Preparing for the Trip of a Lifetime

When I tell people that I’m going to Iceland, they tell me that it’s a trip of a lifetime.  And it is.

I mentioned in the previous post that I needed a vacation.  I have been looking to go somewhere fantastic for a while.  These places that were making “the list” were great.  But, they missed that oomph.

I am doing a mid winter trip to Iceland.  Best time to perhaps catch the Northern Lights.

During my week long vacation, I’ll be a taking a tour around the country.  The tour includes the Golden Circle, ice caves, glaciers, whales, thermal pools, and horseback riding.  Of course, it’s all dependent on the weather.

Although the flight from the US to Iceland is only five hours, I’ll be spending a day travelling.  Mainly sitting in airports.  This holds true both going and coming home.

I have done extensive research into the weather, what to pack, what to expect.  My stomach is filling with butterflies as I type.  When I write, I tend to lean towards pantser, no clear outline and following where the characters want to go.  For this, I made lists.  One is a packing list.  One is a shopping list.  And I plan to make a list of what I still need.

However, it’s not just things that I need for my trip.  I need to prepare myself for this trip of a lifetime.  Physically, I have to be ready to go.

I started with coffee.  Every morning, I enjoy a cup of coffee.  Sometimes, two on the weekends.  I’ve become dependent on it.  If I don’t drink by a certain time, I will develop a headache that will follow me for the rest of the day regardless if I finally have coffee or not.  That won’t do.  Not that I don’t think Iceland has coffee.  I don’t want to risk a coffee headache while I’m on vacation.  I have weakened my morning coffee.  One of these weekends, I will attempt to go without coffee.  See how far I’ve gotten.

Next came exercise.  I can admit that I am not in the shape I want to be.  My muscles don’t like me very much at the moment.  Every day, I take the stairs instead the elevator to the office.  I walk two miles over hilly terrain.  When weather permits, I go cycling.

I downloaded apps to track my steps and my workouts.  Sometimes, it feels like I’m not making any progress.  I keep going.  Being outside is great.  Fresh air.  The views.  People say hi.  Random cats on the sidewalk try to befriend you.  I try not to get run over as I make like Frogger to cross the streets.

Other preparations include breaking in my winter hiking boots, practicing packing, and obtaining a credit card without foreign transaction fees and requesting a pin for it.  Iceland uses pin numbers for credit cards rather than a signature.  

Also for this tip of a lifetime, I’m trying to learn a few words in Icelandic or at the very least try to be able to pronounce place names.  Since I’m spending a day or two in Reykjavik, I should probably know how to say the street names.  The weird thing is that the ancient tongue in the World In-between books is based on ancient Norse.  Icelandic is closer to the old Norse than modern Scandinavian languages.  I feel like I should have a leg up.  I better keep practicing.


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