Winter Break A Side: Iceland
WINTER BREAK
2008 - 2009
PART ONE: ICELAND
For winter break I had about 40 days off before exams in late January, so I decided to take a long vacation. You might wonder why I went to Iceland immediately prior to my journey through the Middle East. "That doesn't make any sense," you might say. And you would be correct. It didn't make much sense. But a lot of things I did on this trip didn't make sense.
I'm going to write about them anyway.
The Predeparture
I didn't want to buy a Lonely Planet guide or carry one, so I improvised my own trip advisory. A map ripped from a travel brochure (to be revealed in PART TWO: MIDDLE EAST) and the page of scribbled writing below was about as much planning as I did before embarking on my trip.
Shelly's Wicked Awesome 6-Country Travel Guide
Dec 11: Manchester --> London --> Reykjavik
Skipped the last day of class to pack for 35 day trip. Had to be at Piccadilly train station three hours after waking to get my ass south to London. Threw a sleeping bag, four shirts, a swimsuit, some socks and underwear into a shoulder bag and called it a done deal. Figured that if I was going to be a young girl travelling solo through the Middle East, I needed to be able to run with all my shit at any given moment, fast.
Took a two hour train to London Euston. Paid for tube transfer with Oyster Card I "borrowed" from flatmate months ago. Boarded Stansted Express at Liverpool Station. Got to Stansted Airport early. Dozed on the bench until boarding time.
Dec 12: Reykjavik
I arrived in Reykjavik at something like 1 or 2 am. Checked into hostel and went to sleep for 8 hours before waking up again. Meant to have risen earlier but the chronic darkness outside was fucking with my instincts. Ate breakfast for free in the buffet I didn't know I was supposed to pay for. Lurked around lobby hoping to find someone cool with a rented car who would let me tag along in exchange for splitting the bill. I didn't have a license anymore so I needed someone else to tend the paperwork.
Overheard some guy speak English with a North American accent so I went over to say hello. He said he overheard me speak English with a North American accent. We found out we were both from Canada. Rod told me he grew up in some small town in Northern Ontario I had never heard of. His friend Taus was from Copenhagen, Denmark. I asked what they were planning on doing.
Rod: We don't know yet.
Me: You should rent a car and drive around. Then you won't have to join a tour.
Taus: Yeah, we should do that.
Me: Cool can I come?
Rod: Uh... yeah.
That was easy. Within an hour of waking up I had successfully imposed myself on somebody else's vacation for the benefit of my own.
The three of us spent the rest of the day at Blue Lagoon, the famous outdoor geothermal pool.
That's Taus, checking out rocks.
That's Rod, also checking out rocks. (I think I forgot to mention that Taus and Rod are both geologists.)
That's me with Rod.
This place was surreal. Crisp winter air. Milky blue geothermic water. Algae and silica to smear on your face and body. Saunas: dry or wet.
All this surrounded by rugged snowcapped mountains.
Dec 13: Reykjavik
I woke up early today to call my dad; it was his birthday. But my cellphone was disabled in Iceland and the payphones didn't cooperate with Taiwanese country codes. Either that or I was too dumb to press the numbers in the right order (probably this). So I messaged my brother instead to get him to relay best wishes to dad until I could phone from England.
Taus was sleeping in, so Rod and I went exploring in downtown Reykjavik. The walk there was the best part. The scenery looked like this:
Dec 14: Mostly lost somewhere outside of Reykjavik
Today we were out and ready at 10 am because we wanted all of the daylight for the drive. They asked if I wanted to drive, and I replied "I drive like a Chinese woman."
So Rod took the wheel.
The sky lightened, and the roads looked like this. Almost all of the road signs were snowed over.
Whenever we passed one, one of us would have to go out with a scraper or a few strong kicks.
We saw some Icelandic Horsies, so obviously we had to get out of the car.
My voice doesn't sound this terrible in real life, I swear!
Hekla, the volcano, was the destination the guys were most excited about seeing. Taus was especially enthusiastic about hiking it at least part of the way up, irrational or not. When we stopped at a convenient store to use the washroom and buy snacks, the owners laughed at us: "Mt. Hekla? Mt. Hekla?! It's too cold. Nobody climbs Mt. Hekla in winter. Look at this guy." They pointed at Taus' skinny jeans and Converse sneakers and laughed some more.
As our car approached Hekla, we realized that the roads leading to it were hidden by snow or inaccessible. "Fuck," Taus said. We had to drive back to the main road, and settle for taking photographs in front of the volcano from a distance.
Here's Taus and me in front of Hekla.
The panorama was still phenomenal.
We also drove to a bunch of other places including the exploding Geysers (which we reached too late at night), but none of our photos from there turned out.
Taus took the wheel on way back. It was a quieter drive, and a long one too. Lots of darkness and fog. We wouldn't see the Aurora Borealis tonight, but the snow outside glistened in an eerie silver - and that was pretty good too.
Dec 14: Reykjavik
Today was my ex-boyfriend's birthday. I considered calling him all day. I didn't.
The punk girl in my room whom I thought was a bitch for four days because she only ever nodded when I still bothered saying hello the first two days turned out to be just shy. I forget what I had said or asked that warmed her up but we ended up hanging out all day. She told me her name was Megan and that she came from Australia. She had been travelling for a cumulative two years now, although she stayed in Egypt for five months and worked for longer in Edinburgh because that was where her boyfriend lived. We walked to the huge-iced over park downtown because she said it was nice there and we would see lots of swans and geese. She said that maybe we could skate on it with our shoes - her with her combat boots and me with my runners. Then we tried going to the Viking Museum but it was closed on Mondays. The chill was getting to us now, so we went into the shopping district and checked out a few stores. Neither of us bought anything because she was broke at the end of her long travel (she would return to Australia the following week) and I needed to save my money for my upcoming Middle East journey.
Back at the hostel, Rod asked me what I did all day. I bragged that I hung out with the punk girl. Rod was a sport and mimicked my enthusiasm, "Really! Wasn't that like, your goal for Iceland?"
It was after dinner and miserably cold outside. No Northern Lights tonight either. I hung out in Rod and Taus' room (they had a double to themselves) for the night. We watched Into the Wild and debated whether the guy was more inspirational or selfish. This turned into a general discussion about travelling. Then a more general discussion about selfishness. Then an even more general discussion about our life philosophies. Rod fell asleep beside me at maybe 3 am. Taus and I continued our conversation in softer voices. He told me a lot about himself through his expressions, and he drew a lot out of me. It was the first time I was really learning about him despite the fact that we had been hanging out for days, and I felt fascinated and overwhelmed all at once.
Dec 15: Reykjavik
I spent most of today thinking about Taus. Last night he had broken my heart when he told me about how his ex-girlfriend broke his. He was in the period after devastation where he had resigned himself to rest beneath a very, very heavy reflexivity. After he had been talking for a while, he seemed to have forgotten I was there even though he was looking right at me. He was talking for himself. He didn't show any response at all when I squeezed his hand.
My flight would leave very early the next morning. Taus stayed up with me. I leaned on him on the sinking couch under blankets. The entire downstairs was empty except for us, all the lounges empty, kitchens empty, lobbies empty. We kept the blinds up and occasionally one of us would look outside at the snow. We didn't do much, or even talk much, for that matter. We were probably both thinking about our exes. I reached for his hand again and this time he curled his fingers around mine. I felt better. I asked him if he felt better too. He said, "yeah."
The airport shuttle came just before 5 am. Taus came outside with me, lit a cigarette. We said goodbye. I got on the bus. Waved from the window. As the bus drove away, I watched his red shirt shrink and fade. Then I sat back. Today would be a long day; I had a flight to London followed by a second flight to Glasgow where I would sleep for a few hours before catching a third flight to Hurghada, Egypt. My energy was depleting just thinking about it.
Without the dancing colours of the aurora, the night of the Reykavik winter landscape was always eerie and barren...
PART TWO: MIDDLE EAST
To be continued...
2008 - 2009
PART ONE: ICELAND
For winter break I had about 40 days off before exams in late January, so I decided to take a long vacation. You might wonder why I went to Iceland immediately prior to my journey through the Middle East. "That doesn't make any sense," you might say. And you would be correct. It didn't make much sense. But a lot of things I did on this trip didn't make sense.
I'm going to write about them anyway.
The Predeparture
I didn't want to buy a Lonely Planet guide or carry one, so I improvised my own trip advisory. A map ripped from a travel brochure (to be revealed in PART TWO: MIDDLE EAST) and the page of scribbled writing below was about as much planning as I did before embarking on my trip.
Shelly's Wicked Awesome 6-Country Travel Guide
Dec 11: Manchester --> London --> Reykjavik
Skipped the last day of class to pack for 35 day trip. Had to be at Piccadilly train station three hours after waking to get my ass south to London. Threw a sleeping bag, four shirts, a swimsuit, some socks and underwear into a shoulder bag and called it a done deal. Figured that if I was going to be a young girl travelling solo through the Middle East, I needed to be able to run with all my shit at any given moment, fast.
Took a two hour train to London Euston. Paid for tube transfer with Oyster Card I "borrowed" from flatmate months ago. Boarded Stansted Express at Liverpool Station. Got to Stansted Airport early. Dozed on the bench until boarding time.
Dec 12: Reykjavik
I arrived in Reykjavik at something like 1 or 2 am. Checked into hostel and went to sleep for 8 hours before waking up again. Meant to have risen earlier but the chronic darkness outside was fucking with my instincts. Ate breakfast for free in the buffet I didn't know I was supposed to pay for. Lurked around lobby hoping to find someone cool with a rented car who would let me tag along in exchange for splitting the bill. I didn't have a license anymore so I needed someone else to tend the paperwork.
Overheard some guy speak English with a North American accent so I went over to say hello. He said he overheard me speak English with a North American accent. We found out we were both from Canada. Rod told me he grew up in some small town in Northern Ontario I had never heard of. His friend Taus was from Copenhagen, Denmark. I asked what they were planning on doing.
Rod: We don't know yet.
Me: You should rent a car and drive around. Then you won't have to join a tour.
Taus: Yeah, we should do that.
Me: Cool can I come?
Rod: Uh... yeah.
That was easy. Within an hour of waking up I had successfully imposed myself on somebody else's vacation for the benefit of my own.
The three of us spent the rest of the day at Blue Lagoon, the famous outdoor geothermal pool.
That's Taus, checking out rocks.
That's Rod, also checking out rocks. (I think I forgot to mention that Taus and Rod are both geologists.)
That's me with Rod.
This place was surreal. Crisp winter air. Milky blue geothermic water. Algae and silica to smear on your face and body. Saunas: dry or wet.
All this surrounded by rugged snowcapped mountains.
Dec 13: Reykjavik
I woke up early today to call my dad; it was his birthday. But my cellphone was disabled in Iceland and the payphones didn't cooperate with Taiwanese country codes. Either that or I was too dumb to press the numbers in the right order (probably this). So I messaged my brother instead to get him to relay best wishes to dad until I could phone from England.
Taus was sleeping in, so Rod and I went exploring in downtown Reykjavik. The walk there was the best part. The scenery looked like this:
Dec 14: Mostly lost somewhere outside of Reykjavik
Today we were out and ready at 10 am because we wanted all of the daylight for the drive. They asked if I wanted to drive, and I replied "I drive like a Chinese woman."
So Rod took the wheel.
The sky lightened, and the roads looked like this. Almost all of the road signs were snowed over.
Whenever we passed one, one of us would have to go out with a scraper or a few strong kicks.
We saw some Icelandic Horsies, so obviously we had to get out of the car.
My voice doesn't sound this terrible in real life, I swear!
Hekla, the volcano, was the destination the guys were most excited about seeing. Taus was especially enthusiastic about hiking it at least part of the way up, irrational or not. When we stopped at a convenient store to use the washroom and buy snacks, the owners laughed at us: "Mt. Hekla? Mt. Hekla?! It's too cold. Nobody climbs Mt. Hekla in winter. Look at this guy." They pointed at Taus' skinny jeans and Converse sneakers and laughed some more.
As our car approached Hekla, we realized that the roads leading to it were hidden by snow or inaccessible. "Fuck," Taus said. We had to drive back to the main road, and settle for taking photographs in front of the volcano from a distance.
Here's Taus and me in front of Hekla.
The panorama was still phenomenal.
We also drove to a bunch of other places including the exploding Geysers (which we reached too late at night), but none of our photos from there turned out.
Taus took the wheel on way back. It was a quieter drive, and a long one too. Lots of darkness and fog. We wouldn't see the Aurora Borealis tonight, but the snow outside glistened in an eerie silver - and that was pretty good too.
Dec 14: Reykjavik
Today was my ex-boyfriend's birthday. I considered calling him all day. I didn't.
The punk girl in my room whom I thought was a bitch for four days because she only ever nodded when I still bothered saying hello the first two days turned out to be just shy. I forget what I had said or asked that warmed her up but we ended up hanging out all day. She told me her name was Megan and that she came from Australia. She had been travelling for a cumulative two years now, although she stayed in Egypt for five months and worked for longer in Edinburgh because that was where her boyfriend lived. We walked to the huge-iced over park downtown because she said it was nice there and we would see lots of swans and geese. She said that maybe we could skate on it with our shoes - her with her combat boots and me with my runners. Then we tried going to the Viking Museum but it was closed on Mondays. The chill was getting to us now, so we went into the shopping district and checked out a few stores. Neither of us bought anything because she was broke at the end of her long travel (she would return to Australia the following week) and I needed to save my money for my upcoming Middle East journey.
Back at the hostel, Rod asked me what I did all day. I bragged that I hung out with the punk girl. Rod was a sport and mimicked my enthusiasm, "Really! Wasn't that like, your goal for Iceland?"
It was after dinner and miserably cold outside. No Northern Lights tonight either. I hung out in Rod and Taus' room (they had a double to themselves) for the night. We watched Into the Wild and debated whether the guy was more inspirational or selfish. This turned into a general discussion about travelling. Then a more general discussion about selfishness. Then an even more general discussion about our life philosophies. Rod fell asleep beside me at maybe 3 am. Taus and I continued our conversation in softer voices. He told me a lot about himself through his expressions, and he drew a lot out of me. It was the first time I was really learning about him despite the fact that we had been hanging out for days, and I felt fascinated and overwhelmed all at once.
Dec 15: Reykjavik
I spent most of today thinking about Taus. Last night he had broken my heart when he told me about how his ex-girlfriend broke his. He was in the period after devastation where he had resigned himself to rest beneath a very, very heavy reflexivity. After he had been talking for a while, he seemed to have forgotten I was there even though he was looking right at me. He was talking for himself. He didn't show any response at all when I squeezed his hand.
My flight would leave very early the next morning. Taus stayed up with me. I leaned on him on the sinking couch under blankets. The entire downstairs was empty except for us, all the lounges empty, kitchens empty, lobbies empty. We kept the blinds up and occasionally one of us would look outside at the snow. We didn't do much, or even talk much, for that matter. We were probably both thinking about our exes. I reached for his hand again and this time he curled his fingers around mine. I felt better. I asked him if he felt better too. He said, "yeah."
The airport shuttle came just before 5 am. Taus came outside with me, lit a cigarette. We said goodbye. I got on the bus. Waved from the window. As the bus drove away, I watched his red shirt shrink and fade. Then I sat back. Today would be a long day; I had a flight to London followed by a second flight to Glasgow where I would sleep for a few hours before catching a third flight to Hurghada, Egypt. My energy was depleting just thinking about it.
Without the dancing colours of the aurora, the night of the Reykavik winter landscape was always eerie and barren...
PART TWO: MIDDLE EAST
To be continued...