Tag: Iceland

Categories
Europe Living Abroad

I’m Back From Europe: A Brief Recap

It’s been a week since I’ve landed back on US soil. And it’s taken me this long to sit down and start writing about it. Mostly because I don’t know where to start. It’s daunting to summarize what I saw, what I did, and what I’ve learned during those 97 days abroad. So let me begin by breaking it down by numbers (disclaimer: numbers are totally not my strong point).

97 days
14 airports
14,027 miles flown
42 hours on airplanes
26 hours on trains
10 trains
2 buses
1 ferry
2 Airbnb’s (3 if you count the one that I stayed at twice)
2 friend’s houses
8 hotels
8,500+ photos

Places visited:
Reykjavik, Iceland
London, England
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bristol, England
Dublin, Ireland
Dublin, Ireland again
Belfast, Ireland
Northern Ireland Coast (Carrick-a-Rede Bridge, Giant’s Causeway)
Newbury, England
Paris, France
Barcelona, Spain
Interlaken, Switzerland
Jungfrau, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
Venice, Italy
Rome, Italy
Pompeii, Italy
Amalfi Coast, Italy : Positano, Amalfi
Athens, Greece
Crete, Greece

And yet, here I sit in my New York apartment once again, feeling almost as though I never left. But I know I’ve come back wiser, re-energized, and obviously a wee bit older with a slightly more damaged liver and a new view on living abroad. And on the United States.

To sum it up, that was the quickest 97 days of my life. I didn’t sleep much but I saw more than I ever imagined I could pull off in three months while still working a full-time job and not going into debt. I saw natural phenomenons, snow-covered mountains, and ancient cities that are nearly twelve times older than the United States. I tasted some of the most amazing food I never knew existed, met some incredibly hospitable people while spending time with friends both old and new, and drank enough Guinness to safely assume my body could snap into relapse any day now. I walked across a rope bridge in gale force winds, showed my mom her first international experience, and participated in the chaos that is St Patrick’s Day in Dublin. Of the 14 total weekends I was gone, I spent just four in London and ten traveling around Europe. I quickly adapted to waking up at 3am nearly every Monday morning to catch a flight back to London and straight in to work a full shift. It was a whirlwind of three months, but the best experience of my life.

I’ve learned a lot on this trip. I’ve learned that exploring without a cell phone is not nearly as difficult as it sounds. Turning off the GPS and disconnecting from Twitter and Facebook let me get lost in the city and the moment and enjoy wherever I was with no interruptions.

I’ve also learned that Europe is ridiculously expensive and living there while still getting paid in US dollars is NOT recommended. I spent a shit ton of money, but every penny was absolutely worth it.

I’ve also rekindled my love for New York City, and I’ve got a newfound respect for the United States.

So stay tuned for tons of stories, tips, babblings, and pictures. But in the mean time, here are just a few highlights.

Sunset in Crete
Yes, I took pictures and GoPro’ed the sunset in Crete. Two nights in a row.

 

This would be so much cooler with about 50 less tourists in the photo.
This would be so much cooler with about 50 less tourists in the photo.

 

Feta and honey saganaki and pan-fried cheese in Athens. OH. MY. GOD. AMAZING.
Feta and honey saganaki and pan-fried cheese in Athens. OH. MY. GOD. AMAZING.

 

Showing off my awesome sunburn in the hot tub. Oh, and that's just the Parthenon in the background, no big deal.
Showing off my awesome sunburn in the hot tub. Oh, and that’s just the Parthenon in the background, no big deal.

 

The mind-blowing beauty of the Northern Lights in Iceland.
The mind-blowing beauty of the Northern Lights in Iceland.

 

These were the people who inspired my own jumping spree all over Europe.
These were the people who inspired my own jumping spree all over Europe.

 

I drank so. Much. Guinness. And learned how to pour the perfect pint at the Guinness Academy.
I drank so. Much. Guinness. And learned how to pour the perfect pint at the Guinness Academy.

 

The beautifully lit Colosseum.
The beautifully lit Colosseum.

 

Westminster Abbey on a cold, rainy evening. So like, every evening in London.
Westminster Abbey on a cold, rainy evening. So like, every evening in London.

 

What good is a vacation without a few days in a Greek paradise?
What good is a vacation without a few days in a Greek paradise?

 

 

Categories
Europe

Iceland Smells Like Farts

Embracing the small at the Blue Lagoon

Or at least that’s what the guys kept saying. I’m a lady, and for all I know farts smell like roses and unicorn hugs, duh.

But really. Iceland smelled like a room full of forgotten hard boiled eggs that have been sitting in a pool of well water from the countryside (I’m from Ohio, yes I know what that smells like).

From the second we got off the bus at the Blue Lagoon my nostrils were stinging with the unmistakable scent of what could only be described as decaying chicken embryos. Or sulfur. Scientifically speaking, the entire country basically runs off of geothermal energy. So since the water is naturally heated by awesome volcanoes and hot springs beneath the Earth’s surface, it apparently has to balance out its “nature just blew your mind by being completely awesome” factor by containing a lot of sulfur. Or something like that, I don’t know. I went to art school not science school. But I do know that it’s a damn shame because after arriving from a long flight, driving through rocky paths comparable to what I’d imagine the surface of the moon to look like, and coming across the milky blue water of the lagoon builds anticipation like whoa. But once you open the car door and inhale that first whiff of putrid egg you might second guess stripping down to your skivvies and soaking in the cloudy sea of farts. Suddenly this once-welcoming water seems like a glowing radioactive pit of sewage.

Aside from the Blue Lagoon, there’s a very likely chance you’ll notice the sulfuric smell every time you turn on the hot water. You go in for a shower, the room fills up with steamy farts (but on the plus side the smell doesn’t linger on your skin afterwards). You order tea or coffee, you’re sipping on diluted farts (the flavor definitely masks the scent, but it’s still there). Hell, even when you use cold water it’s still noticeable but not nearly as bad. When you brush your teeth, you’re rinsing your mouth with fart water.

Oh Mother Nature, you sly bitch. Giving us something as beautiful as Iceland to look at but making it smell like the deepest pits of an overflowing outhouse during a summer music festival.

Okay it wasn’t that bad, really. If you’re lucky like me you’ll get used to it pretty quickly. And it’s perfectly safe to drink, no tummy troubles here! In fact I was told by locals that it’s some of the cleanest drinking water in the world. So as I’m clearly exaggerating about the scent, don’t let any of that stop you from visiting. Go embrace the land of farts with open eyes and a closed nose. It really is a gorgeously unique country that’s worth every sulfuric whiff you take in—and then some.

Categories
Europe Outdoor

Snowmobiling During a Blizzard on Langjökull Glacier

Despite my gigantor size list of things to see in Iceland, I figured I’d wait to see what my friends were up for before making any definite plans. Turns out they weren’t nearly as inclined to conquer the Icelandic wilderness as I was.

This left me scrambling to figure out what I could realistically do and what would have to wait until next time. But how do you choose between hiking across volcanoes and glaciers, and snowmobiling across endless snowy terrains? Or walking through lava fields and ice caves, licking glaciers at Jökulsárlón, or photographing black sand beaches, Landmannalaugar, and Eyjafjallajökull (the difficult, but not impossible to pronounce volcano that shut down European air travel back in 2010)?

Every small tour I came across required at least two people to book. Even though it’s something I commonly encounter as a solo traveler, I started getting angry that I was spending time inside looking for things to do when I should be out exploring. So I booked the first one I found that allowed a single passenger.

When the bus arrived in the pitch black, pouring rain at 830AM, it wasn’t a 6-8 person SUV. It was an entire busload of tourists. And we were going to the ultra-touristy Golden Circle. But there was snowmobiling on a glacier so I was happy.

I’ll post more about the Golden Circle later because well, you can read about that pretty much anywhere. And making the trip on a rainy day with a busload of tourists isn’t exactly the most intimately fascinating experience as you can imagine.

Just to be clear, this day was supposed to be epic. And snowmobiling on a glacier was supposed to give me excellent footage on my first adventure with my new GoPro camera.

About 35 of us hopped off the bus and packed into a freezing cold truck to head out to the snowmobiling site. There wasn’t exactly a road to follow, just a few yellow markers sticking up from the snow. The further we got out the more the wind and snow picked up and the more I started to wonder if my three layers and snowboarding pants and coat wouldn’t be enough. Then I looked around the bus to see what everyone else was wearing and noticed two girls dressed in skinny jeans and pea coats and I was reassured, though I couldn’t help but wonder if they got on the wrong bus.

 

The bus
Boarding the bus to go out to the snowmobile site.
Despite that animal on my head, here I am freezing as we sat for 20 mins waiting to drive out to the middle of nowhere.

 

When we reached the cabin to layer on our snowsuits the wind really started to pick up. So much that it was actually hard to stand upright. After about 45 minutes spent suiting up and a quick weather-related safety lesson we set out on our way.

 

Getting ready to snowmobile on Langjökull Glacier from Just Visiting on Vimeo.

Suit up
That’s me in there, feeling warm, fat, and indestructible.

 

Finally we set out in a single file, the wind and sleet blowing at our backs and pounding against our helmets. I strapped my GoPro to my head, turned that bitch on, and took off, ready to face this storm that was just waiting to welcome us. The first 10 minutes were pretty uneventful, lots of stop and go followed by complete white-outs until everyone got used to driving a snowmobile. Unfortunately this was about the time that my GoPro randomly shut off. (Still trying to figure out if that was weather related or hardware/software related.)

Oh, and remember the girls I said looked like they were dressed for a completely different tour? They were right ahead of me and must’ve missed the part about leaning against the snowmobile because I saw them hit a hill, go flying in the air and fall on their side, landing on the driver’s leg. In all fairness you couldn’t tell where the hills were and it was literally impossible to see ANYTHING unless you flipped your visor up and suffered the ice pellets attacking your eyeballs. I probably should’ve stopped to make sure they were okay, but that’s what the tour guides are for right? So I kept going with some fearless Asian kid up further ahead who kind of tested out the path ahead so I was free to speed up and have some fun.

Needless to say the video sucks, but just in case you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to snowmobile on a sheet of white paper, wonder no more. All I can say is it’s similar to flying an airplane through the clouds. Once you lose sight of the person in front of you, you somehow lose all sense of direction and have no idea which way is up, down, left, or right, which is probably the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced.

 

Snowmobiling on Langjökull Glacier from Just Visiting on Vimeo.

The blizzard went on for about 35 minutes, then once it let up we made our way to a resting point behind a mountain for a quick break before heading back against the wind. I managed to snap a few iPhone pics while we were stopped, but the GoPro was still unresponsive. Ugh.

 

Like a bawse
Like a bawse.

 

Five minute break to play in the snow

 

It was almost infuriating to think about how beautiful the landscape must be around me on a clear day. But then again, snowmobiling through a blizzard is probably something to remember too, right? The coolest thing that I wish I could’ve gotten a picture of was the bright blue glacial ice beneath the snow once the weather cleared up a bit, which was a very refreshing yet surreal color among such a stark white setting.

Searching for those landscape shots didn’t quite turn out as I’d hoped in Iceland, but I guess that just means I’ll have to go back in the summer when there are 24 hours of daylight and I can explore as much as humanly possible. Who’s with me?

Categories
Europe Iceland

Black Out Like a Local in Reykjavik

In a city where the sun doesn’t even wake up until 10AM, it’s no surprise that the party rages well into the wee hours of the morning. I can’t even imagine what it’s like in the summer when daylight lasts 24 hours.

Prior to last week I’d never heard about this world-famous Reykjavik nightlife. And coming from New York I wasn’t convinced that it would even leave much of an impression on me. Of course this was all before the weekend hit and the bar culture left me feeling a bit more buzzed than the alcohol.

I’ve read and heard that Iceland is a culture where people don’t really frequent the bar during the week, but on the weekends they party. Hard. So we ducked into Ob La Di Ob La Da for a beer on a Wednesday and found ourselves in a room full of men intensely watching the Arsenal v Liverpool match in almost complete silence. It was a little intimidating, but just as the final whistle blew 90% of the place cleared out. The three of us finished our beers to some shitty American pop music and nonstop yawning while discussing our plan to call it an early night. While we were finishing off our beers a group of drunken Canadians came bursting in and within 10 seconds the lights went out, strobes came on, a disco ball started spinning, and Bon Jovi lyrics were on the screen. It was the quickest transformation from a sports dive to a karaoke haven I’ve ever seen. And it was certainly enough to keep us around until being kicked out when the lights came on at 1AM.

Sober as a tree
Sober as a tree: When you need to prove you’re not as drunk as people think you are, stand on one leg and hold both arms out to the side, and tell them you’re “sober as a tree.” If you don’t fall, you’re not too drunk. Keep drinking.

 

We went out again on Friday night and this time the bar—and every bar on Laugavegur—was filled with locals. So we kicked off the night with a traditional Icelandic shot of Brennevin, though the Premium version, which put up a pretty impressive battle all the way down my throat before [very] slowly finding its way into my stomach. It fought hard to make its way back out, and the beer chaser did absolutely nothing but amplify the disgusting burn. We were informed that Brennevin is a traditional Icelandic liquor made from fermented potato and flavored with things like cumin and caraway. They say it’s similar-ish to vodka, but I think it was pretty comparable to hell. I’ll stick to my shots of whiskey.

When I arrived at the pub around 11pm I was amazed at how sloppy people were. They weren’t just drinking to be social, the entire bar was drinking to forget the horrible decisions they were about to make. It was as if the entire city was on a mission to get blackout drunk (and in a rare turn of events, I didn’t feel like joining them). Stumbling, leaning on walls, rambling the worst pick-up lines ever mumbled in an attempt to take somebody, anybody home. And the men didn’t take the polite brush-off or the downright bitchy cold shoulder very well. In fact, one guy tried to tickle my sideboob when I rejected his drunken slurs and didn’t understand why I was appalled.

 

Icelandic beer
Delicious Icelandic beer

 

Despite the frigid weather causing my inability to dress in anything more fancy than the sweater, fat jeans, and “boots with the fur” I wore every night we went out, locals were dressed rather sharp and on the prowl. But as soon as I noticed how wrecked everybody else was, my desire to get wasted and party down completely diminished.  I knew I wouldn’t be in good hands and the outcome of the evening could be downright scary given such a potently drunk surrounding. So I made my way home and to bed by 1am partially because I had to be up at 730 for an all day excursion and snowmobiling trip.

Iceland was fantastic but I think I appreciated it much more for the nature outside of Reykjavik, not so much the inter-city nightlife. But there’s still a strong part of me that feels like this was fate, discovering an entire country of people who black out as naturally as I do, almost as though it’s just another ordinary night. Could this possibly be a place where I could go about my business and not get judged? Or perhaps it would just be a giant shit show where I’d end up stranded with other blacked-out alcoholics, frostbitten and stuck to a glacier when the sun comes up at 10.

I guess I’ll have to give Reykjavik nightlife a second shot when I’ve prepared myself for nonstop partying. Maybe I’ll go back in the summer and pull some all-nighters.

Categories
Europe Outdoor

The Hunt for the Northern Lights in Iceland

Dressed and ready to sit in the cold for 4 hours

When I booked my flight to Reykjavik I had one goal: to see the Northern Lights. But after stalking the solar activity and weather forecast the week prior to jetting off, I wasn’t too convinced we’d get to see them. Our first night in town was cloudy, but we woke up to clear skies on Wednesday. So we called up Volcano tours and arranged for the three of us to set out on a hunt for the Northern Lights just outside of Reykjavik.

We drove about 30 minutes outside of Reykjavik to escape the city lights before pulling into a desolate area on top of a hill that I’m pretty sure I’ve seen in a horror film. There were two abandoned houses and no signs of civilization for miles, but luckily I had enough layers on to survive for at least a week in the wild. Cameras and tripods in tow, we got out, set up our shots, and waited. For about two hours.

Lights of Reykjavik
The lights of Reykjavik while awaiting the Northern Lights

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Waiting…

At one point the tour guide started pointing at this glow in the sky, thinking it may be the start of some solar activity. Negative. So we sipped hot chocolate and waited some more.

False alarm.

Then out of nowhere he started pointing at a glow that was invisible to my naked eye, but sure enough it showed up on camera!

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IT STARTS.

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It only took a few minutes for the colors to intensify, and for me to jump up and down screaming like a little girl who just got a pony for Christmas. And for the next two hours the lights continued swaying across the night sky as we snapped photo after photo. Mostly green, but a bit or red and purple worked its way in there too. It was definitely one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed in my life, and the fact that it lasted well into the night was incredible luck on our part.

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Marcus peeing out the Northern Lights

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Proof that I was there, thanks to Marcus's photography skills
Proof that I didn’t just Google and repost all of these Northern Lights shots, thanks to Marcus’s photography skills

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Categories
Europe Living Abroad

My First Living Abroad Experience

So my next big trip is coming up super soon—just TWO WEEKS from today to be exact!

I work at an ad agency that offers this program called a life swap. Basically, it’s exactly what it sounds like. You swap lives with someone who works your same position in another one of our offices around the world. You keep paying your own bills, live in each other’s apartments, work each other’s jobs, and essentially just live each other’s lives for up to three months.

After a bit of begging planning, my Art Director partner Marcus and I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity arise to swap with a creative team in London starting February 4th!

This is my first extended stay in another country and I’m a little bit worried that I won’t want to come back. Right now it kind of feels like my semester abroad that I never had the opportunity to do in school. I’m already planning many, many, (perhaps too many) weekend trips to catch up with friends all over Europe, and I’ve even got my mom (who swore she’d never leave the country) coming to visit for about ten days in March, where we’ll also be spending a long weekend in Paris!

But perhaps the best part (do I sound like a late night TV ad yet?) is the two weeks of actual vacation I’m taking on the tail end of this trip. I’ve been saving up for a while now so I should be able to have a proper end to this incredible opportunity. I’m not positive where I’ll go, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a good mix of adventure, tourism, and relaxing on some beaches if the weather cooperates. Regardless of where I end up, I’m hoping to spend my final night meeting the girls we’ve swapped with face to face in London to exchange stories.

So we’re kicking off this journey on January 29th by spending four nights in Reykjavik, Iceland, where with any luck we’ll see the Northern Lights! Fingers crossed!

I’d say I’m starting off 2013 the right way, and if everything goes according to plan it’s going to be an amazing, unforgettable three months that I can’t wait to share with everyone!

PS. I told you I’d be back, London.