#rent is SO much cheaper in the next closest town

[oscarpiastriwdc]

okay wait there was a charlos webweave I meant to make tonight but got sidetracked by doomscrolling rental listings reminder to self revisit tomorrow

[houseboatisland]

Is Elizabeth on your island, and if so how has she adjusted after decades abandoned?

She is! And here's my headcanon for her:

Topham Hatt I, (The Fat Director,) had by 1926 accumulated a small fortune as General Manager of the North Western Railway. Reputed as a workaholic, (or boss-aholic,) Topham had sunk considerable amounts of money into his sprawling Wellsworth estate, Topham Hall. Topham was inspired by the undertaking of his sometime friend Sir Robert Walker, the Baronet of Sand Hutton. Walker's estate utilized war surplus one foot and three inch gauge locomotives to carry distinguished guests, agricultural produce, and coal to and bricks deriving from the nearby brickworks of Claxton.

The resulting pet project, the Topham Hall Railway, is where Elizabeth's story begins.

The T.H.R. was laid to what had essentially become the Sudrian "standard narrow gauge," of two feet and three inches. The line started from its Exchange Siding with Wellsworth Station, and made several crossings through the streets of that town's suburbs, before reaching the estate grounds. Hall Station brought passengers within a stone's throw of the mansion itself. Moving on, the line dove into the woods through a magical tree tunnel, with a spur at its opening for the engine and carriage shed. Crossing a brook over a three-span wooden trestle bridge, another station and a few sidings known as "Orchard Station" served the fruit and vegetable orchard. Another mile or so, and the railway stopped again for "Bowler's Station," where the Hatts and any guests could detrain for the estate's cricket pavilion.

Another half a mile, and the railway terminated at the Wellsworth Brickworks. This had been a puny operation before the THR linked up with it, employing only three men or so. After the railway's arrival, it expanded to employ a few dozen, and three more kilns were added. Throughout the Great Depression, Topham kept the Brickworks open and its employees onboard out of his own pocket, even as the bricks accumulated unsold. This was far more humanitarian than his treatment of NWR employees and three of his engines!

The railway had one locomotive, a royal purple Kerr Stuart 'Tattoo' class, named "Little Barford," technically a brother of the Mid Sodor Railway's No. 4, "Stuart." Little Barford arrived also with several v-tipper wagons, a dozen ex-War Department bogie wagons, four-wheel trucks and two ambulance vans. The ambulance vans were thoroughly rebuilt by the estate's woodshop to become an elaborate passenger coach, and a "Dining Car," which was quite identical save for the fewer seats and teeny gas cooker. The passenger coach saw constant use, but the Dining Car mostly sat in the siding at Bowler's Station as it cooked. The line was so short, it never could've done more than boil an egg while moving to timetable!

Capping off this complement of rolling stock was one Sentinel DG4 "Overtype" Steam Lorry, quickly named Elizabeth, after the Duchess of York's newborn daughter. Elizabeth was absolutely coveted by Topham, though he wasn’t exactly a steady hand at the wheel. Elizabeth was kept polished to perfection, even when her work involved carting such grubby loads as soil, clay, and coal. She was in every respect a "father's princess," but she worked dutifully and loved Little Barford like a twin brother. She also learned from her Victorian old master her favorite catchphrase, "We are/are not amused!" depending on the context.

The Second World War began in September 1939, and this national shift in priorities turned Elizabeth’s devil-may-care youth on its head. The Wellsworth Brickworks shuttered as many of its men volunteered or were called up, and housing construction all but ended. Little Barford was kept on at the Hall as the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries set to increase production on Topham Hall’s farms. Elizabeth on the other hand was, for the first time, moved away from her only home. As the civilian petrol rationing situation tightened, and private motoring was eventually banned, Elizabeth was suddenly very valuable as a coal-fired road vehicle.

She was commandeered and relocated to Tidmouth Harbour, working night and day as a dockside lorry. This was a very stressful period for her, for she was utterly friendless and out of her element. Although Sodor was never bombed, the routine blackout drills and stories of other ports destroyed, such as Liverpool, took their toll on her mentally. At some point however, she "bucked up." Elizabeth realized she was no longer an aristocrat's toy. For all she knew, Topham had probably forgotten her. As the military lorries she came face to face with daily were almost all of the internal-combustion type, who was to say that when, if ever the war was over, that he'd want her back if he remembered her?

In these circumstances, Elizabeth adopted her more familiar, stiff-upper lip personality. There was no time for polish or quaint little rides to the cricket pavilion, there was a war on! She became grubby, and liked to be grubby. She worked like the devil, and loved that even more. Her posh accent never left her, but she was now in every respect out to be a working girl. Elizabeth would never admit it to herself, but this huge change of self owed much to her upset at being removed from her only home. Did she legitimately like being a working lorry, rather than an estate owner's princess? Certainly she did. Was it an easy and completely voluntary change of character? Of course not. But it was done, and Elizabeth spent many nights assuring herself that it was the right path, the only path to have taken.

1945, the end of the war. Everyone was so jubilant. Elizabeth was cleaned and polished like a crown jewel, decked out with flags and bunting, and allowed to participate in the Tidmouth Victory Parade. In several colour newswreels of the event, you can spot her amid the cascade of tickertape and throngs of soldiers, nurses, longshoremen, civilians, tanks and lorries. It was no doubt a fun day for her, but now she thought a great deal about the future.

The war, which had been everything to her for six years, was over. Soldiers were being demobilized and coming home. Industries were retooling for the postwar world, to make consumer goods rather than several airplanes an hour. The Attlee Government, in conjunction with the devolved Sudrian Parliament established in 1946, had a grand vision for The Mainland and Sodor, where the welfare state for the long-suffering people and machines was vastly expanded, their jobs would be increasingly unionized and their bosses answerable to them, rather than the other way around.

Despite the historically harsh winter into the New Year of 1947, Sudrian workers, bouncing back much quicker than their Mainland counterparts, were delighted with PM Attlee's "New Jerusalem." Tidmouth Harbour was still very busy, as Sodor's biggest gate in and out for the world, and Elizabeth kept calm and carried on as time marched on. She was much busier than she had first feared, and that winter was her time to shine as so many petrol lorries were out of commission with "head colds." Elizabeth convinced herself, somehow, that these thousands and thousands of war surplus petrol lorries wouldn't take over. If so many had taken ill in these conditions, maybe Sodor, or even the whole world, would consider turning back the clock and restoring steam to the roads completely.

She feared and resented petrol lorries something terrible. When the petrol ration which had enabled her life all this time, was finally ended, she was heartbroken. Every worry she had seemed to come to pass all at once. First, the Tidmouth Harbour Authority decided it would be much cheaper to stack its fleet with war surplus lorries, and she was out of a job. Her next owner, a furniture mover, didn't keep her long, and neither did the next, a man who planned to fit her out as a bus and ran out of money.

By 1956, when the now-knighted Sir Topham Hatt I had died, Elizabeth had already been accumulating dust in a shed for two years. She never saw her last owner, who by now had failed to pay rent on her storage. Anopha Quarry, who owned the tumbledown little shack, seized her to make up the difference, but never once came to inspect the lorry who was now their property. Eventually, the Quarry forgot about her too.

It wasn't until 1961, when a little blue puffer deputizing for Toby on the Quarry Tramway carelessly had a coupling rod failure, that she reemerged. She made a heartstopping journey down the line for the necessary spare rod, pins, oilpot and tools in Ffarquhar Sheds, where she stirred up quite a scene, before an even more uncomfortable journey back. Elizabeth's Sentinel heritage thankfully preserved her for the whole ordeal, when Thomas' Driver, then at her wheel, worried that she'd explode and take him with her.

Back into the shed she went after this good deed, for how long, if ever to come out again, she didn't know. Until of course, that same night, a man very like her old Master, named Bertram just like his son whom she had given so many rides through the orchards and to cricket games, came to make a visit...

You can guess the rest :3

Sir Bertram Topham Hatt I was reunited with his childhood friend, and his father's favorite lorry. He immediately sent for her with his own money to be restored, and at once moved her back to Topham Hall, where she was herself reunited with the closest thing to a brother she'd ever had, Little Barford, who this whole time had been working as well as ever, and wondered why no one had ever gone to look for Elizabeth despite all his questions. It had been assumed, wrongly, that Elizabeth had perished on war service. That's how the Tidmouth Harbour Authority wrote it, after they pocketed her sale money! (Sir Bertram was LIVID not to get his hands on the now deceased Harbourmaster responsible.)

Elizabeth is now back to her childhood home hauling farm produce and any visitor willing to get dirty, for she still insists on carrying a bit of grime as a testament to her labours. The Wellsworth Brickworks has reopened, on a much smaller scale, as a "living museum," and Elizabeth takes great joy in carrying clay and coal again. Her, Little Barford, and Sir Bertram are now tighter than they've ever been, and Sir Bertram is the only man allowed to polish her. He's a much more sedated force at the wheel than his father, she notes, and quite often!

We ARE amused to see her <3

[thatgoblin]

Small Town Affairs

Summary: Hazel is an Omega in the small town of Tin Springs, Midwest America. She's trying to live her life after breaking up with the local sheriff, John Walker, and his mate, Brock Rumlow. New people aren't something that happens often, but when a new pack comes to town her whole life goes from a small mess to a complete disaster in the best way.

Warnings: Domestic Violence, Assault, Sexual abuse, Himbo Bucky, Misogyny, will update as story goes.

Chapter 1

It wasn’t often that people moved to Tin Springs, population 803. We barely had enough people to need a high school and a junior high school let alone more than a general store and gas station. There wasn’t even a Walmart for nearly 20 miles. You had to make a special trip to the larger town of Conway that had fast food restaurants and strip malls while the closest we had was a Dollar General and a ‘home style’ restaurant that was closed after 9. We did have a few bars and a strip joint, but those were just outside of town. Far enough that most people didn’t count them as being a part of town. It was very much a dying breed of Mayberry towns that used to thrive till people moved for better jobs and schools or to just get out of that small town headspace.

So when what looked like a whole fleet of moving trucks drove down the main road, everyone was talking. Turns out there was some guy with the last name Rogers that owned land that belonged to his pack that he was moving his new pack onto. The family had basically moved away or died off by the time I was 18. Most of the townspeople thought the houses on the land would stay empty till someone bought the land up for farming or to build new houses on. No one ever did and the moving trucks were telling us why it wouldn’t happen. Everyone and their dog would be gossiping and talking about who the new people were, where they came from, why they came back now, but I just ignored the whispers and gossip as I checked out folks at the general store.

“Hazel, would you be a dear and stock the shelves before you leave tonight?” The store owner, Peggy Carter, asked from her office. It sat just to the side of the register, making it easy to keep an eye on things. Her prim English accent was very much out of place in the small midwest town, but it wasn’t as crisp as it used to be when she first moved to Tin Springs.

“Sure. I’ve got my keys so I’ll lock up for you too,” I said, glancing back at her before the bell above the door rang. “Howdy,” I greeted the customers before going back to tidying my area. They were just a couple of women that were grabbing last minute items for dinner, which was the usual crowd so close to our closing time. I knew their faces, but couldn’t recall their names. I’d seen them around town, but I didn’t exactly interact with people outside of my job.

“Did you see the paper today? John Walker’s up for re-election again,” one woman said as they meandered towards the dairy section. While they sort of tried to stay quiet, the store was empty at that time of day and with it being so small that the voices carried easily.

“I saw that. He’s got my vote for sure,” the other woman said. “You know, he’s been such a good sheriff and I don’t think anyone’s running against him. It should be an easy win for him.”

“Hopefully. Things are just fine as they are now, why change them?” The first woman said. “Though, it is a bit odd that he’s with another Alpha and not an Omega.”

“I know, but Brock’s a good man. Both of them are. It’s just too bad things didn’t work out with them and that Omega girl.”

I should be used to it by now, hearing people talking about me and my exs. When you date the county sheriff and the only garage owner in town, things aren’t exactly secret. Even if they didn’t know your name or face, they knew your business.

“You know, John always said she was a good gal, but just had some problems. His mother and I play bridge at the church on Wednesday evenings and she told me that he was heartbroken over their split up. Him and Brock adored her, said they wanted to have kids too. I do hope she’s getting herself straightened out,” the second woman said.

I could handle the whispers and looks I’d get from the older Omegas in town, but this was a new low. They weren’t even trying to keep it quiet anymore.

“Just so ya’ll know, we’re closing soon, so if you’ve got some trash talking to do, do it outside where I don’t have to listen to it,” I called, earning small gasps from the women. They hurried to the front to check out, keeping their eyes down as I glared at them. If they were dumb enough to talk about me in front of me, I was not going to go easy on them. They didn’t say another word as they left, leaving me behind to glare at their backs.

“You should learn to ignore them. People will always talk,” Peggy said from the office.

“The least they could do was be discreet about it,” I mumbled. “Besides, it’s already been over a year and you’d think people would let it go and move on.”

“Well, with the new people moving in, you might get your wish,” she said. I could only hope.

The rest of the evening went by pleasantly fast. Peggy left me in charge to stock the shelves after closing. We closed usually at about 8:00 PM, no one showed up after 7:45 PM on a regular day. So to hear the door jostle as someone tried to open at 8:10 PM was odd. Frowning, I put down the pasta to look over the aisle to see a man trying to peer in. He had dirty blond hair styled back into a faux hawk of sorts, and dressed in ripped skinny jeans and a tight black tee. There were a few cuts on his face, a bandaid over his nose, and what looked like hearing aids hooks around his ears, the man stood out like a sore thumb compared to the locals. Seeing me, he put on a big smile and waved.

My first instinct was to ignore him, but since he didn’t look familiar I figured he was one of the new people in town. They wouldn’t know the hours of any of the stores in town. I decided to at least let him know the store was closed. If anything happened I had a bat under my register and pepper spray on my keys in my pocket. Going to the front, I unlocked the door before opening it.

“Hey, sorry, we’re closed,” I said as the muggy summer air came rushing in. “We close at 8.”

“Damn it,” the man hissed as he pulled out a cell phone. “Is there any other place to get groceries around here? My pack and I just moved to town and we don’t have any groceries. We’ve been working all day to get stuff into the house and didn’t realize the time.”

“Oh, uh not really, sorry,” I said. “Dollar General closes at the same time and you’d have to go to the next town over for Walmart and that’s 20 miles away.”

“What time do you guys open in the morning?” He asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“We open at 6:00 AM.” The way he looked when I told him was like witnessing a puppy being kicked. I could smell him, he was just an Omega. What harm could it do to let him in this once? Peggy had let a few people in here and there after hours, so what was one more? “Okay, so you can’t tell anyone or you’ll get me in trouble, but I can go ahead and let you in to shop. I’m just restocking shelves, so go ahead and get what you need.” Stepping aside, I let him in before locking the door behind him to keep anyone else out.

“Thank you so, so much. You’re a lifesaver, really,” he said as he grabbed a cart and proceeded to grab things off the shelf. I didn’t mind staying late, rent was going up and it was getting harder to pay, so a bit of extra time wouldn’t hurt. “I’m Clint by the way.”

“Hazel,” I replied as I went back to the shelves. Letting him fill his cart, I finished up my work before meeting him at the register. It was a lot of food, but then again how many moving trucks had showed up? “I really hope this isn’t just for you.”

“Naw, there’s 8 people in my pack. I’m hoping this will be good enough for at least dinner and breakfast, but there’s a few of us who can eat out a whole house,” Clint said with a chuckle as I scanned the items.

“Wow, that’s a lot. We don’t really have any packs at all around here. Maybe a handful, but it’s just three people at most,” I said.

“Oh yeah? We just moved here from New York. One of our Beta’s, Steve, used to live here. You might know him,” Clint said.

“Last name Rogers?” I asked, getting a nod. “Not personally. I know of the family and the land, but that’s about it,” I said with a shrug. “Alright, and total for today is $234.89.”

“Yup, sounds about right,” Clint said with a chuckle as he swiped a credit card. What did they do in New York that allowed them to buy that many groceries? Not to mention that was just for one night, I couldn’t imagine a full week’s worth. Maybe they should go to Walmart for groceries next time. “So is there anything fun to do around here?” He asked as I handed him the longest receipt I’d printed before.

“Eh. Depends on what you want to do. We have a restaurant that closes at 9:00 PM, a few bars around here, and a strip joint, but other than that there’s not much to be done unless you’re a fan of high school sports,” I said with a shrug.

“I’m going to have to give Steve a slap upside the head for bringing us to the most boring place in the world,” he sighed before looking at me wide eyed. “I mean, it’s just that it’s kinda slow compared to New York.”

“Don’t worry. I think it’s boring too, but like most of the folks that live here, it’s cheaper to stay than to move if you don’t have another job or family else where,” I said. “Sometimes the rodeo comes to the next town over and a lot of people go there.”

“Yeah, when he said this was a completely different place, I didn’t think he understood how all of us would find it so different,” Clint said as he started to load up the grocery cart.

“Here, let me help you take those out to your car. I’ll get the cart from you and you can head out,” I said, grabbing the keys to unlock the front door to let us out then relocked it.

“Thanks. You know, I guess small towns do have a lot of nice people willing to help out,” Clint said as he led the way to a black sports car.

“Sheesh, fancy,” I snorted as he popped the trunk.

“Yeah, it was a pain to drive it down the dirt driveway I have with my mate. I don’t want to part with her, but I also don’t want to ruin the undercarriage,” he said with a wince.

“That’s a bummer. There’s a car lot in town here, but I don’t know if they’d have anything your style,” I said, handing him a paper bag full of cereal.

“Howard, my mate, would shit his pants if I tried to go there,” Clint said with a chuckle. “He’s too posh to even think of buying anything pre-used. I’m pretty sure he’d have a heart attack.”

“Sounds like he’ll get comfortable real quick,” I said with a snort.

As we were finishing up putting the groceries in the car, there was a short honk and siren bwep before a sheriff’s car pulled into the spot next to Clint’s.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Clint frowned, unsure of what was happening, but I knew.

“Howdy friend!” A familiar voice called as a blond man with bright blue eyes and an irritating smile stepped from the patrol car. Dressed in his brown and khaki uniform, Sheriff John Walker approached us. “You must be part of the pack that just moved to town.”

“Uh, yeah. Just got in today,” Clint said, shifting his body again. “I’m Clint.”

“Pleased to meet you, I’m Sheriff Walker. Figured that since I saw you in town, I’d catch you real quick for an introduction,” the man said, holding out his hand for Clint to shake. Raising a brow, Clint shook the officer’s hand.

“Nice to meet you. You’ll probably be seeing the rest of my pack throughout the week,” Clint said before closing the trunk of his car.

“You’re on the Rogers property, yeah?” John asked, resting his hands on his hips.

“That’s the one,” Clint said with a nod.

“I think I went to school with one of the Rogers’ pack. Steve, I believe his name was. He was a grade above me. His family stayed in town a while before leaving. Didn’t think we’d see anyone come back to live on the property,” John said. I wanted to get away from this conversation as fast as possible. John hadn’t even addressed me, let alone acknowledge my existence. The last thing I wanted was for him to start shit with me in front of someone.

“Probably, I mean, he’ll be in town tomorrow to get all the paperwork fixed up with his mate,” Clint said. “But I should be going. We’ve been driving all day and everyone’s tired and hungry.”

“Alright, I’ll let you go,” John said with a nod, backing up to let Clint move. I kept quiet, trying to not look John in the eye as I moved the cart back to the sidewalk. “Have a nice evening, now,” he said, typing his broad brimmed hat to Clint.

“Thanks. See you around, Hazel,” Clint said to me with a tight smile and wave. I gave a short wave back before booking it back to the store.

Don’t follow me, don’t follow me, don’t follow me.

“Hazel, wait up,” John called as he jogged to catch up with me. I wanted to scream as I stopped at the front door to unlock it. “So, you’re talking to the new people now, huh?” He said as Clint pulled out and drove away.

“John, go away. It’s none of your business and this is not part of the agreement,” I hissed, getting the door open. Shoving the cart in front of me, I tried to shut the door in his face, but he’d stuck his boot in the way.

“Look, I’m just trying to keep an eye out for you, okay? Don’t get cozy with the new people. They might be interesting, but you never know what people are really like,” he said, pushing his way into the store.

“Ironic coming from you,” I snapped, glaring at him as I moved to the register. “I’m trying to close, leave.”

“Remember what I said,” John sighed. “Don’t trust those new people.”

“I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you and we both know it’s not far,” I snarled. “Now go away or I’ll short Brock this week.”

“Fine,” he said. “But just remember, I was the one that always looked after you. Even after everyone started those rumors about you, I stuck by you.”

“A lot of good it did me. Now go.”

John looked like he might say something else, but stopped himself. Instead, he shook his head before leaving the store. Quickly, I locked the door after him. Standing there, my hands shook as tears pricked my eyes. The asshole could always get under my skin. Just a damn look and I’d be nearly in tears. As much as I wanted to believe I was stronger now and could handle myself, that small interaction showed me that he still had a grip on my life.

Finished for the night, I headed home. There were no more encounters with anyone else thankfully, allowing me to relax for the night with a beer on my porch. My house wasn’t much, a one story two bedroom house that had a less than stellar paint job, but it was home. It was old, from the 20’s, but it was sturdy. I wasn’t there much but to eat, sleep, and shower anyways.

Sitting on the porch, one beer turned into two which turned into three. It was the fourth one that I finally felt like I could stop shaking completely. The last time I had seen John and talked to him was nearly a month ago. We’d been separated for almost a year and he was being his usual passive aggressive self just to push my boundaries. He’d come into the store and made a show of talking to me like I was a kid, letting everyone see he was the calm, collected Alpha that was trying to reach out with an olive branch to fix things between the unstable Omega who just needed some gentle handling to become a decent person.

I had nearly come unglued on him, but managed to keep my voice low and my eyes down. Peggy found me right after, sobbing out behind the store. No one, not even Peggy, knew what really happened between all three of us, but I wasn’t about to tell them and neither were John and Brock. We’d come to an agreement that they would leave me alone and not talk to me unless absolutely necessary and I’d stay quiet. As well as paying them off. It was nearly half of both my paychecks, but it was worth it if it meant they didn’t come into the store when I was there or tried to talk to me at all.

But John was starting to toe the line and push back. Brock kept his part of the deal, I was pretty sure he never really cared for me, but John was always obsessive. The deal was going to have to be revisited if John didn’t back off.

Done for the night, I tossed the bottles before heading to bed.

The last few days of the work week were about the same. Go to work, come home, go to work, come home. I saw Clint now and then who came in to grab a few things here and there, but that was it. He was nice and despite John wanting to tell me who I could and couldn’t see, it felt better to know that there was someone in town who didn’t know things about me without my permission.

While we weren’t best friends, we did send memes to each other when I was on break and he wasn’t busy. At one point he messaged me a picture of his shed full of cobwebs and wasp nests and asked if it was appropriate to burn it to the ground. I told him to be careful because there could be copperheads underneath or groundhogs. That led into me explaining what those were and learning that the man had lived 37 years thinking a groundhog was something made up by a city for a holiday and it was really just a beaver they were using.

It seemed that I would be teaching him, and probably his pack vicariously, what to look out for in their new homes. I still hadn’t met the rest of the pack, though I had seen one or two here and there around town.

Soon Friday rolled around. I woke up at about 4:30 AM. Friday would be busier than usual as it was a payday. I showered then dressed, sliding on jeans and a long sleeved shirt, I then made a pot of coffee before doing my makeup. Just enough to hide the bags under my eyes and a few marks on my neck that were visible above my shirt collar.

It was my regular dress for my job at the store, Peggy didn’t care too much so long as it wasn’t offensive. Which meant anything but plain clothing and no writing. After coffee, I fixed my hair so it didn’t frizz then grabbed my thermos of coffee. I locked up then headed to work.

The sun was peeking above the trees and clouds as I pulled into work around 5:15 AM. Peggy was already there when I walked in the back.

“Did you have any problems closing the other night? I forgot to ask,” She said as I stepped into the office to get my cash drawer for the day.

“It was fine. Had one of the new people stop in, Clint. The blond that comes by for snacks. He’d made it in just after we closed, but I went ahead and let him shop since they didn’t have anything at their houses,” I said, taking the drawer from the open safe.

“Houses? You mean they’re not all in one?” She asked, looking up from her book keeping.

“There’s not a big enough house for more than four people on their property. There’s like ten of them,” I said with a snort.

“Well I’m sure we’ll meet all of them at some point. We’re the only grocery store in town,” she said.

“Unless they need to buy in bulk. Clint nearly bought everything in the store,” I said, counting my drawer at the register.

“We can only hope. Next time you see them, let them know if they need more than a few things to get us a list and we’ll get them large amounts. We used to do that a lot when there were bigger packs in my hometown,” Peggy said. The woman was nearly 60 and had lived in England up until about 30 years ago, getting the general store from her uncle who had passed away. I was used to hearing the facts of ‘We used to do this in my hometown’ a lot.

“Will do.”

Finished with setting up, I unlocked the front door and turned on the rest of the lights at 6:00 AM. The usual rush of moms right after school starts as well as early rising elderly came in, making for the usual busy rush that Peggy would step in and help with at the second register. By the time 10:00 AM rolled around, things were tapering off. We’d have a lunch rush for those grabbing a quick something, then back to a nice slowness.

“I’m gonna take my break after this last person checks out,” I said to Peggy who nodded. I was starting to get hungry and I saw a bearclaw in the donut rack that had my name on it. A few cups of coffee could only hold me over for so long before I needed actual food.

Before I could clock out for a break though, two people walked into the otherwise empty store. They were part of the new pack, just the scent alone said that, and they were Alphas. Great.

“I got this if you want,” Peggy said softly as she caught the scent too. Peggy was a sweet Beta and she acted as a stand-in grandma for me, but I couldn’t just run at every Alpha that came in.

“I’m good,” I said, giving her a small wave and smile. It wasn’t long before the Alphas came to the register. One was taller, probably over 6’, with steely blue eyes and dark, earthy brown hair with a scruff on his face. He smelt of fresh rain and peaches with that Alpha musk. Dressed in an almost too tight tee with an extra sleeve and glove covering his left arm and hand, he looked out of place in the button up work shirts and plaid that was usually worn by the adult men around town.

The other was shorter, more tailored. His light brown hair had a bit of copper to it as it was swept back from his face as that held a neatly trimmed beard. His dark eyes stayed on the phone in his hand. He too was in a tee and jeans that were fitted tighter, making them look. . . Well almost foreign. A whiff of cedar and maybe smoke or tobacco swirled into the first Alpha’s scent. Both of them mingling and making something settle deep inside my belly.

Fuck.

“Is that all for you two?” I asked, holding back with every fiber of my being any scent or sign of them making me feel like a simple, needy Omega.

“That’ll be it,” the first Alpha said. It was standard groceries of meat, cheese, dried goods, condiments, basically anything to stock up a house after moving.

“Is your pack settling in okay? Clint comes by now and then,” I said, trying to make small talk. Usually I didn’t, but something about those two had me anxious. Not a bad anxious, but. . . I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Oh, uh yeah. We’re getting there,” he said with a nod. “It’s different than what we’re used to.”

“What are ya’ll used to?” I asked, looking from one to the other.

“A lot more people and a lot less trees,” the second Alpha spoke up, his voice lilting into an accent I couldn’t place. “But it is lovely here. I quite like how peaceful it is without masses of people a hair’s breadth away.”

“Glad you like it,” I said, giving him a soft smile. “So are all of you from New York too?”

“A few of us, but not all,” the first Alpha said as he pulled out his wallet.

“Well, hopefully it doesn’t take you long to settle in. Today’s total is $87.56,” I said, tapping a few buttons on my keypad.

“Tell me, is there a nursery around? For plants that is,” the second Alpha asked, leaning onto the counter when I started to help pack up the groceries into the cart. “I am wanting to start a flower garden, but would like to see where the supplies are first.”

“A plant nursery? Um, there is one just west of the town. Just take the main road and it’s about ten minutes from town. It’s run by the Mennonites and they have a bunch of different plants to pick from. They’ve even got starter trees for fruits and some bushes for blackberries and the like,” I said.

“Thank you. I appreciate the information,” he said with a soft smile and a nod. I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“You’re welcome, if any of your pack needs anything just ask around. We’re all pretty friendly here,” I said as I finished putting the bags in the cart.

“I will keep that in mind,” he said, moving over to the cart to hold out his hand to me. “I am Helmut. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Hazel. It’s nice to meet you both,” I said, taking his hand. It was warm and soft, different than the work roughened hands I was used to. Helmut rolled his eyes at the other, elbowing him.

“Hey,” he grumbled, shooting him a glare. “Oh, uh, I’m Bucky.” A quick wave and awkward smile was all I was given as he quickly moved to push the cart away.

“He’s house broken, I swear,” Helmut said with a wink. I couldn’t help the honest to God giggle that came out of me. “Have a good day, Hazel,” Helmut said, smiling as he shook his head at Bucky.

“You too,” I called after as they left. It didn’t even occur to me that I was staring after them till Peggy came up next to me.

“You could always ask for a photograph. It would last longer,” she said with hum.

“Oh shush,” I said, waving her off. “They were just, ya know, nice. Most Alphas around here are curt and so loud and demanding. It’s a nice change to see is all.”

“Uh huh. Even if you weren’t letting them get a scent of you, you were definitely giving them eyes. I’ve never seen you do that for anyone. Not even when you were with ‘Those-Who-Shan’t-Be-Named.’ I think it’s cute and wonderful that you had that reaction,” Peggy said as she went to the other register so I could take a break. “Besides, when’s the last time you actually touched someone on purpose?”

“It’s nothing, I’m just being nice to new people is all,” I said, locking my register computer after clocking out for a break. Quickly, I grabbed the bearclaw before leaving the dollar and change for Peggy. “It was just a handshake. Besides, you always tell me to work on my customer service skills,” I said as I walked to the back door.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” She called after me.

[heather---duke]

third chapter. this is the last chapter i’m posting today

Using the money her parents had given her, Veronica rented a small office downtown. She set up the space while she waited for her private investigator license to be ready. Veronica put up a decal on her office window that read Veronica Sawyer Investigative Services. This idea that JD had had turned into a whole business venture, she had even ordered business cards! Her office had a small walkway with a desk for a reception area and seating, then an arch that led right into the main office with her desk and computer. She was even set up with a giant map, covering a section of the navy blue painted walls. Giant windows let the sun stream in, saving her money that would have been spent on ceiling lights. Now she just had to wait.

The next day Veronica’s private investigator license showed up in the mail. Her and JD had spoken more and were civil towards each other. She wasn’t fully ready to trust him again, but she decided that she would rather have him there then be totally alone. That day, their first client walked in through the doors. JD was sitting at the receptionist desk, as that was the only other seat in their offices. Of course the client couldn't see him, so Veronica got up from her desk to greet him when JD called out to her that someone had arrived. Their client was a sad looking man who thought that his wife was cheating on him, and since Veronica Sawyer Investigative Services had the cheapest pricing in town he chose them to confirm his suspicion. Veronica took the case.

Veronica dispatched JD to go follow the wife as he could teleport and that was much cheaper than buying a car. While JD was out on the case, Veronica decided to interview some people for the receptionist job. She spoke to many people, but no one really seemed like a good fit. After the last candidate had left, the phone began to ring.

“Hello? Veronica?” Asked the voice on the other line.

“Heather?” Veronica asked, recognizing the voice.

“Hey, yeah. I saw that you started your own business. That’s cool,” Heather McNamara said.

Veronica learned that Heather had gotten kicked out of college for bad grades and then returned home where her parents would not stop fighting.

“And even though I met a lot of people in college, you still are my closest friend. They only liked me because I would buy them clothes,” Veronica heard Heather laugh softly over the phone. “So… I was wondering if you could use an extra hand? I know I’m not like super smart but I can help.”

“Heather don’t say that! Who needs college anyway and it just so happens that we have an opening so of course you can work with me. I also have space in my apartment if you need somewhere to stay.”

“Righteous!” Heather yelled into the phone. “I’m on the way right now. Bye!” She hung up.

As Veronica was figuring out the logistics of hiring Heather JD appeared in front of her desk. She had gotten used to JD suddenly appearing so it didn’t surprise her anymore when he just popped up.

“You’ll never guess,” JD said, “this bimbette is not only cheating on him with one guy, but four. Four different guys! Here, I wrote down their names.” JD handed her a list of names.

“Well I have news too,” Veronica said, taking the list. “I hired a receptionist as well as found a roommate. And you know her!” JD’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Heather McNamara!”

JD looked anything but happy. For he did not have pleasant memories of anyone from Westerburg, especially a Heather.

“Which Heather was that one again? The bitch one?” JD asked.

“No, she was the yellow one. The one who the other Heathers picked on, the nice… nice-er one.” Veronica clarified. “She’s my friend, JD. Even though she can’t see you and doesn’t know that you still exist I expect you to be nice. Okay?”

Heather arrived the next day. Driving up in a bright yellow Aston Martin. Heather was wearing a yellow babydoll dress over yellow leggings with yellow ballet flats and a very bright yellow blazer with major shoulder pads. She parked, got out of her car, and immediately ran up to hug Veronica who was standing on the sidewalk waiting for her.

“Veronica!” Heather yelled, “I missed you so much like majorly.”

Veronica smiled and they talked all about their experiences in the office while JD sulked in the corner rolling his eyes whenever Heather spoke and occasionally making comments on how Heather said the word like so many times.

“So like I said that I didn’t want to but they were all taking shots and so I took one but I didn’t take one because I like threw it over my shoulder but then like it hit the guy behind me in the face and like got into his eyes and then he like screamed and then like-”

It seemed like Heather never took a breath with how fast she could talk. She had all of these stories from college, Veronica felt a little sad to have missed out.

“OMG Veronica but like you are like freaky smart you started a business? I was in a business class but like the professor was so hot it was distracting and I sat by this girl who wore so much red I thought she was Heather for a sec but like then I remembered that she was like…”

Heather stopped talking. They hadn’t brought up Westerburg and it still seemed too raw to talk about. Veronica glanced at JD who looked sad at remembering the past. After the small pause, Veronica explained to Heather about her job and what it would entail. Then she explained about their current client whose wife was cheating on him with four other dudes, which Heather had a lot to say about. Veronica noticed that Heather was much more open with her opinions after being away from the toxicity of Westerburg. Veronica wondered how she would explain how she finds out what JD tells her. Heather may seem like a ditz but she isn’t totally stupid. How does one tell someone that the talk to the ghost of their ex-boyfriend who killed himself in front of you? And that you two now run a private investigating business together.

[manetsgarden]

How I, An Incredibly Anxious Traveller, Solo Travelled Through Bulgaria

Nobody really asks, but I can see their eyes secretly wonder “why” when I tell someone I’m travelling to Bulgaria for a little holiday. The short answer is … I don’t really know. It wasn’t because I have some ever-present burning desire to visit Bulgaria. My going to Bulgaria was just a holiday booked on a whim, because Ryanair had a sale. It ended up working out well, but I didn’t have many expectations, let alone knowledge about Bulgaria before I went. I booked it quite simply because I had never been before, and because I had never thought about going. Usually people opt for the opposite.

The short of it is: I booked this holiday because I was homesick. I was still at home when homesickness struck. I was looking out at seven months without a hug from my mom, seven months without laying eyes on my dad, or my dog, or my sisters or brother. Seven months of solitude in Scotland, before my family planned to visit in July — planned but had not (and still have not!) booked yet. And I was sad, and I already missed everyone, and I wanted to go to New York over March Break, so I could meet up with my mom and sister. (It’s cheaper to fly to New York than Thunder Bay, not cheap, but cheaper).

Then, my sister told me not to. Not because she didn’t want me there but because, in her words: “If you live in Europe you should be going somewhere in Europe that you’ve never been to before, and take advantage of how close you are to new places, and how cheap it is to travel, rather than spending a lot of money to going across the Atlantic to somewhere you’ve been to tons of times.” So I went to Skyscanner and I saw a cheap flight to Sofia and I thought, ‘huh, I’ve never thought about going to Bulgaria before,’ and then I booked it.

The flight cost me 52GBP. I then started looking at Airbnbs and came across the most beautiful little apartment, with glowing reviews, for $32CAD/night and booked it. I was set. A little holiday in Sofia, Bulgaria. I pictured old Soviet style buildings mixed in with Orthodox churches. I envisioned a quaint, old town style city that was quiet, calm, and comfortable.

I started to look into things to do and realised I could do day trips to Macedonia and Serbia! I realised how close Sofia is to other Balkan countries and immediately started looking into getting my International Drivers Permit so I could rent a car and road trip. I looked at doing the day trips, but they were too pricey for one person (I’m talking like three hundred pounds!). I went through the process. I took passport pictures, I sent them to my dad, he took them to CAA, he got my IDP, he sent it to me, I booked a car. I planned on spending a day in Sofia, and then doing day trips to Skopje, Niš, and Thessaloniki. And then I got to the rental pick up and they said I couldn’t cross borders. Cool.

Processed with VSCO with m5 preset

As planned, I spent my first day in Sofia. It was weird. I remembered as I was leaving that, while I haven’t been really badly anxious in awhile, I have a long history of travel anxiety. Exactly five years ago I was just south of Bulgaria, in Greece. It was a school trip, and I almost didn’t go because I was so anxious. I spent seven months before that trip going to counselling specifically so that I could go on it. I threw up the morning we left, I spent the day crying to my family in Toronto, and then I got on the plane headed overseas, and in the end I was fine. The first time I actually properly travelled alone was in October 2018, when I went hiking in Ireland. Except one of my closest friends lives in Dublin, so it hardly counts because I knew I could go to her if I needed her.

And then I found myself alone in Bulgaria, apparently in my homesick, adventurous spirit state, I forgot to factor in my anxiety disorder. Weirdly, it was relatively OK. I walked around the city centre, I bought postcards, I sat in the sun, in a park, I went and got coffee, I sat in the park some more. I bailed on all of my walking tours because my feet hurt, (but lowkey because I was afraid to talk to people) and I went back to my Airbnb early. I ate granola and yogurt for dinner because I was too stressed to go out and try to tackle the language barrier to get myself a proper dinner. Try again tomorrow.

The second day I picked up my car. I went for groceries at Lidl and then I tackled the metro, taking it out to the airport, and then I realised I could easily have just managed with the metro alone. But the car was already booked, so off I went! I picked up the keys, sat in the drivers seat, gave myself a pep talk, reminded myself of the ‘how to drive in a roundabout’ videos I had watched on Youtube the night before, started the ignition and drove off. And it. Was. Fine. Since I couldn’t cross borders, I drove to the Rila Monastery. Tucked into the mountains, it’s one of the oldest (maybe the oldest) Orthodox monastery in the world. I’m not religious, I was raised Catholic, and I don’t majorly care about these things but I thought it might be cool so I went. And it was cool.

I drove on the highway (very fast, might I add!) and I drove on tiny side streets and I drove up the mountain and it took me two whole hours because I took so many wrong turns. I was constantly stressed about my phone (my navigation) dying. But I made it. There was snow on the ground that people were ice-picking at so that it would melt. I went into the church, I saw monks, I paid to visit the museum and saw some icons (housing some relics!), and I got to be in the mountains and breath in the forest air. I bought some postcards, then I did one whole sign of the cross and then I left. I think I spent less than an hour there, but I was tired and hungry so I went back to my Airbnb, it took me only an hour and a half to get back to Sofia that time around. When I got to the Airbnb, parking was a total nightmare. My driveway backed on to a tiny side street, I had to back in, through the gates of the drive, while not hitting the car parked on the single lane street. It took a solid 10 minutes, and after I was thoroughly humiliated by anyone who might be watching, I decided not to take the car out again until I was leaving.

On my third day I explored Sofia some more. I gave myself a morning pep talk, consisting of a lot of ‘you’re only in Sofia for today, make the most of it, just barrel on full steam ahead, don’t let the language barrier get to you. It’s fine.’ So I googled ‘best coffee in Sofia’ and headed off to the first hit. I walked through new parts of the city centre, saw new churches, new parks, new shops, and I walked far and wide. I shopped a bit, I ate a bit, and then I went for a nap. But I would not be defeated by the restaurant situation, so I forced myself to go out and get dinner. For context, I am realising as I write this, restaurants are a no-go for my anxiety. Nowadays, after a lot of hard work, I don’t really think much about eating out, but when I first went to counselling it was the first thing we worked on in exposure therapy, and suddenly it makes sense to me why I was so reluctant to try to figure out how to eat out in Sofia. Regardless, it happened, I had a yummy salad and hummus and coffee and it was grand.

Sunday was my fourth and final day. I woke up exhausted. Tired of having to figure everything out myself, tired of having so many thoughts and no one to express them to, and just tired because the hosts of the Airbnb had been listening to salsa music late into the night. I decided to try driving to Plovdiv for a bit to explore. It took about an hour and a half to get there, and then about another 45 minutes to try to find parking. I found a spot that I’m not sure I was allowed to park in, and when I got out I felt defeated. I didn’t want to try to find fun things to do, I was already looking forward to going gas station shopping on the way back to Sofia so I thought ‘that’s it, you’re enjoying driving, just drive.’

So I drove through Plovdiv, and then I headed back to Sofia Airport, I enjoyed the gas station stop, and then I returned my car. Then I spent the rest of my last day at Sofia Airport, reading one of those airport-mystery books that I had picked up in Edinburgh Airport on my way out. It was a quiet, cozy Sunday, very relaxing, and it just so happened that I spent it at Sofia Airport.

Moral of the story: There is no ‘right way’ to travel, it’s YOUR holiday, just do whatever you want! If you’re tired at three pm and you want to have a lay down, do that. It’s okay. You’re not missing anything other than hurting your feet and making yourself kind of miserable and grouchy for the next day. If you’re somewhere and you decide you’re done, if you want to sit in a park, or a cafe, or all you want to do is food tour after food tour, do it. Don’t bother with trying to do what other people are doing when they’re travelling, unless it looks like something you want to do. If you try it and realise it’s not what you want to do: that’s okay. Loads of people will read through this and think “well that’s kind of a waste of time” but I feel like I made the most of my trip! I saw tons of new places, had new experiences, but I don’t feel drained now that I’m home. I had the right balance of adventure and exploration, and rest and relaxation.

The only picture of my face in Bulgaria

Solo travelling selfies, am I right?

So what was Bulgaria like? 

In terms of Sofia + Bulgaria

Sofia is nice, Bulgaria is nice. Sofia is so much bigger than expected, and Bulgaria even more so. Sofia did have Soviet architecture, and Orthodox churches, but it also had very Cuban-esque run down architecture, and a handful of western shops and then a lot of random other shops. It had a lot of greenspace, and a lot of people, but not a TON of tourists (at least not English-speakers). There are mountains everywhere, and it was warmer than expected. Not everyone speaks English, in all the touristy areas they’ll try, or they’ll do what they can to make it work. I found that people, generally, weren’t super friendly like I’m used to, people don’t smile at you in the street if you don’t smile first, and check-out workers are generally in a bad mood (but who can blame them).

In terms of driving

Don’t drive in Bulgaria if you are not a confident driver. I have anxiety problems, yes, but I’m a good driver. I am a bit of a risky driver, but I’m a good driver, and those are the two things (it turns out) that you need in order to not die or crash while driving in Bulgaria. Highways are lawless, you need to know how to use them, and you need to simultaneously be both an aggressive and defensive driver. It was actually kind of perfect for my driving style. There are tons of beautiful views everywhere, and tons of wild drivers doing weird things too, which constantly made me want to have someone in the passenger seat.

Have you solo travelled? Are you an anxious traveller? Have you put the two together yet? Talk with me about it in the comments!

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Solo Travelling For The Anxious Traveller How I, An Incredibly Anxious Traveller, Solo Travelled Through Bulgaria Nobody really asks, but I can see their eyes secretly wonder "why" when I tell someone I'm travelling to Bulgaria for a little holiday. 2,141 more words

[pholt]

How to save the word p.2

Cost effectiveness

As I stated in the first post the most expensive part is the start up, however, lets begin as if we have already arrived at our financial goal and its time to build the city. The first part is to undercut the food market, making anything that can be grown or raised before moving onto production.

We prepare for enough food to provide for first a city, then a county and next a state. Remember the idea is not to make money but to provide a service and to stay open while paying the workers. The best way would be to make deals to Instead of raising prices once we have our Monopoly but keeping trust and stability for the people.

Lets start with the cost and location. We begin on the edge of town, lower taxes and cheaper labor, proven a good plan by Sam Walton. He would fly over small towns and buy as much land as he could, selling the extra land he didn't need to businesses who wanted to profit off of a walmart. Same principal, groceries costing a fourth of the cost will be popular and as prices raise, so will demand for inexpensive food.

With the housing portion of our plan we can allow workers to get paid in rent for labor as well as a paycheck for overflow hours that wont be covered by cost of living. Cost of food expanses can also be obtained as part of the pay, costing the company nothing but gaining free hours for a better life.

At the point when the actual full city is built the cost of workers should reach zero, providing all needs through the city itself and therefore costing the city nothing to pay their workers. But until then at least the cost of workers will be decreased enough to charge less for all food products sold. The idea is not to make money but to defeat the competition. Once a monopoly is gained on a one hundred percent needed product, failure reaches the closest possible point to zero.

First the food industry and then the mining industry and other forms of gathering for natural home grown products. Cotton, wool from sheep and minerals from the earth to supply the factories to make the products needed. When building the factories we need to keep in mind the amount of work needed to produce a produce and prepare the state of the art facilities so work for the people and mostly consist of pushing buttons as much as possible.

With this approach, the hire rate will be low at first as we grow but the idea is not to help everyone until the tool is ready to do so. The city is the tool.

Once the factories are built, and the cost for the city is at its peak of lowness; the idea that we are gathering as many materials and producing as many products as possible to make money and put companies out of business through low costs. The best part is we only attack the state we're in so not to mess up the economy too much for the rest of the country. We can also make normal priced commission for products sold outside of the state we are operating from. Again the idea is start small and grow as able.

After the cost of production is lowered to close to zero we move on the testing stage of the city, to see if ideas actually work and are not just pipe dreams. Then if all is approved we move on to the actual construction of the city, ill describe it with the needed parts for it to work as if all ideas were plausible.

The first major problem is safety, at this point im afraid that america will attack us to stop the help to the states. Hopefully im just paranoid, but at least if a war breaks out we can be safe. We will go with a seven layer protection system using thousands of quare miles for protection. The idea of have the bigger gun will keep the peace so everyone is afraid of retaliation. This idea will happen after we reached a problem for those who are afraid to lose their power.

These will also be used for production, farm, medicinal and pasture land. The first city will be built with a glass dome for medical and practical uses. The practical side is for energy and protection from the sun, air pollution and enemies. We can forget about enemies for now and focus on medical and other practical uses. Using Tesla's technology for electrical production using the earth as a power source as well as a waterfall idea we can collect power from the air and the sun. Power can also be gained from the water cascading down the dome as it protect the citizens from the rays of the sun, letting in non harmful light at the same time. The dome will also consist of higher levels of oxygen, matching the optimum level for human life while possibly extending our lives. The dome can also be used to collect signals produced by the stars which sounds like white noise but has been shown to reduce insomnia.

I'll do a part 2 tomorrow.

[countrygrlswrld]

Ballin’ on a Family Budget in Bora Bora

I scanned the menu. The average entrée was $25, and that ended up being the norm on all four of the islands we visited in French Polynesia. Our conservative $10,000 budget for three people for two weeks quickly flew out with the birds. Back to the drawing board—except we were already there, ass in the water, feet in the sand.

I know, I know. Bora Bora just comes with an enormous price tag, one created by American honeymooners who come with pockets stuffed full of cash from rich parents and yacht club kin. Turns out, it’s an island so nice (and dear—that’s Brit for freaking expensive!), they named it twice. The thing is, Spanky and I did as much research as possible prior to booking this trip, but there’s just not a whole lot of information out there, especially for families (in our case, my husband, his 15-year-old brother and me). The only family blogs on French Polynesia I found were those couples who had gone there on their honeymoon some 15 years ago and were still rich as ever, this time staying at the Meridien and Four Seasons with their kids in tow. Not this makeshift family of three!

Without further adieu, this is how you do French Polynesia on the cheapish (aka ballin’ on a budget):

1.    Stay at a fare or pension.

Resorts are pushed heavily on French Polynesia and they are plentiful, so much so that it seems like those are the only options, but if you dig deeper, you’ll find a network of fares and pensions, which lie somewhere between a hostel and a bed and breakfast. On average, we spent $80 a night by lodging at fares. To us, it’s just a place to sleep at night, though I will admit that the hotel we stayed at in Bora Bora was our favorite and upped the ante of our experience there, as it was an on-the-water bungalow that we could jump from and set off on snorkeling adventures. But, even that was a budget accommodation at $150 per night (resort overwater bungalows typically START at $1,500 per night!) Oh, and if you do end up staying at one of those fancy resorts, know that they will hold you hostage. We talked to a family that had to pay $300 to take the water taxi from the outer ring of posh Bora Bora resorts to a restaurant on the mainland. Ouch!

2.    Make your own meals and prepare to carb load!

Going in, we knew we had free breakfast at a few of our accommodations, so our plan was to load up on our morning meal, try to snack for lunch and go out for dinner. That quickly backfired when we remembered we were in a French culture country, and breakfast was made up of an all-you-can-eat baguette buffet. I love bread, but that much bread does not love me back. Still, we were good sports and ate our bread, picking up yogurt as an addition and loading on the peanut butter where we could. Having a kitchenette at one of our beachfront bungalows was priceless, not only because we could make meals, but also because the closest restaurant was a two-mile walk (we’ll get to the transportation woes next). There were some days where we ate sandwiches for lunch and dinner (and also some days where we starved the teenager and ate Pringles for lunch), but of course eating local is all part of the experience so we made sure to go out and sample the local fare, as well. Plus, we were on vacation! Who wants to cook?! Not this girl.

3.    Rent a car or scooter.

Because we had three people, renting a scooter was not as financially sound, but renting a car was also fairly expensive. (Note to self: Always book fares that are within walking distance of a good restaurant!) Even steeper were the taxi fees around the islands; a one-way trip could cost anywhere from $30 to $100! On Huahine, the most remote of the islands we visited on our four-island hopper, we tried to make the most of our travels by booking an island tour for $60 each then asking the guide to drop us off in town where we could get dinner. After dinner, we grabbed groceries and had our guide/host pick us up ($30 one-way instead $60 for the tour and $60 for a roundtrip ride to town—you gotta work the system!) After all was said and done, we figured it would have made more sense to just rent a car on each island instead of trying to piece trips together, but all-in-all we made it work the best we could with the knowledge we had at the time.

4.    Ferry over or book an island hopper plane ticket

We opted for the island hopper plane ticket, but going by ferry probably would have been cheaper. Still, it was neat to see the islands and bluest of blue lagoons from above. The way I look at it, it was like getting transportation AND a flight tour of the islands for $500 each (that was the cost to go to up to five islands).

When it was all said and done, we went over our budget by approximately $4,000. I know, it sounds outrageous, but I still feel pretty good about it considering the average couple (and we had three people, including a TEENAGE BOY) spends $11,000 for a week on Bora Bora, according to travel extrordinaire, Chris Guillbeau (we spent two weeks in French Polynesia and visited not only Bora Bora, but also Tahiti, Moorea and Huahine). Those two weeks included surfing lessons with a former longboard champion of the world (x3 at $40 per person); an all-day jet ski and four-wheeler tour for two on Moorea ($365); an island tour of Huahine (x3 at $60 per person); entrance to the lagoonarium on Moorea (x3 at $50 per person) and lots of free snorkeling and hiking adventures.

[mikeyhatesit113]

forever and never: Chapter 6

My vehicle sped up the road, my foot stomping on the gas pedal.

The minutes ticked by like hours, and no matter how fast the car went, it still wasn’t enough. I had to get back to her, but would she be there?

Outside, the dark night was haunting me once again.

It had been hours...hours of silence.

Desperation built in my chest.

Please be there...

9 Months Earlier

I was back home, and I had my family back. I had a renewed sense of commitment to Janie, and I was determined to do what was right by her.

She was my franchise player, and I had to do what every professional sports organization needs to do…lock down their star player with a long term contract. And true to the world of sports, my star athlete did seem to have interest in other franchises, but after all was said and done, it appeared that she wanted to remain with my organization.

Of course, I’m referring to marriage. I immediately needed to marry Janie.

I had put a lot of the blame on myself for the way Janie had felt, because true enough, we were two years into a relationship and I had not proposed to her. No, I did not think that we were ready but apparently she did, and as I knew I wasn’t going anywhere, why not?

I had ignored the organic, special nature of wanting to marry somebody. It became an initiative of mine to make her feel as comfortable and secure as possible, so that I’d never have to suffer through another agonizing, restless night of wondering where she was.

The first order of business was requesting John’s permission for her hand in marriage. Remember John? Her father who confronted me at the sports bar? Since that heated exchange 2 years prior, John and I had not exactly become “close”, but we were cordial in the event of dinners and parties.

And even though he “forgot my gift at the house” when he came over one Christmas and gave Janie and the boys presents, I still felt comfortable enough to ask his permission for his daughter’s hand.

This process wasn’t going to be the traditional secret phone call or visit that most guys like to have without their prospective fiancé’s knowledge. This tradition usually maintains the element of surprise, as most proposals come in the form of an unexpected moment a couple can cherish and look back on decades later.

Well, there wouldn’t be any real “surprise”, as there were only expectations now.

Janie and I were sitting on the couch one Sunday night when we began talking, and I announced to her, “I’m going to call your dad right now and get his permission.”

Janie giggled excitedly and immediately whipped out her phone to call somebody while I stepped outside and made a phone call of my own. John immediately answered.

“Hey John, it’s Ekim. I’ve given this a lot of thought and I’d be grateful for your permission. Can I marry your daughter?”

John chuckled and said, “Well, I think you’d have to ask her that.”

Alright, one obstacle down.

The next obstacle was going and buying the ring. I went into a local, over-priced jewelry shop and let the guy in the clip-on tie and purple dress shirt guide me through the options. I picked out what I thought the perfect ring was, and I was on my way.

Two obstacles down.

Next, the proposal, but where to do it?

A quiet pier, just the two of us? No.

What about a cute little scavenger hunt, ending with me on one knee? Nope.

In my desperation to make her feel special, I wanted to do it big.

As in, The Big Apple.

I planned a last second trip to NYC, and I told her to pack a bag. We left on a Friday afternoon and hours later, we arrived to the modest hotel in Newark.

It was nice, if you could ignore the aged wallpaper and smell of cig smoke emanating from the air vent.

NOTE: Sorry ladies, but I was fronting ALOT of cash in a short period of time. I couldn’t afford a hotel in Manhattan. I was a baller on a budget.

I called down to the front desk, and a man who spoke broken English answered.

“Hey, can we have another room, by chance? I think that the cigarette smoke from down below is coming through our air conditioner,” I said.

The man on the other end asked me to hold briefly, and I heard him consult with the clerk beside him.

“He say, the smokes from outside, is in their room.”

We moved to another room, but we didn’t stay in it much. We were up bright and early the next morning, and my car zipped into Manhattan among the other aggressive drivers. We grabbed an “early bird special” at a parking garage and began our tour of the city on foot. The ring box bulged in my pocket as we walked through the streets and eventually ended up in Times Square.

With her back turned, I seized my moment and knelt down on one knee. She turned around.

Looking back, it’s hard to figure out if anything was special between us. It’s hard to imagine her being happy or being genuinely pleased after knowing what I know now. But if this moment where her jaw dropped and her hands clapped to her face was nothing but an act, she put on a great show.

We both did that day, as nearby tourists stopped walking and took pictures, saying “aww!” and giving small rounds of applause.

Of course she said yes. It wasn’t getting any grander than that.

The rest of the day went fantastic. I had proposed, and I made her feel like the luckiest girl in a major American city.

After returning home, we started planning for the wedding, which would be held in February at a local private club’s banquet room. We invited all of our closest friends and family, and I’d include her two boys in my groom’s party. Other members of my party would be my father, my buddies Bill and Sean.

Bill. Remember Bill. Right there with November 4th, put Bill in your memory bank for a rainier day.

Anyway, for as extravagant as we tried to make the wedding, everything turned out rather normal. In fact, after our rehearsal, we held our rehearsal dinner at a pizza buffet.

My father and his girlfriend, even years later, remained non-fans of Janie. My father treated all of his duties as a groomsman with reluctance and exasperation, and on the night of the rehearsal dinner, veered left to the neighboring chinese buffet while everyone else went to the pizza buffet.

My father and his girlfriend laughed as they did this, and I didn’t know how to feel about it at the time. Years later, the sheer audacity not only to miss your son’s rehearsal dinner, but to literally go next door to another restaurant, is inconceivable.

Anyway, the wedding day went off without a hitch. Janie had one last surprise for me, as she abruptly changed her music halfway down the aisle to an upbeat, poppy Miley Cyrus song and danced the rest of the way to the altar.

I am not quite sure, to this day, what she was going for. All I know is that there wasn’t a huge burst of laughter, no applause, and no one cheered. I can honestly say that everyone looked as uncomfortable as I felt. I knew nothing about the song switch-up, and I couldn’t understand why it had taken place. Miley Cyrus had zero significance to our relationship.

This was a wedding...not a Party in the USA...

I mean, at least save it for the reception?

After the wedding, Janie and I departed for our honeymoon in a modest beach town. It was February, so it was the off-season. We had a decent time with what we could do during a time of year where 75% of the businesses are shut down.

Inside, I felt accomplished, if nothing else. I considered the early chaotic origins of our relationship, and at least I could hang my hat on the fact that we were officially a married couple.

More to the point, we had just planned an entire wedding in 3 months, while also coordinating a move from our cape cod house to a townhouse. The rent at the cape cod house was extreme, and the rent at the townhouse would not only be cheaper, but also be in the same housing development as her mother.

Win/win, we thought.

After those two monumental events, I began looking at my career. I wasn’t too happy at the vending company. It allowed me to provide, but the seemingly erratic decisions from the small business owner made me nervous, and I started seeking a long-term career elsewhere.

Enter, the Sheriff’s department.

I filled out an application and they called me in for a panel interview. After getting approved, they passed me onto the physical fitness test.

The vertical jump. 25 pushups. 38 situps in under a minute. 300 meter dash. And of course, the dreaded 1.5 mile run in 12:29 or better.

I passed everything but the 1.5 mile run time. I hadn’t ran that much since 8th grade.

They scheduled me for a retest, and I worked my ass off in preparation for the running portion. Janie was ultra supportive of my quest for a position in law enforcement. She encouraged it, telling me that she always had a thing for cops. This of course motivated me even more.

Anything to feel like she wanted me.

Weeks later after running more than I ever had, I arrived at the hot track where the fitness test would be held. I performed the tests in succession of the process, passing each one. Then it was time for the run.

The whistle blew and I took off, pushing myself harder than ever as sweat poured down my face. Through every burst of running and stretch of walking after I got a stitch in my side, all I could think about was not failing. Not going back to Janie and telling her that I didn’t pass.

I pushed, and I barely made it.

After the test, they handed me a large stack of background paperwork to complete, and I was elated. I couldn’t wait to tell Janie. I hopped in my car and blared Limp Bizkit as I chugged red bull on my way home. On the way, I called Janie.

No answer.

Moments later, I tried calling again.

No answer.

I was befuddled. Wasn’t she eagerly waiting to hear the results of a test regarding a career that could change our family?

I pulled into our development minutes later and parked at the house. Janie’s car wasn’t there. I walked across the street to her mom’s and asked where Janie was.

“I don’t know, she should be back by now,” her mom said. “She only ran down the street to Walgreens, but that was a while ago.”

Minutes later, Janie did in fact arrive home. I excitedly told her the news, and though she was happy, I didn’t exactly get the reaction I had thought I’d get. She was rather passive, as if someone had told her that their growing pumpkins were coming along nicely.

Unfortunately, this reaction was a sign of things to come. Almost like clockwork, one year since “Corey”, her behavior changed abruptly, and our fights became more frequent. Everything that mattered before didn’t seem to matter to her now, and she was rather detached.

When you’re with someone for so long, you become accustomed to their patterns, behavior, and routines. When they abruptly change, that’s what you would consider a red flag.

One evening, I had enough. If she was going to take me for granted, then I’d make her miss me. I had tried to give her everything, but it wasn’t good enough.

Maybe it was time for her to wonder about me for a change?

I left the house and stopped by the mall, where I grabbed two CD’s. I hopped in my car and gunned it. Where was I going?

Well I’m glad somebody asked. The beach, of course.

My plan was to book a hotel room and stay there the entire weekend, taking time for me. I didn’t plan on having my phone on me. I was going to cut loose and have as much fun as a married stepfather could have, which in retrospect, isn’t much fun at all.

That entire 4 hour car ride, I gave myself tiny pep talks.

Fuck this. She’ll get a taste of what it’s like to be without me. She’ll be begging me to come back. It’s time for her to be insecure for a change.

The sun was going down, giving way to a beautiful dusk. I would of loved to share it with her. I wish this was our trip to the beach. But it was mine, and mine alone. There didn’t seem to be much that she did want to share with me. I’d make her pay for that.

This was incredibly toxic.

Hours later, my Matrix zipped up the main drag of the beach town, the same beach town we had spent our honeymoon in 7 months earlier.

Attractive women, families, and lively young people littered the sidewalks, laughing and enjoying each other. The night clubs, the smell of the ocean, and the excitement filling the air was intoxicating.

I had never felt so alone.

My adrenaline had worn off, and I was beyond empty. I had completely bottomed out. I was a loser. A fucking loser.

And she hadn’t tried to contact me once.

I realized almost immediately that my grand plan of staying there the whole weekend was a foolish illusion. I had become delusional to think that I could separate my stubborn mind from my heart.

What was I going to do? Walk the boardwalk 500 times? Talk to girls and hope they didn’t catch a glimpse of my wedding ring?

I was a gullible puppy dog. This had become some sick form of stockholm syndrome.

I turned my car around and zipped right back up the road. If I made good time, I could get home at least by 3am.

But I wasn’t going to call!

Halfway up the road, that resolve failed too.

I began calling, and texting, and I received nothing in return.

On top of not bothering to check where I was or if I was ok, she seemingly didn’t give a shit about hearing from me either.

I couldn’t understand. Why was this happening?

Where was this coming from?

Why didn’t she fucking care???

The distance I had sought to put between us had become a curse. I couldn’t wait to get home. The car couldn’t go fast enough. I needed to get back to her.

I even later got a ticket in the mail from one of those speed trap cameras.

After 3am, my car pulled into the driveway. Thankfully, her car was there.

I got out of my car and ran inside the dark house, dashing up the stairs. I bursted into our room, where she was sleeping. Or at least feigning sleep.

Her phone was next to her on the bedside table, dark and dormant...as it had never received any attempts from mine.

“I tried calling you,” I whispered to her as I knelt beside the bed.

“Oh,” she said. “Just come to bed.”

No questions of where I was all night. No further inquiries.

Her level of concern, or lack thereof, was maddening. But she was in front of me in our bed, and I wanted nothing more than to lay down beside her.

I eagerly changed into my PJ’s and laid next to her, taking her hand into mine.

But her hand only returned two quick squeezes and then pulled away.

I fought to fall asleep, replaying the entire evening in my head.

Wondering how it was so easy for her to be so rested and peaceful.

Wondering what was happening behind the scenes.

Wondering what was motivating her...

Or who?

Truth be told, there was someone else in our bed.

I could not see him, but he was there.

He was in her text messages. And in her call logs.

Hiding in plain sight.

“I'm blind, lost inside my head, And I can feel the end, it's coming after me. And I can't walk away.”

From Ashes to New “Blind”

NOTE: Though this is my side of the story, including my own personal recollections and opinions, the reader should not consider this note anything other than a work of literature. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

[stardust-static]

IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!

I finally decided where I want to get married!!

So my sister has been looking into the venues I liked & found online. Theres this really simple little b&b in Crestline and it's super cute and quaint, and it's in the middle of the forest. I thought for sure it would be affordable! Like my sister for example got married in this old rustic building that turned into a wedding venue and it was super nice and only like $5,000 or something like that (I think it might have actually been cheaper) & my mom was able to go in and decorate it and make it even more nice. So this little b&b in the forest emails my sister back and let's her know that their wedding packages start at $25,000.. um, what? 🙃

so yeah... then I was a little bummed, 'cause now I can't imagine what the others cost because they're not so quaint, and the forests here in socal aren't even that nice... then I started thinking back to my family camping trip to Big Basin. The redwoods were so beautiful and right next to our campsite was the gorgeous twin lakes and a huge waterfall, and down the ways are little hiking trails through the redwoods and there's this amphitheater in the middle of the forest:

When we walked by it my mom looked at Bailey and I and said "wouldn't this be such a beautiful place to have a forest wedding?" That was long before we were engaged so we just brushed it off.

But I actually would really love to get married here and then the wheels started turning and I thought "why shouldnt we?!". We'll make a big camping trip out of it, a three day stay for anyone that wants to. We'll rent out a bunch of camp sites for whoever wants to stay. We'll get one of the larger group campsites for the reception where we'll have someone cater. We'll decorate it beautifully. My mom will have a field day making my ethereal forest wedding dreams come true! and I'm still thinking about music and dance floor stuff.. but yeah, we'll rent out that amphitheater in the forest that I loved so much and get married there, and for anyone who isn't down with the whole camping thing they can stay at the lodge in town. I was thinking we could rent out rooms to get ready in and stay there on our wedding night, but the two days before that it will be one big camping trip with our family and friends. Which sounds amazing to the both of us! Most of our family loves to camp and has their own trailers and everything, so they'd be easy to convince. There will be a select few I'm sure who I won't be able to bother with a destination wedding, and we can understand if some people can't make it. It's okay. It is an 8 hour drive from Southern California. We both want to go for it though, since it is what we both really want to do. This is the first time I've felt really excited planning my wedding. I do think since we're asking for people to travel I'm not going to make a wedding registry or anything like that. We'll just do a honeymoon fund if anyone really wants to get us something, but I'll make sure everyone knows that the biggest gift is just them being there in the first place. I'm so excited! I've been thinking about it all day since I remembered that amphitheater. My sister is also pumped about this idea. She's going to call the park and the campground to see what we'll be able to do. 😁😁😁

But this is exactly what I always wanted. I wanted a simple and beautiful wedding, and to celebrate with all the people we're closest to.

So a wedding camping trip is right up our alley and I hope everyone else will love the idea as well!

[yournewapartment]

So I'm a Canadian who will be moving to Scotland later this month for university and I'm wondering: Do you have any tips for getting settled in a new country? This will be the first time I'm buying my own groceries and not using student loans so budgeting advice is also welcome.

This ask has been sitting in my inbox for like at least a month... I’m so sorry! Some posts take more time to write then others. I actually have about four asks that are all essentially this same question, so I’m going to just combine them all into one post. 

As for budgeting... here’s my two cents, in terms of Minimum Wage.

Budgeting on Minimum Wage

Overview

The average minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hr. Even working full time at 40 hours a week, that’s only a profit of $290 before taxes. This is not a fair living wage! You are worth way more than this amount! I strongly encourage you to start looking for another job that pays better, look for something around the $10-$15 range.

While $7.25 is atrocious, thousands of people around the world support families on much less. If they can do it while supporting children, so can you! To live off a minimum wage budget you need to declare yourself independent. If your parents are still claiming you as a dependent YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS. I also recommend that you have the highest amount possible taken out of your taxes so that you get money back from your state at the end of the year, instead of being in debt to them.

What I’ve done is come up with a budgeting plan based off some made up factors and my own personal experience.

Housing

1. City life. Forget about the city! Apartments located in cities can be three times as expensive as apartments in small towns or villages. On top of the extra expense, they’re much smaller and have less amenities included. I’d much rather live in a one bedroom apartment with a dishwasher and a conveniently located Laundromat, than a literal closet with no windows on a fifth floor walkup. Look for apartments twenty minutes to a half hour outside of your closest city. Now you have the close conveniences of a city, with none of those pesky city prices that your budget can’t handle.

2. College towns. Shop around and look at apartments by local colleges. Large colleges with have apartment complexes within walking distance of the school grounds. Landlords know that college students have less money (you might even be a college student yourself) and adjust their prices accordingly. Even apartments next to ivy league schools are priced this way, so don’t be discouraged by the institution’s “prestige”.

3. Locale. Your safety is more important than your bank account. It doesn’t matter if you live in Section 8 housing or in an affluent suburb. Some apartment complexes and neighborhoods are just safer than others. I live in a heavily populated and upper middle class suburb, and the first year I moved in, a drunk woman tried to throw a beer bottle at my car. Thankfully this is the only time this happened to me, but it made me feel unsafe in my environment. Before signing a lease, walk or drive around your prospective home’s neighborhood at night. Take in the atmosphere, and make sure it’s one where you could comfortably run to the local supermarket at 10:30pm and pick up toilet paper.

4. Roommates. Living on minimum wage requires that you find one or two roommates to help split the rent. The more the better! Get together with your more responsible friends, so at least you’re living with people whose company you enjoy. There are lots of “roommate wanted” forums and message boards for you to browse on the internet, but always bring a responsible adult with you before meeting a stranger. Please. Bring your mom if you have too.

Food

1. Low-spoon food. I created this post a few months ago which offers lots of suggestions about cooking and shopping on a budget.

2. Online recipes. Here are some of my favorite online Tumblr cookbook resources.

- College Student Cookbook. Click here.

- Meals On The Go. Click here. (Not a cookbook, but super helpful)

- Broke College Kid Masterpost. Click here.

- Cooking on A Bootstrap. Click here.

- Good and Cheap. Click here.

- Budget Bytes. Click here.

3. I also regularly update my cooking on a budget tag.

Misc Expenses

1. Gas. Shop around and find the cheapest gas in your area. Avoid gas stations next to colleges, highways, and in touristy areas. Look into getting as gas rewards card from your favorite supermarket. I get 10 cents off a gallon with Stop & Shop every time I do a big shop.

2. Dollar store. Get to know your local dollar and bargain stores. You can buy everything from pots and pans to bed sheets there. These stores often sell bulk ramen for $1 and large cans of crushed tomatoes for 75 cents. That’s enough food for you to live off of for several days. When shopping, I make three grocery store stops to ensure that I spend the least amount possible on my pantry needs. I go Dollar Store, Stop and Shop, and then to my local organic grocery store. I’m going to make a list of things that I buy at Dollar Stores and things that I don’t buy at Dollar Stores soon!

3. Cable. We are living in the digital age- you don’t need cable television. Use Netflix or Hulu or whatever. It will save you tons of $$.

4. Internet. As far as internet speed goes, if you’re living with roommates you will probably need a higher speed. Living by yourself, choose a lower one. Most internet companies offer large discounts to new subscribers. These typically only last a year, but will save you serious money. Make sure to take note of when this discount expires, and contact the company before it does. If you don’t, they’ll begin charging you the full amount without notice.

5. Verizon. I just want to take a moment to talk about how much I love Verizon because they have literally saved me so much money in the three years I’ve been with them. After you sign a contract with a new internet company, they charge you a bunch of ridiculous fees like “activation fees” and “installation fees”. I called Verizon and was like “I’m a poor college student, I can’t afford this” and they were like “don’t worry, we’ll waive the fee”. I signed a two year contract with them that saved me $80 on a high-speed internet bill per month (my price being only 50.99 a month). After the contract expired I call them and they put me on a month to month, keeping the price absolutely the same. TLDR- get Verizon if you can.

6. Utility. Get on a monthly budget with whatever utility company services your new apartment. Although it may seem like the cheaper option, paying the actual amount of electricity you spend per month is the more expensive. It’s also unpredictable, and a minimum wage budget won’t allow for it. See this for more info.

7. Amazon. I buy a lot of my beauty, cleaning, and cat products online. Amazon offers Prime shipping free for a year with a student email address, and then offers it at a greatly reduced price after the year. If you are a student, snap up that free deal ASAP. If it’s in your budget, I’d greatly recommend investing in Amazon Prime.

8. Saving money. It’s so important to attempt to break way from the “paycheck to paycheck” vicious cycle. Living this way does not allow for emergency expense money, and trust me, sometime soon you will need emergency expense money. Your cat might get sick or your car may die, whatever it is, it’s always smart to have at least $500 squirreled away. I’m gonna level with you, things have been tight for my budget and I haven’t been able to save anything for the past three months. But this month I will!

Example Budgets

Full Time

Working with the $7.25/hr and 40hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $1,160 a month without taxes.

Housing: Let’s say you’re sharing an apartment with two close friends, the rent being $1,500 without any amenities. That rent split three ways is $500 each.

Gas I commute twenty minutes every day, and I drop about $20-$25 a week on gas. That’s $100 on gas a month.

Food: I do one big shopping a month with my boyfriend. We drop around $180 and that’s including toiletries and soap and stuff. So maybe you’ll spend about $100 a month on all your shopping needs.

Cable/internet:  Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split three ways that’s $17 each.

Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.

Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.

With everything added up, you still have around $290 left before taxes! That money can go into a savings account, and after several months, you’ll have that $500 worth of emergency money saved.

Part Time

Working with the $7.25/hr and 25hr/week model, here’s an example budget for living on minimum wage. That’s $725 without taxes.

Housing: In this case, you need to look for apartments in the $800-900 range. In my area, one bedroom apartments go for around $1000, so you may need to get creative with your roommate (I don’t think you could have more than one roommate in this situation). Buy dividers to split the bedroom or studio in half! Let’s say your rent is $850 with nothing included, that’s $425 each.

Gas You’re still looking at a large gas bill per month, so it may be more inexpensive to ride a bike or use public transportation. Let’s say you use public transportation, and spend around $50 a month on that. Or maybe you and your roommate can split gas expenses and share a car?

Food: Pinch those pennies! Use some of those budget cookbooks I linked above to help you cook healthy and delicious meals for under $4 each. See if you can only spend $80 a month on groceries.

Cable/internet:  Hopefully you took my advice and skipped cable. Let’s say you’re paying around $50 per month for internet. Split two ways is $25 each.

Laundry: Hopefully you’re not like me and are only spending around $20 on laundry per month.

Random expenses: Because there always are some. Let’s just tack on another $100.

That leaves you $25 to put in your bank account, if that. This is a paycheck to paycheck situation, and you will probably need to get another source of income to feel secure. But you can still do it!

[ryecolombia]

Saturday is for the Girls

October 22st

Day 60: Lara and Hermione have rapidly become my closest friends here in Tulua. Shared experiences and the more familiar common language of English have allowed us to form a tight bond. Even though I don’t spend everyday with them like I do with my classmates, we connect on a deeper level. So every time we are all together is a treat. Yesterday was one of those lucky days. 

We had made plans the night before to go Halloween costume shopping in La Herradura at ten o’clock. Of course, by 10:30 the next morning Hermione was at the vet with her dad and dog, Lara’s mom was still sleeping, and Antonio was in pajamas sitting at the computer even though I told him I needed to leave at ten. Antonio and I finally made it out of the house and to the mall a couple minutes later. He told me that I could walk there alone if I wanted to in the future. Yes, I want to very very badly. 

We met Hermione and her dad Chepe in the food court. Chepe told us that he would take us to a costume rental shop because there were many more options there. So Antonio left and we continued to wait for Lara. A few minutes later she texted our group chat that Sandra was still asleep, so we hopped into Chepe’s car and drove to Lara’s house. 

The drive took us across town and through both the market and commercial districts. Chepe told us that he usually doesn’t drive through the market district because it is dirty and ugly, but he wanted to show it to use newcomers. Hermione and I both thought it was anything but ugly. With streets full of motorcycles and vendors selling good, it was full of life. We drove past the willy jeeps that bring farmers down from the mountains to vend their goods. These willys are traditionally used by Colombian farmers for their practicality. They easily navigate the steep inclines of the Colombian landscape and are capable of being piled high with goods. Chepe explained that most natives in Tulua come to this market to buy fresh produce because it is much cheaper than the supermarkets, hence the great commotion. In a matter of blocks, the bustling mayhem of the market district transitioned into clean streets full of clothing shops and visibly wealthier shoppers. The stark contrast between the two districts was a perfect reflection of the stark class differences that I have noticed in Colombia.

We arrived at Lara’s house around eleven o’clock and then drove to the costume store. I didn’t know a store frequented by customers once a year could be so large. Every wall and almost all of the floor space was full of racks of outfits. I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to be. I wasn’t given the option of browsing around either as a woman asked me “do you want to be something cute? How about a rabbit, a rabbit will be perfect.” That’s how I found myself renting a white bodysuit and skirt (a little shorter than my liking) complete with pink ears and a bowtie. Hopefully I can alter it a bit to something I’m more comfortable with before next Friday. Hermione found a green superhero costume that closely resembled Buttercup, the Powerpuff Girl that she hoped to be for Halloween, and Lara rented a skeleton suit. 

We left the store happy and content with our finds. Chepe’s sister had invited us to lunch at her house so Chepe chauffeured us across town once again. As we drove up the familiar driveway past my aunt Marlen’s house, I realized that I had visited this abode once before to pick up my Rotary credit card. It truly is a beautiful home, everything is so open to the outside and full of natural light. That is one common theme I have noticed in Colombian architecture. 

Lunch was a decadent spread of grilled salmon, breaded calamari, fried plantain chips, rice, steamed broccoli carrots and peas, tomato and avocado salad, and agua panela. We lingered at the table chatting for an hour after our stomachs had been filled with the rich meal. Chepe’s slow paced and well enunciated accent was a nice break from Antonio’s rapid and slurred accent. Its interesting to compare how two people who have lived in the same town for their whole lives can have such different accents. 

The now familiar kisses on the cheek went around as we said our thank you’s and goodbyes. Lara had to be back home by four so we decided to spend our remaining hour together at Hermione’s house. Sitting on the patio underneath the shade of a balcony gazing out over the pool, what a way to finish our lazy afternoon. Hermione found a deck of cards and Lara taught us a German card game called SL that she plays with her friends. Four o’clock rolled around before I knew it and I was soon home. Another day well spent with my favorite internationals.

[cardio-maegaly]

I finished training and my first week at the new store. I worked 6 days in a row and now I have a “weekend.” Starting at the new store was like starting at the training store. I was very nervous and insecure my first few days. I didn’t know the crew or the regulars, so I felt out of place.

But the last few nights, I bonded with the other closers. It’s hard to have ongoing conversations at these stores, since there’s no headsets to keep conversations going when you’re in other parts of the stores. But it was slow enough that we still had time to chat.

They’re both also from the midwest, and so we talked a lot about moving here and the common pitfalls that can feel isolating. We talked about sticker shock on prices here, how being here is a growth experience, and they introduced me to some of the regulars. We joked about how, when you’re from a flyover state and you tell people where you’re from, you have to “round up” to the closest major city (although I really DID live in Wichita proper for a few years!).

I’ve been talking to Matthew more again. He always had good work advice, and did always remind me when I’d be overthinking my interactions with people. It was really helpful sometimes. The downside to talking to Matthew is that, when it’s good conversations, it reminds me of what I’ve lost. That there were reasons we stayed together as long as we did, even if it wasn’t ultimately meant to be a lasting relationship. I miss Lincoln, we adopted him to be a forever part of the family and now that family is broken. And it makes me miss the time we spent together in Kansas. Wichita wasn’t a bad town in and of itself. I would have been content to build a life and settle there. But those dreams were built around being with Matthew, and I don’t believe Wichita has opportunities for me outside of that like a bigger city such as LA does.

I’d been feeling low in general, feeling like if I couldn’t make it here then it would just be another failure. I have tried making a lot of big changes in the past, and they don’t work out for me. I don’t know what the common factor is in the things I’ve done that have failed. I think part of it is that I can be a perfectionist. I worry that if I can’t do the best at something, that it’s not worth doing anymore.

And making it here is going to be a challenge. For the last few weeks, a lot of the cheaper studios disappeared off of most apartment website. I started to fret that I wouldn’t be able to afford a month’s rent and deposit, even at the lower limits of my budget. Matthew’s not expecting us to get as much from selling the car as we thought we would, so I’d also have to budget more for even just basic furniture (bed, pillows, microwave, etc). I could find a second job as a server or a barista at another cafe easily, but that would be a lot of work and I couldn’t expect a paycheck from that soon enough. And what would I do after that? Would I really be happy just being a barista or a waitress forever? I want to be able to support myself enough to live comfortably, but I still want to have time to enjoy the simple things in life.

But, for now at least, I’m starting to feel more optimistic. I’m starting to look at jobs on indeed, and there are quite a few here that pay enough that I could sustain myself easier and have opportunities to advance without requiring a degree. Cheaper apartments are starting to appear again, which leads me to believe it must’ve just been a start-of-the-school-year move-in rush. If I still can’t afford enough for a deposit and first month’s rent by the end of October, I can either ask Ronnie to stay here longer or call in the favor for a loan.

And even if she says no (which would be completely understandable, as she’s already helped out so much), I’m grateful that I’ve had this opportunity to try things out here. I feel a lot more confident, because I’ve already spent almost a month navigating the 2nd biggest city in the US on my own. I know I can handle meeting new people, but I also know I’m strong enough to be independent. I’ve tried a lot of new things while I’ve been here, and I think I can handle whatever I do next.

I don’t think that will be Wichita. When I’m thinking about it on my own, I think I’d like to take my grandparents up on their offer to stay with them. I’d like the opportunity to reconnect with them, even if it means going to church (hell, I always thought mass with the residents or listening at Friends’ meetings was interesting and reflective, in spite of my own personal beliefs) or starting out an hour away from Pittsburgh (Starbucks is still everywhere, and it’s still a good stepping stone).

[dearchuchu]

Ah settle yourself in for the grand tale of how we acquired carsdorp. 

Yes that is me with a 1983 Mercedes benz on the southern coast of South Africa. You may be wondering, “How the hell did they end up with a 1983 Mercedes Benz in South Africa?” Valid question. 

After a successful wine festival in Stellenbosch we had to make our move to Cape Town South Africa, which at this point is practically the same city. As Cape Town has grown it has basically eaten up some neighboring cities in its progress, Stellenbosch being one of those cities. There wasn’t a bus we felt like messing with, and the train seemed ill advised by the internet community, so we decided to just take an Uber, as they are cheap and everywhere.  

Our Uber driver was nice, and we talked about all sorts of political and racial issues on the around 45 minute drive to Cape Town. Unfortunately, we went to the wrong address, as it turns out there were two streets named the same thing with the same numbering system in Cape Town. This meant the Uber cost more than it should have, but we understood its a pretty easy mistake to make. Seriously though, two streets named the same thing in a city, with the same numbering system? Did they run out of street names? This seems like a really easy fix.

We arrive at our hostel safe and sound, and we go to check in. We were told pretty quickly that we canceled our reservation months ago, and they didn’t have any room for us. This was shocking to say the least. We did not cancel our reservation months ago. Mandy went ahead and let the front desk guy no that in VERY specific terms, pulling out our documentation and showing that we DID have a reservation. We were informed it was canceled from our end. Mandy was quick to inform them, “Yeah, but you took the money. The funds have been removed.”

This is a problem. 

The basic gist of it is that we wanted to cancel ONE DAY from our reservation months ago and we were told that they can’t cancel just one day through the (credit card) points we were using to book. We were told to cancel the whole reservation, and then rebook, which Mandy did. The first reservation was canceled, the second was made, and at some point the hostel canceled the second reservation without telling us... months ago. This means the booking we made didn’t exist, despite us being charged for it, and the hostel had no available room for us. 

Fun.

The hostel did their absolute best to find us another accommodation, but this was a Saturday night in the second largest city in South Africa... everything was obviously booked. We sat at their bar, connected to their wifi, and then set about trying to figure out what the fuck we were going to do. More importantly, where the fuck are we going to stay... TONIGHT. Like, we had no where to stay in the second largest city in South Africa on a Saturday night. HOORAY!

Remember back when we had a car? At least when we had a car, maybe we could have slept in it. Here we are, stranded in Cape Town South Africa with no where to stay, not even a car, and no real prospects of anything we can do to fix this situation. We start casting a VERY wide net of places we could stay for AT LEAST the night, mainly focusing on Airbnb. We started close to where our original booking was, and quickly discovered everything available at this short notice is LAUGHABLY over our budget. We then continued going further and further out of the city trying to find anywhere that would take us in. 

Not only were we having a very hard time finding things, the things we found that were in our budget were not writing us back. We sat in the bar, the common area of the hostel we were supposed to be staying in for around 6 hours on the internet trying to find anywhere to stay. The front desk manager came to us at some point and explained they had spoken with their manager, and he was authorized to give us our full money back for our booking... in cash. Basically just handed us a fist full of rand. They were truly sorry for the problem, but there isn’t much else they could do but let us stay and use their wifi until we found something else. 

At the end of our ropes, we decided that we would book a Airbnb quite a bit further out than we ever intended to stay, mainly because it was a “book now” posting. That means it is an automatic booking, so we DEFINITELY have somewhere to stay, at least for the night. The good news is that the place was quite close to a bus stop, and the Cape Town public transit is excellent, so we could start the next day out right. By the time we booked, contacted our host, and contacted Uber for our ride out of town to our Airbnb, the sun had set. We lost basically a full day in Cape Town trying to find somewhere to sleep. 

At one point in this trip, one of our hosts said that we were possibly bad luck because of all the issues we have had in South Africa with the rental cars. We were slightly offended, and explained to our host, “No, we are good luck. Generally when something good is happening on our trip, we will just accidentally show up to it.” Case in point, showing up to a wine festival that you didn’t know existed and drinking all the wine you can for $15. Let me take a second here to assure you dear reader (whoever takes the time to read all this...) that we are in fact good luck. 

Our host Dean greeted us at the gate to his place and told us he was glad we made it. We apologize for it being so late, and then he said, “No problem. You have a cooler? If you don’t mind my asking, you are the first backpackers I’ve ever seen with a cooler. Why do you have a cooler?” We explain to Dean, “Well Dean the long and short of it is we got the cooler for Kruger National park, but that was a lifetime ago. Our car got stolen in Durban, but the cooler wasn’t in it. When our second car got broken into in Port Elizabeth, the one thing the thieves didn’t take was our cooler. It rode under the bus with us to Stellenbosch, and then in two Ubers to get here.”  Dean said, “Shit.”

Shit indeed Dean. Shit indeed. We got Dean up to date on the situation, and he agreed with everyone else that we have had some “bad luck” in South Africa. Then he apologizes for our hostel falling through. He showed us around and gave us the lay of the land for the place he had for us. We had our own little spot that included a queen sized bed, TWO bathrooms, a basic kitchen set up with all the basics and then some, and of course an HD tv mounted on the wall. At our hostel, we would have had a bed, and an ensuite bathroom, that is it. So our set up at our place was MUCH better than it would have been, also cheaper.

Dean shows us into the main house area which is a shared space for other rooms he has rented out. He has a pool table, pinball machine, arcade machine, and sodas and beer for sale at price out of a mini fridge. Yeah, Deans place was quite a bit cooler than the place we couldn’t stay at. Dean also was incredibly accommodating, asking us what our plans were in Cape Town (we had none) and how we were getting around. Dean sat us down and made up a basic itinerary for us, and then told us which busses could get us closest to where we were trying to get to. Then Dean asks us, “Are you comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road?”

Dean leads us out to his parking lot, and there is a beauty of a Mercedes Benz just sitting there. Dean explains that from time to time he will lend it to a guest, but for insurance and legal reasons, he can’t rent it. We told him we understood completely. He offered to lend it to us if we wanted, and at first we said no. Cars were not exactly doing well for us so far. Dean explained its fully insured, and if it gets stolen, he truly isn’t worried about it because of its age, and it is totally insured. We all have a good laugh, and then we decide it would be WAY easier to get around to the southern part of Cape Town with a car. We accept.

Any car as old as this 1983 Mercedes Benz is going to have some quirks, this car certainly had them, and Dean walked us through each one. First of all, the driver door doesn’t lock per say. I mean, it will sort of go down if you wiggle it just right, but if you pull aggressively on the door handle, it will unlock without a key. Good to know. Second, the car has a anti theft unit installed and won’t start without pushing a button on the keys. This seems like a no-brainer in South Africa, its almost like they should do that in rental cars. The only thing left to explain is that it handles like a 30 year old car for some reason. A 30 year old Mercedes though, to be fair.

With that we were off into the greater Cape Town area rolling around with a fantastic Mercedes Benz to explore in. At times it felt like playing the video game Grand Theft Auto, because this car is so much bigger than any car I’ve driven, and the city is completely new to me. The vibe of the car had a very “Vice City” kind of feel to it. We decided very quickly that the car needed a name. We didn’t  name the last cars, and look what happened. We spent some time debating as we drove through the city, “Destro” was one of my suggestions as it was age appropriate, Mandy suggested “Jalopy”. 

This car was a little janky, so jalopy fit. The driver side door “sort of locks” for fuck sake. It took a little bit of thinking, but once we came up with the perfect name, we knew it all at once. 

Carsdorp.

[weditchthemap]

The Ultimate Guide for Hiking Torres del Paine’s W, O, and Q Treks

What is Torres del Paine?

Torres del Paine is a national park in southern Chile.  You can take day trips into the park sleep within the park hiking well-defined treks.  The park has ice fields, various types of glaciers,  lakes, expansive landscapes, and craggy mountains.  Please read our popular post about hiking the W-Trek by clicking here (this post has been featured in international magazines):

Extensive Hiking Information

Every day at 3:00pm a hostel and gear rental shop called Erratic Rock puts on a free lecture about hiking the W.  It is short and very informative with a Q&A session at the end.

Getting to the Park

Puerto Natales is the gateway city into the park.  You can arrange all your lodging, transport, gear rental, tours, etc. once you get to Puerto Natales.  However you may want to reserve your campsites/refugios several months in advance as popular spaces tend to book up.

Getting to Puerto Natales:  The two closest airports are Calafate, Argentina and Punta Arenas, Chile.  Flying into Punta Arenas from Santiago is a cheap option if you are already in Chile but for those traveling from Argentina Calafate is your best bet.  Although google maps will state the bus from Calafate to Puerto Natales is 3.5 hours, agencies will plan for 6 hours due to road conditions and a border crossing.  Busses from Punta Arenas are only a few hours and don’t involve any border crossings.  If flying into Punta Arenas a nice place to stay is Hotel Carpa Manzano.  You can also take a day trip to see the King Penguins with Patagonia Tours.  Punta Arenas also has a tax free area none as Zona Franca, which is just north of the city.  You can buy some travel equipment here at reduced prices.

Busses into Torres del Paine leave daily at 7:00am and 7:15am from the bus terminal and arrive in the park around 9am.  Busses will drop you off where you can buy entrance tickets (21,000 pesos but USD are also accepted—cash only).  Please bring your passports and all other reservations you have.  You can take a shuttle to central which is where most people start their journey.  You can also remain on the bus and get dropped off at the catamaran which will take you to Paine Grande (one-way/return tickets cost 20,000/30,000 pesos but USD are also excepted-cash only).

Comparing Various Hikes within the Park:

You can do day trips in the park but you’ll miss most of the park’s splendor and this should only be reserved for elderly or those unfit for hiking/trekking. 

W-Trek:  This is by far the most common and most people you meet in the park will be undertaking this 3 to 5 night trek within the park.  You’ll stay at Paine Grande and/or Refugio Grey, Cuernos or Frances, and Central or Chileano.  By completing the W-trek you will be able to see the three largest attractions in the park (glacier grey, mirador Britanico, and The Torres).  The hike will be a bit crowded so come prepared to share nature with hundreds of others.  The mess halls along this hike will be cramped, loud, and full of conversations about excited tourists and their plans for their time in the park

O-Trek:  The O-trek adds 4 additional nights to the W-Trek and takes you in a complete circle.  The campsites of Seron, Dickson, los Perros, and el Paso are much more remote and only a fraction of the size of those found on the W.  The amenities are fewer, options to buy food are limited, and the ability to access power is restricted.  However during my last trip into the park (in 2015) the O was even more rustic.  Only a few years back you had to carry your own food and camping supplies with you but now you can rent gear and buy warm meals along the way.  You’ll be hiking with a cohort of people that will all set up camp at the same campsites each night.  The 20 or so people that you will hike with will become your family for the next several days.  Although the hikes are long the overall pace seems to move more slowly.  Conversations are less about accomplishments and more geared towards experiences during the day.  If you’re looking for a backcountry type camping experience and more personal connections this hike is for you.

Q-Trek: This is the O-Trek with one additional day added—an extra 17km hike from the CONAF Administration building takes you to Paine Grande.  Although we started our hike from the CONAF Admin. Building please note they require you only hike south.  If you plan to break the rules and hike north, as we did, you will need to hitch a ride (or walk) to the starting point. You will be able to do this from the catamaran stop.

Trail Maps Along the Hike: Some are more accurate than other so don’t rely on them too much. Keep track of your own progress to estimate your hiking time and ETA and you’ll be better off. I’ve heard some people complaining that the posted estimated time was way too short while other commented on them being way too long.

Types of Lodging in the Park

Our first time in the park we reserved our spots almost a year in advance.  This time around we were able to book only a couple weeks prior.  We did need to delay our arrival several weeks to make things work out—also we were among the last 50 people hiking the O before the back circuit closed for the year (the O portion of the park closes April 1st).

Camping (gear carried with you): This includes your personal gear and/or any rented gear you arranged before arriving in the park.  This is your cheapest option and will cost you $8 to $20 USD per person per night (there are several free camp sites you can book through the CONAF website).  You will need to carry your gear with you from site to site.  You still need to reserve all campsites in advance.   Until recently this was the only way to hike the O circuit.

Camping (rented at campsite): You can rent full gear at every camp site.  You will get a 4-season tent, sleeping mattress, sleeping bag, and pillow.  You will pay between $40 to $60 USD per person per night.  You will not have to set up or take down any of the gear and everything will already be prepared for you upon your arrival at the campsite.

Shared Rooms/Domes: Only a few years ago this type of accommodation was unheard of outside the larger refugios along the main W circuit.  Now almost all sites offer this option.  You will be provided a bed in a dorm with 5 to 7 other people.  You’ll have everything you need to sleep comfortably.  You’ll pay between $55 and $110 per person per night.

Private Room: The only place to rent a private room is at the Torres Hotel and most people staying here are probably not doing the W trek.  You’ll pay hundreds of dollars a night for a room.

Getting Supplies in Puerto Natales

Do yourself a favor and spend at least 1 or 2 nights in Puerto Natales before you plan to head into the park, especially if you plan to hike the complete O circuit.  Getting everything prepared, packed, rented, and organized takes more time than you think.  We stayed at a lovely hotel called Hostal Los Pinos in the center of town which provided us quick access to the several grocery stores around town.

This time around we took with us most of our gear.  We picked up some loose ends at the duty free shops in Punta Arenas and only had to rent a camping stove.  Check out our ultralight camping gear in this short time-lapse video where we set up camp during our recent trip in the park.

I will not go into too much detail about the type of gear you should bring as you can read this advice elsewhere or hear it at the info session at Erratic Rock.  Take your time and shop around since prices can differ by magnitudes of 2 depending on where you buy/rent your gear/food.  There are places that sell only dried fruit and nuts and offer prices half of what you’ll find in other stores.  With the W it makes sense to rent gear but when you have to rent for almost 10 days it may start to make sense to buy gear and then try to resale after your travels.  Gear will also be cheaper in your home country (especially true in the US).

Packing Advice (Food)

We didn’t spend too much time worrying about the weight of our food when we hiked the W but this time around we were much more concerned.  We spent 10 days in the park and carrying that much food adds up.  In fact the majority of our weight on our backs at the start of our hike was food weight.  We found the following method to be immensely helpful.  We calculated how many calories we needed to consumer each day and counted out nuts, cookies, dried fruit, etc. into zip lock backs—1 for breakfast, 1 for snacks throughout the day, and 1 for dinner.  We also has a few extra snacks in our bags for good measure.  Counting calories is essential for 2 important reasons.  You need to eat enough when hiking and if you don’t bring enough food you will be spending hordes of cash at the refugios to keep your appetite at bay.  Conversely, if you bring too much food you will be carrying more weight than you need and you’ll quickly learn how heavy carrying 20 kilos 8 hours a day really is.  Consider this, if you brought only 4 ounces of extra food for each meal you would end up carrying and extra 7 kilos between 2 people.

Having food individually packaged also makes it easy to handle as you’ll want to hang your food up in the trees at most sites to keep the mice away.  At least 4 people had their bags and/or tents eaten through by enterprising mice.

 Food Ideas To Pack:

Cured meats and hard cheeses – these work great and will remain good your entire trip.  We ate our last bit of meat and cheese on day 9 and it tasted just as fresh as day 1.  The temperatures are low and you will not need to worry about spoilage.

Fresh fruit - should be avoided because of their low energy to weight ratio.   If you bring make sure to eat early on.

A liter of wine – I brought this to share with my table the first night of the hike.  This helped to form some lasting bonds that weren’t soon forgotten.

Peanut butter, jam, Nutella – spreads work great as they are basically pure energy and can make an unsavory cracker more delectable.

Dried fruit and nuts - will provide you with most of the nutrients you need and will help you in the much lacking fiber department when it comes to camping food.

Cookies, chocolates, and treats – this is your time to indulge.  Normally you want to avoid such calorie-rich foods, but when weight is your enemy make sure you stock up.

Teas and coffees – Drinking cold glacier water has its appeal but there is nothing like sitting down with a warm beverage after a day of hiking.

Powdered soups – these taste relatively good and cook up quickly.  I added rice noodles and whole wheat pasta to mine to add calories.  Make sure to drink plenty of water as these are incredibly salty.

Dehydrated foods – you can buy these in town but you’ll pay a pretty penny for them.  We met a couple of people on the trail that prepared their own.  If you want trail cred (like street cred but way cooler) whip out your own dehydrated fettuccini Alfredo.

Packing Advice (Gear)

Pack in a way that makes sense to you.  Nothing sucks more than having to riffle though your entire bag in search of a spare battery.  Keep like things together and think about when you will need things from your bag.  Does your teddy bear really need to be readily accessible?  Maybe that ourside pocket is better saved for a granola bar or toilet paper. Bring extra garbage bags to keep everything organized and dry.  Sleep with your phone, camera, and spare batteries at the foot of your sleeping bag to keep them warm (operating batteries at low temperatures shorten their life).  For this reason many hikers keep extra camera batteries in their pockets during the day.  As the park continues to modernize warm showers are becoming available almost everywhere so pack a quick-drying travel towel and single use soaps/shampoos to avoid having to buy them at the refugios.  A drop sheet under your tent will help keep you dry and compression bags will reduce the overall bulk of your gear.

Other Advice

Thanks to the thin ozone (aka hole in ozone) you’ll want to load up on sun lotion, hats, and glasses.  With very few acceptations you will not go more than an hour without a fresh water source so please leave your large water bladders/bottles behind.  Charging at refugios is now easier than ever so leave behind your power bricks.  Internet is available at most campsites along the W for those who still want to remain connected. Most importantly, try to enjoy the best scenery that Patagonia has to offer while you visit Torres del Paine National Park.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions about your trip to Torres del Paine.

[marymperezga]

Where To Stay In Iceland: Best Hotels In Reykjavik & Beyond

The Best Places to Stay in Iceland

Accommodation In Iceland

Iceland has become an incredibly popular travel destination over the last few years. Learn where to stay in Iceland for your vacation including the best hotels, budget hostels, and campgrounds.

As I’m sure you’re already aware by now, Iceland is an incredible holiday destination for all types of people, from families to adventurous solo travelers.

While flights have become increasingly cheap, food & lodging however are not.

There are tons of unique places to stay in Iceland due to its diverse scenery, and every time I visit I find something new to experience, which makes it one of my favorite countries.

Best Places To Stay In Iceland

When it comes to finding a place to stay in Iceland, hotels can be on the expensive side, and there aren’t a lot of options compared to other countries. Hotels can get booked up months in advance, especially during the high season.

It’s important to book your accommodation in Iceland early to get the best deals.

In this guide, I’ll cover everything from budget backpacker hostels to luxury Reykjavik hotels, family-owned farms, campgrounds, and even campervan rentals — you’ll learn exactly where to stay in Iceland to have a great time.

Reykjavik Iceland Hotel Guide

Where To Stay In Reykjavik

Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland, and where most travelers base themselves from initially. The city welcomes guests with a cosmopolitan mix of restaurants, cafes, street-art, museums and tour company headquarters.

The busy heart of Reykjavik is the Miðborg neighborhood, especially Laugavegur Street, where you’ll find shopping, restaurants, nightlife and all sorts of fun things to do.

If you want to be where all the action is, stay close to Laugavegur Street. But there are some other great neighborhoods in Reykjavik too, which I share below.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds in Reykjavik depending on your budget.

Also, if you prefer a local apartment, Airbnb is a great option for finding a cool place to stay in Iceland. Check out my Airbnb post for a $35 discount!

Cheap Hostels In Reykjavik

Loft Hostel – With two Best Hostel awards, Loft is one of the best places to stay in Reykjavik when you’re traveling on a budget. Located in the heart of the city, it features a large balcony to admire the city from above. They often organize music and activities, have good wifi, and friendly staff.

Reykjavik Downtown HI Hostel 

Budget Hotels In Reykjavik

Rey Apartments – Rey Apartments is located in between the main shopping area and the trendy district of Skolavordustigur in Reykjavik. The modern, fresh looking apartments feature free wifi and fully equipped kitchens and living rooms. The geothermal Sunhollin swimming pool is just 10 minutes away!

Hotel Frón 

Mid-Range Hotels In Reykjavik

Hotel Ódinsvé 

Skuggi Hotel Reykjavík

Luxury Hotels In Reykjavik

Kvosin Downtown Hotel – When you want to be pampered, you can’t do much better than this Reykjavik hotel. Housed in a restored building from the 1900’s, this boutique hotel offers the largest rooms you can find in Reykjavik, decorated in modern Scandinavian style and featuring artworks by local artists.

Reykjavík Residence Suites 

Good Campgrounds Near Reykjavik

Reykjavik Campsite 

Hafnarfjörður Camping 

Cool Neighborhoods in Reykjavik

Best Neighborhoods In Reykjavik

Miðborg

Midborg is where all the action is in Reykjavik, and where to stay for the best nightlife in the city. Full of quirky shops, museums, restaruants, and the main walking district.

Vesturbær

Located just west of the city center, Vesturbær is a mix of residential neighborhood and little cafes. It’s a bit queiter than downtown.

Hlíðar

A local working-class residential area east of the city, with plenty of parks & playgrounds. The name means “the hills” and places out here are much cheaper than the city center.

Laugardalur

Laugardalur is kind of the sports and recreation hub of Reykjavik. Known as “the hot spring valley,” this is where you’ll find the local sports stadium as well as a campground.

Golden Circle Hotel Guide

Where To Stay On The Golden Circle – Selfoss & Hveragerði

The Golden Circle is a circular 300km route that takes you from the capital city of Reykjavik towards the center of Iceland, and back again in a single day. It’s the perfect introduction to Iceland if you’re short on time or on a layover.

From ancient historical sites to beautiful natural landmarks, the Golden Circle has a bit of everything. You can join an organized tour of the Golden Circle or rent a car and self-drive at your own pace.

Most people base themselves from Reykjavik for this drive, however, you can also spend the night somewhere along the Golden Circle. The towns of Selfoss and Hveragerði are good options for this.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds on the Golden Circle depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels On The Golden Circle

Selfoss Hostel – Everything you need to get a good night’s of sleep before you continue to explore Iceland. The clean, functional rooms have free wifi and a view over Ingolfsfjall mountain. There’s free parking, which is a big plus when you’re renting a car in Iceland. There’s a big common kitchen and a hot tub too.

Hot Springs Hostel

Budget Hotels On The Golden Circle

SKYR Guesthouse

Mid-Range Hotels On The Golden Circle

Eldhestar – Located only half an hour from the capital, this Iceland eco-hotel provides everything you need to relax. You can have a cup of hot tea in the lounge next to the fireplace or enjoy a cocktail at the bar. Each room has a private entrance with nature-inspired décor. Eldhestar has an outdoor wooden hot tub and is located next to an Icelandic horse farm.

Guesthouse Bjarney

Luxury Hotels On The Golden Circle

Frost & Fire Hotel – This unique luxury hotel in Iceland is near a geothermal area, giving you the feeling of being in the middle of nature. Thingvellir National Park is only a 40-minute drive away. Relax at the spa-like facilities including two hot tubs, an outdoor pool, hot spring powered Jacuzzi and sauna. You can even cook an egg over a natural hot spring for breakfast!

Ion Adventure Hotel

Where to Stay in Vik, South Iceland

Where To Stay On Iceland’s South Coast – Vik

Iceland’s South Coast is filled with natural wonders, making it perfect for an adventure outside the capital. If you’re driving around the entire Ring Road on Route 1, this is usually the next stop after a trip around the Golden Circle.

The South Coast is home to some of Iceland’s most famous waterfalls, like Seljalandfoss and Skogafoss. Reynisfjara Black Beach, Sólheimajökull Glacier, and the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano are other highlights.

One of the larger towns tourists stop at is called Vik [MAP], with many different lodging options, restaurants, and activities nearby. So it’s a great place to stay for a night or two.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds along Iceland’s South Coast depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels On Iceland’s South Coast

Puffin Hostel – Located in the center of Vik, this hostel is only a 10-minute walk from the fabulous black beaches. It offers a fully equipped kitchen and a shared seating area. The functional rooms have shared facilities and bathrooms.

Budget Hotels On Iceland’s South Coast

Hotel Geirland

Mid-Range Hotels On Iceland’s South Coast

The Barn – Located near Vik and provides a great base for exploring the South Coast of Iceland. It features parking and free wifi,  being great for travelers who tour the island by rental car. The rooms offer enough privacy, which makes this hostel a great option for couples. Some of the rooms have a view over the mountains and there are dormitory beds with drapes available.

Luxury Hotels On Iceland’s South Coast

Hotel Kria – For a luxurious stay near Vik this new hotel opened in 2018. The rooms have a modern design and all the facilities one can expect from a high-class hotel. During your stay at Kria you can enjoy amazing mountain views, a cocktail at their bar or a delicious meal at their restaurant, which serves Icelandic specialties. The breakfast buffet features food from local farms.

Best Iceland Hotels Near Hofn

Where To Stay Near The Glacier Lagoon – Hofn

Continuing your drive on Iceland’s Ring Road, you’ll eventually reach the fishing village of Höfn. Höfn means “harbor” because it sits on one of the few natural harbors found in Iceland. This is the next major town after Vik, about a 4-hour drive away.

While four hours doesn’t seem like much, there’s so much to do in between these two Icelandic towns on the South Coast that you can easily spend a full day on activities, and may want to spend a night here.

Hofn is the town closest to Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon and Vatnajokull National Park. Watching the sunrise from Jökulsárlón was one of the highlights of my trip, so you might want to sleep nearby.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds near Hofn and the glacier lagoon depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels Around Hofn

Lilja Guesthouse – This friendly guesthouse offers spacious rooms with a warm floor and private bathrooms. The quiet rooms are equipped with a coffee machine and free WiFi. The nearby mountains provide a great view for the guests, who can enjoy their coffee in the shared lounge.

Budget Hotels Around Hofn

Skyrhusid Guesthouse

Mid-Range Hotels Around Hofn

Hotel Hofn – Most rooms have views of the nearby glaciers and the sea. The hotel has private parking, a great bonus if you are traveling by rental car. You can dine on the restaurant’s terrace to admire the view as you enjoy Icelandic specialties. Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon is one hour away, while the Silfurnes Golf Club and Hofn Harbour are only a 10-minute walk.

Luxury Hotels Around Hofn

Aurora Cabins – If you’re lucky, you might catch the magnificent aurora borealis from the cabin porch at this awesome Iceland hotel. There’s a small hill nearby with a bench on top, another nice spot to admire the lights. The cabins are spacious and feature free wifi, a kitchen with microwave and toaster, terrace and a seating area. Great romantic place for couples!

Where To Stay In East Iceland – Egilsstaðir 

East Iceland is often overlooked by tourists, being so far from the capital of Reykjavik. But it has a lot to offer. The picturesque fishing villages which line the rugged landscape are dotted with waterfalls and glaciers, making the area perfect for hiking.

The main city people base themselves in East Iceland is called Egilsstaðir, one of Iceland’s youngest towns. It was built on the banks of the Lagarfljot River in a wide valley. It has good access to the Eastern Fjords too.

East Iceland is also rich in legends about the elves and other mythical creatures which were believed to populate the area. It’s a good place for wildlife spotting, including herds of wild reindeer, arctic foxes, and puffins.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds near Egilsstaðir and the East Fjords depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels In Egilsstaðir

Tehusid Hostel

Budget Hotels In Egilsstaðir

Laufás Guest House

Mid-Range Hotels In Egilsstaðir

Icelandair Hotel Herad

Luxury Hotels In Egilsstaðir

Hótel Valaskjálf

Where To Stay In North Iceland – Akureyri

Akureyri is the largest and most important town in Iceland, after its capital. It is an old trading city and important fishing hub, it’s also a wonderful base for whale watching trips. The city has heated swimming pools too.

Travelers to Iceland generally end up staying in the city of Akureyri, or near Lake Myvatn, depending on where you end up after a long drive on Route 1.

Lake Myvatn is located in an active volcano area and is surrounded by amazing lava formations. There is a rich population of water birds living around the lake, making it great for bird watching.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds around Akureyri depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels In North Iceland

Town Square Guesthouse – At Town Square Guesthouse you will find all the essentials for a decent stay. Some rooms offer views over the sea or the mountains, while all of them include access to a shared bathroom and free WiFi. Guests also have access to a fully equipped shared kitchen and a nice terrace.

Budget Hotels In North Iceland

Lónsá Guesthouse

Mid-Range Hotels In North Iceland

Icelandair Hotel Akureyri – This Iceland hotel in Akureyri offers modern rooms with wooden floors and comfortable beds. They have a cozy bar with a fireplace, and the restaurant cooks delicious meals with Icelandic and Mediterranean influences. The Akureyri swimming pool and geothermal hot tubs are only a 2-minute walk away from the hotel.

Luxury Hotels In North Iceland

Hotel Kjarnalundur – Just 2km away from Akureyri Airport and 5km from the city center. The panoramic views of the surroundings and the amazing Aurora Borealis can be enjoyed from all over the property. There is a hot tub on the deck of the cottage, which also provides a great spot to admire the scenic landscapes Cozy, modern design with wooden finishes. You also get free access to their sauna!

Where To Stay On Snæfellsnes Peninsula

Snæfellsnes Peninsula is nicknamed “miniature Iceland”, thanks to its vast diversity of landscapes. This also makes it perfect for a quick weekend getaway, during which you can enjoy the best of Iceland.

Driving around this peninsula you’ll find waterfalls, hot-spring pools, lava tubes, black sand beaches, old churches, fields of wildflowers in the spring, and massive glaciers.

Driving around Snæfellsnes is another day-trip option if you don’t have a lot of time in Iceland, as it’s located only 2 hours north of Reykjavik city.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds on Snæfellsnes Peninsula depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels On Snæfellsnes

North Star Guesthouse – North Star Guesthouse offers spacious rooms and free private parking on the main street of Olafsvik. There is a self check in/check out which makes everything easier for the traveler who wants to get some rest before heading to the restaurants in the area for a drink and a meal. Popular activities for guests are golfing, hiking and fishing.

Budget Hotels On Snæfellsnes

West Park Guesthouse

Mid-Range Hotels On Snæfellsnes

Arnarstapi Hotel – Located only 200m from the Gatklettur rocks and offers views over the sea, which makes it ideal when you just want to relax and enjoy nature after a long day. The rooms are modern and feature private bathrooms. This new hotel also has an on-site restaurant where you can enjoy some of the most delicious Icelandic specialties.

Luxury Hotels On Snæfellsnes

Fell Holiday Home – This place has 6 separate bedrooms with 2 bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen and a living room. The apartment also has a garden, which makes a great place to admire the Northern Lights and the Gatklettur rocks. There is free WiFi all over the modern property.

Keflavik Airport Hotels & The Blue Lagoon

Northern Light Inn

Stay in a Campervan!

Renting A Campervan In Iceland

There are many ways to explore Iceland. Most people rent a car while staying in hotels, or rent a campervan while sleeping in the vehicle. Convenience is one of the main reasons people choose to rent a campervan.

Once you’ve rented the vehicle, you can start driving and exploring the country on your own terms. It’s a lot easier to find a campground with space for your van than it is to book a last minute hotel in Iceland.

Renting a campervan in Iceland can save you a lot of time and money. You can prepare your own food on the go and save money on accommodation. It also gives you a lot of flexibility to change your plans anytime you want.

But life on the road might take its toll, especially if you have small kids. Not all campervans will have a toilet and you might definitely miss showering on a regular basis.

The weather depends on luck and what time of year you visit Iceland. A worst case scenario is that you might have to cook in the rain, snow, or deal with high winds and cold temperatures.

I’ve traveled around Iceland both ways, and if you’d like to rent a campervan in Iceland, I highly recommend Happy Campers.

Travel Planning Resources For Iceland

Packing Guide

Check out my travel gear guide to help you start packing for your trip. Pick up a travel backpack, camera gear, and other useful travel accessories.

Book Your Flight

Find cheap flights on Skyscanner. This is my favorite search engine to find deals on airlines. Also make sure to read how I find the cheapest flights.

Rent A Car

RentalCars.com is a great site for comparing car prices to find the best deal. Also read my tips for driving in Iceland.

Book Accommodation

Booking.com is my favorite hotel search engine. Or rent apartments from locals on Airbnb. Read more about how I book cheap hotels online.

Protect Your Trip

Don’t forget travel insurance! I’m a big fan of World Nomads for short-term trips. Protect yourself from possible injury & theft abroad. Read more about why you should always carry travel insurance.

Recommended Guidebook: Lonely Planet Iceland Suggested Reading: The Little Book Of Hidden People

Enjoy This Post? Pin It For Later!

READ MORE FROM ICELAND

Complete Guide To Iceland’s Ring Road Golden Circle Day Trip From Reykjavik Epic Iceland Photography Locations

Have any questions about where to stay in Iceland? Which hotels in Reykjavik have you stayed at? Drop me a message in the comments below!

This is a post from The Expert Vagabond adventure blog.

from Tips For Traveling https://expertvagabond.com/where-to-stay-iceland-hotels/

[kevingbakeruk]

Where To Stay In Iceland: Best Hotels In Reykjavik & Beyond

The Best Places to Stay in Iceland

Accommodation In Iceland

Iceland has become an incredibly popular travel destination over the last few years. Learn where to stay in Iceland for your vacation including the best hotels, budget hostels, and campgrounds.

As I’m sure you’re already aware by now, Iceland is an incredible holiday destination for all types of people, from families to adventurous solo travelers.

While flights have become increasingly cheap, food & lodging however are not.

There are tons of unique places to stay in Iceland due to its diverse scenery, and every time I visit I find something new to experience, which makes it one of my favorite countries.

Best Places To Stay In Iceland

When it comes to finding a place to stay in Iceland, hotels can be on the expensive side, and there aren’t a lot of options compared to other countries. Hotels can get booked up months in advance, especially during the high season.

It’s important to book your accommodation in Iceland early to get the best deals.

In this guide, I’ll cover everything from budget backpacker hostels to luxury Reykjavik hotels, family-owned farms, campgrounds, and even campervan rentals — you’ll learn exactly where to stay in Iceland to have a great time.

Reykjavik Iceland Hotel Guide

Where To Stay In Reykjavik

Reykjavik is the capital of Iceland, and where most travelers base themselves from initially. The city welcomes guests with a cosmopolitan mix of restaurants, cafes, street-art, museums and tour company headquarters.

The busy heart of Reykjavik is the Miðborg neighborhood, especially Laugavegur Street, where you’ll find shopping, restaurants, nightlife and all sorts of fun things to do.

If you want to be where all the action is, stay close to Laugavegur Street. But there are some other great neighborhoods in Reykjavik too, which I share below.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds in Reykjavik depending on your budget.

Also, if you prefer a local apartment, Airbnb is a great option for finding a cool place to stay in Iceland. Check out my Airbnb post for a $35 discount!

Cheap Hostels In Reykjavik

Loft Hostel – With two Best Hostel awards, Loft is one of the best places to stay in Reykjavik when you’re traveling on a budget. Located in the heart of the city, it features a large balcony to admire the city from above. They often organize music and activities, have good wifi, and friendly staff.

Reykjavik Downtown HI Hostel 

Budget Hotels In Reykjavik

Rey Apartments – Rey Apartments is located in between the main shopping area and the trendy district of Skolavordustigur in Reykjavik. The modern, fresh looking apartments feature free wifi and fully equipped kitchens and living rooms. The geothermal Sunhollin swimming pool is just 10 minutes away!

Hotel Frón 

Mid-Range Hotels In Reykjavik

Hotel Ódinsvé 

Skuggi Hotel Reykjavík

Luxury Hotels In Reykjavik

Kvosin Downtown Hotel – When you want to be pampered, you can’t do much better than this Reykjavik hotel. Housed in a restored building from the 1900’s, this boutique hotel offers the largest rooms you can find in Reykjavik, decorated in modern Scandinavian style and featuring artworks by local artists.

Reykjavík Residence Suites 

Good Campgrounds Near Reykjavik

Reykjavik Campsite 

Hafnarfjörður Camping 

Cool Neighborhoods in Reykjavik

Best Neighborhoods In Reykjavik

Miðborg

Midborg is where all the action is in Reykjavik, and where to stay for the best nightlife in the city. Full of quirky shops, museums, restaruants, and the main walking district.

Vesturbær

Located just west of the city center, Vesturbær is a mix of residential neighborhood and little cafes. It’s a bit queiter than downtown.

Hlíðar

A local working-class residential area east of the city, with plenty of parks & playgrounds. The name means “the hills” and places out here are much cheaper than the city center.

Laugardalur

Laugardalur is kind of the sports and recreation hub of Reykjavik. Known as “the hot spring valley,” this is where you’ll find the local sports stadium as well as a campground.

Golden Circle Hotel Guide

Where To Stay On The Golden Circle – Selfoss & Hveragerði

The Golden Circle is a circular 300km route that takes you from the capital city of Reykjavik towards the center of Iceland, and back again in a single day. It’s the perfect introduction to Iceland if you’re short on time or on a layover.

From ancient historical sites to beautiful natural landmarks, the Golden Circle has a bit of everything. You can join an organized tour of the Golden Circle or rent a car and self-drive at your own pace.

Most people base themselves from Reykjavik for this drive, however, you can also spend the night somewhere along the Golden Circle. The towns of Selfoss and Hveragerði are good options for this.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds on the Golden Circle depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels On The Golden Circle

Selfoss Hostel – Everything you need to get a good night’s of sleep before you continue to explore Iceland. The clean, functional rooms have free wifi and a view over Ingolfsfjall mountain. There’s free parking, which is a big plus when you’re renting a car in Iceland. There’s a big common kitchen and a hot tub too.

Hot Springs Hostel

Budget Hotels On The Golden Circle

SKYR Guesthouse

Mid-Range Hotels On The Golden Circle

Eldhestar – Located only half an hour from the capital, this Iceland eco-hotel provides everything you need to relax. You can have a cup of hot tea in the lounge next to the fireplace or enjoy a cocktail at the bar. Each room has a private entrance with nature-inspired décor. Eldhestar has an outdoor wooden hot tub and is located next to an Icelandic horse farm.

Guesthouse Bjarney

Luxury Hotels On The Golden Circle

Frost & Fire Hotel – This unique luxury hotel in Iceland is near a geothermal area, giving you the feeling of being in the middle of nature. Thingvellir National Park is only a 40-minute drive away. Relax at the spa-like facilities including two hot tubs, an outdoor pool, hot spring powered Jacuzzi and sauna. You can even cook an egg over a natural hot spring for breakfast!

Ion Adventure Hotel

Where to Stay in Vik, South Iceland

Where To Stay On Iceland’s South Coast – Vik

Iceland’s South Coast is filled with natural wonders, making it perfect for an adventure outside the capital. If you’re driving around the entire Ring Road on Route 1, this is usually the next stop after a trip around the Golden Circle.

The South Coast is home to some of Iceland’s most famous waterfalls, like Seljalandfoss and Skogafoss. Reynisfjara Black Beach, Sólheimajökull Glacier, and the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano are other highlights.

One of the larger towns tourists stop at is called Vik [MAP], with many different lodging options, restaurants, and activities nearby. So it’s a great place to stay for a night or two.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds along Iceland’s South Coast depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels On Iceland’s South Coast

Puffin Hostel – Located in the center of Vik, this hostel is only a 10-minute walk from the fabulous black beaches. It offers a fully equipped kitchen and a shared seating area. The functional rooms have shared facilities and bathrooms.

Budget Hotels On Iceland’s South Coast

Hotel Geirland

Mid-Range Hotels On Iceland’s South Coast

The Barn – Located near Vik and provides a great base for exploring the South Coast of Iceland. It features parking and free wifi,  being great for travelers who tour the island by rental car. The rooms offer enough privacy, which makes this hostel a great option for couples. Some of the rooms have a view over the mountains and there are dormitory beds with drapes available.

Luxury Hotels On Iceland’s South Coast

Hotel Kria – For a luxurious stay near Vik this new hotel opened in 2018. The rooms have a modern design and all the facilities one can expect from a high-class hotel. During your stay at Kria you can enjoy amazing mountain views, a cocktail at their bar or a delicious meal at their restaurant, which serves Icelandic specialties. The breakfast buffet features food from local farms.

Best Iceland Hotels Near Hofn

Where To Stay Near The Glacier Lagoon – Hofn

Continuing your drive on Iceland’s Ring Road, you’ll eventually reach the fishing village of Höfn. Höfn means “harbor” because it sits on one of the few natural harbors found in Iceland. This is the next major town after Vik, about a 4-hour drive away.

While four hours doesn’t seem like much, there’s so much to do in between these two Icelandic towns on the South Coast that you can easily spend a full day on activities, and may want to spend a night here.

Hofn is the town closest to Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon and Vatnajokull National Park. Watching the sunrise from Jökulsárlón was one of the highlights of my trip, so you might want to sleep nearby.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds near Hofn and the glacier lagoon depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels Around Hofn

Lilja Guesthouse – This friendly guesthouse offers spacious rooms with a warm floor and private bathrooms. The quiet rooms are equipped with a coffee machine and free WiFi. The nearby mountains provide a great view for the guests, who can enjoy their coffee in the shared lounge.

Budget Hotels Around Hofn

Skyrhusid Guesthouse

Mid-Range Hotels Around Hofn

Hotel Hofn – Most rooms have views of the nearby glaciers and the sea. The hotel has private parking, a great bonus if you are traveling by rental car. You can dine on the restaurant’s terrace to admire the view as you enjoy Icelandic specialties. Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon is one hour away, while the Silfurnes Golf Club and Hofn Harbour are only a 10-minute walk.

Luxury Hotels Around Hofn

Aurora Cabins – If you’re lucky, you might catch the magnificent aurora borealis from the cabin porch at this awesome Iceland hotel. There’s a small hill nearby with a bench on top, another nice spot to admire the lights. The cabins are spacious and feature free wifi, a kitchen with microwave and toaster, terrace and a seating area. Great romantic place for couples!

Where To Stay In East Iceland – Egilsstaðir 

East Iceland is often overlooked by tourists, being so far from the capital of Reykjavik. But it has a lot to offer. The picturesque fishing villages which line the rugged landscape are dotted with waterfalls and glaciers, making the area perfect for hiking.

The main city people base themselves in East Iceland is called Egilsstaðir, one of Iceland’s youngest towns. It was built on the banks of the Lagarfljot River in a wide valley. It has good access to the Eastern Fjords too.

East Iceland is also rich in legends about the elves and other mythical creatures which were believed to populate the area. It’s a good place for wildlife spotting, including herds of wild reindeer, arctic foxes, and puffins.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds near Egilsstaðir and the East Fjords depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels In Egilsstaðir

Tehusid Hostel

Budget Hotels In Egilsstaðir

Laufás Guest House

Mid-Range Hotels In Egilsstaðir

Icelandair Hotel Herad

Luxury Hotels In Egilsstaðir

Hótel Valaskjálf

Where To Stay In North Iceland – Akureyri

Akureyri is the largest and most important town in Iceland, after its capital. It is an old trading city and important fishing hub, it’s also a wonderful base for whale watching trips. The city has heated swimming pools too.

Travelers to Iceland generally end up staying in the city of Akureyri, or near Lake Myvatn, depending on where you end up after a long drive on Route 1.

Lake Myvatn is located in an active volcano area and is surrounded by amazing lava formations. There is a rich population of water birds living around the lake, making it great for bird watching.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds around Akureyri depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels In North Iceland

Town Square Guesthouse – At Town Square Guesthouse you will find all the essentials for a decent stay. Some rooms offer views over the sea or the mountains, while all of them include access to a shared bathroom and free WiFi. Guests also have access to a fully equipped shared kitchen and a nice terrace.

Budget Hotels In North Iceland

Lónsá Guesthouse

Mid-Range Hotels In North Iceland

Icelandair Hotel Akureyri – This Iceland hotel in Akureyri offers modern rooms with wooden floors and comfortable beds. They have a cozy bar with a fireplace, and the restaurant cooks delicious meals with Icelandic and Mediterranean influences. The Akureyri swimming pool and geothermal hot tubs are only a 2-minute walk away from the hotel.

Luxury Hotels In North Iceland

Hotel Kjarnalundur – Just 2km away from Akureyri Airport and 5km from the city center. The panoramic views of the surroundings and the amazing Aurora Borealis can be enjoyed from all over the property. There is a hot tub on the deck of the cottage, which also provides a great spot to admire the scenic landscapes Cozy, modern design with wooden finishes. You also get free access to their sauna!

Where To Stay On Snæfellsnes Peninsula

Snæfellsnes Peninsula is nicknamed “miniature Iceland”, thanks to its vast diversity of landscapes. This also makes it perfect for a quick weekend getaway, during which you can enjoy the best of Iceland.

Driving around this peninsula you’ll find waterfalls, hot-spring pools, lava tubes, black sand beaches, old churches, fields of wildflowers in the spring, and massive glaciers.

Driving around Snæfellsnes is another day-trip option if you don’t have a lot of time in Iceland, as it’s located only 2 hours north of Reykjavik city.

Here are my suggestions for the top hotels, hostels, and campgrounds on Snæfellsnes Peninsula depending on your budget.

Cheap Hostels On Snæfellsnes

North Star Guesthouse – North Star Guesthouse offers spacious rooms and free private parking on the main street of Olafsvik. There is a self check in/check out which makes everything easier for the traveler who wants to get some rest before heading to the restaurants in the area for a drink and a meal. Popular activities for guests are golfing, hiking and fishing.

Budget Hotels On Snæfellsnes

West Park Guesthouse

Mid-Range Hotels On Snæfellsnes

Arnarstapi Hotel – Located only 200m from the Gatklettur rocks and offers views over the sea, which makes it ideal when you just want to relax and enjoy nature after a long day. The rooms are modern and feature private bathrooms. This new hotel also has an on-site restaurant where you can enjoy some of the most delicious Icelandic specialties.

Luxury Hotels On Snæfellsnes

Fell Holiday Home – This place has 6 separate bedrooms with 2 bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen and a living room. The apartment also has a garden, which makes a great place to admire the Northern Lights and the Gatklettur rocks. There is free WiFi all over the modern property.

Keflavik Airport Hotels & The Blue Lagoon

Northern Light Inn

Stay in a Campervan!

Renting A Campervan In Iceland

There are many ways to explore Iceland. Most people rent a car while staying in hotels, or rent a campervan while sleeping in the vehicle. Convenience is one of the main reasons people choose to rent a campervan.

Once you’ve rented the vehicle, you can start driving and exploring the country on your own terms. It’s a lot easier to find a campground with space for your van than it is to book a last minute hotel in Iceland.

Renting a campervan in Iceland can save you a lot of time and money. You can prepare your own food on the go and save money on accommodation. It also gives you a lot of flexibility to change your plans anytime you want.

But life on the road might take its toll, especially if you have small kids. Not all campervans will have a toilet and you might definitely miss showering on a regular basis.

The weather depends on luck and what time of year you visit Iceland. A worst case scenario is that you might have to cook in the rain, snow, or deal with high winds and cold temperatures.

I’ve traveled around Iceland both ways, and if you’d like to rent a campervan in Iceland, I highly recommend Happy Campers.

Travel Planning Resources For Iceland

Packing Guide

Check out my travel gear guide to help you start packing for your trip. Pick up a travel backpack, camera gear, and other useful travel accessories.

Book Your Flight

Find cheap flights on Skyscanner. This is my favorite search engine to find deals on airlines. Also make sure to read how I find the cheapest flights.

Rent A Car

RentalCars.com is a great site for comparing car prices to find the best deal. Also read my tips for driving in Iceland.

Book Accommodation

Booking.com is my favorite hotel search engine. Or rent apartments from locals on Airbnb. Read more about how I book cheap hotels online.

Protect Your Trip

Don’t forget travel insurance! I’m a big fan of World Nomads for short-term trips. Protect yourself from possible injury & theft abroad. Read more about why you should always carry travel insurance.

Recommended Guidebook: Lonely Planet Iceland Suggested Reading: The Little Book Of Hidden People

Enjoy This Post? Pin It For Later!

READ MORE FROM ICELAND

Complete Guide To Iceland’s Ring Road Golden Circle Day Trip From Reykjavik Epic Iceland Photography Locations

Have any questions about where to stay in Iceland? Which hotels in Reykjavik have you stayed at? Drop me a message in the comments below!

This is a post from The Expert Vagabond adventure blog.

from Tips For Traveling https://expertvagabond.com/where-to-stay-iceland-hotels/