"I said, nice one brotha!"
Wales
7/2/2009 6:15:41 PM - Day 472 - Cardiff, Wales
Having a pint at "Gassy Jacks" which was used in a scene from one of my favorite movies named "Human Traffic".
Whenever I told someone from England I was going to Cardiff they would say something jokingly negative about Wales then ask me "why"? Whenever I told someone from Wales I was going to Cardiff it was the same without the slight. However, they all agreed on one thing which is that Cardiff has some of the best nightlife around. I didn't get a chance to check that out though because after spending time with friends and family for the past couple of weeks doing some drinking I was over going out. Plus, it is midweek and I got a weekend in Dublin coming up which I am sure will be more than enough for one week. Some guys in my room did go out though and they said the nightlife was quite nice. In fact, one of my favorite movies named "Human Traffic" was filmed here in Cardiff and ironically it is all about partying (although they never mention anything about Cardiff in the movie).
While here I stayed at a great hostel named "The Riverhouse Backpackers" (The Riverhouse Backpackers in Cardiff, Wales Review). I also checked out the Cardiff Castle, walked around the city and even went to a couple of the locales/pubs that were used while filming "Human Traffic" so while watching the movie I could annoyingly say to friends "I've been there". After walking around the place I'm not sure what the bad talk was about because Cardiff seems like an alright city. It is a bit quiet at the moment though since University is out and Cardiff has a huge University population.
One thing that always trips me up while I have been traveling around Cardiff as well as Weymouth is that as a greeting people often say "are you alright" being akin to saying "what's up" in the United States. Every time someone asks me if I'm "alright" I always forget that they are just saying hi and not literally asking me if I am alright. I always end up feeling like an ass when my reply of "yes, I'm alright" is met with a blank stare. It would be like replying to what's up with "the sky".
I'm only here for a short while since as my schedule worked out I had to make the executive decision on whether to spend the weekend here in Cardiff (which I am sure would be fun) or in Dublin, Ireland and I chose Dublin since I find it a bit more intriguing. Until next time!
The trailer from one of my favorite movies named "Human Traffic" which was filmed all in Cardiff. I went and checked out a couple of the areas in Cardiff that were used in the movie.
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Finally at the beach again.
Seeing Family in Weymouth
7/1/2009 12:56:41 PM - Day 472 - Weymouth, England
Hanging out with the family. It was great seeing them.
I came to Weymouth to visit some extended family of mine in England. I'm really happy that I did because it was great to see and get to know them better. My family was extremely gracious to me as well and it was nice to be in an atmosphere that felt somewhat like home instead of hopping around hostels/hotels like usual. Also, hanging out in Weymouth was interesting because it is a little town I may have never gotten to see had I no family here to visit.
Weymouth is a small beach town on the South Coast of England. Normally, one doesn't think the words "beach town" and "England" in the same sentence but Weymouth is an exception. It has been unusually hot lately as well so the beach was packed. In the past English people would tell me that I hadn't really visited England by only going to London and now I see why. Weymouth is very different than London. The multi-cultural diversity of London isn't here, the pace is much more relaxed and overall the city gives off a different vibe and shows another side of English culture. In fact, I imagine each city in England to be unique in their own ways.
I enjoyed my time here. It was nice to visit with my family, enjoy the beach that I have missed so much traveling thru the northern reaches of the world for the past couple of months and see another side of English culture. My next stop is Cardiff where I need to get some work done as well as fit in some sightseeing.
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They don't eat "Salisbury Steak" here.
STONEHENGE
6/29/2009 11:26:19 PM - Day 470 - Salisbury, England
Mattis meets Stonehenge
Today I visited one of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge. Stonehenge is an ancient monument that consists of a ring of giant stones that is said to have been created over 4 thousand years ago. How the stones got there and why is still a mystery to this day. I also visited the nearby city of Salisbury which was pretty charming and had a really nice cathedral.
I shouldn't so much say "I" as I should say "we" since I was up there with my extended family and friends which included Enola, Brian (who was nice enough to drive and give some background on the areas), Bobbi and Tina. Besides seeing the sites it was cool to simply hangout with some family and friends since I don't get to do that too much these days on the road.
The drive up there was really nice giving us the chance to see the English countryside which in this part of the country consists mainly of flatlands and rolling hills covered in green. The roads are also very narrow and wind this way and that with the largest roads being two-lane highways. Since the roads are so small if there is ever a serious accident you can expect some really bad traffic. We saw the opposite lane at one point backed up from an accident and it seemed to go on for miles and miles. Luckily we weren't in that lane!
A video of a young group of choir children performing at Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, England. The Salisbury Cathedral is considered to be one of the best examples of early English architecture in the world, has the "oldest working clock" in the world and also one of the four remaining copys of the Magna Carta.
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2009 Mattis on Offense
London Calling
6/28/2009 5:47:29 PM - Day 469 - London, England
Reunited and sharing pints with my English mates Jamie and Pill.
London is an awesome city. It is full of life, energy, history and character. This is my third visit here and as always I had a blast. The cool thing about this time however was that after having already been to London previously I had seen most of the historical sites of the city which meant I was going to have a lot of free time to simply have fun and enjoy some English culture, and enjoy it I did.
A good friend of mine from back home named Fraser is actually from England. While I was living in Orange County, CA Fraser had two friends from England named Pill and Jamie come visit him and I ended up partying with them as well and helping to show them some of Southern California. By the time the boys left we were all good friends. With Fraser's help I looked them up before getting to London and Pill said he had an extra couch to crash on and that he, Jamie and I could meet up so they could show me a bit of London and English way of life.
I had a great time with the boys. We went to pubs, had English food, pints of beer, somehow ended up at a Goth house party and even watched a game of Cricket. The Cricket match was a nice surprise. I never found Cricket to be that exciting and still don't really but now that I have been to a live match I can see the appeal in going. It's more of an "event" to go to. Many people go to Cricket matches to enjoy drinks, yell at fans and players alike and overall simply have a good time with the actual Cricket match being something in the background that you pay attention to when something exciting finally happens. The Cricket players playing near the boundaries of the field end up being super close to the fans so people spend the entire match yelling at them. The fans yell at the home team players to wave or cheer them on with the players obliging from time to time while the visiting team's players get cleverly jeered with sharp English wit. Overall it was a fun time and even though I am not much of a Cricket fan, I'm a fan of going to Cricket matches so I can see myself going again sometime in the future.
I have to say, after meeting up with Garth in Sweden and now Pill and Jamie here in London it is really nice having friends in town to spend time with, hangout and who can show you the ropes of the area and also give you a better insight into the local culture. Like always, I had a great stay in London and once again it was nice to be with some friends. Although overall I like having the freedom of traveling alone, it is really nice to be able to see familiar faces from time to time on this long journey of mine.
I'm actually going to get to see some more familiar faces soon at my next stop in Weymouth which is on the south coast of England. I'm on a train right now heading that direction to visit with some extended family. They are having a BBQ which I am really looking forward to. Unfortunately I feel like a real ass since I am arriving an hour late thanks to my habit of cutting departure time deadlines too close finally catching up with me. I barely missed my scheduled train by minutes. It's my mistake (an $80 mistake since I had to buy another ticket) and I feel like an idiot with nobody to blame by myself. I'll have to chalk it up to experience and can at least say that in 15 months of hard traveling this is the only time I'm at fault for a missed departure and I hope it stays that way.
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They wipe their butts with dollars here :(
Poor Man in Oslo
6/25/2009 9:52:50 PM - Day 466 - Oslo, Norway
The parks in Oslo looked like something out of a fairy tale this time of year thanks to all the pollen floating around in the air. It looks like a million little feathers. My camera didn't get a good pic of the pollen but trust me, looked storybook-ish.
The first word that comes to mind when I think of Oslo is "expensive". I had long heard that Oslo, Norway was very pricey and I have to say that the rumors are true. I got killed on the exchange rate here. Due to this I didn't do much during my stay here but walk around the city a bit and eat at small convenience stores or fast food "kebab" shops (Europe's version of Mexican food but not as good, at least to me).
The city was nice though as were the people and communicating was pretty simple since almost everyone speaks English. As far as sights go there isn't much to see in the city with most of the cool stuff being outside of Oslo. I would have liked to check that stuff out but after spending so much time in Scandinavia I have already seen a couple nice Fjords, scenery, etc. and didn't want to spend a ton of money with the exchange rate here to see some more of the same.
Today now marks the final day of this foray into the region known as Scandinavia. As far as what I think about the place, I thought all of the countries were very clean, safe and pleasant to be in. They are also super fucking expensive which is why I didn't come here on the first leg of my big trip. I didn't want to come here too early, blow my load and not have enough money later on in this trip in case things didn't work out financially. The money thing really put a damper on traveling in the region because you're always doing currency conversions on how much everything cost and thinking "fuck, that's really expensive" and having to ask yourself if whatever you are looking to buy is really worth it. Hell, to give you an idea, a small bottle of water costs close to $5 in Oslo. Scandinavia has been the most expensive region in the world that I have ever visited, more than Japan, more than Russia and more than the rest of Europe.
The people here all tend to speak a great deal of English so communicating has been super easy. In fact, I think Scandinavia has the best English speakers in the world outside of a native English speaking country (some Scandinavians speak English better than native English speakers). They have tons of shows on TV in English, magazines in English, books in English…you get the picture. This makes getting around really easy if you're an English speaker like me. On top of that, the people here are very polite so talking to them is pretty easy. However, not a lot of them are super energetic with many coming off almost "robotic" in terms of emotion making me wonder what relationships around here are like.
Getting around in and between cities is very easy thanks to the decent infrastructure. However, if you can avoid flying within the region I suggest you do so. For all the money the Scandinavian government's collect in taxes you would think one airport in Scandinavia would have fucking water fountains. After you have to toss your water bottle in airport security you have to buy another one for a super high price because the regional airlines they have (SAS, Norwegian Air) also don't give you any water on the plane but make you buy it instead! What kind of shit is that? Not having water fountains in the airport and charging for water on a plane? That's fucked up.
The bottom line is that I think Scandinavia as a whole is "alright" with my favorite places being Iceland, Finland and Greenland (in that order). It's safe, clean and the people are nice and easy to communicate with. The cities are pleasant to spend a couple days at and I did have a great time hanging out in them with my bro Garth. However the high prices, lack of interest in the area in regards to historical sightseeing and the shitty airports/airlines (except for Air Atlantic, they were awesome) makes me not want to visit Scandinavia again anytime soon. If I was a rich man I'm sure I would have a different outlook, but I'm not a rich man so that's part of the reason why I feel the way that I do. I can see why most backpackers skip Scandinavia, it's just too damn expensive here and for what you get to see/do after paying the high prices (which isn't much) you're left wondering "why". Maybe I'll come back again someday after I make my millions!
I leave tomorrow for London to meet up with a couple old friends who I showed around back in Orange County, California when they came to visit a good friend of mine. Now they are going to show me some English culture and the great thing is that having already been to London, I've already seen all the sights. Now I can simply relax, have a couple pints and do whatever it is the English do on a nice day (I'm seeing Cricket along with "Pimms and Lemonade" in the near future). I'm honestly really looking forward to the next leg of my journey in the UK (United Kingdom) as well as the better prices after spending so much time here in pricey Scandinavia…I never would have guessed that I would be "looking forward" to the prices in the UK Go figure.
During my stay here I stayed at a nice place called the "Perminalen Hotel" (Perminalen Hotel Review in Oslo, Norway).
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Don't shoot the messenger!
Stockholm Syndrome
6/22/2009 10:31:41 PM - Day 463 - Stockholm, Sweden
Garth and I enjoying a nice (cheap) bottle of wine while pre-partying since wine was ironically the best way to get the most bang for your buck, especially now during midsummers holiday since the only stores you can get alcohol from in Sweden are run by the government and they were all closed.
As soon as I told any of my male friends about the fact that I was going to Sweden the first thing out of any of their mouths (or emails I should say) was about the women. Guys who had visited said they thought the girls were smoking hot and guys who hadn't said they would imagine that the girls were smoking hot. Because of all the higgity (yes, I made that word up) I want to set the record straight. The girls in Sweden are nothing special.
There I said it. That's right, Swedish girls aren't anything to brag about. I'm not saying that they were dogs either, what I am saying is that all the attention given to them as being the pinnacle of superficial perfection is unwarranted. I walked all over Stockholm numerous times and didn't see barely any girls I thought were gorgeous. Maybe I was there at the wrong time of the year. Maybe guys who had gone before me fed onto the notion that Swedish women were all hot so much that they had 24 hour perma-beer-goggles.
I was there with my good college friend and fraternity pledge class bro Garth who currently resides in Lund, Sweden and he sadly shared the same sentiment, at least in regards to Stockholm (Stockholm, Sweden Review and Travel Information). Maybe that's it. Maybe Stockholm simply doesn't cut it when it comes to realizing the myth that Swedish women are all supermodels. Maybe I should re-phrase it to the "girls in Stockholm are nothing special". I don't know. What I do know is that Stockholm didn't deliver in the "loinage" department so I hate to break it to all you guys out there who dreamed otherwise. If any of you ever come to Sweden looking for the "bikini team" I suggest that you look somewhere besides Stockholm.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news fellas. I'm sure some of you are sitting there silently weeping at your keyboards while others sit their wide-eyed in disbelief with one hand reaching for a bottle of anti-depressants with the rest of you are cursing my name in anger as you dragon-punch your keyboard. The good news is that Stockholm is a nice city worth checking out so all is not lost.
The people were friendly, most of them speak great English, it is clean and there is a good amount of inter-mixed nature to beautify the city. Garth who I had met up with in Copenhagen also met up with me in Stockholm and was nice enough to show me around the city and give me an inside perspective on Swedish culture (he has been living in Sweden for the past 7 years) and show me some cool spots around the islands (Stockholm is made up of 14 different islands). We had a great time and it was really nice to be able to travel with someone familiar for once after being alone for all this time. The only real downer is that it is pretty expensive here in Stockholm like the rest of Scandinavia but I suppose no city is perfect.
One other thing is make sure not to come to Stockholm during the "Midsummer's Celebration" as I did since the city becomes a veritable ghost town while everyone flocks out to countryside cottages to get completely hammered and hop like frogs around a phallic shaped stick in the ground recreating some type of pagan ritual.
After a couple of great days spent with an old friend in a nice city it was time for me to set out on the open road again alone. It is a big world out there and there is so much to see.
As for where I stayed, Garth and I stayed at a hostel for the first three nights named "City Backpackers" (City Backpackers in Stockholm Review and Information) in central Stockholm. After that we parted ways and I spent one night in an old 747 jumbo jet that was converted into a hostel aptly named the "Jumbo Hostel" (Jumbo Hostel in Stockholm Review and Information). I saw it on CNN when it opened earlier in the year so I had to check it out.
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Nu-Class reunion in pricey Copenhagen.
Back on the Mainland
6/18/2009 11:52:57 PM - Day 459 - Copenhagen, Denmark
Impersonating a mime with my long-lost "pledge bro" Garth from my Fraternity on the Stroget street, one of the main shopping streets of Copenhagen.
After spending a couple of days in Copenhagen the first word that comes to mind is "expensive". Damn, this place is pricey! I could understand the high prices when I was island hopping in the north Atlantic since getting food/supplies out there has to cost a bit, but here on the mainland of Europe in Denmark I am left wondering why the hell everything is so damned expensive. Add to this the lack of things to do and see around here and I can see why a lot of backpackers skip visiting Denmark. There were a couple cool things to be done however.
First off, I met up with my long-lost "pledge bro" Garth from back in my college fraternity days. He has been studying in Sweden an hour away from Copenhagen (Copenhagen Review and Travel Information) for the past 7 years and came out to meet up with me for a day here in Copenhagen. It was cool meeting up with him and catching up on life for the past 7 years. Also, it a rare treat to have a friend with me since I have for the most part been traveling alone for the past 15 months.
The first day we checked into our hostel named "Sleep in Heaven Hostel" (Sleep in Heaven Hostel in Copenhagen, Denmark Review). Garth would probably call it "Sleep in Hell" though, he really hated the place. After that we hit up the old city and had one of the worst buffets in our lives. A hint, never eat at the buffets off the main shopping street of "Stroget". You and your stomach (and the toilet) will be quite unhappy shortly thereafter. The old city in central Copenhagen was nothing special but it was a nice way to pass the day.
The next day we checked out the "Little Mermaid" statue that has become somewhat iconic of Copenhagen. Why? I don't know because I thought it was the biggest tourist trap ever. It's just a small statue with no real significance sitting on a rock against the backdrop of a harbor with a lot of ugly industrial plants. Yet, for whatever reason the area was teaming with tourists. I can't say much though since I was one of those tourists. I didn't want to go home however and have the 1 in a 1000 question of why I didn't go see that statue while I was in Copenhagen.
We also checked out a place called "Christiana" which is a "free-town" inside Copenhagen. Basically it is a self-governed, self-sustained city within the central part of Copenhagen. In the late 1970's a group of anarchists, hippies, vagrants and self-styled revolutionaries took over an abandoned military barracks in the central part of Copenhagen and said it was now going to be there city. If that sounds crazy, the really wild part is that the Danish government allowed it to happen! Talk about socialism gone wrong! Regardless, I thought it was a cool little city. The architecture inside was pretty off the wall and the city was full of all kinds of different people. I saw punkers, preppies, old couples, tourists and thugs. Christiana is actually Copenhagen's #1 tourist attraction. I think one draw for a lot of these people is the fact that marijuana is openly sold/smoked inside the walls of Christiana. All along the main street are guys standing/sitting near little tables piled high with marijuana, hash, pre-rolled joints and even some ultra-jumbo joints. Since they govern themselves they also have their own laws which allows for the sale of marijuana.
I would have some pictures but they are super strict on a "no-photo" policy. Everywhere you look are signs saying "no photos" as well as tons of shaved headed thuggish looking guys dressed in black shirts patrolling the area who will yell at anyone who pulls out a camera. One funny thing about the area I wish I could have gotten a picture of was all the dogs running around. There were dogs all over the place that were completely acclimated to humans. The interesting thing was that they weren't of the mangy type you typically see vagrant Europeans sauntering around with. These dogs in Christiana were for the most part very well groomed, cleaned and fed. They were fun to watch. Also, they had a beer garden in Christiana where you can enjoy a nice draft beer and some of the best people-watching in the world. If you want to visit though, I'd do it soon as the government has been spending the last couple of years trying to "normalize" Christiana, thus re-integrate it back into Copenhagen.
After Christiana Garth headed back to his place in Sweden and I'm going to meet up with him again when I get into Stockholm. The rest of my time in Copenhagen was alright, got some work done and tried my hardest not to get raped by the high prices. It's getting late now though so I'll bid you all adieu. Write you in Stockholm!
The "Canadians of Europe", South Park, my favorite tv Show's take on Denmark, I think they hit it on the nail. Just kidding, sort of.
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...Cue Tumbleweed...
Islanding Hoping the Faroes
6/15/2009 7:33:55 PM - Day 456 - Torshavn, Faroe Islands
Now was I supposed to make a right at Iceland or left? Where the hell am I again?
When I hit Iceland a couple days ago, it marked the 4th time I had been to Europe. I never guessed that I would have been here this many times in the past couple of years. Up until this point I had seen a large amount of Europe and figured I might as well see if I could visit every country here. I did some research online and found that there were a lot of smaller countries I had never heard of that I had yet to visit. The Faroe Islands were one of them.
I had no idea what to expect and simply booked a ticket between Iceland and Denmark with a stop for a couple days in the Faroe Islands. The cool thing about visiting countries you have no idea about is that you end up learning a lot. The Faroe Islands used to be a colony of Denmark and became independent some years ago, yet the two countries still have very close ties. One of the biggest draws to the Faroe Islands besides that nice scenery is bird watching. Another thing I learned about the Faroe Islands is that they are fucking expensive! Especially food. For example bags of chips were five times the price of what I would pay in the USA.
Somehow the people out here are able to deal with the crazy high prices though and I learned the main industry is fishing. Pretty much everyone had a nice house and somewhat new car which I was pretty amazed by considering how expensive everything is out here. I guess fishing is pretty profitable.
I stayed in a hostel named "Bladypi Hostel" (Bladypi Hostel in Torshavn Review and Information) in the city center of Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. For being a capital damn was this place quiet. Outside of business hours you felt like you were walking around a ghost town. I imagine that the young adults and adolescents must be pulling their hair out with boredom (which is probably why most of them are moving away). In fact, this would also probably explain why I was the youngest tourist on the islands (as far as I know). I can imagine why though, most people my age probably don't want to fork over a ton of money to hangout on some quiet islands and do some bird watching when they visit Europe.
The islands themselves were very nice and green. Everywhere you looked you got a nice dose of picturesque scenery. The only other thing as plentiful as the nice scenery was the sheep! Everyone seems to be herding sheep on the Faroe Islands. While here I got to walk around a bit and admire the scenery. I also did a helicopter ride since ironically, it was actually cheap to do here on the Faroe Islands since many people use it as a means of transportation. This was pretty cool since I had never been in a Helicopter up until this point.
My next stop is Copenhagen, Denmark. I'm looking forward to hitting the mainland of Europe and hopefully the prices of food are a bit more reasonable (however I hear that Denmark is an expensive country so I might still be screwed on food prices). Until next time!
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I finally got the time to add RSS.
Subscribe to this Site with RSS
6/14/2009 4:48:34 PM - Day 455 - Torshavn, Faroe Islands
This is the RSS symbol to look for on my site or in your browser's tool bar (up top) to click on a subscribe to my RSS feed.
Here by popular demand, we have RSS! Yes, because so many people have asked about it (and I wanted to learn how to do it from a programming standpoint) I have updated the website with an RSS feed so you can now stay clued into my website and all my travel updates as they come.
Some of you are probably wondering what the hell I am talking about and what exactly "RSS" is. RSS stands for "Real Simple Syndication" and is a way to keep people notified of updates to a website as they are listed and are most commonly used by BLOG websites such as this site. Therefore, when you "subscribe" to my RSS feed what you are doing is making it so that instead of having to come to my website however often to check for new travel updates, with an RSS subscription you will be notified of an update whenever I post them. All the popular browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari already have RSS feed capability built into them so you don't need to install anything to use this cool feature.
Here is a quick rundown of how to use this feature for Internet Explorer and Firefox. Simply click the RSS icon or link text I have on each page of the website and then you will be sent to the RSS feed of my site. Alternatively, there is the orange RSS icon in your browser's toolbar up top that you can also click (look for it, it's up there). Then you will be sent to my RSS feed where there will be a link up top that ask you if you want to "subscribe" (or something along those lines) to my RSS feed. Click the button to subscribe and you're done! I'm sure you can do something similar with Apple's safari but since I don't use it I couldn’t tell you for sure.
At that point if you are using Internet Explorer check your "favorites" tab at the top and there will be a button there for feeds. Click on that and whenever the feed for my site is BOLDED then there are some new updates to come check out. If you are using Firefox, my RSS feed will be under "bookmarks" and when you click the folder for my feed it will show all my posts with the new ones at the top.
If this all sounds strange to you then don't worry about subscribing to the RSS feed and check for website updates by visiting this page like you would normally do. Otherwise learn something new and do a bit of research online about "RSS feeds" and you'll soon see it is something very easy and handy to use! Finally, if this is new to you and you subscribe to my feed but don't see any updates for awhile, check back to my page like normal because it may have been updated but you may not realize it since the RSS feature is new to you.
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Back in Europe!
The Mattis Sagas of Iceland
6/12/2009 10:19:33 AM - Day 453 - Reykjavik, Iceland
At the Gullfoss waterfall in Iceland. Check out that scenery! Impressive!!!
I never imagined that I would go to Iceland. Never thought I would have the funds or time to eventually make it out here but here I find myself, almost 15 months into my trip in the northernmost capital of the world, Reykjavik. It's funny how life works out sometimes.
I arrived for my stay here from Greenland and caught a taxi to my hotel named "Guesthouse 101" (Guesthouse 101 Review and Information in Reykjavik, Iceland). I would have stayed at a hostel but the hostels in Reykjavik didn't have good reviews. I remember actually thinking about Reykjavik for whatever reason months ago and for some reason I naively imagined it to be a tiny, almost village like city in the icy tundra that I thought was Iceland. Although Reykjavik is small as far as capital cities go, it is still a busy place with a decent amount of people and very modern in a lot of respects. The infrastructure of the city is quite good, the nightlife is amazing and there are a lot of the buildings that are quite new and modern, however many of them are empty at the moment as a testament to the "economic crisis" that continues to churn in Reykjavik.
They actually got hit pretty hard by the economic crisis, more so then most places thanks to their loose banking system (more loose than even the US's). Tourism has gone up however which is somewhat helping the economy. Iceland used to be impossibly expensive but due to the crisis their currency has gone in the shitter making the place affordable. It still isn't cheap by any standards, but it isn't crazy expensive either. One place you can really get hit hard in pricey countries is when you go out, and since I did go out one night in Reykjavik to see its famed nightlife, I luckily didn't have to break the bank.
The nightlife in Reykjavik was pretty awesome. I only went to a couple places but I had a great time. Everyone really starts to go out around midnight. Due to the relatively high prices of booze and the economic problems, everyone goes out already hammered out of their minds. It's quite funny actually. The guys seemed to be able to keep things under control but fuck, the girls were another story. I've never come across such a pushy bunch of skirts in my life! Everywhere you went in these clubs girls were shoving and pushing their ways thru thick crowds of people like they were in a rock concert. Hitting the dance floor of a nice club was akin to jumping in the mosh-pit of some teeny-bopper punk concert (there was a lot of pushing but it wasn't like I was at a "Slayer" concert of something). I met some Americans who had been living in Reykjavik for awhile and said that was pretty much the norm here with rude-ass girls and lots of metro-sexual looking guys rolling with it. I almost emptied my drink on a couple of the extra rude girls but in good judgment, decided it wouldn't be the best thing to do in a foreign country and besides that, I don't have the money to be wasting alcohol while on the road! All-in-all though, I had a really good time and a lot of the locals I met were friendly, everyone was wasted, dancing and for the most part having a blast. I can see where Reykjavik got the reputation for being a good place to party. Also, I don't have to worry about feeling like a piece of shit for partying so hard that I see the sun rise the following day, since it never really goes down during the summer here (it was still quite bright out at 3am).
I did some sightseeing around the city and countryside. As far as Reykjavik city goes, there isn't much to see. The highlight is a church in the center but just my luck it was completely covered in scaffolding. I did check out the President's house, the place where he actually lives. The crazy thing is that you can literally walk up to the front door and knock on it if you want. The president sometimes even invites tour guides in for coffee. I found out that he really doesn't have any power however except to veto bills from the congress (which has happened less than a handful of times). It is still crazy though, I can't imagine that kind of stuff in most countries, much less the United States. "Aww damnet, my taxes just got raised! I'm walking next door to tell Mr. President just what I think about that!"
The countryside was amazing! Wow, just wow…Iceland is an island formed from all kinds of Volcanic activity and is also at a place where the American and European Tectonic plates meet (you can stand in the area between them if you like, I did) so you can imagine the dramatic natural scenery that makes up Iceland. There are a lot of areas completely covered in old lava flows. They look like endless mounds of black rock covered by years' worth of thick green moss. I drove past a glacier and then visited some fantastic waterfalls. Also, at some of the lakes I saw the clearest water I have ever seen in my life. I was told that there is about 300 feet of visibility in many of Iceland's lakes. Iceland also turned out to be much "greener" than I had originally imagined. I guess in the winter Iceland can be pretty "Iceland" -like, but currently the countryside looked as green as can be! Not with trees (you barely see any of those) but just rolling hills covered in grass.
When I wasn't sightseeing, I did get the chance to speak with a couple locals and they brought up an interesting point. Here in Iceland a lot of the locals hold the United States and especially its Military in the highest regard. It seems that the US military has done a great number of good things for the Icelandic people with numerous tales of heroic deeds whether it is daring helicopter rescue missions or support for the local economy. When I was hearing the adulation for the US and its military, it was also said with the upmost of sincerity. It was nice hearing some really positive outlooks on my country while overseas for once.
Now I'm about the fly to a place most people don't even know exists named the Faroe Islands. I don't know what to expect but that's one of the great things about traveling. Exploring the unknown!
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