Stepping onto the Lonely Planet

“It’s a dangerous business, stepping out your door, and if you don’t keep your feet there’s no telling where you might be swept off to” – Bilbo LOTR 

Cheers to the great glory of travel; the craving to experience that which is unknown. The prospect of travel has, and will forever be, an itch needing a scratch. That being said, getting on the airplane to begin this two month journey of flying alone, arriving alone and traveling to foreign countries whose languages I can barely pronounce “hello” in, I was terrified. It was a close second to the anxiety of taking your final exams. 

For those that are not in the loop, the first leg of this journey is to Iceland and then I will be headed to Norway. The gods of the great north took pity in my anxiety because as I was flying in, the Aurora Borealis danced against the backdrop of stars welcoming me to The Lonely Planet. 

þingvellir

To all the future Icelandic travelers out there, Reykjavík is like the hour of preschool where they give you crayons and let you draw all over the walls…it’s an easy place to survive is what I mean.

I arrived in Reykjavík at 0600 giving me all day to experience the city. Another hostel guest and I decided to go on the “Golden Circle Tour”. 

Basically, they carted us around to some of the biggest tourist attractions in that area of Iceland: þingvellir (largest naturally occurring lake in Iceland and is located in a valley that is the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge), Gullfoss (a massive waterfall. What? A waterfall in Iceland?! You don’t say…), The Great Geysir (spewing egg smelling boiling water up to 50 m in the air! Fun fact: the word “geyser” is derived from the Icelandic word “geysa” which means “to gush”) and finally Kerið (giant crater filled with pristine aquamarine water).  

Gullfoss

Kerið

The Lennon “Imagine Peace Tower” is a pillar of blue light that shines from 2000 – 0000 Oct. 6 – Dec. 8 (along with other random dates) to commemorate the birth and death of the beloved British musician. The peace tower is a symbol to promote world peace as the light shines up as far as you can see and its illuminance endures any weather that tries to hide or deter the light. Now, I am no granola crunching hippie peace creep, but the symbolism and the light is a significant plea to the conscious of the planet. 

Imagine Peace Tower

Once you have been to Iceland you immediately understand where the idea of “The Lonely Planet” came from. The culture thus far has not stuck me as drastically different as the rest of the world as one could expect from “The Lonely Planet”, it is the small idiosyncrasies such as the Peace Tower which contributes to the overwhelming cleanliness of the energy surrounding Iceland. 

The geography is expansive and rich with color, even during this time of year. I’m not just referring to the iconic green vegetation that dresses the rocks, but all the water is deep seated in its own shade of blue or grey and the rocks and soil soak in their hue to create the stark contrast of earthy tones throughout the landscape. 

Today I spent my entire morning fumbling my way around Reykjavík WITH both of my packs, in the dark and rain to get to the local airport. I finally arrived and took the short flight to the town of Ísafjörður. Stepping off that plane and being surrounded by these snow touched fjords I was in awe and I felt as if a wide angle camera was moving around me like in the movies. The majesty of the fjords was short lived when I took a couple steps through the terminal outside to the parking lot. There was nobody to ask for help and there was no schedule for the supposed “Red Fly Bus” that I needed to take to get to town. 

Today's travel path denoted by red arrow

The single employee at the terminal pulled me a favor and called the driver to come back and pick me up (he did not seem pleased about it). This town is small, very different than the main hub of Iceland, especially in its off season. I had a lot of “What am I doing” thoughts throughout the day. It has been challenging (the language barrier being the most difficult and feeling like a fool every time I try and say “hei”), but here I am alive and showered, ready to take on a nice full night of sleep! 

Ísafjörður

I do feel as if I have stepped into a medieval scene of a fairy-tale or fantastical adventure. The land is old, but untainted by the turmoil of the rest of the world. This northern hemisphere island is innocently ancient.