A Day in Iceland

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Iceland is fantastic.  Cold.  Rainy.  But so pretty!!  The city was kinda like most European cities that I've been to.  But when you go off the beaten path - it is beautiful!!!

Unfortunately, when I got into Reykjavik and tried to get some money for a bus, my card wasn't working.  So I couldn't make it to church. :(  Instead I walked around the city, finding some neat churches and cool buildings.

I found some Russian people (I heard them as they were coming out of a store) and followed them around a little bit.  Intentionally?  Maybe yes, maybe no.  But it was fun to listen to them speak!  I miss havng Russian being spoken all around me.

Then I saw on the map a geothermal beach. So of course I had to check it out.

And then I started wandering, and found myself on a trail that would take me through some woods (don't worry Mom, I wasn't wandering aimlessly around through the woods - I had a destination in mind and a map).  It. was. GORGEOUS.  I couldn't stop gawking and taking pictures.  I never knew Iceland had pinetrees and this type of greenery - always just thought it hilly with grass growing on the lava rocks.

But this was beautiful and I probably spent a good couple hours just inside these woods.  Iceland is expensive enough with food and transportation from the airport.  So I would highly suggest walking and exploring - find the woods and get lost in them!  They are magical :)

I even stumbled across some old WWII bunkers on the hill in a clearing of the woods!  That was neat and unexpected.

Aunt Jessica in DC & NYC

I'm going to miss waking up to my niece putting. No, dropping. her green monster, Nibbles, or her baby doll, Molly, on me and then running to tell her mom, "I gave Aunt Jessica Molly [or Nibbles] to sleep with!" 😂  I'm also going to miss her turning to me and telling me, "Aunt Jessica, I love you all of the time!" or "AUNT JESSICA!" whenever she'd see me again after having left to another room.

The past week and a half I spent in DC and NYC with my sister and her family.  The first half of my time in DC there was rainstorms all day everyday.  But that turned out to be a-OK because I actually got a tad sick from my stress caused by airport struggles two weeks ago.  So with the weather, we didn't do as much and I got to take some naps/try to get over some jet lag.

It was a fun time stlil! We did lots of touristy things. Smithsonian museums, White House, Capital Building, National Mall, Tour of the Pentagon, Strawberry Picking, Boat Rides in the Tidal Basin, Bike Rides in Central Park, the Met, Anastasia on Broadway, Times Square.  Ya know-all those cool things:)

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge museum type of person. So going through them at the speed of a toddler wasn't too terrible. Hahah! And if there's interactive stuff inside - all the better!  Makes it much more enjoyable!  But goodness. Going through a museum with more than a dozen toddlers-YIKES.

My second day here we went on a field trip to the Museum of Natural History with my niece and her class and some other classes. Kudos to the preschool teachers out there!  Don't get me wrong - I loved it still.  I love kids and I loved being able to see their eyes filled with wonder as we walked through the rooms filled with different creatures.  I also wished that the animals would come to life as in Night at the Museum, but no such luck.  Bummer.

Anastasia was pretty great too.  Ever since I was young, I have loved Anastasia.  I remember i got an Anastasia board game once for my birthday and Dmitry was definitely by "prince" crush.  Him and Alladin.  And then I served my mission in St. Petersburg, Russia, making Anastasia so much cooler!  I loved the show and would recommend it.  It had a neat little twist, as they took out Rasputin for the show but added a different antagonist.  It made it feel more real, which I liked.

Another highlight was strawberry picking.  We started off our adventures Friday by going to a farm and picking strawberrys in the rain!  Ever since my mission I've absolutely loved berry picking.  I think it's because I can sometimes sneak some bites of the berries I'm picking...YUM. ;) No matter the reason - strawberry picking this day was fun!  We ended up picking 13 lbs of stawberries.  Strawberries for DAYZ!!!  Seriously though.  We've so far made strawberry pancakes, strawberry syrup and Petunia's Strawberry Trifle (a muggle favorite), strawberry jam, and just eaten strawberries for almost every meal.  Delicious. :)

Anyways. Now I'm off to Iceland to start the Europe part of this trip.  How am I feeling?  Same as before - Nervous.  Excited.  Scared.  Still don't have everything planned.  Which is hard for me because I am a perfectionist and like to have details planned.  But with this trip I'm kinda just going to go places and explore and learn from the people.  I don't want to be much of a tourist - although I still hope to see really neat things!  I just want to adventure.  So, here's to adventureing and fulfilling a dream!  

Delays

And so it begins.

A delayed flight. A cancelled flight. A rebooked flight. Another delayed flight. A missed flight. Another rebooked flight. And yet another delayed flight. And another rebooked flight. FLIPPIN HECK.

In all my days of travel, I've never had such bad luck with flights! Sure, a delay here or there, but nothing like this. Dang it weather! Stop storming where I need to go!!!!!! 😡  I don't feel like I get mad or frustrated very often or easily, but I definitely am right now. I want to pull out my hair, roll into a ball and just cry.

It's a great way to start my trip! 😅 Let's hope all this flight trouble today covers for my whole 6-7 months trip. 🤞🏻

But some bright sides to this layover: ...There are none.

Jk! There really are, here's some: 

• I got to spend one more night with my family
• I got a free sandwich, chips, and cookie from customer service.
• After I went to rebook my flight again the service lady was so nice and changed my flight completely with no charge! Pray it doesn't get cancelled by the weather😰🙏🏻
• I talked to some nice and funny people while waiting in line. It helped lighten the mood.
• I now know the LAX airport terminal 8 like a pro (thanks to my 12 hr delay there), so if you ever need advice on what to eat, where to charge your phone, where's the best place to nap, the best place to sit and smell yummy food or where the bathrooms are-I can help ya out;)
• I read a book while waiting. It was a short story "In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It". Haha it was perfect for my current situation! All these delays were due to weather and there was nothing I could do about it! And it was a good book to relate to life. Especially as I start my trip to Europe!

Update: 24 hrs later I made it finally to DC. What a ride. Haha and to top it off, my sister's alarm didn't go off so I was chilling at the airport for another little while. By this point though I was just happy to be in DC!:)