Iceland
If it were possible to measure happiness on a scale, I’m sure this trip would have ranked the highest—not because it was my favourite trip, but because I’ve never felt that happy before.
This trip was to be my first solo trip overseas and to say I was excited would be an understatement.
I left the Australian winter for an Icelandic summer to experience the Summer Solstice. The final leg of my 24-hour journey was a flight from Heathrow to Reykjavik. I was so exhausted I fell asleep before takeoff. Leaving Heathrow at 9 p.m. in darkness, I woke up hours later to a sunrise, momentarily confused. Then I remembered I wouldn’t see darkness for the next three weeks.
One of the most incredible sunsets I’ve ever seen was over the water at Stykkishólmur. I walked from my hostel to a small hill to watch it. The sunset lasted long enough that I had time to walk around the town taking photos, and still not miss anything. Just as the sun set behind some mountains in the distance, everyone—including me—thought it was over and began to pack up and leave. Then, the sun appeared on the other side of the mountain peak, setting almost horizontally. Everyone, including me, rushed back to watch the rest of the sunset.
I chose to travel around the island using public buses and hitchhiking. While it was risky as a solo female traveler, hitchhiking in Iceland was not uncommon and fairly easy due to the high volume of tourists. There were moments I questioned my sanity, especially that time I was dropped off in the rain in an isolated area with no cell service or buildings in sight. However, my experience was mostly positive.
The bus schedule was so infrequent that hitchhiking helped fill the gaps, allowing me to see more than I expected. After missing a bus that only runs every three days (thanks to partying with some Aussies in Reykjavik), I resorted to hitchhiking to get to Vik. A kind Icelandic man picked me up—he had driven across the island just to pick up fish for his wife and himself. On the way back, he asked, "Do you want to see a waterfall?" and, of course, I said yes. He took me to a few lesser-known waterfall spots along the way.
One of the perks of Iceland’s long summer daylight hours is never having to plan around daylight. So, setting off on a hike at 1 a.m. didn’t seem too crazy—plus, the trail was empty. The downside, though, is that your body clock struggles to adjust, and not every hostel has blackout curtains. By the end of the trip, I was ridiculously sick, probably from constantly waking up ‘naturally’ at 4 a.m. and not getting enough sleep.