Monday around noon I met Sterling in the Detroit airport on our way to Iceland, via Newark. Everything went off without a hitch except I lost our copy of the Lonely Planet on the DTW-NYC flight. Perfect. Then during check in to the Iceland Express flight the 8 year old girl in line in front of us took a shine to me. She proceeded to harrass me for the 4 hours between check in and boarding. The Iceland Express flight was rather uncomfortable. I had fond memories of Spirit Airlines and public buses. Uncomfortable or not, the plane got us to Reykjavik on time despite an hour delay (how'd they do that?).
Finally in Reykjavik, we try to find our hostel with no map and vague directions. Luckily we stumble into a bookstore, where we purchased a new LP and made our way to the hostel. The hostel was very nice. So nice. Sauna in the basement nice. We spent the first day napping, trying to figure out a plan, and several awesome hours in the municipal hot springs (which will quickly become a trend).
Day two: Tuesday. We buy a bus passport that will take us in a complete
circle around the island for $500. Ouch!!!! Turns out Iceland is expensive. Good to find out. We leave at 8am for our first destination, a small town on the western coast called Stykkisholmer. We set up camp (our first campsite!) and go exploring. There's a beautiful little island thing and bay. There's a ferry that takes us up to the desolate West Fjords. We only know they are desolate because the LP tells us so, and because when we get off the ferry at the other side there is nothing. Literally, nothing. 6km away there is a gas station, restaurant, and campground. The next bus leaves in 2.5 days. Oh, crap.
circle around the island for $500. Ouch!!!! Turns out Iceland is expensive. Good to find out. We leave at 8am for our first destination, a small town on the western coast called Stykkisholmer. We set up camp (our first campsite!) and go exploring. There's a beautiful little island thing and bay. There's a ferry that takes us up to the desolate West Fjords. We only know they are desolate because the LP tells us so, and because when we get off the ferry at the other side there is nothing. Literally, nothing. 6km away there is a gas station, restaurant, and campground. The next bus leaves in 2.5 days. Oh, crap.
So we're stuck in this podunk junction of the freeway, trying to hitchhike our way north (no success) and it starts to rain. Really?! Okay. So it's raining. And we're camping in basically a truck stop (albeit a pretty one), splitting our time between eating super drawn out meals at the restaurant and somewhat huddling in the bathroom facility at the campsite. The one plus: this town of sorts had an awesome outside hot springs that was basically a rock pool that drained out into the sea. We spent nearly 3 hours in that thing during the rain. And then walked the kilometer back to the campsite in our bathing suits. The image: 50F and raining, I'm walking/running barefoot on the main freeway (I think one car passed us) in a bikini and a rain shell. A spectacle for all of the restaurant patrons, for sure.Friday, we finally get on a bus. Woohoo! It takes us west before
turning around and heading back north, but we don't care. We want out of that God forsaken highway junction. We are dropped off in some random city with four hours to kill. Luckily, as always, there are hot springs. We kill a couple hours soaking and playing pool volleyball (it's still 50 out). The bus picks us up and we are heading through the super desolated but stunningly beautiful (I sound like a LP writer) West Fjords.
turning around and heading back north, but we don't care. We want out of that God forsaken highway junction. We are dropped off in some random city with four hours to kill. Luckily, as always, there are hot springs. We kill a couple hours soaking and playing pool volleyball (it's still 50 out). The bus picks us up and we are heading through the super desolated but stunningly beautiful (I sound like a LP writer) West Fjords. Unexpectedly getting stuck changed our plans a little, but that's okay. As for now, onward!
No comments:
Post a Comment