Days 8-10
Day 8
There are about 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland, and despite my father’s opinion, one can never see too many. I started my day on Tuesday with a quick walk to Seljalandfoss waterfall. The trail leads visitors behind the waterfall, and since it was a rare, gorgeous warm and sunny day, I threw on my rain jacket and enjoyed the spray.
A few hundred meters later, there’s another smaller waterfall in a cave-type thing, and you actually approach from the bottom of the waterfall. In order to see it, you have to look straight up. Because of it’s strange constructions, this place has a reputation for being an elf concert hall 🧝🏼♀️
After that, I took the ferry to Westman Island. I fell asleep on the boat and woke up groggy – ten days of nonstop driving and adventuring finally hit me and I realized I needed to slow down. I had originally planned on hiking somewhere but definitely was not up for it anymore. Instead, I found an ice cream shop and settled for a calmer walk around the island. A few hours later I took the ferry back and drove to Keflavík, where I’d spend my last two nights with a host I had connected to on Facebook. Eydis is a delightful woman, who lives with her four kids, ages 8-18. Naturally 8 year old Frida and I became best friends and we decided that the next day we’d hang out in the afternoon.
Day 9 – Reykjavik and Keflavík
This was the only day on my crazy itinerary that I had left totally wide open. I decided to use this day and head back over to Reykjavik one more time. I explored the shops and picked up a few souvenirs, trying to get rid of my last few kronur. I intended to go to some of the museums since I hadn’t visited any of them the first time around – but then I discovered there’s such a thing as an ELF TOUR. Obviously I booked that immediately and wow was that one of my better choices! For an hour and a half, we walked through the city with our guide Stefan, who told stories of elves and trolls and lake monsters and dead ex-boyfriends rising from the grave to haunt their unsuspecting women. We learned that a whopping 54% of Icelandic people actively believe in the mythical beasties, with the rest of the population quietly agreeing that they take care not to disturb suspected elf residencies, just in case. We learned that the government has issued *actual* policies around making sure people don’t disturb elf houses during new construction. There are hundreds of species of elves, and the stories surrounding them go back hundreds of years, impacting both Icelandic culture and pop-culture around the world. From Tolkien to J.K. Rowling, everyone loves a good mythological creature, and many of their characters originate from Icelandic folklore. Afterward I was soggy and cold, thanks to the perpetual misty-ness of the city, so I took myself out for a delicious hot meal and feasted on the freshest catch of the day there ever was.
I got back to Eydis’s house, where little Frida was anxiously awaiting my return. “Can we go to the store now?” she asked with a thick Icelandic accent. She took me by the hand, collected her older sister, and off we went. Naturally, we had a few stops to make along the way. First I was introduced to Giganta, the local friendly troll. Then we wandered over to say hi to the town giant, and finally to the store where Frida and her sister insisted on busying us some Icelandic treats.
We wandered home, with the girls pointing out landmarks, like the local museum and the best ice cream shop in the country, and I spent the rest of the evening hanging out and packing up my things.
Day 10 – departure!
And so my vacation comes to an end! What a whirlwind is has been. In the last ten days, I drove 1745 miles, walked and hiked about 60 more. I was on the road between 3-7 hours every day, spending more time with this car over the past ten days than I’ve spent with some of my closest friends over the past ten years.
I played with waterfalls, climbed on rocks, crawled under lava formations, slipped on a glacier, swam between the continents, ate local treats, explored cities and villages, giggled with elves and trolls, waved to whales, squealed with puffins, soaked in hot springs, escaped death by geyser, learned about life and law in this country, breathed the fresh mountain air, drank the purest water on the planet, and met dozens of new friends. I had glorious, unicorn Icelandic weather, with mostly sunny skies and only a few rainy days. Every single thing happened exactly as planned – not one thing went wrong. I packed perfectly; everything I needed, I had and I brought very few things that I didn’t end up needing. I sharpened my instincts for self-care, problem solving, and leveraging my resources. I practiced being alone and I practiced making new friends, pushing through exhaustion and moments of doubt and fear. I learned that traveling solo is definitely my cup of tea, and I opened up the world for myself in a whole new way. As I begin the transition back to real life and routine, I’ll borrow the ending from one of Stefan’s folktales – and the girl was never quite the same after that….who knows where I’ll end up next, now that I’ve liberated myself from the feeling of needing a friend to travel with?!