It’s a small world in Iceland

Shirley Lui a Canadian and, until two weeks ago, a Bermudian resident, is now circling the globe trying to decide where to land with her fiance. Before she departed our 21-square-mile shores, however, Shirley spent a little time in another, Northern island – Iceland. And while it may be bigger than Bermuda she found familiar faces on the journey. Here is here travel log:

Iceland.  Why Iceland?  There are many countries on my list of places I want to visit in Europe, but Iceland never occurred to me until I received a Save the Date for a friend’s wedding almost a year and a half ago.  She was going to have a destination wedding in Iceland in June 2010.  What better opportunity to go visit this island?

We booked a self drive 9 night /10 day tour of the country after the wedding weekend in Budir, 2 hours northwest of Reykjavik.  Not being familiar with Iceland and how easy it would be to find accommodation outside the capital city, I booked the tour with Icelandic Farm Holidays (http://www.farmholidays.is/) which is an association of approx. 150 farmhouses around the country.

A little tired from the 4 hour red-eye flight from Toronto, my first impression of the island upon landing was that it was purple…everywhere….there are lupines all over the country.  Even some mountains were purple.

The bus ride to Budir was scenic, ocean on the left and mountains on the right.  We arrived at the quaint Hotel Budir shortly after 2pm and started exploring the property.  Budir, situated on the snaefellsnes peninsula, was stunning – we were surrounded by lava fields and yellow beaches.    Our first night was spent meeting the other guests that have flown in from all over and getting used to the midnight sun…the sun sets around midnight and rises around 3am…but it never gets dark!  Some even went for a middle of the night hike to nearby waterfalls.

The wedding ceremony was held outdoors in the lava fields and was absolutely beautiful.   Everyone had a blast and celebrated all night long under the midnight sun.  Check out the photos at: http://100layercake.com/blog/archives/7436 and http://kylehale.net/blog/2010/07/19/christina-mark-budir-iceland/

Once we returned to Reykjavik, we picked up rental car and began our 10 day roadtrip.  A week before we arrived in Iceland, we found out that a friend of ours from Vancouver just happened to be vacationing in Reykjavik for a month; naturally, the more the merrier on a road trip, so he joined us for first few days of the trip.

Gullfoss, part of the Golden Circle (the other 2 sites making up theGolden Circle are Thingvellir and Geysir)

We toured the island following the Ring Road heading in a counter-clockwise direction.  The landscape and climate in each part of the country was so distinct that driving was never boring.   In the course of one day, we’d see a rift valley (Thingvellir), geysirs, and waterfalls and still have time for late night hike through Smoke Valley (Reykdalur) to bathe in steaming rivers.

Geothermal ponds at Geysir

Icelandic people love their nature baths, they are everywhere around the island and perfect after a day of hiking and exploring or something to do on a rainy day.   Although Iceland is a much larger island than Bermuda, some things still the same; on a couple of occasions we ran into travellers we met at guesthouses at some point earlier in the trip in the opposite side of the island or at the airport.

Traffic Tango

Guy with Goats in Hanoi

Why do I have to honk for Jesus? Let’s just say that I did believe in Jesus and I took my eyes away from the road to read your sign. And lets say the car in front of me came to a screeching halt.

Would I be honking for Jesus or visiting him?

Why am I on this rant? And what has it got to do with my Friday Photo of the week?

If you haven’t been following my daily blogs I’ll let you know that I have been working in an office for the past two weeks. I’ve made lots of friends. The fax machine hates me. The computer won’t turn on. I constantly forget the mail.

But the worst part? The commute in the morning. And that is even after I recognize that I live on a 21-square-mile island.

But recognize this: I ride a motorbike. It’s hot. It’s even worse with the car exhaust belting out behind the line of vehicles desperate to drop-off their passengers.

To top it off I now have to face a group of religious zealots standing on the entrance to the capital of Bermuda telling me to honk for Jesus. Somehow mixing religion and exhaust doesn’t really work for me.

And what is the point? What is the point of honking for Jesus? Are you trying to “OUT” the religious? Is Jesus really going to feel chuffed that he’s being honked at?

Do girls walking by construction sites enjoy being heckled?

To all these questions the answer is NO. (Ok maybe some girls do, but you get my point).

So why the photo? Well as I rant and rave and try to expel fumes from my lungs I try to remember that other places in the world (i.e. Vietnam) have worse traffic issues than Bermuda. Visit my photo pages for more views of Vietnam than just the traffic.

I have to remember almost a year ago I was taking overnight bus rides where I would get an hour of sleep. Then I was expelled onto a street in the middle of nowhere Hanoi, Vietnam.

Vietnam Traffic Cops

My only choice? Accept the lift of a hotel tout on his motorbike during their rush hour. This entailed meandering through guys with goats, police officers who looked ready to shoot, noodle sellers scrounging-up breakfast and coating myself in black exhaust.

I finally arrived at the hotel and immediately got a shower. Now I arrive in the office and try to recover with a cup of coffee.

And when I look at these photos I remember the difficulty last year. And I calm-down. Maybe Bermuda’s rush hour’s not so bad. Maybe I could get through it….if I wasn’t told to honk for Jesus!