Inspiring Iceland

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his summer I didn’t really do much with my life, and then it all started falling apart.

When my dad suggested we go on a holiday I wasn’t really in the place to suggest somewhere where you ‘do things’. Iceland is definitely a place where you can do a hell of a lot of ‘things’ but you can also sit in a car and drive, and drive, and drive some more.

I’ve never been so overwhelmed by a landscape. It was constantly changing, often incredibly harsh, but also beautiful. The whole place seemed to scream of isolation. A solitary landscape, perfect for my grumpy self.

We went to the Western Fjords (“now I understand why the parrot was pining”) and saw waterfalls, ’ominous cumulonimbus formations’ and even picked up a hitchhiker in bright colours who was visiting from Poland.

The highlight was the final day though: the glaciers which flood into the sea leaving chunks of ice beached on the black sand, mist forming as the sun shone down proved that there was nowhere quite like Iceland. I couldn’t live there, the lack of people, the harshness of the surroundings would become too much. But as a place to visit, to drive and think and just look, I can’t recommend it more.

One of the first things we did was the Golden Circle which is a road trip that takes you around to see some of the best geysers, lakes and waterfalls Iceland has to offer. The most surreal element of Iceland is how much of it looks like the desert in America.

For Reykjavik Pride, a rainbow painted street was commissioned. It was beautifully sunny and a lovely long road. I’m glad that it wasn’t removed after Pride was over, that it’s there to stay.

The whole place seemed to scream of isolation. A solitary landscape, perfect for my grumpy self.

Dad and I spent a long time driving and whilst we drove we would just wind down the window and snap, hoping for the best. This is one of the better ones we took. Mostly because of the angry sheep. The sheep are very angry in Iceland

This is a picture of the glacier lake from Die Another Day. Bond didn’t appear in short shorts (wrong film, I know), but it was by far and away the best thing I saw on this trip. Not to sound clichéd but it was genuinely breathtaking and entirely surreal.