Category Archive Travel

ByGD

A Case of the Mondays

Costa Rica Ostional

I watched sea turtles lay eggs at Ostional.

A few years back, I took a trip on a whim to Costa Rica with a girl I barely knew. It was about as good as travel gets; quixotic adventures, beautiful forests, picturesque beaches, interesting encounters, free tequila. We even got to watch endangered sea turtles lay eggs on a moonlit beach. We met a nice couple on that beach walk who were planning to drive their rented car to Liberia the next day, and invited us to join them. We had planned to take the bus to the Santa Elena cloud forest. There wasn’t really any reason we couldn’t ride to Liberia and take the bus from there to Santa Elena, but we decided to stick with the plan, and declined their offer. Read More

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Crowded Little Rock

rock in ThingvellirA rock theme seems to be emerging here. I guess geology is a little hard to ignore in Iceland. I’m trying to break up the tourist posts with a little bit of reflection, and today I’m thinking about crowded little rocks. I’ve always had a fascination with isolated island nations, and have over the years been infatuated with Japan (before it was popular), Sri Lanka, and now, Iceland. Developed almost in a vacuum, external influences on these places can become disproportionately significant, transformed beyond recognition. Read More

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Keeping the Sabbath in Iceland

HallgrimskirkjaYou didn’t really think this post would be about church did you? My Sunday was all about music.

After spending Saturday evening in journalistic research and preparation, I took three melatonin, put in earplugs and went to bed at ten. And praise God, I slept until 9 am. I joined my new roommate, Amandine the French fashion-finance whiz, for breakfast, where we talked about food standards, immigration, and social programs. Read More

ByGD

My First Golden Circle Tour

I left the pub after 11, a little before rúntur got started. I had wondered if Icelanders dress up for Halloween – either Reykjavik teens really top rave fashion, or the answer is “yes, on the closest weekend.” But I didn’t stay to find out more; I had a Golden Circle tour booked for 8 am pickup Saturday, and didn’t want to miss the bus. So I was in bed by midnight.

A slamming door woke me at 3 am. At 3:30, I got up and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. Then I tossed and turned for a long time. I thought to myself, I’ll just check the time, and if it’s after 4:30, I’ll get up. It was 5:15. So I got up, wrote up some notes, ate a big breakfast, and caught my bus promptly at 8 am. Read More