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Published: October 2nd 2015
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Things didn't start well, I'd had a bad night's sleep but Lou was coming down with something and feeling really bad. Everything felt a bit surreal (especially saying goodbye to Lou), sort of like it wasn't really happening. Soon I was waiting for a bus to take me to Rugby where I could jump on a train to Birmingham International. Whilst waiting for the bus an old boy with a dog on a string and a can of special brew (it was 9am) came over for a chat which turned out to be quite fun. He told me about his travels in the Middle East and just how important it is that I get some good boots.
For some reason talking to the most stereotypical drunk hobo you could imagine made it hit home. This is my life for the next six months and so much of what I get out of travelling, will come from the relationships I create with people whether it's someone I meet at a bus stop for 5 minutes, or someone I travel and hang out with for days. It's going to be the people more than the places that will form the experience that
I have.
The rest of the day's travel went without any problems, Icelandair seems to be a nice airline, I dozed off during takeoff and was woken up a little while later when they handed out iPads because they didn't have any on-board entertainment.
Because Iceland is pretty much made from lava, the landscape looks like an alien planet and I got a bit of a shock just how windy, cold and wet it is here as I stepped off the plane.
It's about 50 minutes from the airport to Reykjavik and being the tight wad that I am, I just paid to go to the bus station which is about 30 mins walk from the hostel I'm booked in at. Looking at the weather and at my heavy backpack I thought I'd take my chances and managed to confuse the driver enough that I should be on his list to take me to the hostel. Someone else was going to the same place so I didn't feel too guiltily.
I only spent a short while at the hostel, just enough time to dump my bags and call home before going out to find some food.
It seems like most things in this country are expensive, they don't really produce much on the island so everything is imported and costs so much. A sandwich is about £7 and a beer about £5. I found a hotdog stall (which apparently is quite famous), with a long que selling amazing hotdogs for £3 each, so I'm certainly planning another visit before I leave Reykjavik.
I'd also organised to go to a couchsurfing meet up, which was held in a great little cafe/bookshop where I met quite a few other travellers and locals. Despite me feeling like a zombie, it turned into a great night and after a few half price beers I picked up and got loads of tips for things to do.
Highlights:
Hotdogs.
Chatting to a crazy Dutchman about how he wished the Netherlands was more conservative like the UK and me wanting the UK to be more liberal like the Netherlands.
Lowlights:
Getting confused about the exchange rate and withdrawing £200 instead of £20 at the atm.
Trying snuff (I found out afterwards that's made using horse manure). I spent the next half an hour blowing my nose trying to get rid of it.
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Caroline Parkinson
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Free Reykjavic Walks
There is an ex history student that runs a free walking tour of Reykjavik nearly every day from Lækjartorg Square. I can't link to him here but google it- definitely worth checking out!