Iceland ~ land of fire and ice, white glaciers forming a backdrop to lush hills of green, lava fields and waterfalls, geysers and volcanic craters, black sand beaches separating the deep blue ocean from verdant farms with their pretty little ponies and wooly free range sheep. Breathtaking. And the air was so clean, the water so pure. There is a simplicity and a quietness that is calling us back. Pristine.

You asked for it....I warn you, this could take hours to read through but you'll get the whole scoop, so fix yourself a cup of tea (Lady Grey would be my choice!), grab a scone, sit back, relax and welcome to...

"Sage and Tera's European Adventures"

or should it be

"Some Dreams Do Come True"

or how about

"Two Sisters in a Strange Land"

ANYWAY...

Tera and I finally did it, after years and years of dreaming, and months and months and months of working and saving and planning, and lots of help from lots of people (especially our Dad and Suze) we took off on September 6th for a month in Europe!!!! And what an incredible month it was!!!

Our plan was to spend two days in Iceland and then a week each for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Over 13,800 miles later (not including walks and hikes) we arrived home October 6th...safe, sound and happy ~ both to have gone, and to be home! So, here is the story....

Confession #1 ~ We intended to plan everything out....we didn't. In fact, the only reservation we made in advance was for a B&B for our first night in England - and that was made while waiting for our plane in good ol' OKC!!!

Confession #2 ~ We were so worked up about packing too much or not packing enough, all that we didn't know and mistakes we might make, and maybe this isn't the right time, and some of our dearest friends are suffering such trials, and look at what's going on in New Orleans while we go on vacation, and billions of other doubts and worries, so that by the time we were really leaving neither of us were sure that we wanted to go!!!! I'll tell you right now, this trip had us both way out of our comfort zone, and it would have been much easier to just stay home. But if we had, we would always have dreamed of doing this. (Whereas now, we just dream of going back someday!!!!)

How's that for an intro?

Chapter 1

Iceland...Land of Fire and Ice

Early September 6th found us packed and heading for the Oklahoma City airport. A very uneventful flight later, and we were in Minneapolis for our 7 hour lay over. The first ones at our gate, we watched with interest as our fellow passengers arrived. The plane took off at 7:10 the evening of the 6th, and we arrived in Iceland at 6:20 a.m., September 7th after only 6 hours in the air. We lost 5 hours of our lives between here and there, not to mention a whole night of sleep, but it was sooooooo worth it. We were very excited to see the Northern Lights from the window of the plane, and tried not to waken our fellow passenger, who was sitting in the window seat, with our eagerness to see that amazing phenomenon. When he did wake up and we found that he was Icelandic, we didn't give him much of a chance to enjoy further rest with all our questions about Iceland. Turns out he runs a tour business, and we know that God arranged for us to sit with the best informant possible...our knight in shining armor and an answer to prayer. He was so kind and helpful to us, waiting for us to get through passport control, showing us to baggage claim, then the car rental agency, drawing out our route to everything we could see in the short two days that we were there, and then telling us we could call his mobile if we had any problems!!! Perhaps he was an angel!!!! Anyway, that was an amazing way to start out our trip and left us with the overwhelming feeling that God was in control and even though we didn't have a plan, He did, and we just needed to trust Him.

 

One source says that in 2005 the population of Iceland is 296,737...and 75% of those people live in Reykjavik. They use geothermal water to heat their houses, from the hot water right out of the ground. Illiteracy is virtually unheard of, and Icelandic is such an old language, that once children do learn to read, they can read even the ancient manuscripts, because the language has changed so little. Everyone that we met was very friendly and helpful. Tera and I are both ready to move there...with our whole family, of course!!!

We left the airport and headed straight out for our Icelandic adventure...no time to catch up on sleep, we only had two days to see so much!!!! We went to Reykjavik City Center and the harbor first, and thought about going out on a whale watching cruise, but our new friend Fridrik had warned us that it was a bit phony, and the wind was very strong and quite chilly, so we skipped it and headed out of town to see as many natural wonders as we could fit into our limited time. East out of the city, and then southward, we visited Thingvellir, the site of Iceland's first parliament - founded in A.D. 930. Right there outside of the visitor center we walked through an on-land exposure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. There are fissures that show where the North American Plate is pulling away from the Eurasian Plate...you geologists would love it there!!!! We went on to see the Gulfoss waterfall and THE Geysir that all other geysers are named after.

By early afternoon we could not keep our eyes open, and in the interest of safe driving, we pulled over and slept for an hour or so, then were on our way. Finally grabbed a quick lunch around 2 o'clock (in the company of some obnoxious American tourists!) and headed for Vik, where we planned to spend the night. Everywhere we went the landscapes were incredible, and our wonderment of the island increased with every turn in the road. But it was cold!!!! The wind was relentless, and we had our winter hats and gloves on, wishing we had our ski pants and coats as well!!! Brrrrr.......

We stayed the night of the 7th in our first hostel in Vik. I guess I picked up a cold in the airport, and by the time we got settled into our room, I didn't leave it again. Fortunately, we had a room to ourselves that night...we were both ready to sleep!!!

We headed out fairly early, stopped at a grocery store in Vik, and had fun picking out food, with the packaging all in Icelandic. Everyone knows English there, though, so we didn't feel any language barrier throughout our visit. The weather that day was dramatically different. There was little wind for most of the day, and by noon we found ourselves in t-shirts after starting the morning with as many layers of clothing as we could possibly manage. We drove back along the south coast, and were constantly awed by the varied landscape. There were few people...and for a short time, while we were driving on this dirt road not sure exactly where we were, we wondered how long it would take someone to come by if we broke down, or really did lose our way! We finally ended up at the hostel near the airport in Njarđvik. We went and picked up a bit of dinner, along with some dry fish, which Fridrik told us we had to try before we left (it was very dry...sort of like jerky, but flaky and very fishy ~ not bad at all, really!) then headed back to our room. That night, the 8th, we shared a room with several girls. Alex and Sabrina were from Switzerland, Becky from New York, and another girl from Germany. We stayed up WAY too late, laughing and discussing languages and pronunciation and anything else we could think of, so 4:30 came much too quickly. A, S, T and I managed to squeeze ourselves and our luggage into our car, and B met us at the airport a short time later. We had tea together, then off to London we flew, leaving a bit of our hearts there on that black sand beach, and wondering if we will ever be able to go back again!!!

 

Chapter 2
"Two Policemen, Two Tow Trucks and the Traumatized Twosome"

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