Sunshine
AFTER a very short two days in Aberdeen of money worries, anxiety dreams, and evening walks along the old railway talking about the existence of fairies and road safety with Aaron, we're flying to Iceland today! I'm imagining this post-uni getaway like a tremendous whirlwind adventure through the North.
THE plane to Reykjavik consists of some exciting turbulence that sets me and Ellie off in half terrified giggles, the sighting of what looks like palaces made out of spun clouds, and an abundance of free coffee which I unfortunately cannot appreciate. I spend time listening to music while Ellie reads, thinking about how lucky I am to see sights that the old poets and painters only dreamed of.
WE land at the nicest airport I've ever been to - Keflavik is more like a sleek chilled out hotel than anything else. Only with Viking quotes on the walls. "Better weight than wisdom a traveller cannot carry." Sounds good to me. We obviously don't get a stamp on our passports (one of the saddest things about our modern times) and after managing to find our bags we board the FlyBus to the hostel. Weirdly, everything here is run on tourism, so there's no public buses anywhere, only private coach companies. I drift in and out of sleep for most of the journey, but wake as we wind into Hafnarfjordur, 'the elf town in the lava.' As we check in at the hostel reception, pay for bed sheets, and have the kitchen explained to us, I notice a map of the island hanging on the wall which reveals that most of it is desert. I am at a loss as to why anyone settled here.
AFTER unburdening ourselves of our bags, we walk around the bay of the town where, among other things, we find a store which boasts itself to be a Book/Bar/Bistro. Note to self: Open one of these obvious money makers in the near future. Unfortunately the (relatively) cheap supermarket closes ridiculously early (6:30 why???) so we're improvising at a corner shop so we can actually eat something. Dinner consists of pasta with tomato sauce which is very welcome to hungry stomachs, and our sandwiches for tomorrow's expedition around the Golden Circle are a rather depressing but necessary cream cheese and chive on granary bread. After dinner, we sit by the window, drinking tea and making plans. It's an early night before our 5:45am start tomorrow. Here's hoping the bus actually turns up on time.
WE don't have to get up at 5:45 anymore! This is revealed to me as Ellie jumps out of bed realising she'd got the dates mixed up.We still have an early rise at 7:30am, but all sleep is welcome. I'm shattered.
IT'S 2am and two guys are choosing NOW to arrive in our room. On another note, it's still light outside. The lack of sunset means I finally have a reason to wear my sunglasses at night (is it night if the sun's still out?) but would be v hard to take out of focus indie photos of people in cool outfits, as I am wont to do.
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