Iceland
Day 0
This was my first sight of Iceland, from the airplane.
The winds at the desolate Keflavic airport are lashing at us as if it were the end of the world. We renta car and make our way to our AirBnB, which turns out to be a modernist, airy and spacious bungalow with glass walls.
We meet our host, who spoke in the amusing Icelandic accent. We made him pronounce Eyaflatjokull.
Day 1
We did the Golden Cicle.
The geysers are an experience.
True to form, Duja ignored the big geysers and finds a budding baby geyser instead.
We have brunch with Ruggbraud - bread baked from the very fire of the earth.
Gulfoss is impressive.
I lost my phone when doing the Golden Circle, and only realized near the end of the trip. Finding it seemed like a lost cause when we returned to our AirBnB. I played the events of the previous day in my mind, and deduced, that I must have dropped the phone at a bridge and river crossing where we had stopped for photography - and no whereelse. I convinced the team to drive there again. It had snowed overnight, so there was still little hope of finding it. Manan was trying my phone all this time, and on our way back, it rang and someone picked it up. Someone had found it at the spot we were looking it for, and handed it over to the nearby Pingvellir national park centre, where we had stopped as well. Remakably, I found my phone intact.
At night we walk around Rejkjavik. I come across the Lebowski Bar. We eat at an American-style Burger joint. We visit Hallgrímskirkja, whose sheer majesty has me in complete awe.
Day 2
After collecting my phone from Thingvellir, we started on Route 1 via Selfoss.
We saw the two waterfals on our way.
- Seljalandsfoss. This is the one where you can walk behind the waterfall.
- Skógafoss. This is the one where we went to the top following the steps but it started snowing.
I introduced Duja to Sigur Ros, which she mockingly started calling Sugar Floss.
We reach the beach at this place. It is lovely. We are so happy.
We drive to our hotel in Klauster. I venture out at night to practice some night photography and get lucky with Auroras. But no luck - it is cloudy.
It is here that we take a ride out and overspeed.
Day 3
We walk on a floating ice slab in a glacial lagoon.
At about 3 pm, we reach the place we had booked at Hofn. It is a beautiful cottage with wooden floors. The hosts tell us about the hot pots.
We relax in hot pots filled with steaming water heated with geothermal hear from the earth. Later we wait in the car patiently for the Auroras, waiting for the clouds to clear. Still no luck.
Day 4
We go to Skaftafell , where we do visit an ice cave on a guided tour of the glacier.
After that we make our way back Route 1, on our way to the hostel I had booked at Vik.
From the hilly side of Vik, three of us (Manan, me and Rodolfo) identify the Aurora glow for the first time in the trip. We call out the girls who are near the foot of the hillock. Unaware of us, they get scared of the three shadows shouting at them and scoot out of sight.
Day 5
We visit a volcanic lake.
We venture out in the freezing night to try our luck with the Northern Lights. We spot them.
Day 6
Back to Rejkjavik.
We eat hot dogs and try the famously disgusting Hakarl at the flea market. I find it tolerable. Manan gets interested in some maroon pants at the flea market (They belong to the boyfriend of the seller, whose pants I suspect Manan actually wants to get into, rather those he is wanting to buy). I help him negotiate it down by playing the bad cop in the the good cop/bad cop routine.
Next morning we fly back. We buy some drinks. Brennevin was quite good, but I found Björk Liqueur to be unique and refreshingly good.
The Mystery Machine
We are a fun bunch, the six of us.
We realize everyone has their own catchphrases. For Shohini, it is “I am doing X because of the people”. For Manan, it is “Define X”. For Candade, who is a social anthropolgy student, it is “X is a social construct or X is problematic”. For me it is “X is a state of mind”.
We also discover Shohini’s love for ponies and puffkins.
Some of the music from the trip:
- Helena Beat by Foster The People
- Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men
- Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men
- My Name is Stacy by The Ting Tings
The Speeding Ticket
Impressively, the Icelandic traffic police traced us back to our college addresses. A speeding ticket is delivered to the pidge, complete with photographic evidence. If memory serves me right, it was about £150.
This photograph - taken by the speeding camera is the best photograph from the entire trip. It is spontaenous; we are not posing, and it beautifully captures what we would later call our “Mystery Machine” - the car that was with us throughout the journey with us in it. I would have gladly paid a photographer more than the speeding ticket for such a work of art.
Trip Notes
Dates: 24th March - 30th March
Flights: We fly from Luton - Keflavic (EasyJet) and Keflavic-Berghen-Gatwick (Norwegian airlines). The flight takes ~ 3 hours and cost about £160 return.
26 March 2015