April 10

April 10, 2012

Well I'm wiriting this on Tuesday, I don't know when I'll be able to post this, there is no free wifi in London.

Monday was our last day in Iceland, our sleep schedules are still messed up so while Bryce decided to go to sleep at 5pm, Cam and I decided to try and stay up until our 4am busride to the airport. We eneded up going out for dinner with Brendan the Aussie, we went to the Icelandic Bar which had traditional Icelandic food. Brendan had the Reindeer Burger, Cam had briased whale and I had Goose, Puffin, and Lamb. The Puffin was pretty gross it tasted like red meat from a bird. I'm glad I tried it, but I'll never eat it again. I tried some of Cams whale, it tasted and looked like a blue rare steak. I guess Iceland and Japan are two of the only countries in the world that still participate in whaling. We headed back to the hostel for a few beers and try and get rid of the last of our Krona. Brendan is spening another eight days on the island. He rented an SUV and is going to drive around and take photos. Once he's done in Iceland he's going to be a teacher in Copenhagen. Hopefully we can visit him again on our travels. We tried to pull an all nighter but decided to go to sleep with just a few hours before our bus.

The flight to London was fine, I slept through most of it. Customs was a different story. After waiting in line for 45 minutes we told the customs officer we had no idea where we were staying or for how long. We were informed that without this info we'd be denied entry. He then asked for proof that we had enough money to stay here, which we couldn't do. So he informed us he'd let us in but we could only stay for two months. He could've totally ruined our day, it was awesome of him to let us in. We got a lady at the tourism desk to book us a place to stay, we have a private room in a shitty hotel. Which is actually cheaper per person per night than staying in a dorm hostel. The location is great though, we're only 5 minutes from Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. London is crazy, the size and density are a little much. It's so busy and the noise and traffic is intense. I do fine with crowds but here is a little much.

Frank Turner is on Friday and our friend Leandra will be here by then.

1. Our Aussie friend Brendan, hopefully we're going to meet him in Copenhagen where's he living.

2. The front and back of our hostel, I guess it used to be an old biscuit factory.

3. The view from the common area.

Dillon the bar, yet again

Last night we decided to take it easy and stay at the hostel, chat with everyone at the bar and just relax. So naturally we met some Americans and an Irish girl and decided to get drunk leave the hostel and grab a hotdog... So much for relaxing. It was raining exceptionally hard last night from what it was before. But that does not seem to stop anyone here from going out and enjoying the night. After the hotdogs we decided to head down to the bar called Dillon again. They were playing great music as they had the night before and now that there was a big group of us, we were able to get a few tables and really enjoy everyone's company. About 30 minutes after sitting down, some angry french hybrid (I think) decided to come up and start a verbal fight with the Americans over the french and American involvement in World war 2... After bantering back and fourth with him he decided to let us know that his friend who was sitting at the bar was a nazi. So cam and I decided to bail on that table and sit with the Americans. Unluckily for Devin he was not able to escape the bantering French man and the nazi who had now sat down at the table. After witnessing the nazi talking to Devin about mind over matter while pinching his arm and giving him a light slap on the face, I figured it was time to get Devin away from that and grab a drink at the bar. Beer was a nice change of pace from being slapped by an SS officer, and we decided to walk outside and get some air. That's where we ran into two Icelandic (emo) girls having a cigarette. They talked about tattoos and the apparent Icelandic penis museum... Yes a penis museum... And then the came back in for a drink or two. The night went pretty smooth after that, we listened to some Bruce Springsteen and piano man yet again, then began the walk home. Back at the hostel we had a lengthy game of 21 questions with the Americans and the Irish girl, and called it a night around 530am. Overall it was a great night and I can wait to do it again tonight!

First night out in Reykjavik

April 6th

After spending 5 hours walking around Reykjavik aimlessly, walking up and down the same streets over and over we finally checked into our room. They upgraded us from a ten person dorm to a six person one. There's another guy in here from Portland, Oregon we haven't really spoken to him. After showering we immediately went to bed, we figured we'd nap for a few hours then go out. Well we didn't get up until ten pm. 7 hours of napping. We went down to the hostel bar and ordered these giant mugs of beer, but the bar closed at 11 so we sat down on some couches with these twin brothers from Hungary, and an Australian guy. The brothers were very loud and hilarious, they like everyone else here assumed we were Americans. They gave us some pizza and vodka and we hung out with them till about 130am. The Australian guy told us a lot of good advice and said we had to visit Copenhagen, apparently it's filled with gorgeous girls.

After the Aussie went to bed we decided to head out, the Hungarians had a flight home in a few hours so we shook hands and wished them well. I read that in Iceland people don't go out until midnight and then stay out till 4 or 5 am, our hostel was empty and it being Good Friday I was worried the bars would be closed. We got to the main street with all the bars and it was pretty busy, first we stopped at a karaoke bar all of the songs were western pop songs like Madonna and Britney Spears, but they also played Bohemian Rhapsody the whole bar sung along to every word, it was awesome. I guess Bohemian Rhapsody transcends all cultures. The urinals in this bar were retarded, they were designed for someone at least 6 foot 2, I had to angle my junk upwards in order to use them. I couldn't believe how pretty the girls in this country are, we hadn't seen any young people all day, but at this bar one gorgeous girl after another would come inside.

After a few pints we left and headed to the next bar, it was called "Dillion" and reminded me of The Black Dog back home. It was pretty small but they played some good music, again the whole bar erupted and sang along this time to Piano Man and Journey. At this bar we met Anna, she approached us and asked us where we were from. Like most people here she spoke English, we told her what we were doing here and that we liked her country. Her and here friends seemed convinced that Canadians and Americans were exactly the same, in the ways we dress and speak. We tried to convince them otherwise. They tried to give us some tips on how to look less American, taking off our baseball caps was the biggest give away. The bouncers began to tell us we had to leave, and in Iceland if you aren't done your beer when you leave the doorman will pour it into a plastic cup and you can take it with you!

Anna and her friends took us to the final bar of the night, it was more of a nightclub and had a pool table in the front yard area the size of a truck. Which then Bryce decided to yell out "Look at that fucking pool table! Awesome!" Anna and her friends quickly told us that yelling and saying awesome was another shitty American quality. We only stuck around for one beer before the bar closed.

It was almost 5am at this point. Anna wanted us to go to the beach, but it was cold and rainy we just wanted to sleep. I couldn't believe how dirty the streets are here, I had to pee and made extra sure it was cool to piss outside on the street. Anna assured me it was, there was one guy who dropped his pint glass on the sidewalk and decided to stomp on it shattering it everywhere. Some guy came over with a hose and just sprayed the broken glass into the street. There is gum and cigarette butts everywhere. This guy tried getting us to go back to his house for an after party we tried to be polite and say no, but he followed us as we walked back to the hostel. He left us after a few blocks and we walked down to the beach. Bryce and I headed to our room and went to bed, it was 6am by this point. Cam stayed with Anna for a bit, but he was back in bed by 630. As I'm writing this it's 4 in the afternoon and Cam and Bryce are still snoring.

Reykjavik, Iceland

We've made our first actual destination. Iceland Air was actually a pretty dope airline, we got free blankets and pillows. The tvs had about 30 movies on it, some Icelandic ones but mostly western stuff like Batman and Lord of The Rings. I took a handful of gravol and melatonin, and slept sporadically throughout the flight. The flight attendants wore these beret kinda hats, they looked like Gaddafis Amazonian bodyguards.

It's pretty dreary here, it's about 6 degrees really foggy and rainy. I doubt we'll see the sun while we're here. The architecture is strange, one building is a very modern looking high rise apartment, and right next to it is a row of sketchy, maritime looking houses.

Also we got here at 630, arrived at our hostel around 8. They wouldn't let us check in till 2. The streets are empty, we're assuming because of good Friday. After several hours wondering the streets aimlessly, hungry and needing showers we finally found a place open for breakfast.

Layover in Seattle

We're stuck here at the Seattle airport for two hours, the flight in was on a to tiny prop plane, with shit seats. The airport here is kinda cool, we had to take a subway train to the gates. I'm not sure why the terminal was within walking distance. Our flight to Reykjavik leaves at 430 and we don't land until 6am, it's supposed to be only 7 and a half hours. We're hoping it isn't a full flight.