I was in Iceland from June 19th, 2023 until June 30th.
This was supposed to have been a bucket list thing, but unfortunately the federal government delayed Medical Assistance in Dying until March 17th, 2024.
When I landed at KEF this was the first time I had ever walked across the tarmac to catch a shuttle bus to get to the terminal. Turns out that because Reykjavik is a mid-flight stop for lots of flights going on to the UK or Europe it’s faster and easier to bring the planes close to the terminal on the apron, but not to pull up to a gate. That way once we’re on the shuttle bus and our luggage is off loaded, the plane can just power up and taxi out and take off right away.
Customs was fun going through. I don’t think the Icelandic customs agent has seen too many people with full facial tattoos.
Reykjavik is a nice walkable city.
Lots of things to just wander around aimlessly and look at.
I don’t know what the story was with this burnt out VW Van, but someone prettied it up with a flower pot of flowers.
This was as dark as it gets in Iceland around the summer solstice.
Iceland is funny in the sense that you can wake up, look out the window, see a clear sky, and five minutes later there’s a downpour, and five minutes after that it’s windy, and then it’s back to sun.
This picture was taken at about 01:00.
Taxes are high, but the streets are very clean as compared to anywhere in Canada. And they don’t have anywhere near the homeless problem that Canada has. It’s not that they don’t have unemployed or mentally ill, it’s that they take care of them. And yes, they have a drug problem like everywhere else, but their problem isn’t on public display.
When you have a healthy tax base you have healthy social programs. Low income housing is all over the place, but it’s well looked after. There are treatment facilities and housing for drug users. And for a small city like Reykjavik, they have a very decent public transit system.
Their bicycle path network and their walking paths are well done.
Expenses weren’t that horrendous. The Canadian penny is almost at par with the Icelandic Krona. That may sound odd, but 100 Krona equals 1 dollar Canadian. 1000 Krona equals 10 dollars Canadian.
A large pizza listed at 1875 Krona is literally only $18.75 CDN.
Heating is interesting.
Almost every house and business in Reykjavik is heated by a closed loop water system that is heated by the heat energy provided by the close proximity to the magma under Iceland. The water isn’t heated directly by the magma. The natural hot springs are. Massive heat exchangers take energy from the hot springs and transfer it to the water in the heating water loop. This loop is circulated all of the city.
Now, the truth.
Was this some spiritual trip that awakened something inside of me?
Nope.
It was nice going to Iceland and being left alone.
