I'm sitting here at my computer tonight chuckling as I remember all the people I've met and memories I've made so far. It's been funny to see people's reactions when they find out I'm 29 years old. Most of the people I've met on my journey have been in their late teens or early 20's, and you'd think to them that 29 is the end of time. :) One girl in particular had the best outburst of "WHAAAAAT?!?! You're HOW old?!?! ... No way! I totally thought you were like 23 or 24." I've gotten a range of 23-28 for my age, but most people seem to guess 24-25. I'll take that!!! I was once 24...5 years ago... :)
I've also gotten other compliments. Some people think I'm from Scandinavia (Hello! Scandinavian women are gorgeous! I'll take that compliment and thank you very much!), that I'm a good traveler, and that I look like I'm in the military (?). My taxi driver here in Amsterdam told me multiple times that I'm strong to carry all my luggage and then asked me if I was in the military..."are you a soldier?" No, I'm not, but I'm going to take that to mean that you think I look like I'm in shape. Thank you very much, random cab driver. :)
I'm in Amsterdam now. After finishing my time in York, I took a train to London, ran around London seeing all the sites I missed before, and then flew to Iceland. Iceland is absolutely amazing! I'm really glad I splurged for the tickets. I landed around 11pm, and it was still light out! I got there the day after the solstice, so the sun never set once while I was there. There were all night hikes on Friday that I know several people from the hostel went on. Icelanders really take advantage of the sunlight when they have it. It was pure insanity...
My first day consisted of the typical solo traveler things: buying groceries, doing laundry in the sink, planning my next 3 days in Iceland, meeting new people. I also got to explore the city of Reykjavik for a bit that first day. Reykjavik is my kind of place...only 200,000 people. Heck - Iceland is my kind of place. The whole island only has 300,000 people. After London, this was very much welcomed. My hostel was a swanky new hostel right on the water, so I could watch the sun pretend to set, hover on the horizon for several hours, and then go back up higher in the sky the next day. I met an ex-pat named Steve who lives in The Hague now, so we rented a car my second day and drove up the coast for awhile. A long while, actually. Because you have infinite sun, it's easy to stretch the days pretty far. We left around 11 am and returned at 1am. It was absolutely beautiful seeing the snowy glaciers, jagged volcanoes, dramatic coastlines, and beautiful waterfalls. I took a crazy amount of pictures, and we had a blast exploring and hiking around.
The next day I rented a car with 4 other people - Peter from NY, Brandon from Atlanta, Joe from California, and Nadine from Germany. We drove over to the "Golden Circle" which consists of the world's first known parliament, geysers, and an amazing waterfall. The parliament area was actually pretty interesting. Basically, there was a rock that someone used to get up on and shout out all the new "laws" to people. It's on the continental divide, so there was a great ledge behind him that helped to echo his words out to the people. They also had festivals during the time. This was around 900AD. That site also holds the first Christian church in Iceland. On our way around to the geysers and waterfall we decided to exchange e-mails, so what did I do? I took a copy of our rental agreement and divided the back out into 5 separate slips of paper with places for each of us to write on 4 of them. I know...so organized. Peter gave me one of my best compliments so far by saying that I'll make a great teacher, thinking on my feet and being so organized. :)
My last day in Iceland was spent at the Blue Lagoon. This is a thermal bath area outside of the city. It was very nice and relaxing. They have these mud masks you can put on your face, so you sort of just laze around for awhile in nice, hot water and then go to a mud mask station to put a mask on your face and then laze around some more. I was also able to snag a 20 minute massage, and that whole experience still has me laughing. Ten minutes before my massage, I went to the waiting area. Walking towards me through the steaming water and under a bridge was quite possibly the most ripped man I have ever seen. He had bleach blonde hair, and I'm going to call him Sven from now on. Truthfully I didn't catch his name, because I couldn't stop staring at his chest. He was my masseuse! For 20 blissful minutes I laid on a mat in the water with a hot, wet blanket over me while he rubbed my back, neck, scalp, face, and feet. It was glorious. I couldn't stop smiling. :)
And then it all went downhill...well, that's a bit dramatic, but let me explain. I had an early morning flight to Amsterdam to meet my friend Cara for this week, and I ended up with a nasty respiratory infection. I am one big, coughing, snotty mess right now. I know...attractive. :) I've pretty much spent the last 3 days in bed while she's gone off exploring and then reports back to me what she's done. We then go out for lunch or dinner (depending on when I've gotten out of bed), walk around for a little, and then come back to the hotel for the evening. I've also run into some language barriers at the local pharmacy. What do you mean Sudafed's not registered in the Netherlands? That seems a little odd considering all the things that are legal here...
I did get to go see the Anne Frank Huis on my first day here, though, and that was one of the main things I wanted to do. I've managed to see a lot of Amsterdam just by walking around for a few hours each day, but it feels like I haven't really DONE much here. I haven't been to any of the other museums, and the worst part is that I was REALLY looking forward to volunteering with the Salvation Army while I was here. I had to cancel my Wednesday appointment and see if he had any opportunities Friday or Saturday, but it didn't end up working out. Major bummer. :( On the plus side, though, Cara and I have had some good, quality time to hang out, which we don't seem to find time to do when we're both at home...in Madison...together. Instead we have to fly halfway around the world to spend time together. :) So that's been great...oh, and she brought me breakfast the past 2 mornings and my book while I was soaking in the bathtub last night. It's nice to have someone take care of you every once in awhile.
But I'm getting antsy. Surprising, I know. :) Cara leaves tomorrow, and Elsa comes in for a "friend swap" at the airport. Elsa and I then take off for Cologne, Germany for 2 days. We don't have anything entirely official planned for after that. Maybe the Black Forest....maybe Munich...maybe Interlaken...who knows?!?! I just know that she's bringing me Sudafed and cough drops and for that I will be eternally thankful. :)
Love and miss you all!
I've also gotten other compliments. Some people think I'm from Scandinavia (Hello! Scandinavian women are gorgeous! I'll take that compliment and thank you very much!), that I'm a good traveler, and that I look like I'm in the military (?). My taxi driver here in Amsterdam told me multiple times that I'm strong to carry all my luggage and then asked me if I was in the military..."are you a soldier?" No, I'm not, but I'm going to take that to mean that you think I look like I'm in shape. Thank you very much, random cab driver. :)
I'm in Amsterdam now. After finishing my time in York, I took a train to London, ran around London seeing all the sites I missed before, and then flew to Iceland. Iceland is absolutely amazing! I'm really glad I splurged for the tickets. I landed around 11pm, and it was still light out! I got there the day after the solstice, so the sun never set once while I was there. There were all night hikes on Friday that I know several people from the hostel went on. Icelanders really take advantage of the sunlight when they have it. It was pure insanity...
My first day consisted of the typical solo traveler things: buying groceries, doing laundry in the sink, planning my next 3 days in Iceland, meeting new people. I also got to explore the city of Reykjavik for a bit that first day. Reykjavik is my kind of place...only 200,000 people. Heck - Iceland is my kind of place. The whole island only has 300,000 people. After London, this was very much welcomed. My hostel was a swanky new hostel right on the water, so I could watch the sun pretend to set, hover on the horizon for several hours, and then go back up higher in the sky the next day. I met an ex-pat named Steve who lives in The Hague now, so we rented a car my second day and drove up the coast for awhile. A long while, actually. Because you have infinite sun, it's easy to stretch the days pretty far. We left around 11 am and returned at 1am. It was absolutely beautiful seeing the snowy glaciers, jagged volcanoes, dramatic coastlines, and beautiful waterfalls. I took a crazy amount of pictures, and we had a blast exploring and hiking around.
The next day I rented a car with 4 other people - Peter from NY, Brandon from Atlanta, Joe from California, and Nadine from Germany. We drove over to the "Golden Circle" which consists of the world's first known parliament, geysers, and an amazing waterfall. The parliament area was actually pretty interesting. Basically, there was a rock that someone used to get up on and shout out all the new "laws" to people. It's on the continental divide, so there was a great ledge behind him that helped to echo his words out to the people. They also had festivals during the time. This was around 900AD. That site also holds the first Christian church in Iceland. On our way around to the geysers and waterfall we decided to exchange e-mails, so what did I do? I took a copy of our rental agreement and divided the back out into 5 separate slips of paper with places for each of us to write on 4 of them. I know...so organized. Peter gave me one of my best compliments so far by saying that I'll make a great teacher, thinking on my feet and being so organized. :)
My last day in Iceland was spent at the Blue Lagoon. This is a thermal bath area outside of the city. It was very nice and relaxing. They have these mud masks you can put on your face, so you sort of just laze around for awhile in nice, hot water and then go to a mud mask station to put a mask on your face and then laze around some more. I was also able to snag a 20 minute massage, and that whole experience still has me laughing. Ten minutes before my massage, I went to the waiting area. Walking towards me through the steaming water and under a bridge was quite possibly the most ripped man I have ever seen. He had bleach blonde hair, and I'm going to call him Sven from now on. Truthfully I didn't catch his name, because I couldn't stop staring at his chest. He was my masseuse! For 20 blissful minutes I laid on a mat in the water with a hot, wet blanket over me while he rubbed my back, neck, scalp, face, and feet. It was glorious. I couldn't stop smiling. :)
And then it all went downhill...well, that's a bit dramatic, but let me explain. I had an early morning flight to Amsterdam to meet my friend Cara for this week, and I ended up with a nasty respiratory infection. I am one big, coughing, snotty mess right now. I know...attractive. :) I've pretty much spent the last 3 days in bed while she's gone off exploring and then reports back to me what she's done. We then go out for lunch or dinner (depending on when I've gotten out of bed), walk around for a little, and then come back to the hotel for the evening. I've also run into some language barriers at the local pharmacy. What do you mean Sudafed's not registered in the Netherlands? That seems a little odd considering all the things that are legal here...
I did get to go see the Anne Frank Huis on my first day here, though, and that was one of the main things I wanted to do. I've managed to see a lot of Amsterdam just by walking around for a few hours each day, but it feels like I haven't really DONE much here. I haven't been to any of the other museums, and the worst part is that I was REALLY looking forward to volunteering with the Salvation Army while I was here. I had to cancel my Wednesday appointment and see if he had any opportunities Friday or Saturday, but it didn't end up working out. Major bummer. :( On the plus side, though, Cara and I have had some good, quality time to hang out, which we don't seem to find time to do when we're both at home...in Madison...together. Instead we have to fly halfway around the world to spend time together. :) So that's been great...oh, and she brought me breakfast the past 2 mornings and my book while I was soaking in the bathtub last night. It's nice to have someone take care of you every once in awhile.
But I'm getting antsy. Surprising, I know. :) Cara leaves tomorrow, and Elsa comes in for a "friend swap" at the airport. Elsa and I then take off for Cologne, Germany for 2 days. We don't have anything entirely official planned for after that. Maybe the Black Forest....maybe Munich...maybe Interlaken...who knows?!?! I just know that she's bringing me Sudafed and cough drops and for that I will be eternally thankful. :)
Love and miss you all!
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