Trip- 4/15-4/25- ESCAPE FROM ICELAND Part 1
Posted: Wed 28th Apr 2010 01:25 pm
EDIT: Added a LOT of stuff.
Well, I wasn't able to make any of the 4/20 festivities. Nor did I get any good bud porn for you guys. I am sorry.
However, I do have a story that is pretty sweet.
So, here goes.
My original plan was to spend two days in Iceland, check out the pub crawl, ride a horse, see some sights, etc. Then to Amsterdam for the 4/20 festivities, then on that Friday(4/23) head over to Belgium for a festival. While in Amsterdam I was going to hang out with the people from here and the Grow Report forums.
This was my first trip outside of North America.
My Iceland trip started pretty typically. Nice flight over, watched a movie, got into town early. I was told that I could store my luggage there and I had a few hours to kill, so I went downtown and saw the church with some houses.
I got inside and took some good pics of THE CHURCH.
Then I found out about...THE VOLCANO
That t-shirt, btw, was made less than 24 hours after the airports started closing. Icelanders move fast with the hip shirts, yo.
So time passed and I relaxed, got some hip "Euro food"
And went horseback riding.
Now a word on the Icelandic horse. They are small and cute(the one below is the one I rode) but they can be willfull and have a twisted sense of humor. The horse below decided to run my leg into a metal pole and, right as I was taking a great landscape shot, put her head under my arm and bust up the shot.
And then Friday night came around. I thought about not going out. I don't quite "blend" and at 105 kilos I'm not anywhere near as thin or attractive as the people I was seeing every day, like these people, for example.
Now, before I go on. A note on Icelanders. I am of the firm opinion that they keep their average and unattractive people in an underground complex somewhere in the middle of the country. Seriously. Not all of them look like that but most of them do. Also, that pic was taken not for the girls, but the black guy. For a dear friend I was challenged to find the black guy in Iceland and take his picture. I did so. I win.
So, I ambled along and found what was to be my home base for both nights of the pub crawl.
Now for the drunken conversations.
I was sitting at one of the tables, minding my own business, drinking my beer and contemplating my week and this girl comes up to me.
Tiny, blonde, blue eyed, and, like around 85% of the ladies I met, almost physically perfect.
So we chatted for a few minutes, she told me how Icelandic girls are not, in fact, sluts. Unlike other areas of the world, where a girl meets a guy, they date, and then eventually they have sex, in Iceland, it seems they do the opposite. Guy and girl meet, they have sex, THEN they date. I don't know how true this is, but that is what she said. I also found out that she was 18, has had 3 BFs, started having sex when she was 13, cab fare from her home costs around 3000 krona, she wants to go to law school, and that they don't have universities in Iceland. I also found out(by demonstration) that the native liquor(brennivin) is much better when drank with a lemon chaser.
What was I thinking during all of this? "Wow. She's pretty. And young. What in the hell is going on here?"
Then she had to go to the water closet, ran into her best friend(whom she introduced me to when I went to get another beer) and then she vanished into the Icelandic mist.
More drinking happened(LOTS more, I lost count at 10, especially as in Iceland, they do pub crawls differently. Icelanders have no problem with lifting a drink right out of your hand and taking a nice big drink out of it. Also, as the night progresses, drinks get mixed up and because of this one beer can actually become around 5 or 6 beers. Lastly, Icelanders will tend to offer you their beer for a drink or three.)
I woke up and was dreadfully hung over so I went to my first, great and undying Icelandic love.
The public pool.
Now, everything I did in Iceland ended with, "and then I went to the pool". Horseback riding, then pool. Pub crawl, then pool. Might be denied Amsterdam, then pool.
The reason for this goes like this. It costs around $3 US. That gives you a long shower, soap, unlimited time in the hot pools, really hot pools, and the steam room. I even got into a game of water basketball.
Now onto the next drunken conversation(and the end of part one of ESCAPE FROM ICELAND).
I was sitting in the same bar on Saturday and decided to get a drink and this guy decided to start chatting with me and immediately announced that I was an American.
My blood ran cold. I had been MADE. Next thing you know he'll realize I'm a cannabis user and start thinking that I'm going to attempt to destroy the country and take his women. I scanned for the exit. I could fight it out I could do this(all this happened in the space of one breath).
Then I found out that he LOVED America and HATED Iceland. He introduced me to his attractive(obviously) Icelandic GF and I was with them for the majority of the evening. My name became Thomas(which it wasn't) and I was from California(which I'm not). We went to another pub and then after awhile longer they vanished into the Icelandic fog.
I found out Saturday that my flight had been cancelled due to THE VOLCANO but that I might have other flights on Monday.
I was quite sad but tried to cope and took a walk. It was when I was taking this walk that it hit me.
The idea for my book. All at once. Plot, world outline, characters, everything. Very basically. Magic is real, demons are real, WWII happened but was much more lethal(killing 3 billion people), and the protagonist is a tragic hero who gets part of his soul ripped out and has to save the world.
I went into my small room at the Salvation Army hostel and started writing and got down 13 pages written, the world description(including history) and the outline.
The next day(Monday) I went to the airport to see what they had for me.
I was given two choices at the airport. I could go home, stay in Iceland, or fly to Oslo, Norway and travel via land to Amsterdam.
I thought about it for about 10 minutes but the choice was obvious.
If I went home they wouldn't refund my ticket for the part I couldn't use.
If I stayed in Iceland I would either get alcohol poisoning during the next pub crawl OR I would end up trying to hit on the locals(not all of them look like that but a lot of them do.) Hitting on the locals was NOT AN OPTION. My pride would not allow me to be one of those guys who travels to another country and hits on the locals.
So I went all in. Amsterdam OR BUST!
Part 2 will come later.
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands...in 36 hours!
Cannabis smoking!
Insanely attractive French and Dutch girls!
People in odd costumes!
More cannabis smoking!
A ferris wheel!
AND MORE!
Well, I wasn't able to make any of the 4/20 festivities. Nor did I get any good bud porn for you guys. I am sorry.
However, I do have a story that is pretty sweet.
So, here goes.
My original plan was to spend two days in Iceland, check out the pub crawl, ride a horse, see some sights, etc. Then to Amsterdam for the 4/20 festivities, then on that Friday(4/23) head over to Belgium for a festival. While in Amsterdam I was going to hang out with the people from here and the Grow Report forums.
This was my first trip outside of North America.
My Iceland trip started pretty typically. Nice flight over, watched a movie, got into town early. I was told that I could store my luggage there and I had a few hours to kill, so I went downtown and saw the church with some houses.
I got inside and took some good pics of THE CHURCH.
Then I found out about...THE VOLCANO
That t-shirt, btw, was made less than 24 hours after the airports started closing. Icelanders move fast with the hip shirts, yo.
So time passed and I relaxed, got some hip "Euro food"
And went horseback riding.
Now a word on the Icelandic horse. They are small and cute(the one below is the one I rode) but they can be willfull and have a twisted sense of humor. The horse below decided to run my leg into a metal pole and, right as I was taking a great landscape shot, put her head under my arm and bust up the shot.
And then Friday night came around. I thought about not going out. I don't quite "blend" and at 105 kilos I'm not anywhere near as thin or attractive as the people I was seeing every day, like these people, for example.
Now, before I go on. A note on Icelanders. I am of the firm opinion that they keep their average and unattractive people in an underground complex somewhere in the middle of the country. Seriously. Not all of them look like that but most of them do. Also, that pic was taken not for the girls, but the black guy. For a dear friend I was challenged to find the black guy in Iceland and take his picture. I did so. I win.
So, I ambled along and found what was to be my home base for both nights of the pub crawl.
Now for the drunken conversations.
I was sitting at one of the tables, minding my own business, drinking my beer and contemplating my week and this girl comes up to me.
Tiny, blonde, blue eyed, and, like around 85% of the ladies I met, almost physically perfect.
So we chatted for a few minutes, she told me how Icelandic girls are not, in fact, sluts. Unlike other areas of the world, where a girl meets a guy, they date, and then eventually they have sex, in Iceland, it seems they do the opposite. Guy and girl meet, they have sex, THEN they date. I don't know how true this is, but that is what she said. I also found out that she was 18, has had 3 BFs, started having sex when she was 13, cab fare from her home costs around 3000 krona, she wants to go to law school, and that they don't have universities in Iceland. I also found out(by demonstration) that the native liquor(brennivin) is much better when drank with a lemon chaser.
What was I thinking during all of this? "Wow. She's pretty. And young. What in the hell is going on here?"
Then she had to go to the water closet, ran into her best friend(whom she introduced me to when I went to get another beer) and then she vanished into the Icelandic mist.
More drinking happened(LOTS more, I lost count at 10, especially as in Iceland, they do pub crawls differently. Icelanders have no problem with lifting a drink right out of your hand and taking a nice big drink out of it. Also, as the night progresses, drinks get mixed up and because of this one beer can actually become around 5 or 6 beers. Lastly, Icelanders will tend to offer you their beer for a drink or three.)
I woke up and was dreadfully hung over so I went to my first, great and undying Icelandic love.
The public pool.
Now, everything I did in Iceland ended with, "and then I went to the pool". Horseback riding, then pool. Pub crawl, then pool. Might be denied Amsterdam, then pool.
The reason for this goes like this. It costs around $3 US. That gives you a long shower, soap, unlimited time in the hot pools, really hot pools, and the steam room. I even got into a game of water basketball.
Now onto the next drunken conversation(and the end of part one of ESCAPE FROM ICELAND).
I was sitting in the same bar on Saturday and decided to get a drink and this guy decided to start chatting with me and immediately announced that I was an American.
My blood ran cold. I had been MADE. Next thing you know he'll realize I'm a cannabis user and start thinking that I'm going to attempt to destroy the country and take his women. I scanned for the exit. I could fight it out I could do this(all this happened in the space of one breath).
Then I found out that he LOVED America and HATED Iceland. He introduced me to his attractive(obviously) Icelandic GF and I was with them for the majority of the evening. My name became Thomas(which it wasn't) and I was from California(which I'm not). We went to another pub and then after awhile longer they vanished into the Icelandic fog.
I found out Saturday that my flight had been cancelled due to THE VOLCANO but that I might have other flights on Monday.
I was quite sad but tried to cope and took a walk. It was when I was taking this walk that it hit me.
The idea for my book. All at once. Plot, world outline, characters, everything. Very basically. Magic is real, demons are real, WWII happened but was much more lethal(killing 3 billion people), and the protagonist is a tragic hero who gets part of his soul ripped out and has to save the world.
I went into my small room at the Salvation Army hostel and started writing and got down 13 pages written, the world description(including history) and the outline.
The next day(Monday) I went to the airport to see what they had for me.
I was given two choices at the airport. I could go home, stay in Iceland, or fly to Oslo, Norway and travel via land to Amsterdam.
I thought about it for about 10 minutes but the choice was obvious.
If I went home they wouldn't refund my ticket for the part I couldn't use.
If I stayed in Iceland I would either get alcohol poisoning during the next pub crawl OR I would end up trying to hit on the locals(not all of them look like that but a lot of them do.) Hitting on the locals was NOT AN OPTION. My pride would not allow me to be one of those guys who travels to another country and hits on the locals.
So I went all in. Amsterdam OR BUST!
Part 2 will come later.
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands...in 36 hours!
Cannabis smoking!
Insanely attractive French and Dutch girls!
People in odd costumes!
More cannabis smoking!
A ferris wheel!
AND MORE!
read so far, looking forward to your epic journey story to amsterdam
