Keeping up with this blog thing is really hard. So much happens in such a short period of time, and I don’t want to remove myself from things just to sit by myself and write, so I end up in my current situation: lying blanket-less and pillow-less in a room I didn’t pay for (why? Keep reading to find out!), exhausted, and trying to remember everything that happened in the whirlwind that has been the last few days.
So. Iceland. I was a little nervous on my way here, to be perfectly honest. Ireland was so lovely and friendly, and I was scared that I started off strong and would just be disappointed when the rest of my trip turned out to be less than that.
Border patrol in Iceland was basically a joke.
SCENE: A pretty small airport with like no line to get to border control. A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN named Genevieve is nervously holding her passport.
BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: (to herself) Okay, even though I don’t actually have a plan, I’ll just tell them that I’m going to rent a car and drive around the ring. And I’ll tell them where I’m staying tonight and that I’m going to book hotels along the way. And I can-
BORDER CONTROL DUDE: Next!
(Okay this might have actually been in Icelandic; I don’t remember what he said, but it was clearly my turn. Also it probably wasn’t in Icelandic because they don’t even have a million citizens so who the hell actually speaks Icelandic?)
BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: (approaching BORDER CONTROL DUDE) Hello!
BORDER CONTROL DUDE: How long are you staying in Iceland?
BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: A week?
BORDER CONTROL DUDE: (stamping passport) Welcome.
Uh so yeah. They just let me in. Everything was going fine and dandy, until I got outside to the busses. Hostelworld had told me to take this shuttle called the Flybus to get to my hostel, and I walked outside and saw it, so I walked over to it and talked to the guy. He asked me for a ticket and I apologized and said I didn’t have one, did I need to go back in and get it? He said I could just get it on the bus. Great. I got on the bus and got settled in, one of the first people.
About fifteen minutes later, the bus was starting to fill up, and a woman was walking down the aisle asking for tickets. I told her that I had hoped to get it on the bus, but she didn’t have any change for me (I had just taken out Icelandic money from the ATM and only had larger bills – which, side note, are WEIRD. 1000 ISK is a bit under 10 USD, so you have these bills that say 1000 on them and you’re like WOAH I’M RICH but really you’re not.) So I had to go get my ticket inside – but my luggage was already under the bus so I was like OKAY GUYS SERIOUSLY don’t leave without me! I went inside, waited for some dumb slow people to get their tickets, and finally by the time I went outside, the bus was full. Naturally. So I was like HEY GUYS either let me on the bus or give me my backpack. And they were like everything is going to the same place! And I was like UH I’m absolutely not being separated from my bag. So they dug through everything and found it and I had to wait for the next bus. But I was proud of myself for standing up for myself. It was just a little thing, but it was good to remind myself that I CAN do what I need to do, not just make things easier on other people.
I felt a bit weird getting to my hostel. It’s got a very different vibe than any other one I’ve been to, and for a little bit I felt kind of uncomfortable. However, right when I got into my room, I started looking for someone to rent a car with, and I found someone immediately who was already looking!
The next day I just hung around town; technically the city of Reykjavik, which is actually the capital which is actually super tiny and feels like a deserted ghost town. I did a free walking tour, and then hung out with one of my new British friends and went to a museum (it was horribly violent and graphic!) and that night I went to see some music. My stay in Iceland conveniently and accidentally is during the exact time of this big music festival there, and there is lots of off-venue music for free! I’m not normally a music-going-to type of girl, but if it’s happening I might as well take advantage of it!
The next day, me and my Mexican friend with whom I was renting the car went to pick it up, along with a Brazilian girl. We basically looked at all the tours that the busses do: we decided we needed four days: one day for the Golden Circle, which is the touristy part of Iceland; one day to go up north, and two days to go south. We went up north our first day, and saw SO MANY THINGS I honestly don’t remember. Mountains, waterfalls, and honestly the most amazing scenery I’ve ever seen. Iceland? Highly recommended. Except it’s cold AF so seriously BE PREPARED. It was so beautiful and we had a really lovely (albeit exhausting) day. A group of us tried to go out in the evening to see the Northern Lights but failed miserably: not only were they at a super low activity rate, but it was cloudy and would have been hard to see them anyway. Oh well.
HERE’S THE PART YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR: That night, I was planning on crashing on a couch in the kitchen, because I hadn’t booked a bed for that night and there was nothing available for under $150. Luckily, one of my new Canadian friends told me they had an extra bed in their room that no one was using, and he just let me in. I didn’t have pillows or blankets, but at least I was in a room. I was also super lucky that there is like no security at this hostel, because they wouldn’t have let me in if there was.
And thennnnn the next day we met up with two more Mexican girls and a Turkish guy and we did the Golden Circle. The absolute highlight was the Secret Lagoon, which is a natural hot spring that you can swim in. It was about freezing outside, but being in the pool made you completely warm – oftentimes, too warm. I just had to be careful and get out often enough that I didn’t pass out. The absolute lowlight was the geyser: yeah, it’s cool when they explode, but waiting around for who knows how long for it to happen in the freezing rain is less cool. We had five of us packed into a tiny car and had a lot of fun and got pretty close. We have all been sharing food and cooking together and it’s just one big happy family.
Yesterday we got up early (again) and drove five hours to the other end of the island. We got yelled at by a dude for petting a horse and got to climb on a glacier. Pretty cool stuff. We then drove halfway back to the southernmost part of Iceland to sleep; we were going to camp but realized we would definitely freeze to death/get frostbite/just be really cold so we booked a hostel last minute (one that’s not even on hostelworld eek.) We got a two bed private room and stuffed all five of us into it for a giant sleepover. All of this sounds like a lot of fun, which it was, until one of us found a mouse in the bathroom. We were only here one night at least, so I’m just hoping none of us have rabies!
Fun things I’ve learned about Iceland thus far: Food is randomly really expensive. You can be walking through a supermarket and bread is like, the equivalent of $5 for a tiny loaf. Fruit and veggies are also really expensive. But then some things are pretty normal, so you just have to be aware of what you’re buying. Also, just the tap water is actually the best tasting water I’ve ever had in my life, because it is fresh and naturally filtered. I also learned that you need to press the black button on showers for hot water. This is very likely a thing in other countries but I didn’t know it until here.