On Sunday, we left Iceland and planet Earth behind. Perhaps the solar system too.
The landscapes we saw that day were unlike anything we’d experienced along our trip to that point — which is saying a lot, considering that everything we’d seen so far had almost defied belief.
Our fourth day in Iceland, Haider and I planned to visit the Snæfellsnes peninsula, but we woke up late, ill-prepared and feeling a little off. Rather than stress ourselves out trying to cram the day as full as the last few had been, we decided to take our time.
We picked up some groceries and plotted out a few highlights of Snæfellsnes that we wanted to hit, while keeping our schedule decidedly unambitious. We reasoned that it wasn’t worth trying to maximize every second of daylight if we’d only end up irritable and burnt out.
It was okay, because (to quote countless white girl Facebook memes) the real adventure of the day was the journey, not the destination.
On my third day in Iceland, I awoke to the gentle baa-ing of sheep just outside the window. I hadn’t forgotten where I was — in a hotel room in Iceland with Haider and Raz (whom I’d just met still less than 24 hours previously) — but I didn’t remember there being any sheep when I’d fallen asleep.
We woke up, showered and headed out to the main building for the complimentary breakfast (score!), but as soon as we stepped outside, we stopped dead in our tracks. It’d been pitch black the night before except for the aurora, so we had no idea that our hotel was nestled up next to the steep, craggy wall of a glacial mountain. Seagulls were wheeling along it far above our heads, and below was a lush, peaceful field full of grazing sheep.
I woke up in Reykjavik feeling refreshed and ready for adventure. We planned to pick up our rental car and trek out to the southeast coastal town of Vík, about two hours from Reykjavik. In between lies the Golden Circle, which is the most popular tourist area as it’s easily accessed from Reykjavik and contains a few of the country’s best-known natural wonders: waterfalls, lakes, glaciers and geysers.
The first day of our grand adventure was full of ups and downs – perhaps fitting for the land of ice and fire.
We flew out of Newark at 8:45 pm and landed in Keflavik airport at 6:15 am.
Before you live the dream, you must live the nightmare. I’m writing from my parents’ house in central PA, which means that I have sold all my belongings, moved out of my house, bid farewell to Philly, settled my cats in their new homes, and said goodbye to my friends. I’m spending the week hanging out at my mom’s house, getting things in order and visiting with family before the real journey begins. I’ll be writing a couple of posts to chronicle the transitionary period of the last few weeks.
find me in the air 