10 Months to Iceland

Hey y’all! It has been a minute huh? How are you? Are you surviving? Thriving? Dying inside? I hope it’s not the last one, but this past week, that’s how it felt. What? Oh, the title. No, it’s not a metaphor. Boring little me is going to leave the country in less than a year now. Life has been insane. I finally moved, but between my two jobs lately, I hardly have any time to unpack. Everything is a mess. I don’t like looking at it or thinking about it, and now I am because I’m writing about it…. Darn it. I know what you’re thinking (not really; I only know what I would be thinking). Why Iceland? Why not Korea? That is an excellent question. Firstly, Korea is more expensive. There’s a much bigger language barrier, and I’m still not that confident because I haven’t studied in forever. Also, Iceland is a shorter flight, and I’m too scared to use an airplane bathroom. I once held it 7 hours over the Atlantic Ocean, but it was not a good time, and I was super dehydrated when I landed.

So, how did this come to be? It all started at my nursing home job when I walked out into the lobby and heard the word Puffin. I love puffins, like LOVE love them. So, of course, I had to chime in and let the person know that baby puffins are called pufflings. Anyway, they went on to show me pictures of Iceland, and it looked lovely. Yes, I have seen lots of lovely places before and did not instantly decide to travel to them. But that was before I saw my TV hero, Josh Gates. I’ve followed him since Destination Truth and seen every episode of every show he’s ever done. So obviously, when I found out he was coming less than half an hour away to speak, I had to go. Shout out to my dad’s wife for tagging along with me so I didn’t have to go by myself or try to find parking in the city.

It was great! He was just as funny in person, and it was so fun to hear him tell stories and answer questions. I wish I had asked if he ever met even 1 nice camel in all of his travels, or if he still hates them. When he finished the talk, he ended with just a few words. Go away often. And those words had been ringing in my head for a few weeks already when this discussion happened. Then I did the most un-me thing ever and texted my friend that evening and said, “Hey, so this is super random, but would you maybe hypothetically want to go to Iceland at some point in the next few years,” and she said yes. The more we planned, the more excited I got, and we decided we were going to make it happen. Chat GPT is a great trip planning resource we discovered, and before we knew it, I had typed up and printed a trip planning timeline and “Puffin Packing List”. Was it a bit much? Absolutely, but I hadn’t been this excited in a long time. We are actually going to see Oneus in like 2 weeks, and I keep forgetting because I’m so excited about Iceland. And if you know how much I love Oneus, then you’ll know why that’s crazy.

So, my plan is to, every month, talk a bit about things we are planning. Things I’m learning about travel and updates on preparation and our itinerary. Right now, we are mostly looking at Airbnb, flights, hotels, and rental cars to try to get an estimate of how much it’s going to cost. But that’s part of the reason I want to share this because I’m not rich, I’m working multiple jobs, paying rent, and trying to save up on the side. I’ve been packing my lunch a lot more and ordering less, so don’t let money be the reason you don’t travel. There are cheaper places to go than Iceland, and if you go in the off season, it will probably be even cheaper. We are aiming for late May because it’s not the height of tourism season, but we can still do all the things we want to do without paying peak season pricing. The time you go really does make a difference. 

I’ll be back in August to let you know if there’s anything new. I had some things come up with Kota and my car that are making it difficult, but I’m doing my best and saving as much as possible and praying that most of our accommodations won’t require upfront payment. Also, each month will include an image of a place we will be visiting in Iceland. This month’s picture is of a place called Diamond Beach. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in a month!

Sincerely,
LIBD