Finally in Iceland!

Wow! There is so much to tell and I'm pretty sure it will take me a few days to write about my adventures so far.

To start, the flight to Keflavik, Iceland was wonderful. It was about 4 hrs and 45 min and the time flew by. We were flying at about 39,000 feet and even the clouds looked small. We met a man named David who sat with us. He was on his 24th trip to Iceland. He said that it was his favorite country. He had purchased a bicycle that cost him 20$ (yard sale shopping... we all know aunt aimee would be proud!) and it cost him 40$ to ship it there on the plane with us. Dad and I got into Iceland at about 11:30 at night (iceland time) and got through customs in about 20 minutes. The gentleman that checked my passport looked at my picture, looked at me, and then stamped my book!! To be honest, I was hoping to be interrogated just a little bit... maybe held under a spotlight or something to that effect. Well anyways, we made it onto the FlyBus after stopping at the duty free store and made it into Reykjavik by about 1:30 in the morning. Hauling my luggage around was terrible. We had 3 very large suit cases, 1 framepack, a snowboard carrying case that held my board, boots, and helment, and each of us had a day pack. Trust me, we got our work out.

We arrived at our first hostel at about 2:00 in the morning. Or shall I say... 02:00. haha. Both of us were exhausted and we happily proceeded to our dorm room after dropping all of our bags in a common luggage storage room. Upon entering our room, we heard something similar to the sound of a dying cow. Interesting... Dad and I came to find out that it was one of our roommates snoring. So, from 02:00 until 8:00 in the morning, neither of us fell asleep. Dad likes to describe this man as... "He sounded like each snore would be his last one because his throat was filling up with flem. At times, I had wished it was his last breath. It was terrible. THere were holes in the bottom of his bunk and if I had had a poker, I would have stabbed him." haha sounds just like dad doesn't it?

Our first day in Reykjavik was exciting. We discovered that bathrooms were indicated by a blue sign with a WC on it. It was not until today, one week later that we found out it stood for water closet. Strange? yes. On our second night there, we ate at a very nice restaurant called phrir takkar. THis means three frenchman in Icelandic. The food was divine. Other things we did while in Iceland included exploring the harbour. There were mass amounts of jellyfish! We also visiting the blue lagoon (a very large hotspring pool in the middle of a giant lava field).

Dad and I also explored some beach when the tide was out. We found the jackpot of sea glass. We even found two pieces of red sea glass which is extremely rare!! Our bus driver that took us to the second hostel dropped us off 5 blocks away and we had to cart all of our luggage through the city. We arrived at the second hostel with one broken piece of luggage, a bloody finger, and pit stains from our workout. We met a nice guy from Belgium who helped us carry one bag a block or so, but then he gave up. We ate the famous hot dog that Andrew Zimmerman from the Discovery Channel ate. Best hot dog I've ever had.

The traffic rules here are very different. Basically, they have no stop signs, only yield, and there are only two speed limits. 8o Km/hr on the dirt roads and 90km/hr on the paved. Dad keeps saying that it is the best driving he has ever experienced.

I will write much more later. Enjoy:)