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April 2013- Who goes to Iceland?! That was the exact question I posed to my college girlfriends when the prospect of doing just that was first mentioned. I consider myself semi-informed and knowledgeable when it comes to traveling but I didn't even know that you could travel to Iceland or would travel to Iceland considering the possibility of turning into a popsicle. In my mind it belonged in the same category as traveling to Antarctica: something that shouldn't be done. I'm a beach kinda girl. Park me on a lounge chair in front of the waves with a cold drink and a good book and I'm good to go.
But look, here I am in Iceland. That's a volcano behind me. It is not covered by snow. That would be a glacier.
Here I am again with a glacier behind me. We hiked {a very small portion of} that glacier with the best guide in all of Iceland.
Yes, I'm referencing Iceland which is located {almost} at the top of the globe. I was shocked to learn it was not in the Arctic Circle because in my mind there couldn't be anything colder.
But since several people have asked me how and why I went to Iceland I thought I'd share a little of that story here. Once a year for the past few years I've selfishly indulged in a yearly girls trip with some of my college girlfriends. However, we don't normally trek across the globe. Our routine is usually to pick a weekend that we can manage to all get together somewhere that is relatively easy to book a flight, stay 2 or 3 nights and have as much fun together as we can. During last year's trip to Portland, Oregon, Laree asked if we would ever want to go to Iceland. She knows someone that traveled all over the world and said it was his favorite and the first place he'd go again. Jamie was also well aware of this destination as a travel hot spot based on the endless travel blogs and magazines she reads. And they've never steered her wrong. I apparently need to expand my knowledge base beyond what it takes to raise my two young boys because I was clueless as to why anyone would ever go to Iceland. But here's the deal: I'd go anywhere with these girls because as cheesy as it sounds, it really isn't as much about the destination as it is about spending time with them. And for the record, I was totally wrong about Iceland. Everyone should go to Iceland.
Did part of me agree to go with the idea that it would never happen because A- who goes to Iceland? and B- how would we ever manage to afford such a destination? Yes, I admit that I did. Keep in mind we normally travel on award miles, share a hotel room and generally keep it low cost so we can do it again the next year. I never thought a trip to the edge of the Arctic Circle would meet those parameters. And besides, I'm a stay at home mom with a semi-part time gig as an associate with a communications agency. Do you really think I would spend a few thousand dollars on a trip to Iceland- or anywhere else for that matter?
As we started to talk about this year's trip, which had a strong possibility of Montana as a destination, the subject of Iceland came up again. Then Jamie found a travel deal to Iceland from D.C. that included round trip flight, hotel and a tour (i.e. glacier hike) for less than a thousand bucks. Wouldn't you know the dates offered worked for us and by the end of that week I was booked on a trip to Iceland. Award miles got me to/from D.C. and voila, that's basically how I ended up in beautiful {and not too cold} Iceland.
Stay tuned. There's much more on my Icelandic adventures to come in other posts. For now, you need to be searching for one of those Icelandair travel packages.
