Girl Holidays : Iceland

I'm  not a "girly holiday" person, not trying to say I'm better than people who go on them, I mostly just enjoy travelling on my own. Last year, the weekend my friend and I went to Holifest, she said she was going to Iceland for her birthday and did I want to go. I said no first, I had a not great experience in London trying to work there one summer with a friend and we ended up not talking for months, but then I was asked to go again by another friend, and I'm trying to do things with people, so I said fuck it lets go to ICELAND.

This holiday was weird in the fact I booked nothing, I just transferred money to my friend in London (Currency Fair FTW) and I was really just told when to show up somewhere ha. All I had to do was buy my flight to London as that's where we were flying from (though you can fly from Dublin, its just my friends live in London). The flight was less than 3 hours, wherby my friend and I slept the entire time (four of us went, the two others sat more at the front, we also stayed in different hotels, as we got the rooms, flights and the trip to the northern lights through Wowcher, and they had to be bought in twos, and when our other friend went to book, our hotel was full so they ended up in a different place, but their booking included breakfast). When we arrived at our hotel we were told that we actually had two single rooms instead of a twin, which was even better, my friend is a morning shower type of girl so it all worked out. For someone who doesn't do group holidays, space to zone out and listen to podcasts are needed somewhat frequently, as much as I love the girls I went with.

Day one was spent readjusting to super cold weather, walking on ice (GOOD SHOES/ BOOTS are essential, my friend was sure her toes would come away from her body) and of course eating FERMENTED SHARK at the Loki restaurant, don't  think I'll be eating that again but I can mark it off my list of things to eat. We walked around and got a feel for the place. I stood on a frozen lake, admire the concert hall and saw a penis museum. We headed to a place close to both our hotels called Red Chilies. I don't think Reyner the waiter was super happy to see four hyper over tired irish ladies, but once I called him a raving alcoholic and continuosly complained about Johny Cash playing on repeat he took a shine to us and gave us some tips such a walk like a penguin to not fall, go to Lebowskis on a Wednesday, don't eat fermented shark. 

Day Two;  as it was pancake Tuesday I had waffles for breakfast of course. We booked into do the Free Walking tour with the enthusiastic adorable Martin, who told us about the metal houses, the fairy rock, and all about reykjavik he even got a selfie with us in front of a woolen vagina, highly recommend it. We also headed to the Northern lights, which was just unbelievable. It took a while for them to show up so we admired the stars, drank some hot chocolate and jack daniels and eventually they showed up. There was a mini existential crisis and a group hug and the bus lady told us a ghost story, and then dropped us off at our hotels.

Day three: if there's one thing I'd tell you not to do that we did would be go whale watching. We did it as part of a deal, whale watching and the blue lagoon, but I'd say to just do the blue lagoon, go earlish, get a drink and a face mask and you can leave when you want. I must say I've never met a tour guide as enthusiastic about dolphins, cause we only saw dolphins, the whales were hiding that day. On our first day walking around donna who was the reason we went to Iceland, it was actually her birthday that day, she spotted a Sky restaurant, so we headed there. Such a good idea, lobster salad was a good idea! We kept borderline bullied the waiter into guessing her age. We headed to Lebowskis (maybe see the film before you head there, so you can understand the toe reference at the bar).




I just adored Iceland. I more than likely will not head there ever again, and that's perfectly fine.
For a first time girl holiday I think I picked well. The girls and the location, ok the location was picked already but I had the best time
 

Lit Nit Wit: Before I go to sleep

Surprise Surprise I'm reading a book that was made into a movie. Even though it was made into a movie I wasn't sure I would like it, I think jut cause Colin Firth is in the movie, which of course is a terrible reason not to think a book will be good, I was very surprised as a result though so Yay


Christine wakes up beside a stranger, then wanders to the bathroom to see she is not the early 20s woman she was expecting to see in the mirror but a woman in her 40s. In the bathroom there are photos of her, none of which she can remember, her screams from the sight of herself have woken the man up, who introduces himself as her husband. He tells her she had an accident years ago and has been unable to retain any memories past her early 20s sometimes even before that, she has to relearn everyday when she wakes up her age and who this man is, and every night when she goes to sleep it is all lost.

When Ben leaves for work Christine receives a phone call from a doctor informing her she had a diary and they were working together to try and work on her memory. The majority of the book is diary entries, where everyday she receives a phone call from the doctor, and she reads the diary and relearns who she is and learns how the doctor is trying to help her,
I felt a deep unease reading the book, a concern for a character of a book. I try and guess what's going to happen, and the first thing that occurred to me was how can she trust a diary? How can she trust the doctor, who has told her not to tell Ben about the diary, and how can she trust Ben, still a stranger, and on the first page of the diary it says DO NOT TRUST Ben. There is also a passing issue on consent that occurs a couple of times in the book, which I find interesting, cause CONSENT IS IMPORTANT!!

I really enjoyed this book, more probably cause I wasn't expecting it to be great, for no reason, I literally judged this book by its cover! There was one turn I was not expecting and I was so shocked I think I gasped, I highly recommend it!!