Untouched

One of the most amazing things about Iceland is the fact that its landscape is so undeveloped. As you can see in the pictures, the major things (Gullfoss, the waterfall in both photos above, and Geysir, which is kind of self-explanatory) are both big tourist attractions and therefore had lots of people around, but the rest of the land is mostly moss or grass covered lava fields without a person, building or power line in sight. It’s refreshing, especially coming from a country where even land that looks like empty fields is probably farmland of some kind.

In true Emily fashion, no trip would be complete without a story of something weird happening to me. At the end of the Golden Circle tour, the clouds were starting to break up and our guide told us it was likely you’d be able to see the Northern Lights that night. So while out to dinner with the lovely Finnish girl staying in my hostel dorm room, I booked a seat on the company’s tour for that night. After having drinks with the Finnish girl and a lovely American couple who had been on the same bus in from the airport, I went downstairs to wait for the pick-up bus, and I waited… and waited… and waited. The guy waiting with me went upstairs to have the hostel call the tour company, and they sent another bus to pick us up. When we got to the main bus terminal, the one Northern Lights tour bus still there was completely full, so the driver of the pick-up bus said he’d take me to another tour bus that had an open seat. We chased down that bus, which was stopped at a gas station, and I boarded to find several dozen pairs of eyes glaring at me. Of course, the one available seat was all the way at the back left corner. Fortunately, the four people in the back row were all my age and seemed quite pleased that I wasn’t some obnoxious older person, and we became fast friends. There’s nothing quite like drinking Smirnoff straight out of the bottle in the middle of a lava field at midnight while freezing your ass off to bond you with other people.

After two failed attempts at seeing the lights, we were dejectedly headed back to Reykjavik when they suddenly appeared in the back window of the bus. We pulled over and ran off the bus to marvel at them as they danced. One of the guys I was with, Shayan, managed to capture them as my camera decided it didn’t want to work while we were out there (too cold, perhaps).

After returning to Reykjavik and exchanging Instagrams with new friends, I returned to my hostel to work on some photo editing before catching my bus to the airport and promptly ran into the trio I had had drinks with earlier that night. They suggested going out for one last drink before the bars closed. I weighed my options- drinks with new friends or photo editing by myself (and not even in the lounge since it was closed)? Kind of a no brainer. Out we went, and chatted over beers and wine until I had to insist we went back so I could pack and catch my bus back to the airport, where I ended up talking to two American guys on their way to Amsterdam while I charged my phone. I can now also say I’ve tried fish chips- literally thinly sliced, baked fish. Yes, it’s as gross as it sounds. I left them with gum (for the sake of their fellow passengers) and hopped aboard my flight to Paris. It was a long day, but I wouldn’t trade any of these experiences for the sleep I missed!