Iceland: Summer 2013 - Written by Helen

Last summer I went to Iceland for 3 weeks, and without sounding all soppy, it honestly changed my life. As this was 9 months ago now and so much happened in 3 weeks, I’ll pick my highlights and keep it brief!

The rainbow line and the busy icecream shop :)

We started our 3weeks with a couple of days in Reykjavik. We explored the city from our conveniently located hostel. We did the Golden Circle tour. I had done this previously on a school trip, but I wanted to go again. We were part of a very small coach party, and we are even sure we stopped off at the tour guides house at one point! We also went whale watching. We saw whales, dolphins and puffins! We also discovered a rainbow colored line that didn’t go anywhere – we followed it right to the end where it just stopped. But we did find this ice cream shop that always had really long queues despite there being nothing else around to attract people! It was very strange! 

We had a good time in the city, however the main purpose of our time was to volunteer on a carrot farm. This was part of SEEDs (http://www.seeds.is/). The idea is that you volunteer as part of a workcamp with other international volunteers on a farm, in return for free board. Our farm was located near Vik at the bottom of a mountain, which became known as ‘our mountain’. It was this tiny place in the middle of nowhere, the only neighbours being a couple of other farms and vast open space. And it was so quiet. The only noise pollution was from the birds. Our accommodation was very cozy. There was a tiny kitchen, one bathroom, one sofa, three bedrooms and one small dining table. But it was all we needed. 

Our Mountain

At the weekends we got to travel around the area, so all 8 of us squashed into a 5 seater car. We went to a swimming pool located in the mountains heated by warm spring water. The changing rooms were old shacks with broken glass on the floor and no lights. It was amazing! We then set off in search of a plane wreck. We went to a waterfall, one of many throughout our trip! We travelled off-road over dunes until we found this plane in the middle of nowhere. It was just us there. We had a great time climbing on the plane.

Waterfall!

 On the Sunday we joined another work camp. We visited an arch (geography!) and a lighthouse. We then went to a black sand beach with basalt columns which was so cool. However there were so many people on the beach, it was a shame. We visited Vik, which is a really small town. At 5 o clock(ish) we decided to drive to Laki, a volcano. We got to the bottom of the volcano after seeing no civilization for ages, and there were public toilets! Of all places! We got to the summit at 9 o clock at night. We hadn’t eaten tea and the sun still hadn’t set. It was the most stunning thing ever. If you ever want to know what sublime feels like, you need to have an experience like that. To make it better I was sharing it with people that I had only known for 5 days (apart from Alice).  We got home at midnight, and I went to bed without dinner. I was starving when I woke up!

Arch!

Basalt Colomns!

Volcano Selfie :)

Hay Bales

Our work on the farm included gardening. We weren’t really sure what we were doing but it looked good by the end of the week. We also got to help in the carrot fields. It was really great fun! We were clearing the plastic sheeting and the hoops. However, it was upsetting as there were no carrots to pick because there had been a bad season. We also tied and labeled hay bales. Our afternoons were often free to do what we wanted.  We went swimming in the sea one evening and it was so cold!! Alice and I climbed the mountain behind the farm at one point. It was an amazing view but it was very hard work to climb and showed how unfit we were! One evening we had an ‘international evening’ where we tried foods from different nationalities. This included sheeps head and dried fish – which tastes great with butter! On one of the nights we were allowed into the farmers house to watch a movie with popcorn. It was so nice of the farmers to give up their house for us! They were the best, hospitable farmers I have ever met. They cared for us all like their children. 

My Host Family

Selfie on top of our mountain

Sunset on Heimaey

The second weekend we went to Heimaey. It was a fantastic trip! We climbed the mountain behind the campsite. It was a long way up, but it had a fantastic view! And the weather was lovely! Very hot! We then found a secluded beach with jellyfish. It was incredible. The water was very cold! Dinner was an interesting occurrence as we cooking for 8 people is never the easiest thing to do! We had to smash the tins open because we forgot our tin opener! We then climbed another volcano at 10 o clock at night. We watched the sun set and it was amazing. Geography is the best thing ever! We then went to a bar which was weird  because Alice and I were underage at the time. The buildings on Heimaey were all different, which added to the character of the place. We ended up in this extremely weird shop. It was like an American diner that had pick and mix sweets with car parts and a garage that sold take away food and ice cream. Back at the camp site, eerie music was playing. It was very surreal. I didn’t get much sleep as I was cold, and I woke up every few hours. The next morning we got up and climbed yet another volcano! It was pretty awesome! Hard work to climb, but great views when we got to the top. We then visited a lava field, which was one of the newest pieces of land in Iceland. The caves were pretty impressive. However on the way back it rained heavily, and we got extremely wet! 

Heimaey

After the camp had finished, Alice and I returned to Reykjavík, where we visited the Blue Lagoon – this was my 3^rd trip to the blue lagoon. It was nice to take the time to relax there. We experienced a lovely sunset whilst in the city on our last night. We went right to the sea front to see then sun set. It was a brilliant end to a fantastic trip. In the morning of the last day we visited a viewing platform to see the city one last time.

Viking Boat Sunset

I have never wanted a plane not to take off so much in my life. When we returned to England we were greeted with a thunder storm. Welcome home.

I started this trip with a lot of insecurities and anxieties, and liking to have things planned. However, by the end of the trip, although I still liked to plan, I learnt to let go and just go with it! I continue to live by this philosophy. I lived in pretty much in isolation from the rest of the world for 3 weeks, with no more than 18 people in my life. I updated my Facebook status once to let my parents know I was still alive, and that was it. Life was simple, and I learnt to appreciate it more. It was honestly the happiest I’ve ever been. It gave me the travelling bug! I would recommend this trip it to everyone. 

Get out there. Experience life. Visit the world. Make friends. Change your life.