This past weekend I had the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Reykjavik, Iceland. We bought the plane tickets on a whim, and decided ‘why not?’. This was one of the best decisions I ever made when it came to traveling. Trying something different like going to Iceland instead of Barcelona or Rome or any other major city caused me to see a whole other side to Europe. At this point I’m use to the European city life-always watching for pick picketers, moving with the crowds from place to place, etc., so getting out of the city and having a weekend to discover a different type of beauty was really eye opening.
Arriving in Reykjavik I truly had no idea what to expect. After getting a chance to explore the city I was pleasantly surprised to find how clean and well taken care of it is. Iceland is truly a country of natural beauty and promotes a cleaner and greener way of living. I saw no signs of poverty, homelessness, or crime. All of the buildings were pristine and well taken care of. Even our hostile was kept very well! On Saturday we decided to take an eleven hour tour to see some of Iceland’s natural landmarks. I find it rare these days finding myself being utterly impressed by something, and honestly I felt that way the entire time on this tour. The mountains, geysers, waterfalls, craters, and geothermal pools all had me wondering if I was still on earth or some other planet. Iceland does an amazing job keeping these places preserved and looking as if they are un touched by humans. I feel truly lucky that I was able to see these sites just as they were thousands of years ago. Especially with Iceland’s increasing popularity I fear that they might fall victim to tourism and some of its natural beauty might be taken away by it. However, Iceland has taken a proactive approach with tourism and preserving the sites so I’m hoping they’ll remain the same for generations to come.
The most important thing I took out of this trip was the lesson of always being willing to try different things. It might sound cliché, but if I wasn’t willing to try going to a place I would have never guessed I’d travel to I would never have gotten to see the amazing natural landmarks of Iceland. If I could I would go back to Iceland in a second, but I guess I’ll just have to wait until next time!
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