Hello, Lovelies!
I decided to chronicle day one and a half since I was traveling yesterday, but I think it should still count in all the fun. It is currently 19:30 or so (I think I am six hours ahead of Denver time) here. I am operating on approximately four hours of sleep, several shots of espresso, and pure willpower. The flights to get here were mostly uneventful, although the staff of Keflavik was on strike when we were trying to approach the airport, so landing took a little while. Then it was grabbing bags and hopping on a bus for the 45-minute ride into Reykjavik. Which I can finally spell correctly without looking it up or asking my mother. Little victories!
I am keeping a travel journal that is (mostly) appropriate for all audiences to share my thoughts throughout the day with you all. The first entries are as follows, with no corrections to account for my lack of sleep or caffeine highs. I will include my current thoughts on said entries in parentheses. You have been warned:
Iceland 2016 Trip Goals
1) Random dance party
2) pronounce a place name correctly without help (not likely to happen, I can barely spell half the words here, and my spelling is a lot better than my pronunciation)
3) Find a stray cat. Make it love me (I thought I found a kitty friend earlier, but it was just a statue…)
4) Ponies! (I have an eight-hour riding adventure scheduled for Wednesday, which will be super exciting!)
5) Get lost but end up somewhere awesome
6) Find the phallus museum (did that today, was entirely underwhelmed. Some of the “specimens” were labeled as belonging to fictitious animals. Hardly scientific at all… Talk about false advertising.)
7) Find someone named Sven (is that racist against Nordic people? No idea, Sven might not even be a popular name around here for all I know. I think I deserve bonus points if I find a Sven that is also a big burly masseur)
8) Eat something weird
9) Drink something weird
10) Make a stranger laugh
11) See something beautiful (this whole place is gorgeous)
12) Find wildlife in a random place
13) Cover myself in volcanic mud (apparently, that’s a thing around here)
14) Pet a random dog (every dog I have seen so far doesn’t weigh more than 10 pounds…)
Trip journal! 5-28
20:00 NY time
So we flew into JFK, and I went on the hunt for an “I Love NY” stereotypical sweatshirt to rock with my fanny pack. THERE ARE NO REGULAR SWEATSHIRTS! I don’t want a dang hoodie! What is this crap?? (Yes I am still way more upset about this than I have any reason to be)
Now to bask in more cosmic rays and dump more gigatons of CO2 in the atmosphere. Sometimes knowledge ruins all the fun…
5-29
10:00 Iceland time
First impressions: Iceland has the most excellent restrooms I have ever seen (seriously, it’s ridiculous). This entire airport looks like Ikea’s lovechild (by far the prettiest airport I have been in. It was like a modern work of art or something. Also kind of like a mall at one point)
11:45
So far I have seen a billboard for mayonnaise and a bacon truck (no joke, they also have a weird obsession with hot dogs around here) Also the traffic lights make no sense, although they drive on the same side of the road as the USA!
15:00
Just learned that the cold water is treated, hot water is not. How cool! (It’s fantastic, all the water pumped out of the ground here is at near boiling temperatures or something like that due to all of the volcanic activity. It also smells strongly of sulfur. Showers are interesting experiences. Although Icelanders are super energy conscious! All of the power is generated via renewable resources, and they are super hip on recycling and resource saving. It’s also spotlessly clean in the streets and such, and there is no pollution smell. Go Iceland!)
16:40
The phallus museum underwhelmed me (see I told you. Although they had some ridiculously punny t-shirts). However, I just ordered a beer and wasn’t asked for ID! Life goal accomplished I guess?
In addition: Icelandic beer is incredible! (at least the one I tried. They also bring you a considerable amount…but eating out is way expensive)
That’s it for today! The hostel we are staying at is super lovely. They have co-ed showers which will be interesting, but what is life without some adventure! Attached are also some of the pictures I took today. I apologize for the quality of the photos; I am no photographer.
Take care!
The Adventures of a Budding Biologist 