So in September of 2015 I took a couple of days off and packed my bags for a trip to Iceland. The thing is, it was my first big solo trip where no one would be waiting for me at the airport, no one I knew lived there and no one I personally knew had ever been there.
To say that my parents freaked out would be an understatement. But I needed to do it for my sanity at the time, there was the need to leave the comfort behind and show myself I could be just fine. Perhaps it was also for bragging rights, after all don’t we want to say “I did it all, I did it first” 🙂 at least once. I booked IcelandAir out of JFK which meant one more flight from the sunshine state. Met up with my dad who treated me to breakfast and the lecture on safety in a foreign land and so forth. Met up with my brother who wished me farewell and the lines of questions which include “you’re going where?, interesting and you’re going by yourself?, awesome! Well next time will you take me? And what are you bringing me back?” you know the typical questions coming from an 8-year-old. They drove me to the airport and I checked in for the overnight flight.
I got on the plane and they handed everyone a water bottle and I made my way to my window seat, cozzied up with my headphone getting ready to relax for the next five hours or so. A young guy sat in the aisle seat and both of us kept looking toward the door hoping no one else would occupy that middle set. Finally they closed the cabin doors and we exchanged pleasantries, how we got lucky we would not be crowded, more room to sleep.
We landed early morning, grabbed my carry on and I made the beeline to customs. There was excitement at being in a new place, and a little hesitation as I saw no one who looked like me. But I walked through that airport like I’d been there before on the lookout for breakfast. But then I heard some hip hop music, smelled the coffee and found a seat, strucked gold people! as the barista was some hot guy. I then enjoyed some Icelandic skyr(yogurt like consistency) while waiting for my tour bus. After some misdirection and misinformation I finally got on the right bus heading to the Reykjanes peninsula. We drove around, as I looked out into the vastness that is Iceland. Green moss land, beautiful treeless mountains, volcanoes and the quietness as we walked around far from the cities. We visited cliffs, geothermal areas with the great smell of sulfur (not! more like old eggs smell really), and of course there was the famous blue lagoon. The next few days included more exploring, relaxing in my downtown hotel and amassing stories.
