This country is such a trip! Like exploring an icy, calm, and nearly untouched alien planet! The entire time I kept thinking to myself “I cannot believe people actually live here”. I later learned that the icy planet in Interstellar was filmed here so..go figure. The out-of-this-world landscapes along with the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights made Iceland the perfect place to end my westward circle around the globe.

My time here verrry relaxing. It’s quiet in Iceland. No metro lines. No trains. No sprawling city centers. The only real noises are the strong gusts of wind, the boisterous waterfalls, and the occasional snowfall. Just a total flip from every other place I’ve been to really. It was wonderful to unwind, sleep in, and take some day trips out of Reykjavík to see what Iceland had in store.

I told myself that I would be content with putting a stop to my trips abroad and going back to my regular routine if I was able to visit allll these countries during my last solo trip AND experience the Northern Lights. I knew the chances were slim…you have much better luck seeing the lights in countries like Norway as some cities there are well above the Arctic Circle but I still wanted to try my luck.

The first few days had me losing hope due to the dense cloud coverage and low viewing probability. One night I didn’t even bother going out because the radar showed that the entire country was covered by a cloud the whole night. Despite the circumstances, on the very last night, only a few hours before my early flight back to the US, with dense cloud coverage AND only a 10% chance of seeing the aurora, a few of us ambitious folks luckily got a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Despite it being faint and only lasting a few minutes, it felt like closure. A fitting end to my 9-week trip around the world 🌏🌍🌎