Nothing – from words to pictures can fully describe the magical volcanic ice land. Many times in my travels, I have arrived in a new place that seems exactly as I have imagined it. There is this satisfying feeling of familiarity yet complete unfamiliarity all at once. I breathe in with excitement that what I had seen in pictures is now there in front of me, and all is as it should be (well at least as it was I n my mind’s eye).

Iceland was completely different. From the moment I arrived, I realized that no picture I had seen, no map I had looked at, no blogs I had read did anything here any amount of justice. Everything- And I mean every single thing – felt utterly more impressive than all my research led me to believe. (And I already thought Iceland was going to be pretty amazing).

For one, I arrived at 4:30am and the sun was still as bright as the evening. I knew that but I expected it to be a just bit lighter than a full moon – maybe 2 full moons.

And it was only after stepping off the plane into the 40 degree weather with the wind whipping vigorously around me and the cold sprinkling rain that I learned that Iceland is the 3rd windiest country in the world and people don’t really live in the first two. How was I just now learning that?!?! I hoped my jacket was going to be strong enough for this! I started to think I might actually not survive my glacier hike. I can do cold or rain or wind, but any combination of those makes me kind of want to cry sometimes. Don’t worry though because it ended up being one of the best experiences of my life.

At the airport, I ran into 2 former students on a family vacation from when I did some SAT/ACT tutoring on the side who live about 5 minutes away from me in Houston. That was a small world moment.

And then I started driving… without gps… I had to pull over and google the rules for roundabouts in iceland. And exiting is crazy confusing if you don’t know what to do. I lost count of how many u-turns I did. Ha – I was very thankful I paid for a European SIM card with data. Google maps and I have a much better relationship abroad than in my own city.

It seems like there are more tourists there than locals. I don’t have any facts on that, but I’m really interested because I would totally believe that there are at least as many tourists at any given time as locals.

Also, it immediately seemed to me that every single person I came across looked ready for a spontaneous hike. I am still not sure whether Icelanders own non-outdoor style clothing. It’s like the whole country is an REI store. Only halfway joking.

I was also shocked by how expensive everything is. At one point along the road I had to pay $2 to use a restroom. And a “cheap” lunch is $15-25. So I went to a grocery store, bought a loaf of bread and package of (delicious) cheese (which cost me $23 by the way) and lived off of that for 2 days with the exception of an apple, a yogurt, vegetable soup, and rye bread with smoked trout.

I marveled at the scenery as I drove. Everything is covered in a mixture of volcanic ash/lava and moss/lichens. I hardly took any pictures at all because I felt like I wouldn’t be able to come close to doing any of it justice. Also there aren’t very many places along the road where you can pull over.

To me, Iceland looks like Hawaii and Ireland had a child who was raised in Alaska by his Uncle New Zealand. Incredible! I saw several volcanic formations along the way that looked like something you could find in Kauai – just without the tropical vegetation. Some of the rocky bluffs covered In moss and lichens look like the west of Ireland. The frozen mountains and countless glaciers are what I imagine Alaska to look like. And you can find hills, sheep, and green grass of New Zealand. (And I’ve heard some of the fjords in other areas are similar to those of Norway).

There are waterfalls EVERYWHERE. I expected there to be a lot to hike to, but what really surprised me is how many you can see just driving along the main road. After the first 2 hours of driving I had already lost count. Unbelievable.

You can buy coffee almost anywhere and they even have road signs along the road announcing when a place selling coffee is about to come up. A coffee addict’s dream come true!

Another thing that shocked me was how small the towns apart from the Reykjavik area were. Places listed in guide books as “major” stops were sometimes 10 buildings together at the base of a Kauai-like formation with a waterfall running behind the town.

I don’t have enough words to describe glacier hiking other than it was absolutely incredible and I met cool people and I’m so thankful my friend Melissa told me to do it! Our guide was a cool Icelandic guy who told us all about the ice caves and glacier crevices and his friends who are training to submerge their whole bodies in ice water for up to 45 minutes.

The other amazing think was Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon. The lagoon is filled with icebergs that have broken off the nearby glacier and are now floating in the lagoon. Over time, they float closer and closer to the sea, where they either melt and sink or float onto nearby diamond beach where they often look like diamonds in the sunlight on the black sand beach. I actually stopped and watched a glacier totter and eventually sink as it floated closer out to the ocean. It was unreal and I have no words other than that to describe it.

When I finally got back to my Airbnb a 5 hour drive later at 1am, it was still as bright as it was at 7pm because the sun never fully sets in the summer.

I also tried rye bread baked in the ground by volcanic steams near a hot spring. Had coffee at a coffee shop in Reykjavik where the guy who made my cappuccino made a unique shape with the foam.

But the best experience by far was my hike to reykjadalur. You hike about 2 miles up into the hills and all around you there are volcanic hot-springs steaming from the ground and waterfalls made by the bubbling springs. After what felt like a never ending hike of constantly walking uphill, i found myself at an area of a small river or creek that is knee deep at the deepest and people get in like a spa and relax. The further up you go, the hotter it gets. The bottom-most area that people get it is lukewarm and the top-most area is like a perfect hot tub. Wow. Just wow.

As I sat in the river resting my back against the mossy bank, the fog rolled in and suddenly I was in nature’s steam room where you could hardly see the people 5 feet away. Wow. Surreal.

And thus completed my Iceland trip – an experience words and pictures will never explain. And an experience best shared with someone else (I’ll be bringing Kurt along next time). Yet still absolutely a perfect place to travel by yourself.