(no subject)
For years now I have been wanting to go to Iceland. It's the Volcano chaser in me. I have a thing about volcanos and volcanic landscapes. So far, I've done Hawaii, Mt. St. Helens, A vast part of southeastern Oregon and it's volcanic fields and Costa Rica.
I think it's a product of growing up in the shallow cup of glaciers dredge all my life and the fantastic visions of molten rock in my head that drive my desire to see this place that has both glaciers and volcanos waiting for me.
Last year, I had a plan almost 70% complete to hit Iceland for my 30th birthday, but the people who could afford to go couldn't go at that time and the people who could go at that time couldn't afford it (and to be honest I would have had to go into hock to the credit card people to go myself) so the plan was put on indefinite hold.
In the midst of planning for that ill-fated birthday trip, I signed up for a ton of travel deal places that specialize in Icelandic or Scandanavian travel, so now I get all sorts of offers for deals on airfare, hotels, tours, etc.... And with parts of the island being above the Arctic Circle, winters can be a real downer on tourism, which results in greatly reduced prices, less than half the original price in most cases.
So I guess I am thinking about going to Iceland sometime in the next 6 weeks. Sure, I'd have to invest in a couple hundred dollars worth of winter gear, but the airfare is almost $500 off of what it would have been in June.
I've just got to overcome the anxiety of travel to a (natively) non-english speaking country by myself. I've been assured that there is no problem in the cities of getting around in my mono-lingual situation, but the more rural parts would be slightly more problematic, but my odds of finding an english speaker are better than 60%. My biggest fears are that I will rent a car and go driving out into the wild and miss a sign that says "Last Petrol for 200km" or "Danger: Hidden fjord cliff ahead" and be stranded in the wilderness somewhere.
Someone give me some re-assurance so I can get the hell out of here for a while....