the country. This included the south road to the glacial lake with Jason, Blake, Nadja, BJ, David and Weibke divided into two cars and drove the route past many waterfalls, interesting rock formations, quaint villages and snow swept mountain passes. I got to be honest with this one but I thought the trip to the glacial lake wasn't worth the 4 hours of driving to get there, I'm glad I saw it and got the pictures of the area.
the people of Iceland never really go out till weekends and weekday nightlife is almost non-existent, my second night in Iceland I got to experience how the people partied, at first it was a little strange as both of the bars I went to I saw things that would only occur at, lets say a gay bar - perhaps this is part of the culture - and trying to chat up some girls here just didn't work, it wasn't until I asked someone I found out that they were actually a gay bars (2 in a row :\). The group of us redeemed ourselves by hastily moving to a nightclub that offered straight people where we finished the night (or morning).
Having seen all the things I wanted to see in Reykjavik I wanted to venture north, I looked into ride sharing and found, by far, the best possible deal. It was a car offered by a guy in Reykjavik who needed a driver to drive north to one of the most secluded towns in Iceland named Isafjordur, this was precisely where I want to go and check out. So I met with the guy and he gave me the keys without question, without paperwork and without even checking my ID - this is what I mean by Icelandic's being such trustworthy and trusting people.
I gathered up some people at the hostel and posted on the couch surfing forums that I needed to fill up the spare seats of the car. This is how I met the most incredible girl of all my travels but also the insane person, I am referring to two people here; Steffi, the amazing one is from Austria, a stunning, always smiling, adorable and flat out cool girl who instantly I fell for. As soon as I saw this girl I wanted her, and when I did approach her I blurted out a bunch of things incredibly quickly hoping I could convince her to join our crew to drive to the north west fjords. Steffi's English is good but she didn't understand much of what was coming out of my mouth so at first she declined the offer. It wasn't until afterwards when I explained things more slowly and clearly that she agreed and was excited to join us. Ill get back to Steffi in a little bit as I want to mention this other insane Danish woman who joined us also.
Louise who I could tell from the get go wasn't all there, she seemed to be confused and indecisive about pretty much all things and kept on mentioning that she needed to sort out her life. At first and for most of the trip she was tolerable, I didn't really have a problem with her but when we arrived in Isafjordur she wanted me to stop at the airport where she wanted to check for flights back to Reykjavik, when she got back in the car she told us that if she did not get a flight back to the capital "drug dealers from Denmark who know where she is at all times will torture her if she didn't get the flight". This may sound crazy to many people and yet she came back to the car and sat contemplating what to do, the flight was leaving in a few short moments and she was undecided??? Well, if I were to be tortured if I didn't get the flight I wouldn't have anything to think about - Woman, just get on the fucking flight!
Her time piss-farting about meant that she missed the flight and now according to her is going to be tortured. This was certainly one of the most mental situations that I have been involved in and yet I didn't have it in my heart or money in my wallet to have her leave the group as the following day we hired a 4x4 to drive around the fjords and over to Iceland's second largest city, Akureyri.
Driving around the fjords at this time of year can be dangerous as the 4 mountain passes can be hit by blizzards and strong winds which it did. The two others in the car were a young, pleasant but shy Korean girl named Lee and Uskuea, a Japanese crazy man who was good fun to have on the trip. When we were caught in the blizzard on the mountain pass where I couldn't see anything out the windscreen, crazyman Uskuea saved the day by guiding us along the road as he was windswept over what was suppose to be a Tarmac road.
We stopped by many hot springs and thermal baths on this trip in the north and aside from Louise it was a great trip to see a lot of the country.
Now, I can get back to what I was saying about Steffi, simply the most amazing girl I have met on my travels - no word of a lie. She really means that much to me, an affectionate stunning girl who would lighten anyone's day with her wonderful smile.
I had the pleasure of spending a week with this girl cooking for, admiring and even spending a restless night in my tent on the side of the road (it was too cold to get any sleep) and honestly I could not have asked for anything or anyone better. I could go on singing praises about this girl but for your sake Ill continue on my experiences on Iceland.
So, with this wonderful girl we spent a night in Akureyri where we had a drunken night out for cheap where we met many people some of which offered us a ride back to Reykjavik, like I said multiple times - people here are awesomely kind and good fun.
We had one night back in Reykjavik before Steffi's flight to Vietnam so because her was in the early morning we hitched to the blue lagoon for the afternoon and part of the evening before we hitched again to the airport where we spent the night messing about on wheelchairs and in the bathroom until her flight... Our farewell was sad, she cried... I will miss her...The week with her was well spent and if I had the money I would not of hesitated to go with her to Vietnam and now I wish I did because on her second day there she was scammed out of €3000. I was the first person she contacted and I called her to console her, it's shitty but not the end of the world. I really hope things between me and her can be rekindled after 4 months apart because when I go back to Europe ill pop over the Austria to visit... Or maybe more. Time will tell.
After Steffi left I had 3 days before my flight returning to Canada so I got in contact with one guy I met at the hostel who hosted people through couch-surfing and he was happy to have me stay with him. Adam, a Hungarian guy who lived in Iceland for many years was cool and very helpful, he constantly had couchsurfers stay with him and he took me about the town being very generous which helped me greatly as I was running low on cash.
My last night in Reykjavik was interrupted by news that I was unable to work in Canada until my visa came through, hugely disappointed I returned to Adams to think over my options into the early morning. My next post will mention the follow up of the fuck-around with my visa and work.
So, to sun things up about Iceland - Epic, wonderful, beautiful and stunning - these words I can also use for Steffi... I know it's corny but really I'm in love with this girl.
Edit - for those who read this and are thinking that this is a wonderful thing that I met the girl of my dreams... i followed up seeing her and things did not work out between us. sorry :(
I suppose I can start with saying that this place is wonderful, simply full of beauty from both what it has to offer, it's scenery and its people. Icelandic's are some of the kindest people I have encountered on my recent travels, meeting genuinely amazingly kind folk having hitch hiked a few times and meeting unbelievably helpful people I had a fantastic experience with every Icelandic person I came into contact with on this trip.
This beauty comes at a price, and a very hefty one at that because pretty much everything you may want to do, eat and see is outrageously expensive, normally in these situations I would normally find some alternative means to travel to bring these costs down, this normally involves me spending a few nights in my tent and cooking basic food; unfortunately for me the weather was in no means conducive to camping, although some days being sunny with a slight breeze the air temperature at night and with no exaggeration would (and does) freeze cascading water.
When I first arrived in Reykjavik I met some cool travelers, people from all about the world who I quickly introduced myself to who then suggested to join them to go jump in the ocean, at first I thought this was a crazy idea, but I like crazy ideas and as I tell people about my philosophies of life to 'get involved' with whatever situation I joined them. The god forsaken water was painfully cold - freezing your limbs to a point past shivering but the good news was that there was a thermal bath beside the ocean that was used to warm back up again. Put simply it was invigorating, to endure such torture wasn't a necessity but boy was I awake up after doing this even after a restless night at the airport the day before.
Later on the same day I joined Nadja and Jason on the Golden Circle route that covered some points of interest that people visiting Iceland for a short time would try and cover. This involved the Geyser that named all other geysers of the world and also Gullfoss , a spectacular waterfall that cascades into an narrow valley where the frozen water forms steep ice shelves on the opposing walls. This afternoon trip was a great way to visit some of the sights nearby to Reykjavik and especially with the company of these two I had a great time.
This is many of many road trips that I joined in on or put together to venture away from the capital and see the rapidly changing landscape of the country. This included the south road to the glacial lake with Jason, Blake, Nadja, BJ, David and Weibke divided into two cars and drove the route past many waterfalls, interesting rock formations, quaint villages and snow swept mountain passes. I got to be honest with this one but I thought the trip to the glacial lake wasn't worth the 4 hours of driving to get there, I'm glad I saw it and got the pictures of the area.
the people of Iceland never really go out till weekends and weekday nightlife is almost non-existent, my second night in Iceland I got to experience how the people partied, at first it was a little strange as both of the bars I went to I saw things that would only occur at, lets say a gay bar - perhaps this is part of the culture - and trying to chat up some girls here just didn't work, it wasn't until I asked someone I found out that they were actually a gay bars (2 in a row :\). The group of us redeemed ourselves by hastily moving to a nightclub that offered straight people where we finished the night (or morning).
Having seen all the things I wanted to see in Reykjavik I wanted to venture north, I looked into ride sharing and found, by far, the best possible deal. It was a car offered by a guy in Reykjavik who needed a driver to drive north to one of the most secluded towns in Iceland named Isafjordur, this was precisely where I want to go and check out. So I met with the guy and he gave me the keys without question, without paperwork and without even checking my ID - this is what I mean by Icelandic's being such trustworthy and trusting people.
I gathered up some people at the hostel and posted on the couch surfing forums that I needed to fill up the spare seats of the car. This is how I met the most incredible girl of all my travels but also the insane person, I am referring to two people here; Steffi, the amazing one is from Austria, a stunning, always smiling, adorable and flat out cool girl who instantly I fell for. As soon as I saw this girl I wanted her, and when I did approach her I blurted out a bunch of things incredibly quickly hoping I could convince her to join our crew to drive to the north west fjords. Steffi's English is good but she didn't understand much of what was coming out of my mouth so at first she declined the offer. It wasn't until afterwards when I explained things more slowly and clearly that she agreed and was excited to join us. Ill get back to Steffi in a little bit as I want to mention this other insane Danish woman who joined us also.
Louise who I could tell from the get go wasn't all there, she seemed to be confused and indecisive about pretty much all things and kept on mentioning that she needed to sort out her life. At first and for most of the trip she was tolerable, I didn't really have a problem with her but when we arrived in Isafjordur she wanted me to stop at the airport where she wanted to check for flights back to Reykjavik, when she got back in the car she told us that if she did not get a flight back to the capital "drug dealers from Denmark who know where she is at all times will torture her if she didn't get the flight". This may sound crazy to many people and yet she came back to the car and sat contemplating what to do, the flight was leaving in a few short moments and she was undecided??? Well, if I were to be tortured if I didn't get the flight I wouldn't have anything to think about - Woman, just get on the fucking flight!
Her time piss-farting about meant that she missed the flight and now according to her is going to be tortured. This was certainly one of the most mental situations that I have been involved in and yet I didn't have it in my heart or money in my wallet to have her leave the group as the following day we hired a 4x4 to drive around the fjords and over to Iceland's second largest city, Akureyri.
Driving around the fjords at this time of year can be dangerous as the 4 mountain passes can be hit by blizzards and strong winds which it did. The two others in the car were a young, pleasant but shy Korean girl named Lee and Uskuea, a Japanese crazy man who was good fun to have on the trip. When we were caught in the blizzard on the mountain pass where I couldn't see anything out the windscreen, crazyman Uskuea saved the day by guiding us along the road as he was windswept over what was suppose to be a Tarmac road.
We stopped by many hot springs and thermal baths on this trip in the north and aside from Louise it was a great trip to see a lot of the country.
Now, I can get back to what I was saying about Steffi, simply the most amazing girl I have met on my travels - no word of a lie. She really means that much to me, an affectionate stunning girl who would lighten anyone's day with her wonderful smile.
I had the pleasure of spending a week with this girl cooking for, admiring and even spending a restless night in my tent on the side of the road (it was too cold to get any sleep) and honestly I could not have asked for anything or anyone better. I could go on singing praises about this girl but for your sake Ill continue on my experiences on Iceland.
So, with this wonderful girl we spent a night in Akureyri where we had a drunken night out for cheap where we met many people some of which offered us a ride back to Reykjavik, like I said multiple times - people here are awesomely kind and good fun.
We had one night back in Reykjavik before Steffi's flight to Vietnam so because her was in the early morning we hitched to the blue lagoon for the afternoon and part of the evening before we hitched again to the airport where we spent the night messing about on wheelchairs and in the bathroom until her flight... Our farewell was sad, she cried... I will miss her...The week with her was well spent and if I had the money I would not of hesitated to go with her to Vietnam and now I wish I did because on her second day there she was scammed out of €3000. I was the first person she contacted and I called her to console her, it's shitty but not the end of the world. I really hope things between me and her can be rekindled after 4 months apart because when I go back to Europe ill pop over the Austria to visit... Or maybe more. Time will tell.
After Steffi left I had 3 days before my flight returning to Canada so I got in contact with one guy I met at the hostel who hosted people through couch-surfing and he was happy to have me stay with him. Adam, a Hungarian guy who lived in Iceland for many years was cool and very helpful, he constantly had couchsurfers stay with him and he took me about the town being very generous which helped me greatly as I was running low on cash.
My last night in Reykjavik was interrupted by news that I was unable to work in Canada until my visa came through, hugely disappointed I returned to Adams to think over my options into the early morning. My next post will mention the follow up of the fuck-around with my visa and work.
So, to sun things up about Iceland - Epic, wonderful, beautiful and stunning - these words I can also use for Steffi... I know it's corny but really I'm in love with this girl.
Edit - for those who read this and are thinking that this is a wonderful thing that I met the girl of my dreams... i followed up seeing her and things did not work out between us. sorry :(
