For the last nearly-week, I’ve been asked that question many times, by friends, family, colleagues & people who fit in multiple categories. And I don’t really know how to answer.
You’re supposed to enjoy all your travels and holidays unconditionally, especially if you’re going to write two month’s worth of blog posts about them. But I didn’t enjoy this one unconditionally. It’s true, it never plumbed the depths of Summer 2014 or Summer 2015, during both of which illness forced me from a tent at an ungodly hour to throw myself on the mercy of a nearby hotel, both times soaking wet, puffy-red-eyed and barely dressed. But something about it just wasn’t Absolutely Awesome At All Times.
Rather than try to put this into words and sentences, I’m going to list the good, the bad & the ugly.
The Good
The Blue Lagoon
Laugarvatn Fontana
3 x local pools
Autumn colours
Hverinn campsite
Selfoss campsite
Morris, campsite dog
Northern Lights over Akranes
Geysir
Watching the sea from Snæfellsnes
Star-shaped crisps
Table-sized 3D map of Iceland
Climbing Saxholl
The Bad
The weather – endless wind, rain and cold
Finding myself spending 120 straight hours in the campervan
The lack of insulation in the campervan
Getting lost in Kópavogur
The Ugly
Having a meltdown in a Halfords car park at 10.30 on a Sunday night because I couldn’t find the way home
The idiots who parked next to me one night and spent the entire night with their engine and lights on
Tourists blithely climbing over ropes & disregarding rules
Parking fees at Þingvellir
The fact that my phone cable burnt out & the replacement didn’t work, leaving me totally cut-off from the world for the best part of a week
The good by far outnumbers the bad & the ugly but that sort of miserable weather seeps into your bones, especially when you haven’t got anywhere to warm up and dry out except the uninsulated back of the van.
“How was Iceland?”
I think the correct answer must be “Overall good but with statistically insignificant unpleasant patches such as the weather”.
Further blogs will be coming on several of those subjects & I’ll link here as I go along, starting with a post about the campervan on Tuesday.