Wanderlust Wednesday: Iceland

Yes - ICELAND.

I never thought much about Iceland until I met a girl named Vera when I worked at Quiksilver in London. She was Icelandic. And the most beautiful person I'd ever seen in real life! Perfect skin, tall, gorgeous hair, bright blue eyes and perfect pink lips. Not fair. After that i figured Iceland must produce perfect people (i'm pretty sure i'm correct on this one),

Until a few weeks ago, i didn't know much about Iceland except for the models they create. But Matt, my boyfriend, just took a 11 day boys adventure trip there and he's filled me in on everything else.

I missed him, yes. But I think my feelings of jealousy outweighed the missing-him part.

I am just going to highlight some of the reasons I personally want to go there.

we will just call this reason#1-5

Perfect people and perfect scenery? Is this real life? The beauty is certainly the selling point for me in Iceland. There are a handful of places i've been in my life that have truly taken my breath away, and I have a small feeling that Iceland will be up there in the ranks of incredible.

Here's a few more photos the boys sent me from their trek:

glaciers

sunsets

mars?

rivers

water falls

more glaciers....

aaaaaaand more waterfalls.

Photo credit to Jacob Blaze, Jeremy Stanley and Matthew Olson.

I am going to be honest... I cannot remember which one of these things is in which place. So i'm not going to butcher the crazy names!

Another thing that intrigues me about Iceland is that it's temperate. Which means even though the northernmost point is 3nautical miles from the ARTIC CIRCLE, it is very mild - 50's-70's in summer, 30's-50's in winter. That is more like it. I never liked anything below 20 or above 80, anyway.

Unlike American tourist destinations, Iceland is still very untouched and very uncharted. This means that there are no signs telling you not to get near the waterfall. You can go as close to that waterfall as you want (i'll stay back, thanks, but still a fun option!) - note the last photo posted above.

Iceland also is a very healthy place, the water is delicious (i've heard) and you don't need to filter it at all. There is almost no air pollution because all of their power is generated by hydro electricity. Fish served in restaurants is all locally caught. Very different from American life and most of European culture.

Most people live in Reykjavik, and then small pockets of people live elsewhere. The Westfjords are the most untouched place in Iceland. The northwest corner of the country is made up of multiple peninsulas that are covered with extreme terrain. They are also only lead to by gravel roads (offroading, it is!) so you need the right kind of car! A lot of the crazy pictures above (Mars, etc) were taken in the Westfjords. They are probably my top choice to visit in the country.

Other notable sites in Iceland:

- northermost point. 3 miles from the Arctic Circle (Grimsey, north east side of the island)

- the Northern Lights. Only show up from September - April, when tourism is actually quite slow. Check your calendar to coordinate.

- the Blue Lagoon. A natural hot spring (which there are many around the country). I have been to a Blue Lagoon in the Mediterranean Sea as well... apparently Blue Lagoons are pretty popular to have.

- more waterfalls, puffins, and glaciers than your heart can handle. Oh yeah, and rainbows. With all of those waterfalls around, it's going to happen. Pot of gold, anyone?

This is certainly on my list of to-do travel locations. I have also been promised by a certain boyfriend that we will go one day. I figured i'd post it on this blog so if he claims to forget, you all can back me up :)

Has anyone been to Iceland? I'd love to hear your stories!

xo