Iceland Sucks - At meeting you expectations

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Iceland sucks in so many ways. Iceland sucks at meets your expectations…. It exceeds them. Iceland also sucks at embracing your idea of beauty, for it shatters it. Instantly replacing it with a new meaning for the word. It also sucks at allowing you to maintain your own self image, The blossoming idea of beauty makes you examine what is important to you.



The instant you break through the clouds it's almost like entering the wardrobe to Narnia. You are about to enter a beautiful new world. You are to be born again, leaving the old person you once knew behind and meeting a newer, better version of yourself. The runway rushes up to meet you, the journey begins. Tires hit tarmac. Smoke from the tires rising up cleansing you for the experience that awaits. If you are not filled with a sense of adventure, it's because you have not stopped feeling it since the time you heard about this country. I assure you there will be no sense of longing to find what you miss in your day to day life. For this country will fill your spirit with those missing pieces. Not unlike that last puzzle piece it will fits right in perfectly, with the added bonus of the same sense of satisfaction. Iceland takes the familiar and replaces it with a sort of, through the looking glass idea of a world. The volcanic rock looks giants took a roll of Moss and sub Tundra plants, and covered the landscape like a carpet covers a floor. Clouds play hide and go seek amongst the peaks. As the rain washes away your misconception of a world you once knew, and replaces them with a raw truth. Contrast dominates the landscape everyday, everywhere you look, over whelming your senses. It really is the land of fire and ice. Black sand beaches, lined with white caps riding upon waves crashing against the beaches. The world changes from moment to moment, in an intoxicating wonderful way. Our senses are alive, the air feels electric.

As we land at Keflavik airport(the airport servicing the capital of Reykjavik) we realize, we are leaving the trappings of everyday life behind. We are about to start a journey into our unknown, the exhilaration fills our souls. We have chosen to self drive parts of the South coast, ending our last day in the capital proper to get a taste of both the country and cityscape. As we receive our car, and claim our momentarily lost luggage. The adventure begins. Leaving the airport we take our first round about to adventure. The only thing forgotten at home is the ordinary world, the landscape from horizon to horizon looks alien in nature. We wonder if we left earth and set out on our journey to Mars, not a small island in the North Atlantic. The beauty leaves us dizzy and speechless. We start our journey on the Reykjanes Peninsula. The ocean in the distance laps against the shores in futile anger. The basalt rocks, and volcanic landscape stand steadfast against its futile rage. No animals are sighted, but the locals whisper stories of trolls living amongst the rocks spires dotting the landscape. Surveying the rocky landscape which stands defiantly against the flora, it pierces the vegetation in it's act of protest against the compliant moss. why would you not believe it that trolls roam these crags? After all this is Iceland, it plays by a different set of rules. It rejects your reality, and replaces it with its own. We make our first stop at the continental divide. The North American and Eurasian plate are separating. Not as violent as other places when the plates are sub-verging, but just as amazing. We look around, steam escaping from areas of volcanic venting, adding to the science fiction type vibe. It Makes the landscape feel so unpredictable, like a living thing. The energy is tangible, the air smell of sulphur from the bowels of the earth. Tourists line up for photo opportunities. Most dressed up as if instead of the paved path that they are traversing, they should be asking Sir Edmund Hillary what the best route they should take to the summit. Dressed with that same sense of adventure we all feel in this place. Dreary eyed from our long day adrenaline pulls us along. The words of adventure whispering in our ears, Like a lover calling us hither we follow. We join the other drivers enjoying the wonder laid before them. Like an endless buffet of adventure, we line up with trays held in trembling hand, we ask for second and thirds. Iceland will not allow you to go hungry, it fills your soul to overflow. Some may even beg for it to stop before long, as sensory overload sets in. Iceland lays your nerves bare, breaking you down to tears, only to build you back up stronger than before. Changed in a fundamentally wonderful way. We want aimlessly, allowing our sense of wonder to direct us over our GPS voice prompts, we stop where we please. As the sun starts to hide behind the horizon, we arrive at our accommodation. A country house just outside of Selfoss. Weary we welcome the prospect of a good night's sleep. Sleep comes easy, but as the sun hides beyond the horizon, nature stirs me from slumber. I can not but help go on to the patio of our summer house. Apollo has given me a real treat, clear Sky's. The universes bounty spread bare before me. The milky way galaxy steaks the sky, the black stippled with light. The Stars twinkling as their beauty would be overwhelming if they did not hide but for a moment. A meteor steaks the sky, I stand slack Jawed in wonder. The 5 year old version of myself stands in my place welcoming the innocent wonder of the cosmos. That part normally lays hidden most days in the everyday trappings of life. Iceland conjures it forth with gusto. Welcome Iceland whispers, trees lining the yard creak, as I imagine the trolls watching me. I study the dark for eyes, and feel I am not alone. Taking in the heavenly bodies dance through the Stars, for but a moment more. I retire for the night, with thoughts of what tomorrow will bring.

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