Solo travel? Sounds good to a photographer. Full control over the schedule, new friends on the road, come and go without the burden. Why not? This is the first thought that came to my mind after my friend dropped out of our Christmas trip to Iceland. It did sound like a no-brainer decision to me, despite the fact that I have never solo traveled before. And yet after being trapped in BC for the whole eight months for work, I couldn't suppress the urge of escaping to somewhere different. Boom, here I am, on the flight from Vancouver to Reykjavík, in awe of the dancing Northern Light outside my window.
On my flight to Iceland, I got the best treat from Mother Nature: Northern Light outside my window!
Reykjavík on Christmas Eve
I have always pictured winter's Iceland as wet, moody and gloomy. The long day of darkness, the cool tone in Icelandic photographer's work, the roaring waves of the South coast. It never came to my mind that Iceland can be that bright and colourful in winter. Unbelievably, we were blessed with the awesome weather on our three-day South coast tour. During the short period of daytime from 11am to 3pm, it was "golden hour" all the way. Low sun, soft daylight, pink sky... everything was so so photogenic! Geysir, Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, Black Sand Beach, Dyrhólaey Island, and Skogafoss Waterfall to name a few. Among all the wonders along the South coast, diamond beach was definitely my favourite spot. The ice-chunks on the beach against the setting sun were absolutely breathtaking.
Next stop: Akureyri, the Capital of North Iceland. Why came all the way to the chilling North? I have two reasons: scuba diving and Game of Throne. Iceland has done a pretty good job promoting its scuba diving tourism. Silfra, a fissure between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, has "the clearest water on earth". As a cold water diver, I could not resist the temptation of diving between tectonic plates in Iceland. While all the tours to Silfra were fully booked, Strýtan dive centre in the Northern Iceland still offered the SINGLE person diving tour, which was a rare opportunity during holiday season. Besides, North Iceland is known for some filming locations of “Land beyond the Wall” in HBO series Game of Throne. After some emails with the owner of dive centre Erlendur, I was fully on board and booked my flight to Akureyri.
“Land beyond the Wall”
Sad news: my diving plan ended up cancelled due to the record-breaking cold weather, but the effort of bringing my drysuit all the way to Iceland was not in vain. The snorkel trip to Nesgjá and Litlaá were equally exciting. We drove up to the northern coast of Iceland, just south of the arctic circle. Litlaá is a geothermally heated river with the mysterious dancing sands on the river bed. Great fun to watch!
I concluded my 9-day trip with a dazzling firework night to welcome 2018. Icelanders are known for spending an insane amount of money on fireworks each year, most of which goes to the search and rescue teams. When every single person can shoot a couple of fireworks in to the sky, Reykjavík went crazy and the whole sky lit up. It was my most memorable New Year's Eve ever!
Happy New Year, Reykjavík!