Iceland- Day 13 - In Which Our Hero Sees Light


 Day 13 - October 9 


I woke up and took the bus across town, to take a covid test. I had an appointment scheduled for 9:00. When I got off the bus, the GPS gave me some confusing directions. Instead of just walking across the street and walking a few hundred feet down the sidewalk, I got lost and went another way. I walked through a residential area, crossed the road I was originally supposed to cross, walked through an area full of mechanics and construction, took a detour, had to turn around because of construction, went back to the original road, walked on a grassy median because there was no sidewalk, and finally got to where I needed to go. A 3 minute walk turned into a 30 minute walk, all because I got lost. 


They had no problem with me being late. They scanned the QR code on my confirmation email, and swabbed my nostrils. By the time I got back to the guesthouse, I got my results and they're negative. (YAY!) 


I was booking my ride to the airport, when I got a notification on my phone about it. When I try to pay on foreign sites, it sends me fraud warnings. I miscalculated the estimate, by a decimal point, so I responded to not authorize it...which put a block on my debit card. Thankfully, calling the bank cleared it all up and my card isn't blocked anymore...and I wasn't charged, either. I found a cheaper way to get to the airport, anyway. Still gotta take a cab to the bus station and now I have to wait a couple extra hours but oh well. I'll be at the airport on Monday, in time to get through customs and catch my flight. It's hard to believe that I fly home in only two days. 


Anyway, I had a lot of tea and chatted with some guys from Canada. I finally got rid of that Irish whiskey. I talked to a totally awesome woman from Oregon who I kinda wish I could be the fourth ex husband of. (Don't judge me.) If I live even remotely as well as she has, then I'm going to live an epic life. 


It was time for my final tour.  I got in a super jeep and went hunting for the Northern Lights. We found a field past the international airport and parked. The aurora was faint, but the driver has a camera that can pick the lights up better than the naked eye. Even though the lights were faint and grey, they were lovely. At times, a bit of green would show up. There was more than an aurora, though. I saw the most beautiful starry sky that I've ever seen. Joshua Tree has nothing on a random field outside of Keflavik. I even saw a couple of meteors, for the first time in almost a decade.

We had hot chocolate, cookies, and shots of black death (Icelandic schnapps). I don't like the taste of alcohol, but it's not the worst thing I've ever tried. It's much better than Jack or Jameson straight from the bottle. I'm quite glad that I didn't leave Iceland without having a shot of black death. Even without the putrid shark, it was a good Icelandic experience. I mean, I took of a shot of black death while standing in a field and looking at the Northern Lights. Definitely an evening to remember. 


- Lance J. M.

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