Adventures in Iceland: Part One
Midnight sun, waterfalls that were out of this world, epic black sand beaches, amazing friends, crying because of how beautiful life is - I thought it was a dream.
We arrived in Iceland at 6AM after a quick five hour flight from Chicago International Airport. By the way, if you're considering traveling to Iceland from the states, Iceland AIr has incredible flight deals all the time - it was cheaper for us to fly round trip to Iceland that it was to fly roundtrip to Portland. Le gasp!
We were DELIRIOUSLY joyful when we arrived in a gloomy yet beautiful Iceland. We traveled with our two friends, Cash and Elliot, both dear friends and so fun to be around. We were bound to have an epic couple of days. And we. did.
Reykjavik was our home base for the four days we were in Iceland together. Y'all, Reykjavik is such a lovely city. From cute little boutiques, to incredible architecture, to beautiful Icelandic humans - I can see why people love it there.
We walked, we talked, laughed, sang with random strangers in a souvenir shop, ate delicious fish and chips, took a lot of photos, and really enjoyed being abroad for the first time as a group (Cash, Elliot, Isaac and me).
Apparently Iceland hasn't had this nasty of a summer in over 100 years - all the locals were bummed because usually summer has incredibly beautiful weather. We didn't mind: it was something different from the hot, humid days in Chicago recently. Though it must be said, summer and warm weather is our favorite - there's nothing like short shorts and tank tops. ;)
Speaking of unusual - Iceland never sees full darkness in the summer. It was a surreal experience, it being light at midnight. While it was cloudy most of the time we were there, it was pretty epic to sleep and drive and hang out with light out in the middle of the night. We could definitely get used to a summer like that - maybe next year we will spend more time in Iceland, Norway, and other northern countries. :)
We spent one day on a south island tour - it was 10 hours long and we met some amazing new friends. Iceland's landscape has a unique kind of majesty - it didn't seem real. We walked behind a waterfall, climbed up 450 steps to the top of another waterfall, visited an amazing black sand beach and soaked in a landscape that really makes you think about your existence as a human being.
There was a moment at one night while at dinner (at Blue Lagoon!) where I told Isaac, in front of our friends, that he has really changed my life in the most beautiful way. I started to cry. I'm not one who cries often - only during really emotional love-centric movies or when I'm thinking about my mom (she passed away 6 years ago). It was a really powerful moment that I'll never forget. It really dawned on me that I'm living an incredibly *good* life.
We have been meditating on a thing lately - and it's been rocking our life pretty hard. It's the phrase "impossibly good things" - focusing on it, finding it, it finding us...
When Isaac and I first met on a random hook up app, we knew that the connection we had was special because so many "impossibly good things" were happening to us - doors opening, things lining up time after time, kindness from others slapping us on the face, finding alignment in each other's hearts again and again, etc. We didn't have the words for it back then, but recently, the saying "impossibly good things" came to Isaac, and it's been our focus ever since.
Life is crazy good. We are becoming more and more aware of how our attitude and mental strength changes and impacts our life in the most positive, meaningful way. We are going to continue sharing more about "impossibly good things" in future blogs, but wanted to share a little bit about that in this blog and especially during our Iceland trip.
Look out for Iceland, Part 2 coming out shortly. :)
ALL THE LOVE, Abe and Isaac