Skógafoss waterfall and all its beauty. 

According to legend, some time back in the late 800 AD period a war broke out among Norwegian Vikings.  A band launched its boats and fled discovering a green island and decided to settle there.  Afraid that their enemies might pursue them, they sent word back to Norway that their island was actually an ice-land but that an island more distant and much larger was inhabitable and very green.  So the legend goes how Iceland and Greenland got their respective names.  It makes complete sense after spending a week in this awe-inspiring country.

As my 12-week travel adventure started, I was feeling a lot of emotions: excited, nervous, scared.  Most of all I felt extremely grateful for the opportunity to see the world and get completely out of my comfort zone.  I knew I was going to miss my family and friends back home but I wanted to look back on my life and say “man, I’m so glad I took that trip,” as opposed to “man, I wish I would haven taken that trip.”  As the commercial says, “twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did.”

With a week to see Iceland, I didn’t really know where to start.  Luckily I was able to connect with 3 other solo travelers through a website called couchsurfing (the internet can be a great resource for solo travelers searching for people to discover new cities together).  Since the other 3 got in a day before I did, they went off on their own checking out the west portion of the country, Snaefellsnes Peninsula (don’t ask me how to pronounce it).  Day 1 with the group was an all day adventure checking out the Golden Circle.  I would say the highlight of the day was the Gullfoss waterfall.  It was massive and made you feel tiny.

Since we were all pretty exhausted from the Golden Circle tour, day 2 was a lot shorter with a hike up one of the mountains about 25 minutes outside of the city.  We seemed to alternate days with really long ones followed by shorter, recovery days.  Day 3 was probably my favorite day of the trip.  We ventured down to the South side of the country and saw 2 of the most amazing waterfalls.  The first one, Seljalandfoss was unique in that you could walk behind it.  That was really cool but it could not top this smaller waterfall about a quarter mile walk away. We had to walk through a little crevice but the inside of this little cave area had a pretty good size waterfall coming down on you.  It was one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve had, words are really hard to describe it and the picture below doesn’t really do it justice.  It’s one of those things that just takes your breath away.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall. An experience I'll never forget.

Since we only had the rental car for a few more days, we decided to stay closer to the city with a short 2-hour loop that took us to the Blue Lagoon and where the North American and Eurasia tectonic plates meet.  We also went horseback riding on our last day together and had one last dinner or ‘supper’ (as the two Canadians would say) together.

Iceland squad. Two Americans on left, two Canadians on right.

For my last full day in Iceland, I decided to join a tour group to check out the Snaefellsnes Peninsula (my group saw it without me the day I arrived).  It was a 10-hour tour that had a little bit of everything, a waterfall, black sand beaches, beautiful mountains and even some glaciers at the top of the mountain.  During our lunch break, I chatted up this couple from Portland and they gave me some recommendations on places to see in Belgium and a few other countries I’ll be visiting.  I also sat in front of a young Japanese couple that I got to know throughout the day.  After the tour finished we coincidentally were going to the same place, the Blue Lagoon.  Even though I had checked it out the other day I didn’t actually go in.  Since I booked my ticket so late, the only time slot they had available was 11 pm.  Luckily they let you in 30 minutes before your scheduled time slot so I was able to relax in the lagoon for a good 2 hours.  Here is a pic of us in the pool.

Tomodachi in the Blue Lagoon.

All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start my trip.  There were a few bumps in the road but nothing major.  I can only hope things go as smoothly as they have the rest of the adventure.  Hope you enjoy the video compilation from Iceland as much as I did putting it together.

QOTP: “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – unknown