Iceland: Epilogue Part 1

My last post was actually quite a while ago, unfortunately there was an incident with my shoulder and a dislocation. So I had a period off work and of course couldn't lift my camera for a while!

And well that encompassed almost the entirety of my time left in Iceland! As I write this I am back in the UK, it has been 4 days since I left the land of giants and elves. And so it's time for my official goodbye and give a summary of my adventure.

Beginnings

So it was on the 24th July 2013 when I made my arrival Iceland where I would spend a week in Reykjavík. 

Here I am!

While I was there I would see the Golden Circle for the first time, the combination of the water Gullfoss, geysir Strókkur (pictured above) and national park Þingvellir. And I would even go whale watching with Elding, who would later become my employers though I didn't know this at the time! This was just a week though as I would then part ways with my family as a moved north to....

Húsavík

Now anyone who has spent over 6 minutes talking to me will have heard this town mentioned, this is because undoubtedly this town stole my heart.

A view of the town from the mountain behind the town.

Just look how gorgeous Húsavík is! Picturesque...

And I can't talk about Húsavík without mentioning the greatest night I have ever had, nothing else comes close to perfection but this was pretty much that...

So imagine a group of very close friends, a wooden hot tub located on the edge of a cliff overlooking Skjálfandi Bay and a good supply of beer. Put those three together and you have a good night, add a fantastic northern lights display over the bay. At that point life reaches a peak.

Húsavík was two unforgettable months of my life. Of course there was more to it than what I've mentioned here but I shall get to those things later. For now my next destination and final permanent one would be...

Reykjavík

And so on October 1st I became a city boy! Moving to the capital (and only) city of Iceland. For the next two months I would be a researcher for Elding and actually spend the next 6 months living on a boat in Reykjavík harbour.

Here we have Reykjavík city seen from the water, bathed in snow! Safe to say that at far as capital cities go, this is incredibly scenic.

And here was my home for a while! Again bathed in snow, the winter here was.... interesting. And by interesting I mean REALLY cold. But now I have a fantastic tolerance for the cold so I guess it was worth it.

And so these were the places I would call home, in the city I did also rent an apartment for a while. So from October until December I was a researcher with Elding acting on a voluntary basis, but in January Elding made the decision to hire me as a tour guide! Seeing as I can only speak one language (in northern English too!) and had never had any experience in that field before this was certainly a brave decision but one that would serve to change my Icelandic journey massively!

Stages of Jack from left to right: Researcher for North Sailing in Húsavík; Researcher for Elding in Reykjavík; Guide for Elding in Reykjavík

Of course this meant my original plan to stay in Iceland until around February was out the window and of course I ended up leaving in September! This extra time through the summer meant I could actually do some travelling around the country which I will cover in part 2 of my epilogue! Dun dun duuuuuun!

Thanks for reading!