Vitleysingur, You Lunatic

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Author

Although it is roughly 40 degrees in Iceland, not many people seem to notice the cold at all. At first, I thought to myself why on earth would I skip the New York winter by traveling to Hawaii, only to travel to Iceland in the New York spring? But as adjustment set in, I soon came to hardly take notice of the cold weather at all. The locals seem to thoroughly enjoy it, helping the body cool down while out jogging or playing some local sport. It seems you won’t find very many people bundled up at all and not many just sitting around being inactive (besides the geothermal pools of course). In fact, most have on less than I do (and of course I did not bring very warm clothes with me).

What throws me into fits of giggles while out and about are the translations of the street names – the commonly used Icelandic words. Some apparently important words in Icelandic are “laugar” meaning “pools” or “lauga” meaning “wash.” “Sund” meaning “swimming” and “sun” meaning… well, “sun.” Just an FYI, Google translations are not always the best. I have been told that they are a little silly when it comes to the exact translations. Your best bet is to ask a local, they all speak English here and enjoy translating all their words for you!

A fun fact to know is that when you use an ATM in Iceland and it reads “Unknown Error” it doesn’t exactly mean there is a problem with your card. What it does mean for you is that you will then have to walk about 2 miles to the next nearest ATM and try your luck – it’s pretty much like playing the slots around here. Since the only real reason to get cash is for the bus fare, this isn’t too big of an issue. But in the case you decide to actually visit more than the surrounding blocks, or are tired from walking miles to Reykjavik’s city center, it would be wise to find an ATM and grab at least 15,000 Iceland kronur which is roughly 80 USD, depending on the fluctuation of value of course.

Below are some pictures from my nearby wanderings. I happened upon a sculpture garden, as I often do, and snapped a few interesting photos of this brilliant art.

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Destination I

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Author

Let’s start at the beginning – it seemed like a nice sign when I arrived at my gate last night only to realize that I had been upgraded to Economy Comfort on the plane. My row partner explained to me that he had to pay two times as much as I did for his seat – how lucky is that? It was a nice flight, as he and I chatted about Iceland (him being a native), had a wonderful complimentary meal and tried to sleep as much as possible. Not getting too much shuteye, we landed in Iceland and my very nice row partner (Stefan is his name) offered me a ride to Reykjavik which was a good 45 minute drive from the airport. This was excellent as I would have had to spend even more time trying to figure out how to get a shuttle service or pay for a taxi – luckily he was headed into Reykjavik too.

As we drove away from the airport, I noted it was an overcast day here, sun peaking through the clouds every now and then with an occasional shower. Stefan chatted with me about what there is to see in Iceland – but the best part so far was the fact that when you are landing you could actually believe you are landing on the moon, for the airport is in the middle of a huge dried lava bed! For miles, all you see is dried lava with more moss growing on it than you have ever seen in your life… and (what Stefan smiled about constantly) there are NO trees! It seems like the entire island is treeless – where you can see out for miles and miles!

On we drove as we chatted about how there are only two malls on the entire island, very few actual cities, and how small the population really is (which showed by the lack of cars on the main road we were traveling – the whole time seeing maybe two or three others). I must say, I am much happier being a passenger for the scenery was fantastic! I was so exhausted by this time that I couldn’t muster up the strength to take out the camera, even though he was kind enough to circle by the pier to point out Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower on Videy Island. I figured I could save this for the next few days as I explore the city of Reykjavik.

After reaching the hostel, Stefan and I said goodbye, traded business cards, and I set off to check in and set up my bed to sleep for a few hours. Even now, I still feel the weight of not sleeping enough, as it has been quite a few days since I have had actual quality sleep. Tomorrow is a new day however, not only to explore the city, but a full work day as well.

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Here we go again

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Author

Bags are packed and anticipation sets in. Void sets off to Europe today – next stop is Iceland, a bit of a change from this rather nice New York spring. Not being so close to the safety of home for 6 months is a bit daunting, but as soon as the point of no return arrives the uneasiness will start to disappear. There is nothing that thrills me more than to be somewhere that is unfamiliar, somewhere new to explore. Now, the rest of the world is my uncharted terrain ready to be discovered.

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