I arrived to Iceland just hours before an aptly-described “Storm of the Century” hit. I did a bit of sightseeing before the veritable snow-hurricane made landfall, but I was well into the third day of my trip before I truly began to get acquainted with the country.
The first thing I noticed, outside of Reykjavík this is, was how few people there are in Iceland. On any given day, I could drive an hour or even two without seeing any other cars on the road. Towns and villages were nearly empty, even their restaurants and supermarkets. I had almost every attraction I visited completely to myself.
At first, these attractions seemed quite repetitive: A waterfall here, a team of Icelandic horses there; a black-lava beach here, a volcanic thermal field there; a picturesque church here, a charming farmhouse there; an all-day sunset here, an all-night aurora there—you get the picture. Well, 30 of them if you continue reading this post.
Indeed it took me several cycles through this proverbial list to realize it was not repetitive but geometric, like a snowflake: Immaculately structured and patterned, seemingly to spec, but absolutely one-of-a-kind.
I’ll be back on Monday with a guide that lays out concrete specifics about my trip (and how you can take one like it!) and matches some of the photos I’m about to share to their locations. But for now, I think it’s best if you experience Iceland as I did: A mesmerizing sequence of subjects and scenery that makes you feel like you’re everywhere and nowhere at once.
Travelers, book your tickets.
Robert Schrader is a travel writer and photographer who’s been roaming the world independently since 2005, writing for publications such as “CNNGo” and “Shanghaiist” along the way. His blog, Leave Your Daily Hell, provides a mix of travel advice, destination guides and personal essays covering the more esoteric aspects of life as a traveler.
