Clearing out my room after coming back from China I stumbled upon an old travel journal from all the school trips I took. Although travel with school may not be considered the best type of travel, it was partly school trips that gave me the travel bug; and looking back it occurred to me that this travel journey was essentially the same thing as my blog, albeit a lot more awkward and full of teenage lingo. Since I recently started a new and very exciting job and won't have a lot of time for new adventures, I decided to share with the world some extracts of my teenage mind, think of it as an extreme Throwback Thursday.
Way back in 2008 I was lucky enough to go to Iceland on a school trip. It was a strange experience because Iceland itself is a pretty strange country. I remember going for days without seeing a person outside our group; but at the time that was okay, a bunch of over-excited school girls can survive in isolation.
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| Throwback! |
Way back in 2008 I was lucky enough to go to Iceland on a school trip. It was a strange experience because Iceland itself is a pretty strange country. I remember going for days without seeing a person outside our group; but at the time that was okay, a bunch of over-excited school girls can survive in isolation.
We saw some of the most amazing scenery, from geysers, and glaciers, to waterfalls and geothermal energy plants; and I learnt a lot about Icelandic culture through our tour guide, who was a fantastic story teller.
But, the trip did also come at an unusual time. In October 2008, the Icelandic financial crisis was in full swing and the effects were rippling into the rest of the world. The systematic banking collapse was widely considered the worst economic crisis in history (relative to the size of the country's economy), and the country was awash with political discontent and a drastic depreciation of the Kroner. So, it was an odd time to be visiting Iceland, but as with all school trips, the show must go on!
Here are a selection of insights from my trip, straight from my 16 year old brain - which apparently cared very little for the details.
It's our first day in Iceland! This morning I tried to have a shower but the water smelt so gross! Like rotting eggs! Apparently the water in Iceland has loads of Sulphur in it, which makes it smell disgusting so brushing teeth is horrible! But today we met our tour guide, Arenia, but we'll call her Blondie! She told us about Iceland. We saw a mountain called Ersia, and Blondie told us that all the mountains are named after women because they are so temperamental. We also found out that it was going to get A LOT colder in the next few days and there may even be a snow storm!
She also told us how Iceland is almost the same size as Britain but that it only has 313,000 inhabitants when London alone has 850,000 people, because the middle area in inhabitable. Also glaciers cover 11% of Iceland and 45% of the GDP comes from fish! Then we went to look at volcanic rocks and everyone was freezing and realised how cold Iceland was going to be!
....
When we were shopping today we found out that the exchange rate had gone from 178:1 to 183:1 and some people began to indulge in some reckless spending since they had so many kroner.
....
Then we got back on the coach to go see the geysers, we spent way too much time trying to time our jumping with the geysers exploding. Some people got caught in the spray of the geysers but me and Sarah managed to dodge the water and avoid wetness. When we got back to the youth hostel Miss M made us go and listen to her dull lecture about glaciers. When it finally finished we had a quick look for the Aurora Borealis but it wasn't out. :(
Today was our first experience of a glacier. We visited a glacier snout which was basically a filthy mess of ice covered in volcanic debris however it was quite cool and we were so wrapped up that we couldn't even feel the cold. After looking at and feeling the ice and disputing the reality of global warming we got back on the coach again to meet our snowman and snowmobile so that we could go up onto a glacier.
Here are a selection of insights from my trip, straight from my 16 year old brain - which apparently cared very little for the details.
18th October 2008
It's our first day in Iceland! This morning I tried to have a shower but the water smelt so gross! Like rotting eggs! Apparently the water in Iceland has loads of Sulphur in it, which makes it smell disgusting so brushing teeth is horrible! But today we met our tour guide, Arenia, but we'll call her Blondie! She told us about Iceland. We saw a mountain called Ersia, and Blondie told us that all the mountains are named after women because they are so temperamental. We also found out that it was going to get A LOT colder in the next few days and there may even be a snow storm!She also told us how Iceland is almost the same size as Britain but that it only has 313,000 inhabitants when London alone has 850,000 people, because the middle area in inhabitable. Also glaciers cover 11% of Iceland and 45% of the GDP comes from fish! Then we went to look at volcanic rocks and everyone was freezing and realised how cold Iceland was going to be!
....
When we were shopping today we found out that the exchange rate had gone from 178:1 to 183:1 and some people began to indulge in some reckless spending since they had so many kroner.
....
Then we got back on the coach to go see the geysers, we spent way too much time trying to time our jumping with the geysers exploding. Some people got caught in the spray of the geysers but me and Sarah managed to dodge the water and avoid wetness. When we got back to the youth hostel Miss M made us go and listen to her dull lecture about glaciers. When it finally finished we had a quick look for the Aurora Borealis but it wasn't out. :(
19th October 2008
When we met the snowman a load of us dashed to the toilet before all squashing onto the ice bus and starting to venture up to the glacier. But, as we went up higher, the weather got really bad and the snow got too deep for us to even reach the glacier so we wrapped up as far as possible and clambered down the rickety ladder, into the strong wind and snow flakes, and onto the tundra. It was so cold so we were all frolicking around and trying not to fall over or get lost because it was so snowy we couldn't even see anything! [NOTE: this was genuinely one of the most dramatic experiences in my life]
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We also saw some amazing waterfalls. The first one we went to was huge and amazing and we could walk behind and around it which was so cool! After that we went to the next waterfall, which was even bigger but we couldn't walk behind it (NOTE: this was the epic Gullfoss Waterfall, one of Icelands top sights). So we battled against the wind to get as close to the waterfall as possible but the wind changed and we got soaked by the spray and quickly retreated back to the coach.
Today: basalt columns. Ohhh exciting!
This morning we went through a little village called Vik, which was so tiny and had no one there because so many of the fishermen had been killed when fishing by the huge waves.
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On the way to the basalt columns we stopped off to feel the moss on the rocks at the side of the road [NOTE: don't ask why, I have no idea] and got back onto the coach and went to the basalt columns where elves are meant to live and so we sung to them because apparently they like it.
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We went to see these amazing icebergs and glaciers. Everything was so blue and cold but it was so cool! We admired the views and spotted loads of cute seals swimming in the water. We had to cut our time short because a girl from the year below realised that she left her hat in the glacier centre so we had to rush back before it closed. Luckily the people from the centre had left her hat in a bag on the handle of the door so all was groovy.
...
When we were back in Reykjavik we were let loose on the main shopping street to spend some of our many kroner. It was so weird because there were no people anywhere and no proper shops! How can that be the main shopping street?!
...
[and just for an insight into a 16 year old mentality] The hotel looked amazing enough from the outside and the place got even better when a group of teenage, English boys appeared which believe me, after 3 days of near total isolation was majorly exciting.
The next day we returned to England so that was the end of my travel journal. It may be the least detailed account of travel ever, but I think that it does show the variety of Iceland as a country. In a short time we saw so many amazing things and I'm so grateful that I got to experience such a strange country at such a unique time. Now I just want to go back to Iceland to do it all again!
We also saw some amazing waterfalls. The first one we went to was huge and amazing and we could walk behind and around it which was so cool! After that we went to the next waterfall, which was even bigger but we couldn't walk behind it (NOTE: this was the epic Gullfoss Waterfall, one of Icelands top sights). So we battled against the wind to get as close to the waterfall as possible but the wind changed and we got soaked by the spray and quickly retreated back to the coach.
20th October 2008
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| Basalt columns |
This morning we went through a little village called Vik, which was so tiny and had no one there because so many of the fishermen had been killed when fishing by the huge waves.
...
On the way to the basalt columns we stopped off to feel the moss on the rocks at the side of the road [NOTE: don't ask why, I have no idea] and got back onto the coach and went to the basalt columns where elves are meant to live and so we sung to them because apparently they like it.
...
We went to see these amazing icebergs and glaciers. Everything was so blue and cold but it was so cool! We admired the views and spotted loads of cute seals swimming in the water. We had to cut our time short because a girl from the year below realised that she left her hat in the glacier centre so we had to rush back before it closed. Luckily the people from the centre had left her hat in a bag on the handle of the door so all was groovy.
21st October 2008
This morning we had a quick breakfast before getting back on the coach for the 3 hour journey back to Reykjavik. In Reykjavik we went down to the harbour and caught a boat to go whale watching! After about 40 minutes at sea and a lot of food some people began to feel seasick but soon were distracted by the dolphins swimming by the boat and porpoises and minke whales further out to sea. Me, Alex, Iso and Sophie went to the very top deck where the wind was weaker and Iso and Soph sat around feeling ill while me and Alex jumped around with the waves in an attempt to stay warm, soon we gave up and went to get a hot chocolate to warm up. After about 3 hours we began to approach the shore and it began to snow!...
When we were back in Reykjavik we were let loose on the main shopping street to spend some of our many kroner. It was so weird because there were no people anywhere and no proper shops! How can that be the main shopping street?!
...
[and just for an insight into a 16 year old mentality] The hotel looked amazing enough from the outside and the place got even better when a group of teenage, English boys appeared which believe me, after 3 days of near total isolation was majorly exciting.
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