Before going to Iceland in June of 2023 I had never been outside of North America. When I moved to Vancouver in 1992 I had started going down to Seattle every now and again.
Prior to that, and including all of the years that I lived on Canadian Forces Base Downsview in Ontario, I had never gone down to New York or even the American side of Niagara Falls.
Actually, I was over the American border once, but that was when I was on a job in the spring of 1990 and I had a stop over in the town of St. Stephen, New Brunswick. I had gone over the bridge into Calais, Maine a couple of times just to see what things were like.
I landed in Iceland a few days before the summer solstice in 2023.
I was in Iceland for just over a week.
Why did I go?
I had been expecting to be able to apply for medical assistance in dying back on March 17th, 2023 and going to Iceland was on my bucket list of things that I wanted to do before I kicked off this mortal coil.
Well, of course the Government of Canada chickened out at the last minute, so I’m still trapped here.
Why was Iceland on my bucket list?
Well, I talked about this before, but I’ll touch on it here again.
In 1976 my father had been posted from Canadian Forces Base Shearwater in Nova Scotia to Canadian Forces Base Summerside on Prince Edward Island. His drinking and his physical abuse of my mother started to get out of hand.
In the winter of 1977 my father had my mother booted out of the military housing. My father then had his mother come in from Edmonton, Alberta to live in the PMQ and raise my brother and I as he was frequently away from home on exercises.
By the late spring of 1978 my grandmother had returned back to Edmonton.
In July of 1978 I had been found unconscious in the middle of the road due to an incident involving my bicycle. Someone had picked me up and driven me to the Prince County Hospital. The only next-of-kin listed was my father. My grandmother’s name wasn’t on the admission papers.
What was on that papers was this little curiosity:
Apparently it’s somewhat of a straight shot from CFB Summerside the to US Base in Iceland
So, being the curious type, I had to go see what was so great about Iceland.
It was an 8 hour flight from YVR to KEF.
It was an interesting week and a bit in Iceland.
Never did figure out why Richard went, must have just been a routine flight.
I mainly stayed in Reykjavik.
I couldn’t really see anyone that resembled me, so doesn’t look like my father made any pleasure stops while he was there.
I might go back in the winter of 2026 for the Winter Solstice.
I’ve never had anything in the way of what I would call a “road trip” until rather recently in life.
My father wasn’t the type of guy to go camping with his kids.
He did borrow a truck with a camper from one of his air forces buddies when we lived on CFB Griesbach in Edmonton from 1980 to 1983, but this was so that he could take his new wife camping in the mountains.
In 2023 I had what you could call “road trips”.
One was to Ontario. And one was to Iceland.
The trip to Ontario was by Via Rail. This trip was booked so that it would happen right after I made my application for M.A.i.D.. I was intending to use the trip to have some quiet reflection after making my application for my death.
But of course, the Government of Canada capitulated to the imaginary friend brigade.
It was an interesting trip, but as usual depression and self doubt were my constant companions.
Initially I thought that the trip was going to be aborted in Winnipeg as there really wasn’t any space for me to be left alone on the train, but thankfully I discovered the “economy class” at the front of the train.
The “sleeper class” section of the train has access to the diner car and the bar car at the rear of the train. But with the exception of meal time, the diner car is off limits for sitting down in.
And the rear of the train is for socializing.
I don’t socialize.
I hate small talk.
And I hate polite talk.
So as can be imagined the trip started off as a nightmare.
But then I discovered the “economy class” diner.
And yes, I could grab a chair and sit at a table and write out to my heart’s content on my laptop.
My trip to Iceland came as a result of the settlement that I received for a previous childhood matter.
Ever since I received my medical reports from the PEI government in 2011 that indicated that my father had been in Iceland on the day that I had been knocked unconscious in a “bicycle accident” I had a desire to go to Iceland to see what was so special that he’d leave my brother and I alone in the PMQ while he flew off to an entirely different country with the Canadian Armed Forces.
The day of the “accident” was in July of 1978. My grandmother had returned back to Edmonton in the spring of 1978, and we moved to CFB Namao in Edmonton in August of 1978. My mother of course had been kicked out of the PMQ by my father in 1977.
I don’t recognize the names on the hospital records of the person who found me “laying” in the middle of the road and took me to the hospital. And my father’s name is the only name listed as Next of Kin, so it’s obvious that Richard wasn’t going to let his kids stand in the way of his flying to Iceland.
So, as I said, I was curious to see what was so special about Iceland.
I booked the trip so that I would be in Iceland for the summer solstice.
Iceland, or more specifically Reykjavik was interesting.
I didn’t get around too much of the island, I just stayed around Reykjavik, but I did violate one rule and I ended up out at the Black Sand Beach on the south east corner of the island.
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So, I never did discover a reason for my father to have buggered off to the island while leaving his kids unattended at home in military housing.
Maybe he thought that the other parents on base would just look after us in the same manner that he just expected everyone else to look after us.
And I can’t see having told his chain of command that he wouldn’t be able to go out on training exercises as he had a responsibility to look after his family.
Iceland is an interesting place. Nice and quiet. Everyone keeps to themselves, but they are very friendly.
If you have depression or anxiety Iceland is actually therapeutic as it gets you away from our toxic and highly dysfunctional culture.
The cycling culture is better than that of Vancouver’s.
Even though the Americans infected Iceland with car culture in the aftermath of WWII due to the presence of an American air force base on the island, bicycling is supported very strongly on the island. As is walking. Reykjavik is a very walkable city.
2023 Trip to Iceland
This counter that was just down the path from the hotel I stayed in shows that 5 bicycles and 16 pedestrians had passed this point by 00:58. Yes, the counter resets at 00:00. And yes, this is midnight on the summer solstice.
And the aforementioned US military presence on the island in the years after WWII is what fuelled the punk rock scene on the island, especially in Reykjavik. The punk rock scene exploded primarily as a force of resistance against the American influence on Icelandic culture.
There’s a wonderful little Punk “museum” in the heart of Reykjavik in an old converted public washroom. These public washrooms weren’t small, they’re pretty large. And hence there’s a museum in one of them. If you’re in Reykjavik you should give it a try.
Walking around in Reykjavik I realized that there weren’t many visible signs of drug use, mental health issues, or homelessness. That’s not because they don’t have these issues. It’s because unlike here in Canada where we are in a never ending race with the Americans to see who can cut their taxes to the absolute minimum while cutting as many social programs to the bone, Iceland heavily invests in social housing, looking after their mentally ill, and looking after their drug addicts.
Yes, their taxes are high when compared to Canada’s taxes, but they don’t have homeless people sleeping in doorways, homeless families living in cars, and homeless people shitting and pissing in the alleys.
And the truth about Canadian taxes is our tax rates, especially our lack of a wealth tax, is that our taxes are laughably so low that they’re criminal.
Canada’s tax rate is even less than America’s tax rate.
Christ, our tax rate is even lower than Ethiopia’s tax rate.
Yeah, it’s no wonder why we don’t have any investment in social programs and why our governments are trying to cut away as many social programs as possible. Our governments are trying to compete against Indonesia, Pakistan, and Ethiopia to be tax havens for the rich.
Anyways, would I go to Iceland again?
I probably would, given the chance. I’d plan for a couple of weeks stay and I’d try to get up to the northern part of the island to get as close to the Arctic circle as possible for the summer solstice.
Beeshive 