Globe Corner Blogs

Keflavik Airport. Reykjavik. Iceland. For an hour more, anyway. My trip here is coming to a rapid conclusion, and I am sitting at an internet station (free- thank the Norse gods!) in the slick, airy Scandinavian airport terminal. Sandwiched between a Kaffir coffee shop (the Icelandic Starbucks, according to Lonely Planet) and the ubiquitous Viking gift shop, I am trying to think of eventful travel exploits worthy of reportage.

Here goes. As it is the middle of June, the sun never sets. Ever. The nicest weather we saw- a cloudless, bright blue sky- came at about one in the morning one evening. It is a bit unsettling actually, and I am trying now to remember what nighttime is like. We, I am traveling with my boyfriend, took a six hour bus ride to Akureyri, a small town in the north. It is technically the second-largest city in the country, and we decided to make this our base for most of the week. From there, we took a ferry to Grimsey, an island in the Arctic Circle. There we saw puffins and dead sharks and were attacked by vicious, cold-blooded Arctic terns. Also we went to Lake Myvatn, a very scenic (beautiful!) area close by. As neither my traveling partner nor I speak Icelandic, we were unaware that this translates as “Lake of Midges.” There we were, again, attacked by swarms of black, buzzing clouds of mosquitoes and gnats. We also saw orange and white pits of sulphur, bubbling right out of the earth and onto the surface. There were no animal attacks there.

To be continued.

Read more: Europe, Iceland, Travel


Nicole -- Nicole hails from metropolian Conway, South Carolina. While she's not busy doing Southern things like eating biscuits and heavily buttered grits (often together), she likes to travel to other countries and eat their food. Her favorite exotic treats include: Icelandic Skyr, South Indian dosa, British Jaffa Cakes, and Austrian strudel.

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