Rekyavik, Akureyi, Glasgow, London, Southampton, Unemployment

Forty hours went by, we all rushed for a space on the bus to ensure our route to the north of Iceland. Many didn’t get a seat and were forced to be further delayed. We had already spent 8 hours in the bus station so Terry and I were at the front of the queue braving the cold weather to ensure we got a seat. The bus left Rekyavik at 12 midnight, the sun was still bright in the sky and didn’t decide to sleep that night, staying out to play until we reached London. It's a strange concept to have 48 hours worth of sunlight. The mountain views were incredible at 3 in the morning, snow sparkling and the mountains creating gigantic sized shadows over our ant sized bus. We touched down, after even more delays in the airport and a few games of Yahtzee, in Glasgow. With of 5 pound food vouchers in hand, we found some food and relaxed, anticipating even more delays. Nine hours later, after filling up on chocolate, jacket potatoes, cold and flu pills and some internet time, we were on the plane ready to leave Glasgow and head to London. Mum and Kirk came to collect us, exhausted yet high on adrenaline we drove in the dark to mum’s house. Iceland was a fantastic travel experience and one to definitely re-visit.

And so England begins, life back where we started. I am writing this blog at my mums house, watching crap TV and applying for around 5000 jobs. England doesn’t change, there isn’t much excitement here, no spontaneous weekends to the beach or climbing a few mountains, no backpack to pack each morning or floors to sleep on, no searching for foreign food or orientating around strange cities, just a new fresh start where we began.

Beside Ejfjallajokull, falling glacier melt and a speeding ticket

Today I am writing on an Icelandic keyboard, sat in FIT hostel in Keflavik, Iceland. We are stuck. Mother Nature has grounded all flights to London and all we can do is wait until she calms down. The airport was like an eerie scene from one of those end of the world horror movies this morning as I made my way inside to find some help. I was greeted by a lovely Iceland Air member of staff and told that the earliest flight we could get on is tomorrow, if not a 5 hour journey north and a stop over in Glasgow. In all of our travelling, we have never been grounded by a volcano, pretty epic adventure.

In fact, the whole of Iceland yesterday was like a eerie movie. We drove towards the south east of the country hoping the road would be open for us to pass as we were on our way to the majestic Skatefell National Park. As we drove closer to the Ejfjallajokull glacier volcano, we were unsure of what we would find. Some say that the whole of the nearest town to it, Vik, was covered in Ash and inpassable, with similar scenes to hiroshima after the nuclear bomb. With the blue sky and sunshine above our heads we drove closer and closer until we noticed an ash cloud ahead. We parked along the route to take photographs and drove around the side of a mountain to witness the volcano is full bloom. We were literally so close to the volcano we could see it erupting, plumes of black ash coming from its crater. Black cloud, after back cloud, we all could not beleive our eyes. By this time, our hearts were racing, wondering what the best thing to do was. Many people were turning around and heading back to the capital, but with our adventurous spirit heightened we decided, of course, to drive on and witness more of mother natures power.

With views of Katla and Hekla Volcanoes behind us, we could feel the rumbles beneath our feet and the sound of the power as the volcano was erupting, we stopped the car a few kilometres into the ash cloud just to get out of the car and witness what it is like to be in such an environment. The sky was dark, with patches of blue where the cloud hadn´t covered, the earth was covered in grey ash as was the car and us. We watched cars drive by us with masks on their faces, like a disease was present and we were coming to the end of the world. It was that dramatic, believe me. We collected some ash and jumped back into the car to drive another 80kms out of the ash cloud. It was literally that long. It was truly amazing to witness, to smell and to feel.

However, the day did not end there. We drove on to the national park, along the route huge glacier fields and snow capped mountains were next to the road, every second was intensely beauitful. Our aim was to drive to Jökulsárlón. Jökulsárlón is where the mountains and the glacier reach the ocean so huge icebergs fall from the glacier out to sea. I cannot even describe the view, only believable by the naked eye. The water was turquiose from the sun, the sky true blue, the glaciers slowly melting , moving towards the ocean, with seals popping their heads up and down to see who is around. The mountains majestically sitting around the glacier, whilst in the background the volcano still erupts. 


Our drive heading back to the capital took us to Skatafell National Park where we spent a few hours trekking to the famous waterfall there, Svartifoss, named the black falls for all of the black rock surrounding it. The views from the falls was spectacular, glaciers, snow capped mountains and the ocean. 


We decided not to camp over night and carry on driving the 5 hour journey back to town, just in case the volcanic cloud closed the road. As the police car approached us, we thought we would be forced to camp. However, it wasn´t about the ash at all, rather Terry getting a speeding ticket for 37,000isk! He was driving along the road, no other cars for miles, one every 30 minutes, driving 119kms in a 90km zone and bam, 200 pounds lighter or he was given the option of 4 days in Jail! We were very annoyed, our friend had just recently been beaten badly in an attack in Reykavik and the guys who did it got let out the very next day with no charges but Terry was to go to jail for 4 days for a speeding ticket on the most open road you could get!

The cloud covered the road so badly that visability was poor on the way back. The car was covered in ash when we finally could breathe again and the sunset gave us an impressive evening view at 11pm. We slept in the car overnight and drove the car back to the rental company this morning to find out about our flight.


Here´s hoping we get to come home tomorrow!

Days and Nights

Days don't turn into night early in Iceland. Darkness falls around 11.30pm and the sun comes out to play around 4am. Its May. In the summer they have even less darkness here. It takes a lot more to fill your days here, days go on for so long you are eating dinner at 10pm and still walking the town at 11pm. The long days and short nights have exhausted my body, I feel so tired and incomplete. So today, after saying bye to our nights sleeping on a stone floor with our host Kevin we decided to check into a hotel and relax. The Capital Inn for 23 pounds a night. Terry has treated himself to another session at the Blue Lagoon and I have stayed in the room recuperating from the past few days.


The last few days have been filled with even more amazement. The volcanic country is unexplored and sometimes forgotten by travellers on their holiday picks. We stumbled accross a large volcanic crater when we were heading towards a lush waterfall. Its depth and length shocked us from our cores as we stood saluting mother nature. The reds and greens of the crater edges and the turquoise blue of the water that had dropped into its centre were as ever impressive with nothing by gray clouds surrounding it. We trekked down the crater to the bottom and sat wondering when and why the earth exploded here. Terry collected hundreds of beautiful rocks and lava and we drove on to our next destination. The town of Hverageroisbear, just 45 kms from the capital city of Reykavik is steaming with geothermal activity. We drove as far as we could down a gravel path to the hillside that overshadows the small town. As you looked up, the greens of the mountains, the blue of the sky and the white of the steam rising from the earth was a sight you could only ever imagine. We trekked up for 4 hours following only a yellow stick every 1000 metres or so. Following waterfalls and hot (unprotected) geothermal mud pools, we were on our way to an 'not even the locals know about it' hot pool. After hours of excitement with our surroundings we arrived to the beautiful river stream. The massive crater of boiling water was just above us as we bathed in the stream of hot water. The wind was rushing through the land as we stripped off our clothes and put on our bathing suits before resting in earth's water. A well deserved break. 

After hiking back, we drove through the town and to the road leading through the mountains to Reykavik. However, the cloud had come over the land so low that the mountain could not be seen at all. The road had disappeared in front of us and a police car blocked the entrance due to an earlier accident between a car and an ambulance trying to save the car. The fog was so bad. We waiting for a few hours until it was safe to pass. In England we would still not have been allowed to drive, but Terry attempted the drive slowly, up and through the mountain pass with only minimal visibility. 


Yesterday, we drove over 400kms around the west coast of Iceland to the national park of Snaefellsjokull which covers the coast line and the mountains. Truly unbelievable scenery, from moulten lava landscapes, to snow capped mountains, to glaciers, to waterfalls and to the ocean. We followed a dog to the top of an amazing waterfall and ate our lunch to the sounds of silence overlooking the epic mountains above. 


With extreme weather conditions, mars like scenery and hot spa pools whether you look, Iceland has it all for anyone interested in geology. 

Incredible Iceland

After a 7 hour flight from Vancouver to Reykavik, Iceland, we arrived. We pick up our very old car, after spending 2,000ISK on a taxi ride from the airport...ouch we thought, this country is expensive. The car, a little on the elderly side, was cheap and cheapful and we were excited to explore the barren land of Iceland. The fog was intense as we drove towards the city centre, so bad that we had to slow down to a minimal to see the road.

We drove to our couchsurfing hosts place, Kevin from USA and settled in, shattered and excited for our trip, Kevin is studying soils and telecommunications here and has recently trekked to the eruption site with incredible pictures for evidence. Unfortunately, Kevin's place is a one bedroom studio so we are couchsurfing floor style but it works out well enough.

Our first day was spent in the famous Blue Lagoon, the must do thing in Iceland. A large area of geothermal steam and water which actually is the waste recycled from the local geothermal power plant. The spa, was incredible, lush turquiose blue coloured hot water with mud all over the pool bed. We covered ourselves in mud and relaxed in the water for hours. Thoroughly deserved and required. Relaxed and daydreaming about our surroundings, we were very quiet the next 45kms into town until the car woke us up with a chudder,chudder and yes you guessed it, we broke down....luckily our car rental place rescued us after asking a local Icelandic girl to call the company for us and describe where we were!

After a sound sleep, and a trip to the local supermarket for food, day 2 arrived. Today was epic. Iceland is epic. We drove through incredible and unbelievable landscapes, lava covered views with mountains rising through the clouds. The weather was cloudy and raining, but it didnt scupper our enthusiasm for the day. We visited all the usual tourist spots, the fault line between north america and europe, the geysir that explodes every 10 minutes high into the sky, the largest waterfall in Iceland with epic proportions, geothermal activity everywhere we looked, mountains and volcanoes and some extremely old viking ruins. A long, 300kms drive round trip and worth every km. The landscape is incredible and something that everyone should see. What a country.

Motherland Calling

'Attention all passengers, we would like to remind you there is no smoking anywhere in the airport.' Yes you heard it, we are sitting in Sea-Tac Seattle International Airport ready to depart for our flight. Im watching the planes rise above the ground to the sky for their destinations, whilst chatting to Tel's mum about her plans to head back to the UK from Nigeria.

We gave Vancouver as long as we could, we tried to get work with no avail and attempted to see our futures in the city anyone would love to call home. We also just had news from home that the seizures I experienced in Bolivia and Thailand are more than just random and was actually told I have epilepsy. So all signs pointing back to the motherland. We met some amazing friends and had a great party life for the time we were there, trekking mountains, watching waterfalls, jumping into glacier fed water, eating dinner at midnight, joining in on the international 420 experience and playing yhatzee whilst choosing from 218 flavours of ice cream.

Our couchsurfing experiences were incredible, we met people that we will always call friends and will miss sadly. The beautiful Cici de Groot, (who looks like a drug dealer lol), brought up searching for gold and still searching through her spiritual side finding out her meaning to life. The blonde Aussie Mat who is living the high live in Vancouver and Hawaii, massaging his way through the next few years and Jen and Jena, two great girls who understand the travelling mentality and are uper cool to hang with. Spontaneous people who are ready to party at any time or day.

Vancouver was an epic experience and one we will never forget. Its the city of happiness, and friendship. In Vancouver, you feel free and spacious, you feel equal and not afraid. Everyone wants to help you and care for you. Cars would stop on a dual carriage way just to let us cross the road. Bus drivers would let us on for free and tell us what to do all day. People on the bus would sit by us just to hear how we are and how our lives are panning out. The subway wasn't controlled so many a times you ride just based on the trust of the government that you paid your fare.The kindness and happiness felt in Vancouver, with constant views of snow cap mountains is something special and something Canadians should really feel proud of. There is definitely a shortage of its kind.

However, a place can only work out if you have the money to sustain your travel. Maybe for us, we came to realise that its time to grow up a little, get serious, realise that you cannot travel forever on a tiny budget, maybe we finally realised that 2010 is the year that we need to get a career and a place to settle down. The women in me thinks this anyway (the emotional side of me that tried to squeeze its way through the excitement of having my backpack on my back), the other and maybe more realistic part of my brain, shudders at these expectations. Who tells you that getting a job and a house is the right way to live your live? Who tells you that travelling and experiencing new things everyday has to be only temporary? I guess money guides everything and without it, you cannot do either and maybe a mixture of both is the way to go.

So after two days of Seattle, more partying with friends  and a spontaneous visit from our amazing Aussie mate, Mat and couchsurfing in a castle, we are travelling back to the motherland, via a sneaky week in Iceland. The latest volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajökull has to be our last foreign experience for a while!


We are both excited to live the UK life for a while, but hey with us nothing can ever be permanent. 


'There is never a right or wrong, just a bunch of experiences' - Mathew Smith, living on a boat in Vancouver Harbour.