Destination Iceland
“Let’s just go!”
At the age of 25, I had never been on vacation without my family before. I’ve moved across America, even living in Tokyo for a couple of years, but never actually planned a vacation. One day me and my best friend Pat were talking, a lot of our friends had recently gone to Iceland due to the affordable airfare. Let’s just go we said, we booked our flights that night. Words can’t describe how excited I was to go, or how overwhelmed I was when I realized that I no longer had my mother and her well planned vacation itineraries to rely on.

Snæfellsnes peninsula
Everything took us so long for us to arrive at, with no real plans, you can’t be late for anything. So we stopped, constantly. And I mean constantly, a journey our phones told us would take a mere two hours had taken us seven. We realized at this point we were hungry, so we pulled over to a small little café surrounded by nothing for at least 45 minutes in either direction.
Pat and I are both vegans, so we felt like we would be lucky to even find some bread at this small shop, boy were we in luck. On the menu that only consisted of five items, one was a vegan sweet potato burger. Maybe we were just starving at this point, but it was honestly the best veggie burger I have ever consumed. We just sat there at this small little table giggling at each other.



With the heat roaring, I was all cozied up in bed. We were talking about how this had literally been, despite having no plans, a perfect day. Then Pat decided to pop his head out of the camper van. He instantly started insisting I get up, but I was tired and didn’t want to move, that’s when he started tugging on me, and I’m so happy I listened to him. It had not been there even a mere five minutes prior, but now the sky was streaked with the Northern Lights. I have never seen something that has moved me so much, its beauty brought me to tears. It was pure magic, and being in the middle of nowhere with just my best friend and a camper made the experience complete.
In the morning I woke up to a text from a friend of a friend. Me and Pat both listen to Punk music so due to touring, we get to meet lots of people from all over the world. A kid named Fannar was asking if we had any plans for the day and wanted to see if we wanted to hang out in Reyklavik. We of course, had no plans, so we were stoked to see the city with people who lived there. We hopped in the camper and drove.
Reykjavík
We met up with Fannar at the beautiful Hallgrimskirkja in the center of the city, and eventually wandered to a small café. It was so exciting to get to ask someone local about the music scene, the night life, what its actually like to live there. He showed us to the Einar Jónsson sculpture garden built by the same architect as the cathedral and told us how its a spot for local teenagers to hang. He then showed us the City Hall and started laughing when he realized that the large map he brought us there to see had been taken down. So instead, we watched some ducks outside for a few hours.
They were much more friendly than in the states! After meeting up with his girlfriend, we drove around town and got a real sense of how the city was laid out. They had band practice but let us know that there was a skate park in the city but it was actually its last day before they were shutting it down. They told us to check it out, and also to get some Taco Bell if we were homesick, har har. We showed up to the skate park five minutes after it closed, and there was just a teenager throwing out trash. We told him that we heard it was being closed for good, and asked if there was any chance we could look around real fast. He told us to have a ball, run around, be the last people to enjoy it. It was a really exciting experience to run around a skate park rather than skate, it felt very silly.
After, of course, we went and got Taco Bell. Later that night we met up with a friend of mine from High school, who is pursuing her Geography Masters degree in Iceland. We met at a local college pub and shared a few beers. It was nice to see even another view of what it is like to actually live in this country. Lucky enough, I found a skateboard in the trash, beat up of course, but it still was in okay shape! I was so excited to skate back to my friend’s house, I felt absurdly lucky. She had a driveway to her house, and let us sleep in our camper there, because we decided it was more fun than sleeping on her couch.
Black sand beaches & Jökulsárlón

What amazed me most about driving around was the rapid changes in environment. One minute its green fields and rocky mountains, then its snowing, five minutes later its all flat black sand with no snow in sight. Next thing you know, you’re in a cave, light by moonlight on a beach. That night was fun, it started raining so we found a campsite at the base of a mountain in Vik. Then we drank a couple of beers and honestly had fun hanging out and joking in the camper. We watched Netflix on an app on my phone thanks to the WiFi and pretty much hung out like we would at home, relaxing, but something about being in such an amazing land made it feel special.

Reykjadalur hot spring

At this point, all of the other hikers had made their way back down, the isolation added to the mystery of the springs. It was cold out, very cold, but I couldn’t hike all this way to not feel the water. Its hot temperature was a stark contrast from the chilly winter breeze. I was enamored, I didn’t come all this way to have any regrets. I quickly stripped down to my undies and hopped in the stream. It felt so warm and crisp, the steam on my face felt like it was giving me new life. Pat called me silly and joked about how I was going to freeze on the hike back. I didn’t care, it was hands down the most incredible experience of my life, I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. Luckily, I had brought enough layers that I warmed up real fast and the hike back down was equally enjoyable. It, however, was nice to get back to the camper and put my feet right by the heater. We were so tired, we fell asleep instantly without even changing into pajamas.
Glýmur – The highest waterfall in Iceland

All alone, at the top of a mountain, it literally takes your breath away. We sat up there for an hour, just listening to the rumble of the water and staring out at the scenery around us. We drove back into the city, and once again us and our skateboard hit the pubs. We met and danced with a bunch of locals, everyone had their own insight into this country, they all told us about the small little towns they grew up in and what drew them to the city. We were tired, we called it a night, we had one more day left to enjoy and once again no real plans.
Back to Reykjavík

In the morning it was time to head back to Keflavik, we blasted some music, drank some Mountain Dew and all three of us (and my new skateboard) headed to the airport, taking in the beautiful scenes one last time. I would change literally nothing about my trip, and both of my friends can agree. I’m still in awe that thanks for the mobility and freedom of the camper I could go into something with literally no expectations and come out with memories to last a lifetime. Nothing about this trip seemed real, it was all too perfect and truly taught me that sometimes it’s okay to let go of control and say “Let’s just go”.
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