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ecotone99 · 5 years ago

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[SP] When everything seems to be overwhelming we all search for another reality.

Sitting in the corner of my room watching the street through my window various thoughts running through my mind. Well it’s not something new, my mind is hardly ever empty it needs something to keep busy with. Lately, it is not able to find something to fixate upon no worries though it’ll come to me eventually I console myself.

There is a child on the street sitting on the pavement with a paper plane in his hand. It was a surprise to see a kid that age sitting alone but not alone at the same time cause the joy on his face playing with that paper plane suggested he preferred it that way. “Oh!” my brain finally found what to fixate upon and poked my head with a question that I did not quite wanted to answer “that kid reminds you of someone, someone you know all too well?”.

All the nostalgia that was locked away in my depths came back to me like the autumn breeze which goes unnoticed at times but is felt by the person who wants to. That child reminded me of the simpler times when things where actually what they were, no secret veil, no malice just pure euphoria. “That’s all in the fucking past! No point in going through that stuff that makes me pity my reality!” I shouted at myself and left the window and the child alone as I stormed towards my bed and lied down. “No point in going through that stuff? Are you sure?” my mind poked me again. “Simpler times they were” I said to myself immediately realizing that I lost the fight with myself and gave the fodder my mind needed to feed on and drain me out. At this point I was pretty sure it was me and only me that’s keeping me away from happiness. The irony did make me laugh. Never needed anyone to make me happy always had my way around it and now surely, it’s me who is nailing the job of keeping me doubtful of my own existence.

I closed my eyes in the hope that sleep will help me ease my agony but the million thoughts running made it hard for it to engulf me. Turning towards the night stand I grabbed my phone and started scrolling through the feeds and emails that were waiting for me to assist. The same old monotony made me cringe more and I kept it back from where I picked it from. A thought hit me and made me giggle at its whimsicality. I picked my phone again and jokingly asked google “OK Google, find me another reality”. The hysteria didn’t leave me until my phone rings and directs me towards a clearing in the forest nearby. It only took seconds to turn my hysteria into confusion and then into an unknown thrill which I was not able to comprehend myself. “Is this some kind of joke?” I asked to myself. It was really hard to believe in something like this. So, I googled it again, same result! Still to be sure, my paranoid self googled whether something like this has ever been resulted in any of the google searches. It was all negative. The vein in my head throbbed and my mind suggested “Only one way to find out.”

“This is insane! How jobless and stupid a person has to be to go after something like this” my minds monologue continued with me but hope makes you stupid doesn’t it?

I got out of my bed I never had this much energy while leaving for work but for this, the Adrenalin was getting the best out of me. Walked to my closet pulled out a pair of track pants and jogging shoes and looked at the watch it was 6:09 pm, the evening sun was there but would soon be taking a leave. After gearing up I walked out of my apartment and down my building the kid I saw on the street before was no longer there, in the back of my mind I wanted to have a closer look at him but anyways. My phone showed the mysterious place was 1.5 km from where I was. It was a local forest called the Northern Valley forest, where I heard the schools of the area organised camping trips and small communal barbecues were also a part of the deal there. I researched more about it as I was making my way towards it. The search said it also has a small lake somewhere inside where locals went for leisure fishing and boat races. Looks pretty harmless I thought to myself while scrolling long enough a news snippet caught my eye and my brisk walk halted on its own “A 25 years old woman disappeared in the Northern Valley Forests” screamed the headline. Reading further I found that it has been 15 years since that incident and as the sources said she was last seen by a group of camping kids in the forest. That’s all. No name no identity nothing she was reported missing by her paper boy after he saw weeks of paper were collected at her front door and no one to pay for it. It was later found that the name she was living with was an alias. No one know who she was or where she went. She just vanished into thin air. Not a sign of her since then. Reading that should have made me question my decision but as someone once said curiosity killed the cat well it’s going to kill me too I thought to myself and resumed my walk towards my probable end. Maybe I was looking for an end, an end to all that has suffocated me all these years.

Squashing all these thoughts deep down I took a deep breath and continued walking looking at the map in my phone I was finally at the edge of the forest half a kilometer more and I would have reached the much anticipated “another reality” I chuckled to myself. While standing at the edge and figuring out where to start from and analyzing the vast expanse of green in front of me I felt a familiar voice from a distance whispered something was it my name? I questioned or something else. It was nothing unusual to me, living alone for as long as I can remember there are times when I hear voices or whispers to be precise, it is all in my head I say to myself and leave it there but this whisper it was more than that. I felt that it knew me way too well and wanted to know more from me. I turned around to my left from where that sound came and I saw no one but the chills down my spine were evident enough to tell me this little adventure will be something I never bargained for. The thought that I may die still didn’t left my conscious but the temptation of what I’ll stumble upon at the end of this journey was the only driving force pulling we towards it.

My journey began. I started going in the direction from where that whisper came from. After walking for five minutes I saw my phone to check the time it showed 6:38 pm. It started getting dark and my phone was at 8 percent “fuck” I said to myself. I should have charged my phone the thought ran in my mind the network signals were also unreliable but then if I was in trouble here who would I call and the bigger question was who would actually come for my rescue the answer to that very question made me head towards my destination with an even more determination which I never knew was in me.

Another 5 mins and I would be there.

While I was making my way towards my destination I heard strange voices which were different from what I heard while coming here, I saw my phone it said another three minutes straight and I would reach my destination but these voices were intriguing me so I went after them. After walking for a few meters I peeped through the bushes and saw silhouettes of two human like figures I looked closely and realized they were kids barely fifteen their backs were towards me and they had a bow and were pointing it at something which I was not able to see clearly. For a clear view I stepped a little forward and the dry branches beneath my feet made a sound loud enough to startle both of them and they stood in front of me with their bows pointing straight at me. A few seconds passed and I stood there like a deer in headlights one of them went “Lower it down Carl it’s clearly not a boar” he sighed. “Oh no! That deer we were chasing escaped. Jesus!” Carl said in a remorseful tone. “Today was not our day pal” said the other one. They both left without saying anything to me just giving me a look of detest. That was strange I said to myself.

Getting back on my track and making a promise to myself that I won’t wander around the forest I looked at my phone and started going towards my destination.

The forest was getting dense with every step I was taking further into it and with the onset of the darkness I was feeling a bit unsure about what might come ahead.

My phone screen said another minute and I would be there where “another reality” lies.

I heard that same wisp again and this time I was sure it called out my name and I felt the same chills as before but this time I didn’t freak out I was more inclined to follow it as somewhere in the back of my mind I could sense the it knew me and all my problems will be taken care off once I meet this person who is calling me with such a familiarity.

The pace of my walk increased and I was heading towards my “another reality” with fast and confident steps. “You have reached” my phone which was now at 4 percent stated. It was quite dark now and to make out where I was. I switched on my phone’s flash light and started examining the place. There was nothing special about this place it was just a clearing with a few logs of old trees kept horizontally on the ground that made it feel like it was a camping site but not a frequently used one cause the area around the logs had shrubs growing which are generally crushed by feet while camping as well as the fire place had all sorts of small grass growing around it which is usually not the case. Spent the next couple of minutes examining that place but could not find anything that would suggest or point towards an “another reality”.

To be honest I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t find anything but what was I expecting from a stupid google search after all I told myself. I gave the place one last glance and started heading out when my eyes went on something which was shining quite promptly in the moon light I went there and looked closely to see what it was. A piece of glass is what I figured out after picking it up and examining closely it occurred to me it was from a broken watch. Looking around I found another small piece near that big log of wood which was hollow from the inside. It belonged to a big old oak tree which looked like was taken down by a huge storm years ago. Probably the locals have chopped it off tidily to make it a camping site which was now abandoned for years and time took its toll on that poor tree just leaving it hollow on the ground. I used my flash light to see inside that hollow log, I checked it before though but didn’t find anything.

“There was something shiny again that I saw inside that log” I said to myself. Before I knew I found myself going inside that log which was big enough for a person to manoeuver while bending a little forward.

As I was moving inside that log with my phone in one hand and using my other hand to keep balance similar chills which I got from that voice before were evident right now but I didn’t hear anything. I found what had caught my eye, it was another piece of glass I looked ahead and saw something and immediately knew what exactly was there I just rushed towards it and picked it up. It was hard to believe what I was holding in my hands and the shock that came with it was inevitable. The thing what I was holding was a broken watch same as the watch I was wearing right now the sweat on my forehead was unmistakable right now. The real horrors set in when I saw the time on the broken watch it was 6:53 pm and well the panic was right there when the watch on my wrist also shouted out the same. As soon as I realized this and tried to comprehend what further to make out of it my phone’s battery gave out and I was left in the dark inside that log and suddenly that voice was prominent again. It called out my name “Lilly!”. I was so terrified and started sobbing inside that log trying to make my way out of it by crawling towards the other side as it felt like it was never ending journey that I just signed up for. The moonlight which was so prominent before was no longer visible. It felt as if the ends were closing down, the log felt like it was compressing and will swallow me up whole. I was crying out loud and was not able to breath properly because now the claustrophobia was prevailing, I screamed “Let me go! I don’t want to die in here! Please let me go, I beg you!”. The voice spoke to me again “Lilly you finally found me. I was waiting for you for the past 15 years. We both will be set free if you are willing to help. You will help me Lilly, right?”. Things started to fade out of my vision and I felt as if was going to die my lungs went soar and every breath was harder than the previous. I recognized that voice and it didn’t ease my panic further as that voice was no one else’s but mine.

“We are united finally. We will make it all right. We’ll have what we always wanted……….”.

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probablydaydreamingg · 5 years ago

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could you talk a little bit about your time as an exchange student in norway? i’m thinking about also doing a semester there, but it’s hard to find much online as it’s not really a popular exchange destination.

Ah yes I'd be very happy to do that anon !! It's true that it's not a popular destination among students as it's expensive.. cold... But in my opinion it's still very much worth it, depending on the type of experience you're looking for ! If you like nature, skiing, if you value personal space, and if you're not looking to spend your exchange drinking (unless you're fucking rich lol), then you'll like it :) I went in not really knowing what to expect, and I was positively surprised, even though not gonna lie, I didn't like everything about it and it wasn't always easy. I don't know what you want to know specifically, so i'll make an overview of my experience there, what I like and didn't like etc. Buckle up because it might get a little long 😅. Also i'll include photos from my time there because.. I love them and it might give you a better idea.

So I lived in Oslo from January to June, and it's fair to say that the first couple of months were quite cold. When I arrived it was around -10 / -15 degrees celsius at the highest, meaning you can't say outside for long before you freeze to death, like going out at night is quite the experience 😅 but the truth is the weather is more manageable than say Canada. It's a dry cold which makes it more bearable, and the colder days didn't last long. As long as you're well dressed you'll be fine, I didn't suffer that much from the cold and starting from March it gets to positive temperatures and basically feels like summer to your body haha. Norwegians have this saying: "there's no bad weather, only bad clothes", and they live by it 100%. They're always outside living their lives, playing sports, skiing etc. no matter the temperature, no matter if it's raining etc. One thing I personally suffered from the most is the lack of sun in the winter. Basically the sun sets around 3/4 pm when the days are the shortest. It would take a toll on my mood sometimes, especially on snowy days when you don't see the sun at all. But it gets better, so much better once the days are getting longer ! Already in May the days are so long that you only have a couple of hours of pitch black darkness. Idk why but the light feels different there, which I loved (warmer, softer...).

I lived in a residence where most international students go to (Kringsjå). And this is where I get into what I liked the least about my stay. The shared apartment. When I moved in the first day I was devastated... I was frozen, I had to drag my big ass suitcase in the snow, and... I arrived in the apartment which was outdated and dirty. Turns out Norway is a rich country but they don't care that much about the accommodation of their international students 🙃. I got used to it but let's just say the first two weeks weren't easy. I was sharing a kitchen with 6 flatmates and a bathroom with one. The price was alright though. I befriended a Belgian flatmate which made it a lot better. It was a mix of norwegian and international students, and the thing is I never properly talked to the Norwegians I was sharing with 😏 they never tried to engage conversation. Which leads me to another important topic: Norwegians !!

Norwegians keep to themselves a lot. Let's just stay they're not the most out going population, and they value their space a lot. For instance one thing that really surprised me at first is that they will rather stand than sit next to another person on the subway. Respecting other people's boundaries is the prime form of politness for them. It probably derives from the fact that Norway is a scarcely populated country. I have admit it's something I've grown to enjoy, the city never feels overcrowded, people are not in a rush, nobody will get into your space. I realized at the end of my stay how safe and relaxed I felt all throughout my exchange. The misconception is that nordic people are cold, but it's not the case. Norwegians are actually really nice and will be happy to help you if you come up to them. They value "coziness" (kose) and loyalty a lot. The thing is that they'd rather spend their energy on a few long term relationships, rather than having large group of friends. Typical introverts haha. Which I didn't mind that much because i'm an introvert myself. The one thing I regret is not interacting with norwegians more, as it was difficult to befriend norwegian students when staying for 6 months only. I basically almost only interacted with international students.

About university, I studied political science at the university of Oslo. I had very few hours of courses per week ( I had 3/4 days off per week..), at least in comparison to my home country. Which meant I was getting a little bored, especially as they value personal initiative and will almost never give compulsory assignments. The one course that took up most of my time was actually the norwegian language course. Good point is that you can use this free time to travel around the country :)

About Oslo in itself, there are many more things to do than it seems. I personally really liked the city, even though it's not the best architecture, or the most lively. What I loved about it is that nature is everywhere, you take the tramway and you end up in the middle of nature, making you forget you're in a capital city. If you're into skiing, you can access the slops by public transport, and you can do cross country skiing pretty much anywhere 😏. Here's the view on the Oslo fjord from my favorite park in the city:

And this is the lake that's 5 min away from the residence I was living in (it's a little further away from the city center, around 25 min by Subway):

Pretty neat right ? 😊

There is a specific vibe in Oslo that I loved, a type of tranquility that's not easy to describe. I always feel super nostalgic thinking about it and looking at the photos 😪

Obviously one thing that made this exchange memorable for me is the trips I made around Norway. I went to Tromsø which is a city above the arctic circle and there I saw northern lights 😍. I have no photos of it unfortunately. But I have some photos of Tromsø:

I went to Bergen and saw parts of the well known fjords, best thing ever !! I so want to go back and see more of it.

Also I went to Copenhagen by boat for free ;))

And there are many other places in Norway that are worth it !

Ok this has gotten way too long, and I think I covered most of what I wanted to say. Overall I loved the experience even though there were some things that weren't exactly ideal. Like I said I feel nostalgic of that time and don't regret it one second. I would honestly live there again if I had the opportunity :)

I was about to insert more photos but I can't lol.

Feel free to shoot me specific questions by message if you want to :)

#ask #anon #oslo #my experience #personal #exchange student #erasmus #erasmus oslo #ah how i miss those times

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96flowers-writings · 5 years ago

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The Real Endgame Chapter One

Alright y'all I will warn you now. ENDGAME SPOILERS! If you have not yet seen the movie turn away now. Hit that back button in the upper or lower right hand side of your screen. This has that ending battle as the first part of the first chapter soooooooooooo yeah.

This is my attempt at a I don't like that **** died and I want to possibly change that. This has been rattling around in my brain for awhile. actually before I even saw Endgame I had been playing around with a characters watch their movies story for MCU but I didn't have a good platform to do it with. After Endgame I finally had a more believable way of having it happen.

I don't own any of these characters.

Last chance to turn back: **ENDGAME SPOILERS BELOW****

The Final Battle Against Thanos

The battle raged across what had been the Avengers compound in northern New York. The sky was dark, filled with smoke from the ravaged earth. The Avengers, newly expanded, were fighting for their lives and the lives of half the universe, trying to prevent Thanos from getting the gauntlet once more.

Everything came to a stand still as he succeeded in taking the gauntlet and stones. He raised his hand, admiring the stones in the iron man gauntlet. Tony Stark was on the ground a few feet away, looking on in despair that they could have failed a second time after working so hard to fix everything. He glanced over at Doctor Strange who was holding back the water that was threatening to drown the battle field. Strange was looking right at him and met his eyes, he held up a single shaking finger and at that moment Tony knew what was to happen. The one scenario where they won, the only one out of 14 million.

With new understanding of what he had to do Tony got to his feet and launched himself at Thanos with a single-minded determination. They grappled for a moment and no one watching could tell really what Tony had been attempting before he was thrown away again.

Thanos holds his gauntleted hand up and simply says "I am inevitable." And he snaps his fingers like he did on that fateful day 5 years previously. Yet nothing happens. He turns his hand to find the stones missing.

Everyone turns to look at Tony who was kneeing on the ground holding his own hand up. As if drawn by cosmic force the stones were moving into position around the Ironman gauntlet. When they reached the proper places the surge of power raced up his arm burning him all down one side. Tony ended this the way he began everything all those years ago.

"I am Ironman," and snaps his fingers. There is a brilliant light and when it clears Thanos' army began to turn to dust. Thanos himself simply sat down on a piece of rubble in defeat and looked up as he too turned to dust.

It was over. They had won, but the cost?

Tony was on the ground, reclined against another piece of rubble struggling to breathe, to survive. Peter was the first to reach him, having been close to Lang's truck when the gauntlet had switched hands.

"Mr. Stark!" his voice was panicked as he kneeled in front of the man who had become his mentor, his father figure. "You did it, we won."

The sadness could be heard in his voice, he knew that it was too late to save him. He reached out and placed a hand on the man's uninjured shoulder. Tony met his eyes but couldn't speak, there was sadness in his gaze, but also relief at seeing the teenager in full health. Peter began to cry and he was pulled back by one of the other Avengers to allow for Pepper to see her husband.

"You did it Tony," Pepper said softly as she kneeled down in the mud. When she took in just how bad her husband looked she asked quietly. "Friday?"

The negative response that followed had tears filling her eyes. She met Tony's and saw the love and sadness in his gaze as the life slowly left him. She leaned forward and kissed him gently.

"It's okay, we'll be okay. It's time for you to rest," She said softly and the relief in his eyes said enough. If she had begged him to stay, not to dye he would have fought with what strength he had left. But she didn't, they both accepted what was to happen. And with the relief that she and Morgan would be left in capable and safe hands he let out his final breath.

There was silence on the field as everyone took in what had just happened. Pepper bowed her head and let her tears flow, Rhodey was behind her and pulled her into his arms as his own tears began to flow. Steve reached out his arm around the two as he bowed his own head. Peter was being held by Wanda as he let out a sob and turned around in her arms, she tightened her arms around him and let her own tears fall….

25 Years into the future

Morgan Stark was sitting at her desk at the Avengers headquarters going over designs for a new suit of armor for Harley. Harley Keener had taken on the role of Iron Lad after her father's passing when she was five. When he got older he took the name Ironman. He had worked along side her mother who had taken the name Rescue.

Morgan was exceedingly smart like her father and at the age of 10 had started working on upgrading and redesigning the suits of armor. Two years later she had become the Avengers tech girl and was upgrading weapons and suits for all the Avengers.

When she turned 18 her mother reluctantly passed on the torch of Rescue to her. She took it with pride, knowing she was following her father's footsteps.

The Avengers had changed a lot since that first meeting all those years ago. The only original member left active was Thor, and he was only a part time member as he had always been. The member roster now counted near 100 as there were heroes all over the world and the universe who could be called on in the time of need. (But that is a story for another time. Back to Morgan)

Morgan was quietly conversing with Friday as she configured the wires around an upgraded faceplate. The door behind her slid open with barley a sound but the screen in front of her showed that entrance had been granted to someone. She put down her stylus and turned to see Doctor Strange walking towards her. He looked the same as he ever did, the same as the day she met him years before. He explained once that when he took on the title of Sorcerer Supreme all aging stopped blah blah blah. She had stopped listening.

Anyway, he didn't often visit the Headquarters as he was only a *call if the world is ending and there is no hope* situation avenger. There had been a few of those over the years, and he sometimes just kind of shows up if he feels like it. No one really minds when he does, he really is a heavy hitter in a fight.

"Doctor Strange," Morgan said surprised. She stood to greet the man. "What can I do for you?"

"Miss Stark," the man greeted and looked at her. "I have an idea. I am not sure how to go about doing it and I need your help along with Miss Lang."

"Oh?" Morgan raised an eyebrow at the cryptic response. "An idea you say? Care to share."

"Hmm," the man hummed with a small smile. "When you collect Miss Lang I will explain. It is complicated and hard to believe. But if this is done successfully. I do believe we can save many lives."

"Okay," Morgan said slowly, pulling out her phone and shooting a text to Cassie to come to the workshop. "Now my interest is really quirked."

"I was hoping for that," The man said quietly as he looked around the room in interest. He was a medical man at heart, a man of science, and sometimes he truly did miss it. Morgan watched as the mystic user wandered around her workshop but didn't touch anything. There was silence for a few mins before the door slid open to reveal the form of Cassie Lang, known to the public as The Wasp. She was dressed in casual clothes, having likely been in her own lab.

"What's up kid," Cassie asked as she caught sight of Strange in the room.

"Doctor Strange said he needed both our help for something," Morgan said simply gesturing to the man who had come to stand beside her.

"Why don't we take a seat," Strange suggested pointing at the small sitting area in the corner. "This explanation could get lengthy."

The two heroines looked at each other and shrugged before making their way to the set of armchairs and coffee table. Morgan and Cassie sat side by side in chairs across from Strange who had taken the couch. Strange looked at them for a moment before he made a quick motion with his hands and the world around them changed and became crystalline. The two girls jumped slightly before shooting looks at the man. He grinned slightly before explaining.

"We are in the same place we were just in a slightly different world. They only way in and out is with a sling ring or someone who is using it. This will allow us complete privacy."

"Right," Cassie sighed slouching back in her chair slightly. She was still tired from her mission the day before and had just finished repairs on her suit when Morgan had sent the message. She had been hoping to have an early night. "Well, what is this idea if yours Doctor?"

"I am sure you both know the story of Thanos and how he won at first?" Stephen asked folding his hands in front of him.

"Yes?" Morgan asked with a frown. She didn't like thinking about Thanos and the chaos he caused. Even 25 years after everyone had been returned the world was still recovering. As much as they had hopped everything would just go back to normal it couldn't and things had to change.

"Were you told the story of our fight on Titan? When I used the Time Stone to see all possible outcomes?" Stephen asked the next question quietly.

"Yes," Morgan answered just as softly after looking at Cassie who was frowning at the line of questioning. "I was told by Peter several times growing up. You looked into the over 14 million possible futures, and of them only 1 outcome was where we won. That outcome came to pass 5 years later when my father stole the stones from Thanos and used them to kill Thanos and his army. At the cost of his own life."

"Yes that is true," Strange sighed and dragged a hand down his face. "But I never told anyone everything I saw. The timeline where we won, I watched it for a while to see how everything had paned out. I saw this moment here and I stopped after this conversation. Why? Because this timeline then no longer truly existed."

"What?" Cassie asked quickly sitting up. "How?"

"Because I want to change the past," Stephen said simply. The two girls blinked at him and he elaborated. "I want to change the past, I want to send someone back to just after that first battle as a team. Back just before Thor and Loki take the tesseract back to Asgard."

"What do you want to accomplish exactly?" Morgan asked. She had crossed her arms in front of her in a clearly defensive way. She was unsure of his intentions, Strange realized. He sighed and waved his hands again and on the coffee table something appeared.

Cassie reached forward and pulled the chest towards her. On the top of the metal box was the Avengers A surrounded by the symbols of the original six members and the SHEILD logo. She popped open the lid and inside were 22 slots. Each slot had an old-fashioned DVD case.

The two girls exchanged looks again before Morgan reached in and pulled out the first movie. The front had a picture of a man she remembered fondly if only vaguely, the title read Captain America: The First Avenger.

"Uh What?" Morgan asked bewildered. She handed it to Cassie and pulled out the next one. This one was labeled Captain Marvel. She looked at the sorcerer for an explanation.

"What do I want to accomplish? Have the Avengers sit and watch these films," Strange said gesturing to the box. "They will start in the past, with the back story for some of them. Then it will go into their future and show them what they accomplish and what they lose. With these films they will learn more about each other and become a better team. They will also learn what to do to prevent many lives from being lost. Those in Sacovia, Asgard and other places. Hopefully this will also save Vision, Natasha and Tony from early death."

"Oh," Morgan breathed as she listened to the man. She was still looking through the chest, she had pulled out a few more, including her father's. She glanced up and nodded her head. "I'll help."

"So will I," Cassie said as she pulled her own father's movies out.

"Good." Strange declared.

#avengers #endgame #Spoilers #endgame: spoilers #Time-travel #Fanfiction #Tony Stark #Morgan Stark #Doctor Strange #MCU #The Real Endgame Chapter 1

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magistralucis · 6 years ago

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Breakbot + Busy P + MYD + Alan Braxe + Borussia @ XOYO, 26 May 2018 [Review]

A fantastic reward for the comedy of errors that is my life.

Been a while since I did a review of a gig! Technically, I should have done one for Justice last September, but given the amount of content I gained from that performance, I keep thinking that one has to be several gifsets and a video upload instead of me rambling on. I’ll get to it in a billion years;;; Over the weekend I went to this all-nighter and didn’t sleep for like, 30 hours? And I’m still recovering. So much like the TBB review last year, this is going to read super disjointed, like a bunch of random stream-of-consciousness notes I took over several hours. (Which 70% of this review actually relies on.) There are pics and a few lil’ gifs, all splendidly red-tinted to reflect the lighting in the club, but the tl;dr is essentially:

The Journey

As previously stated, I do not live in London. London is not easy to navigate. I do not have the strongest sense of direction and frequently map out walking paths and exact number of turns and landmarks nearby my intended destinations, which works for me 9/10 of the time - but this means that when things go bad, they tend to go really bad holy fucking shit under the influence of certain factors XOYO is the hardest fucking club to find in the entire universe. I have never had this much trouble finding a single location despite having such clear directions from multiple sources. It’s not the club’s fault, of course, thousands of people find it just fine - the stars just utterly refused to align for me this particular weekend, turning what should have been a straightforward path from A to B to over an hour of running around.

To attend to this spectacular all-nighter, I took the train from my university city to London, alighting in King’s Cross St. Pancras around 7pm. XOYO is located about a minute away from Old Street Station, which as you can see from the above image of the Northern Line is only two stops away; I could have been at the club in less than ten minutes. Because of this, I was slow to take the Tube when I initially arrived, instead stopping for a snack and some adequate hydration at King’s Cross (also tutting at Platform 9¾ which is not that impressive a display but that’s neither here nor there); I don’t think that was unwise in itself, but it was a decision that I ended up regretting, because it meant I didn’t find out about the spanner in the works until it was almost too late.

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

A five-minute journey on a single subway train from A to B was all I was asking. Well it turns out I couldn’t do that!!! Because fucking engineering works!!!! All the Northern line service bilboards and directional posters were papered over and the information being given was often deeply counterproductive (or outright incorrect). First I was directed to Euston to try to make a switch there, but no Northern line services were running at all. Then I came back to King’s Cross and subsequently tried out Moorgate on the Circle/Metropolitan line, which was running Northern line services - but nothing northbound, like I needed! This was exceptionally infuriating because Moorgate is only one stop away from Old Street station. I was delayed for nearly an hour purely trying to solve this problem, because even past 7-8pm the stations were s t u f f e d with people all trying to navigate this Northern line dilemma in their own way. This line splits along the way, too, so depending on where you’re headed to and where in the ‘part closure’ your intended destination sits, you could be lost in utterly infuriating bullshit like I did, being only 1-2 stops away from where you are and being unable to get to it unless you walk or take overhead transport.

And, you know, those people had already paid and gone past the barrier when they found out about the closures. Most of that info could only be had inside. At King’s Cross St Pancras, the only info available outside the barrier were announcements on rail replacement buses - confusingly worded at that, all three of them entirely northbound from King’s Cross St Pancras (I needed southbound for Old Street). The London Underground isn’t obscenely expensive, but it’s not disposable money either! There’s a bus directly from King’s Cross to Old Street Station (which I ended up taking in order to return) - but if you paid and entered the Tube station, you’re going to want to solve the problem before signing back out of the barrier!

fml in the end I just walked. 7-8 mins from Moorgate and then XOYO itself is hidden in an alley between two massive building complexes with naught but a red neon sign to point your way. It’s not a big neon sign. On one hand maybe it was a good thing I was held up traveling. I arrived about 5 mins after the club opened and was let in straight away. If things had gone as I’d planned I might have ended up camping out in front of XOYO for an extremely awkward hour or whatever. There was no queue; despite it all, I was that early, and was amply rewarded for my earliness. But man.

On the other hand, I was dehydrated all over again.

Hour-by-Hour Review

Contrary to the anguished nature of the vent above, most of the night was damn excellent and the review below is the main meat of the experience. I recollected this through small notes I was making on my phone - mostly of timestamps and a single keyword, like what songs were playing at the time - and some videos I took, the position of each photo, and my own memory from yesterday. They are patchy notes, but they are as detailed as I can make them, and largely accurate. Essentially: if you’ve read this far, I invite you to come live the night with me all over again! :D

9:30PM - 11:00PM: I was the only person seeking entry to XOYO when I finally turned up, though music was already playing inside. “You here for an event?” The guard asks, and I produce my ticket and passport. “Just so you know, there’s a band playing in there at the moment - the actual, uh, techno, that’s not going to start until ten o’clock. You can go in now, but once you’re in, you’re in - you won’t be able to come back out and back in again.”

I just look at them. “What am I going to do outside for half an hour. That’s fine.”

Ticket scanned, passport checked and confirmed, bag check occurs. I read that XOYO has airport-security level bag checks, but that was not my experience. I might just have been too damn early to raise any alarms. I’m let in, visit the bar, buy some water, visit the bathroom, tidy up a bit, tie my jacket around my waist to conceal my bag, etc. Around 9:45PM I peer down at the main room downstairs to check out this band, although I come back up shortly to prepare for the main experience...

... which, uh, doesn’t take place until eleven. After the band leaves around 10PM, what actually happens is that the main room is sealed off for DJ setups while in Room 2 upstairs Joshua James plays. I had the choice of saving my energy for later and resting on the bench, or going to see him; I chose the former. Security guy lingering in front of the main room says it might open in ‘half an hour’ when I ask him on the dot at 10PM. My guy that’s the longest damn half hour I have ever waited in my life. At least I can people-watch and save my place because like always, I want to be at the front when the doors open.

11:00PM: The main room finally opens and Borussia is in the house. The dancefloor is very empty for about half an hour while he gets the crowd going. Ushers frequently come by, brandishing red penlights to take away glasses and empty bottles and lost property and the like. XOYO only has a max capacity of 800~ people and I’m fairly sure that’s spread across two rooms; the glasses are like, proper solid pub glasses, too, actual breakage hazards. I imagine it’s because it’s a small and intimate club that the choice of glasses makes sense; even in Electric Brixton they gave out plastic, and that one holds close to 2000 people. I saw several toppling over or rolling on the ground before someone came to snatch up the whole stack of them. I applaud their diligence.

11:10PM: Also this dancefloor is incredibly sticky. Pedro is visible on the left. He talks to a backstage fan before disappearing.

11:23PM: There’s a girl next to me with her boyfriend. We meet eyes. This girl will recur a few more times during the night. Swig of water taken.

11:30~PM: A note about the stage structure of XOYO.

As mentioned previously, XOYO is a two-room club, one upstairs and one downstairs. Downstairs is the main and the top one’s for opening acts and smaller shows; the downstairs has a dancefloor, a bar off to the side, and an elevated stage. Now the important thing about this stage is that you can get on it. There are no barriers between audience and DJ in a XOYO set, except for the ready-built DJ booth and all the speakers and equipment set that may or may not be piled around it. There is a steel mesh of sorts to separate the sides of the DJ booth from the stage/dancefloor viewing area, but aside from that, it is entirely possible for you to mount the performing stage and be about two feet from the DJ at any given time. Around this time is when people begin to mount the stage and like. Dance. But sparsely.

I will return to this stage later. I’m currently parked in front of the DJ booth.

11:40~PM:

Pedro pops back into the scene briefly. He doesn’t linger for long there, but he’ll be back for the switchover. This is the best photo I could get ffffff

11:40~PM (not long after the above): Borussia puts Gorillaz’s ‘DARE’ on and the room goes fucking wild. The girl returns. This time we meet more than eyes and actually dance together, her boyfriend hitching her up on his back for about 30 seconds midway. This is the first point of the night that Borussia starts smiling and I’m taken by how sweet his smile is.

11:54PM: You know what I think Borussia kind of looks like Gesa if you squint

12:00~AM: Pedro in the house. He takes over slowly from Borussia, who exits amidst thunderous applause. For some reason, Pedro did not look awfully happy for most of the show. Compared to the last time I saw him DJ (opener for Justice) he seemed like... stoic? Like he had a lot in his mind. He was capable of cheer when need be, man knows how to drive a crowd, but like... the air about him was different. I have no explanation for this. It may just have been my perception.

12:00 - 12:30AM (?): I genuinely cannot remember when this first happened, only I remember Pedro being at the forefront and giving the people involved an amused glance at some point in the night. So it goes here, even though they might first have appeared during Borussia. Two incredibly scantily dressed and also gorgeous dancers, one male and one female (visibly), rolled out of the backstage area and began dancing on the elevated stage around the same time e v e r y o n e began piling on. I’d kill for the ability to dance on the heels they did holy fuck

12:13AM: I CAN SEE IRFANE OFF TO THE SIDE YES HE CAME AFTER ALL I know he’s officially part of Breakbot now but the XOYO description made it sound as if only Thibaut was coming. False alarm! The duo lives on.

12:28AM (?): Girl I was dancing with earlier + her boyfriend reappears from the bar direction. She mounts the elevated stage and disappears into the crowd.

12:30AM (?): THIBAUT AND SO-ME SPOTTED I WANT TO ATTACH THE PHOTO OF THIS MOMENT but it’s too blurry fuck shit

12:34AM: With a grin worth a million pounds Pedro puts on ‘Audio, Video, Disco’. Lighting changes to bombastic yellow and everybody just about dies for the next five minutes to follow. This was universally the reception whenever anything Daft Punk or Justice came on (Pedro also played ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ immediately after) - many people, Thibaut included, had Justice shirts on and earlier on the 26th Justice played a set on All Points East, so this was understandable.

12:39AM: Fuck it. I’m going on the elevated stage. I just hitched myself up.

12:40~AM: I can see so much better from here.

There’s a bit on the stage where the steel mesh barrier ends, and the DJ set curves away from the rest of the stage, where you can see everyone in the booth really clearly. Currently this spot is occupied by a dude and a girl who I progressively come to realize was getting increasingly drunk/high - she was clinging onto the sides - so I just gravitate towards the steel mesh instead, neglected by most people. For most part my view is blocked by people hanging around from backstage but every now and then they vacate, and I get a good side view. Not long after I settle in, Thibaut pops up for a short while, swigging from a bottle - and the girl I was dancing with from before almost crashes into the mesh shouting her hellos at him. (This is when I realize that she’s French.)

And, uh, I mean. What can you do when a thing like that happens. I join in, of course. Thibaut did not hear either of us before slinking back, but this did have the effect of the girl patting me on the shoulder for our first real conversation:

French girl: [Muffled something]

Me: Ah?

French girl: [After a few tries through the noise] You like Thibaut?

Me: Yeah! Came to see him mostly!

French girl: 😍💖😍💖😍 I’M THE BIGGEST FAN 😍💖😍💖😍

The oddest thing is that during this exchange, the boyfriend guy with her kind of gently takes off my hat and tries to put it back on me backwards. I have no idea what the fuck and I give him a look that conveys that I have no idea what the fuck ‘cause like... dude why are you taking my hat exactly??? Am I missing something??? I replace it and carry on. The girl’s swept away towards the bar again.

12:40~AM: Pedro is the only person who can pull off LeLe’s ‘Breakfast’ in a DJ set without it descending into narm territory imo

12:40~AM: MYD IS HERE MYD IS HERE

1:00AM: Thibaut and Irfane take over at last, the latter first, then Thibaut more fully. Mama P stays at the back, watching over the situation, before silently withdrawing.

The stage is so crowded I can barely breathe. French girl does not return. Ushers begin to move about the dancefloor carrying large foreboding black bags, not for glasses but for lost property.

1:00~AM: J E S U S

1:10~AM: So-Me is the third one in the booth. I wish people would announce it properly whenever he turns up - I didn’t think to expect him at all, as he was not there with Pedro when I saw him open for Justice and his name wasn’t on the guests list. He feels like a lottery treat ; w ;

1:10~AM: Usher on the elevated stage. He finds a credit card on the floor and flashes an exact 🤨 look in my direction, as I was the closest to him. “Not mine,” I mouth at him, and he stashes the card in the lost property bag before vanishing into the crowd.

1:11AM: Come to think of it I’ve seen people lose some seriously scary shit on dancefloors. Like when I went to see TBB and Justice, on both occasions I’ve seen someone lose their foreign identity card. I’d be fucking terrified for my life if that happened to me - and given that I’m toting my passport around (some places don’t seem to accept BRP...?), which I cannot afford to lose whatsoever, I enter a state of brief panic while I check that nothing has been thieved from my bag. All clear.

1:23-25AM: Jesus Christ Irfane is so touchy-feely with Thibaut they’re in love I’m literally crying

1:30~AM: Because of the above mentioned affection-shenanigans, I stop dancing in order to get some photos and videos of the pair. One of the backstage fans notices. “Do you want me to take a picture for you?” He shouts through the mesh; I hesitate, because I’m not in the business of giving my phone away to strangers, but I take the risk. It turned out he made this offer during a period of very weird lighting and it wasn’t a good time for photos, but this is the best out of several attempts from him:

“It’s not a good time,” he shouts as he hands my phone back over. “sorry.”

“Thank you anyway,” I holler through the bars. He flashes a grin and we carry on.

1:30~AM (after the above): Remember the scantily dressed gorgeous dancers? They’re back, dancing on a bunch of speakers (?) next to the side view. Drama with the (drunk?) girl hogging the side view; she gets into a conflict with one of the dancers and it gets really fucking tense. I’m not 100% on what happened, but I can imagine that something that wasn’t meant to be touched was touched or that she was giving the dancer some serious attitude - like the girl was literally grabbing the (drunk?) girl by the face and telling her to get a fucking grip. The dude with her eventually leads her away and the dancers dismount the stage, disappearing into the crowd - I didn’t see them return again, which was a right shame.

tl;dr I took the empty spot and was able to photo marginally better than before.

1:35AM:

Jesus God this is heavenly

1:41AM:

Best quality: his wiggles

(He was mouthing along to ‘Why?’.)

1:40~AM: I keep thinking I stepped on something. This continues for some five minutes before I finally look down and yep whoops I was stepping on something all right. It was a hefty croc leather wallet/purse thing, all black, very sticky from the floor. I set it down in front of me and handed it over to an usher less than two minutes after. Another swig of water. Thibaut’s wiggles do not in any way pale next to Irfane’s.

1:50AM (?): Yet another event I know happened but can��t remember where exactly to place. ‘My Toy’ comes on. I hear this one is a fan favourite and while I can think of better songs in Still Waters, I get to see for myself just how true this statement is. In fact, Breakbot played quite a few of their stuff - not a lot, but enough to bring on significant cheers whenever they did. ‘Back For More’ was the starter and ‘Fantasy’ came on at some point but ‘My Toy’ was easily the most popular of the lot!

2:00AM: Alan Braxe takes over. Irfane and Thibaut continue to linger, as does So-Me, but I’m beginning to see Myd far more often - he must provide the climax to this all-nighter. He had a vinyl signing earlier on the 26th; he’s greeted with cheers whenever he’s visible.

2:00 - 4:00AM: A broad sweeping observation to indicate that my phone is dying a horrible death by this point of the night. I brought an external battery and had it going again once I left the club, but fuck trying to fumble with that in the middle of a club. All those photos did it, especially the videos, and burning the battery on that so quickly was not a good idea because I wanted to take more of Alan and Myd boo

2:20~AM: Alan’s set is considerably darker in tone. Probably more like what I’m used to before I got into EDM, in fact. I consider him responsible for the mild whiplash I got from headbanging.

2:24AM: XOYO’s smoke machines are at their peak performance around this time and I can barely see a thing. Not being a big venue, this is a problem. Irfane and Thibaut and So-Me pop back up for a selfie with one of the backstage fans and rope Alan into participating; he does so exactly once and turns back, as professional as always, while the other stay on for a second and third go.

2:30~AM: wHAT’S THAT I HEAR???? CRESCENDOLLS?????

2:30~AM: IT’S CRESCENDOLLS

2:35AM: Hey remember when it took Irfane 10 years to figure out the Very Disco = Veridis Quo pun

2:40~AM: By this point I’m getting super hungry and I’m just about out of water. Water in XOYO is expensive. Something like 2.50 for a 300ml bottle. The DJs had a stack of these bottles by the side and were powering through them at alarming speed when they weren’t drinking other things. It’s my policy to go early and buy a bottle of water at the bar of wherever I attend a gig or concert, pretty much always. It’s my first time running out with more than an hour to go, though, but despite this I keep dancing with the empty bottle clutched in my hand. I don’t actually remember why. Maybe I thought I’d fill it up after the show or something. Spoilers: I didn’t

2:55AM: Right as Myd is taking over some dude pokes me and asks to have a sip of my water. I should not have been dancing with that empty bottle. He looks disgruntled when I tell him it’s empty and moves on. Sorry my dude I only wish I’d have been able to spare even a drop but I was genuinely out;;;;;

3:00 - 4:00AM: I hate having to sum it up like this but due to aforementioned factors (dying legs + low battery + lack of water) I do not actually remember much of Myd’s set. This is a great injustice to the man and it’s pretty much entirely my fault for not taking any time to rest (seating was provided near the bar) or not buying myself another drink; next time he’s in the UK, wherever he may be and whoever he might be with, I shall make the effort to hunt him down and give him a proper listen. What I remember of his set was brilliant, cheery but mysterious, coupled with Daft Punk’s ‘Rock n’ Roll’ somewhere in the middle. Please enjoy this terrible picture of him taken with my phone’s dying strength.

3:18AM: I can timestamp this accurately because it’s on the last video I took of the night. Enjoy some Myd wiggles

3:30~AM: This was roughly when ‘Rock n’ Roll’ was on! Irfane chatting away in the corner. So-Me lending a hand. Five minutes in he leans over and distributes stickers (I think) into the crowd. I was sadly on the other side and did not get a chance to receive any.

3:40~AM: People are beginning to hunker down on the elevated stage or leaving altogether. The night is drawing to a close.

3:55AM: Phone blinks out completely at this point. XOYO is open from 9:30pm-4am on Fridays and Saturdays (also 21+ years only policy, which I appreciate) so I figured Myd should be winding down about now. Every DJ participating so far has switched out/bowed out after an hour, after all. Myd might need a minute more to think about it.

4:03AM: Myd might need three more minutes to think about it.

4:04AM: Myd might need four or five more minutes to think about it.

4:10AM: Myd why are you doing this. Myd it’s past closing time. Myd my guy you’re pouring ambrosia upon the unworthy. Myd ple

4:15AM~: In the end I leave a few minutes early. I have to stress that this had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of Myd’s set nor that he was playing beyond closing time - encores and extra content are extremely good! It’s just that my legs were dead! ;A ; I limped upstairs and washed my face etc and he was still playing when I came out. That’s dedication.

The End

As soon as it’s actually over, cheers went up - and as I’m sitting at the bench near the entrance of the club just trying to get my shit together, everyone files out all at once to a bunch of weary-looking security guards wishing us all a good night.

I join the line. It’s bright outside already. Some of the guards offer to call us a cab and some of the people take them up on it. I myself walk out of the club, turn left, and down Old Street Yard to examine the bus stops. One of the bus lines are 24hr and go directly to King’s Cross; as I reach one of the relevant stops and lean around, trying to figure out the times, the French girl from earlier recognizes me and pats me on the shoulder. “You were the girl dancing next to me, right?”

“Yep, that’s me.”

“How are you?”

“I’m good and so exhausted I could melt into the floor.”

She giggles and bids me goodnight as she moves to another bus stop. I didn’t get to ask her about Thibaut, as she wasn’t by me when he came on, but I can only assume she had a good time too. Soon the 214 comes along and I hop on towards King’s Cross. The sun is rising and the white noise in my legs dissipates, just a little, only to be gone completely some twenty hours later. Feels good man.

#breakbot #thibaut berland #irfane #busy p #pedro winter #ed banger #borussia #myd #so me #bertrand de langeron #reviews #long post #hi this took ages to write and has prime time content pls give it a peruse #;)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))#xoyo

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brianjameson · 5 years ago

Text

Sunday: The last full day

I woke up to Janusz calling me at 9:30am… Before we parted ways the night before he specifically told me that he would be calling me at 9:30am to wake me up so we could go to the black sand beach where Season 7 of Game of Thrones ended. He told me he knew how to get there and wanted to also take me to a waterfall that was on the way. I didn’t believe he was telling me the truth about 9am, but he was! I slept through all 5 million phone calls because of how fucked up I got the night before and didn’t wake up until about noon.

He came over and we ended up heading out around 1:30pm.

The entire time I was in Iceland the weather was being so finicky. It was either raining, snowing, hella fucking windy (to where people were getting hit with shit from the street) or just cloudy. I didn’t mind at all but this last day was the clearest I had seen it. Janusz was even saying it was amazing how clear the roads were when we were driving and how they don’t get clear weather like that normally. I couldn’t believe it either. When I had taken my tours the roads were a fucking mess. There was snow everywhere and I was just thinking to myself there was no way I was driving BY MYSELF IN THE COUNTRY, with those roads the way they looked. But Sunday there was no snow anywhere in sight on the roads.

The beach was about 2 1/2 hours away from Reykjavik so a trip from Vegas to Zion Utah. We stopped by a convenient store to get some snacks and we were on our way!

One thing I noticed Janusz doing was taking photos of everything. I was paying attention to how careful he was being with making sure he took a lot of good shots and he would occasionally take photos of me. It made me smile because Nick knew how much I loved having my photo taken or I’d shout at him when we were driving to take a photo of the mountains if we were up in Red Rock lol. I felt like it was another guided message from him and the universe. For meeting a stranger and him taking photos of everything, was a pretty rare thing. The similarity brought me comfort and I was grateful for all his help creating memories.

I couldn’t believe everything I was seeing when I was driving. I mean fuck, this country was absolutely incredible. We would be driving through the mountains and all of a sudden you’re now next to the ocean and then driving through mountains again. I saw so many Icelandic horses on the drive. I saw a giant Volcano that was covered by a glacier. Janusz was giving me one giant history lesson about the volcanos.

Our first stop was the Seljalandsfoss waterfall

My friend Rae let me borrow her amazing raincoat for the trip since my dumbass forgot to take one. Let me just tell you guys that a raincoat by the waterfalls is an ABSOLUTE MUST. The closer you get the wetter you get!

He took me to this other waterfall that was inside a cave and MADE ME TAKE MY SHOES AND SOCKS OFF TO GET INSIDE! The water was about ankle deep and my feet were FREEZING. I could barely walk in it. People were looking at us like we were crazy lol. But that waterfall was absolutely breath taking. There was a giant boulder that people were taking photos on and the minute we got in is when everyone started to leave the cave so Janusz was taking a ton of photos of me on it lol. My hair was DRENCHED since I was so close to the waterfall.

We hung out for a good 1 1/2 and then headed to the beach that was about 40 min away from where we were. We had to be quick because the sun was starting to set and we wouldn’t be able to see much after that.

We arrived to Reynisfjara black sand beach

We got there and when you start to approach the beach you go up these steps that lead you to the water and the waves are sooooo close to the shore to where you find yourself struggling to take a selfie because you’re running from the waves rolling in. It definitely wasn’t Santa Monica lol.

Janusz took dozens of photos of me there and then I told him I needed a moment to myself to just kind of say some goodbyes to Nick and just talk to him. So I walked away to a spot where No one could really see me and I just talked to him and told him a poem I had recently heard on the way to Iceland from the movie ‘The Shape of Water’.

“Unable to perceive the shape of you, I find you all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with your love. It humbles my heart, for you are everywhere.”

As I stood there watching the waves crash, I could feel the amount of power and energy that beach held..

I had a necklace that was a heart and a moon that said ‘I love you’ on the heart and ‘to heaven and back’ on the moon. The heart is where Nicks ashes were kept and I felt compelled to scatter them but then I thought it over and the only words I kept hearing in my head were “release me, let it go, throw it out” and so instead of scattering his ashes I unscrewed the heart from my necklace and held it tight and made a wish of love and hope.

So with all my emotions and tears I threw it as hard as I possibly could when I saw the next big wave..

To me it was another step closer to getting closure and making my wish come true. I could feel every emotion in me and realized why this beach specifically was calling to me. All I did my entire trip was follow the signs when they presented themselves and this was the biggest one as I’ll reveal later in this post.

I walked back to where Janusz was and we took a few more photos before heading back to the car. It was dark and we had such a long drive ahead of us. On the drive back to the city we could see the northern lights vaguely appearing above us. It was true magic being able to just drive through the country witnessing such beauty.

We got back into town around 9pm and went to the store. Janusz studied culinary for 5 years so ya boy KNOWS HOW TO COOK. I hopped in the shower and he started to cook. He made me fish with mashed potatoes, a mushroom sauce and some noodles. It was DELICIOUS but so much food that I couldn’t eat all of it lol.

It was about midnight now and he had work the next day so we wrapped up dinner and said our goodbyes.

I was so thankful for him and for the universe putting him in my path because he made the trip so exciting for me and was someone who really knew Iceland and told me so much of the history and showed me around the country. Not many strangers are willing to do this and till this day I’m still grateful for him and the memories that were created because they’re definitely going to last a lifetime.

I laid on the couch for a bit and just really took in my trip. One of my best friends Tiara bought me a divinity tea reading gift.

The way it works: You pour hot water water into your tea cup with leaves and swirl it around. You place your hand over the cup and put your energy into it. You then drain the water out and leave the cup flipped over on a paper towel to drain the rest of the water and then you flip the cup up to see what formed and depending on what forms, is your message.

I feel like mine looked like an anchor and this is the meaning for it.

Anchor

This ancient tea leaf symbol suggests that you need to take a restful holiday by water.

There have been many times you have been challenged by others. It may be a time when confusion and stress is likely to undermine the health of yourself and people close to you. If you see the anchor on its own in your teacup, it indicates that you have many friends and acquaintances and you sometimes never know who they truly are. As the anchor goes down to the seabed indicates that you are going to listen to your deep unconscious inner self.

The anchor is an emblem of hope and promises rest and contentment after a tumultuous episode. It may indicate that a heartfelt wish will come true. Near the rim, the anchor symbolises true friends and a faithful lover.

This message was bizarre to me considering the fact I made a wish at the beach and considering the fact I am going through a hard time in life so I’m curious what manifests from this message in the future.

I finished up soaking in the last night being in my air bnb and packed my things for tomorrow morning.

Monday: Going home

I woke up at 11am and made myself one last breakfast at my air bnb.

I packed up the rest of my things and loaded up the car. Checkout was at 1pm and it was now 12:30pm

After I was done eating and the car was all packed up, I sat down for a moment..

I looked around at where I got to stay and just thought of everything I got to do.. I felt so much gratitude and and wrote a thank you card to my Air bnb host. It was a couple, so I left them 2 Oribe sample packets along with 2 Charlie Brown Valentine’s Day cards as a thank you for letting me stay in their beautiful home. Afterwards I felt compelled to write a sorry letter to Nick so I could get a little more closure from the situation.

I started crying and realized that everything I was saying sorry for was everything I truly did feel bad for doing in our relationship. I never did anything out of spite or malicious intent just to be clear. We sometimes got into heated arguments like every couple does, but when someone you love passes away, all of those things you said, haunt you. So I wrote down everything I possibly felt in my heart I was sorry about and kept the piece of paper with me. Hopefully in 10 years I’ll open it up and see what I wrote and see how far I’ve come from the situation.

I grabbed my backpack checked out of my place and went to go walk around the city a little longer until it was time to leave. I had 2 hours to spare since my flight wasn’t leaving until 5:30pm. I realized my gloves that my friend gave me were wet still from the water fall! I was like fuck now I need to go buy gloves otherwise I’m going to be cold. I went searching for gloves and all I could find were Icelandic wool gloves…. I DON’T NEED THAT SHIT! I LIVE IN VEGAS FFS. I knew for a fact I wouldn’t wear them again and was not going to spend $50 on wool gloves for that reason lol. Plus I had already spent a fortune on the Icelandic sweaters I bought since I bought 3! So I gave up and went to the church since it’s a huge tourist attraction in Reykjavik. There’s an elevator that takes you all the way to the top of the church to overlook the city and so I walked into the church and the first words that left my mom were “HOLY SHIT” when I saw the massive line at the elevator to take everyone up! I was like GOD FORGIVE ME FOR JUST SAYING THOSE WORDS I DIDN’T MEAN IT! I couldn’t even believe myself saying that right as I walked in and not even exaggerating but EVERYONE in that line turned to look at me. I thought I was going to pass out.

I didn’t stay very long. I felt a little uncomfortable with people sitting down staring at others and at me and to be honest the energy felt a lot like being in a museum. It didn’t feel like mass had just got out, it felt like people just coming to a church to look and leave. I was kind of shocked by that so I left.

I went to the beach where I was staying at since I had not been to it yet. As I was walking there I was thinking of how blessed I was to be able to go on this trip. To see everything I did and to see how others live. I still didn’t have gloves but for some reason I didn’t care. Even though it was cold I didn’t feel that cold.

So I kept walking until I reached the beach and went to see the Solfar Sun Voyager.

Here’s the description:

Solfar Sun is described as a dreamboat, or an ode to the Sun. The artist intended it to convey the promise of undiscovered territory, a dream of hope, progress and freedom.

I took photos of it and then I was really bored at this point and decided to just head to the airport 3 hours earlier. I got in my car and realized my body was pretty cold but I noticed I was putting all of my emotions and pain into how cold I was and not even realizing it. I was obviously on this trip carrying a lot of pain and depression but 1 thing I didn’t realize is that I wasn’t cold the entire time on my tours or anywhere because I was putting all of my emotions into the cold and when it was time to go indoors and thaw out, the pain would leave and get easier. It was a repeated process that worked as therapy and it actually helped. I know it sounds a little out there and a little over the top but it’s true. The minute that I sat in my car I had this entire realization of what I was doing the entire trip. It was a concluded moment where I now realized why I came to Iceland. Why this is where I needed to be to heal because ever since the trip, I have not been the same.

I was driving to the airport and I had no clue where I was going to drop off my rental or how I was going to get to my gate or anything. I had completely forgot that the rental drop off place was a little further away from the airport so I was kind of rushing because I didn’t know how long anything would take.

I rented my car with Hertz and I couldn’t find it so I stopped at some random car rental place on the way and asked for directions to Hertz and they pointed me in the right way. I got there and there was seriously snow up to my ankles and I had to lug all my shit out in it and drag it to the shuttle that was taking me to the airport. It took a good 30 min to get to the airport but that was because we were waiting for more people to get on the shuttle. Once in the airport I decided to eat and that took about another 20 min of my time. I then went to go check my bag and on my way to customs I was asked 5 million questions about where I’ve traveled to and what I was doing in Iceland and what not.

I then had to take a train to my gate which took about 45 min because I got off at the wrong stop. Got back on then had to run to my gate because I had maybe 45 min until my plane was going to take off. I got to my gate right at boarding and had 20 min until my flight left. I was blown away that 3 hours had gone by so fast. While I was in line this girl was just as late as I was getting to the gate and had an attitude from hell. She then proceeded to I think call her boyfriend or friend or whoever the fuck that she went to visit in Iceland and bitched them out for almost missing her plane. She kept looking at people and saying things like “not your business look away” to just about everyone lol. I was cracking up and irritated at the same time because it’s not like she missed her flight she was just the last one to get to the gate like, SHUT UP.

After that it was time for take off and goodbye to Iceland.

I landed in Seattle at about 5:30pm and has about 2 hours to kill. I went to Starbucks and grabbed coffee because I was tired and this time change was going to fuck me up again. I started to board around 7:30pm. As I was standing for everyone to get on the plane I checked to see if I had any notifications on my apple watch. I had 1 notification telling me that I had friends who wanted to photo share with me. It was strange because my watch has never alerted me about photo sharing. So I was thinking it was my girlfriends I went on my Seattle trip with because we had a shared album from the wedding and so I thought they might of asked me to create an album to share so they could see my trip photos but that was not the case.

When I opened my phone to check it out, it was the photo album of the beach where I went to go say my goodbyes and where season 7 of Game of Thrones ended. I checked to see who it was that wanted to photo share and the only 2 people on the list were me and Nick…. Under Nicks name it said ‘Baby’ which was strange because I’ve never saved him as baby in my phone. His name was always Nick or Grizzly Bear in my phone, that was it, NEVER BABY. I was like NO FUCKING WAY…. It could of been any album from my trip.. ANY. I was taking photos up until that last day. Why the beach album? To me that told me that Nick heard me and was telling me that he was there with me. This is just how spiritual this trip was for me. I couldn’t believe the amount of signs I was getting from him the entire time and the connection I felt with the country…

This is the big sign I was talking about earlier in this post. This is the biggest sign I could of received from Nick on my trip.

After all of this happened I looked up and I saw my friend Sonny who I used to kickbox with! She was in Seattle for a girls trip and so we got to talking and when we boarded we magically were in the same row but across in the opposite side! It was like fate was guiding me the entire time. Like this trip was meant to happen. Not to mention I was sitting next to a guy and noticed his socks. He was wearing long dress cocktail socks and so was I! lmao. All the coincidences that happened in a matter of 30 minutes lol.

I landed back in Vegas around midnight and had my mom come and pick me up. I couldn’t wait to go home, take a shower and go to sleep.

And so that concludes my trip to Iceland.

I highly recommend everyone go check the country out. There’s so much magic to it and so much to do and see.

If you’re someone looking for some solitude and looking to self explore and just center yourself with the universe then you are someone who definitely needs to go and see and experience for yourself.

I won’t say that I don’t miss Nick. I won’t say that things are easier, I won’t say I’m moving on. I will say that life has been put more into perspective for me. I understand life in a different light now because of all the signs I received on my trip. I realize that the people you love that have passed are not worlds away but right next to you and whatever energy they have, they’ll send signs with and you just have to keep your eyes open and ear to the ground to watch for them.

I’m still healing and every day is still a struggle. The hardest part of this all is still missing him and missing the things we did together and how much he loved me. Finding love like the kind Nick gave me is such a rare thing but I have hope that there’s still some out there. Regardless, I feel him around still and dream him all the time.

If you’re reading this and you’re struggling with something similar, I hope you know that everything happens for a reason and know that life works out one way or another. Nothing lasts forever and we’re all here on borrowed time. It’s what you do with that time and all the good and happiness you bring to the world that makes life worth living.

Letters from the Arctic pt.5 Sunday: The last full day I woke up to Janusz calling me at 9:30am... Before we parted ways the night before he specifically told me that he would be calling me at 9:30am to wake me up so we could go to the black sand beach where Season 7 of Game of Thrones ended.

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ayeletinthemountains · 6 years ago

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Mount Mildred Ski Tour

3/24/19

Continuing my quest of skiing OGULs this winter, Leo and I picked Mount Mildred as the main objective for the weekend. When I had first suggested it a while back, Leo thought we wouldn’t be fast enough to do it in a day, but after reading some more (and having a desire for lots of cardio), he changed his mind! If we could pull it off, it’d be my 30th OGUL. Given that we had the Ikon Pass this season (which has Alpine Meadows/Squaw access), we’d also be able to cut a few miles off the morning.

Home for many nights this season, at Blackwood Canyon Sno-Park.

We first tried to give Mildred a shot on Saturday, but when we got to the top of the lift just after the resort opened, we found ourselves in a full on white-out. A ski patrol came over to chat with us, worried that we’d try to leave the resort in the current conditions — but he had nothing to worry about. We were definitely ready to bail. While chatting with him, we were able to get some good info about how the backcountry access from Alpine works, which we weren’t able to find online. We ended up skiing the resort for the rest of the day, happily so.

The view of Mildred in the back from the top of Alpine. Photo by Leo.

The next day was scheduled to be warm and clear, so we decided to give Mildred another shot. We got in line for the lift around 8:50am, same as the day before, except this time with totally clear skies. As we reached the top of the summit lift, we saw no “closed area” signs as we had the day before. We took a few minutes to scope out the route to Mildred while we had it in view. The cliffs on the eastern ridge from Peak 8109 were very obvious, but the shoulder to the left looked very manageable, so we planned to head in that direction as we headed off. Neither Leo nor I had ever skied or even seen this aspect of Alpine before, so we skied down a bit, looking over the edge. Right off the ridge is a bit rocky, but we skirted to the left and then found an amazing, clear slope. And so, we committed! Heading down the slope in perfect powder from the past day’s storms, touched by no one before us. As we reached the end of shouting distance from the resort, someone yelled to us “do you know what you’re doing?!” I wasn’t sure that we did — Mildred is waaaaay out there, and it was going to be a long day. But we knew enough to make sure we’d get back to the car somehow, so we assured them and continued on.

Avoiding cliffs.

It was an amazing 2000ft descent off of the back of Alpine in amazing snow that would be by far our best turns of the day (and the best backcountry skiing I’ve had to date in Tahoe). The storm had been big enough to give enough powder for tons of fun, but not so big to create dangerous slabs. What more could you ask for? As we reached the bottom and headed into the trees, I suggested to Leo that we could just lap this slope instead, but Leo was keen on his cardio goals, so off to Mildred we continued.

We transitioned to skins and had a great, easy time skinning through the powder. From reading Bob Burd’s trip report, we were a bit nervous about crossing Five Lakes Creek, but with the huge snow year we’ve had, there were plenty of solid snow bridges. We stayed to the left side of the valley, far from the ridge we needed to gain, since we planned to head up and around the left side. The ridge lining the right side of the valley had some really impressive, steep slopes. I’d love to see some amazing skiers ski that.

Mildred coming into view for the first time since Alpine.

We headed up the shoulder we had aimed for through some trees. The main avy concern for the day was loose wet slides, made dangerous by terrain traps or cliffs. As we neared the ridge, there were indeed some cliffs on the most direct route to the ridgeline, on a southern-facing slope that had been baking in the sun. Instead of contouring around the slope (putting us above the cliffs), we headed directly up on to the ridge, avoiding any cliff exposure. From there, we continued towards the summit of Peak 8109, getting our first views of Mildred since having left Alpine.

I spy a cornice. Photo by Leo.

The northern aspect of the ridge was heavily corniced, so we were afraid we’d have to climb up and over the peak, but we managed to find safe entry and exit points, saving us some vert. Once on the other side of the ridge, it was down a couple hundred feet to the saddle between 8109 and Mildred. I got to show off (i.e. embarrass myself) my skiing in walk mode skills, only totally eating it once! In retrospect I wish I had at least locked my heels in, but the summit just felt so close. Once done with the downhill, it was a fairly easy skin to the summit. Woohoo!

Descending to the saddle between 8109 and Mildred. Photo by Leo.

Mildred from the ridge connecting Peak 8109. Photo by Leo.

We took a few minutes to eat and discuss our exit route. It had taken us 4 hours to reach the summit, so we sadly wouldn’t be able to make it back to Alpine to ski down the resort (which would have been the most direct route). This means we’d have to exit around the north side of the ridge that makes up Alpine, substantially longer mileage (but less overall vert). We planned to drop off the ridge between our peak and 8109 at the low point, which also looked like a break in the cornice. We’d then traverse along the northern slope as long as we could, before planning to go back into walk mode and up over the shoulder on the other side of 8109.

Skinning up the final slope to Mildred. Photo by Leo.

The plan went as well as we’d hoped. Right before going back into walk mode, we got some excellent turns coming down the northern aspect. Even though the vast majority of the snow around us had turned to mush, this snow had held amazingly well. We transitioned back into walk mode and slogged up the extremely deep powder — the most strenuous part of the whole day. Once at the saddle, we stayed in walk mode, traversing the south side of the ridge in mushy, sun-exposed snow that was much easier to break trail in.

Our turns off the northern aspect of the ridge and the strong, late-March sun.

As we reached the point we dropped back off the ridge, we transitioned back into ski mode gloriously, enjoying the much improved pace as we dropped into the last valley between us and the back of Alpine. In shady spots the snow had grown crusty and more challenging to ski, but it still felt great to be using my feet a different way. At the bottom of the valley, we transitioned back into walk mode for what we hoped would be the last time. Again, we found good snow bridges to cross the creek and headed up, edging north of Alpine towards Five Lakes. The terrain was actually quite easy skinning, which we were both thankful for — but it just felt long. I was so happy when we finally reached the saddle separating us and the road. Back into ski mode for the last time, and we skied down very hard crust in very low light, finding a snowmobile track to lead us back to the road.

So happy to be reaching the car!

After only a tiny bit of shenanigans to get down the tall snow bank, our feet were back on pavement, and we walked the remaining half mile up the road to our car. We made it back around 6:40pm — about 9 hours and 20 mins after having left the top of the resort. We were very thankful to make it back before dark, because an unnamed individual forgot their headlamp (but he more than made up for it with all the trail he broke). We were rewarded for our efforts with literally no traffic on the drive home, which let us somehow amazingly be in bed at 11pm sharp. I’d call it an incredibly successful day!

#march2019 #mountmildred #ogul #tahoe #sierra #california

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iridescentwanders · 8 years ago

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AURORA (30th March)

OK SO. FINALLY AFTER THREE MONTHS. I SAW THE NORTHERN LIGHTS!!!!!!! We reached pretty late and it only lasted a few minutes but it was still beautiful and majestic nonetheless.

It was so unbelievably beautiful, my friend (FULL GROWN ITALIAN MAN) actually cried HAHAHHA. Ok but it was truly :’)

Also I feel the need to mention we had to walk 6.3km in the middle of the night and to some ulu place near the coast for this HAHA. But worth it even if it lasted only a few mins. And I’m thankful I can even see it in my city!! Good training for Stavanger hike soon!

(Credit of the amazing photographs to my dear friends cos my camera was too sucky)

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weannoyingbouquetgalaxy-blog1 · 6 years ago

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Really Angry ! where can i get cheap van insurance im 18 ?

i been on go compare the cheapest i got was 4600 thats on a 1.9 litre van i think its stupid how can i make a living paying that kind of money out i need my van for work plus its not like its really powerfull its a sh!tty van i wolud not mine if it with a 1.9 sports car buts its a van it sholud be cheaper on vans im 18 do u know where i can get cheaper van insurance plus i got quoted 2600 on a 1.1 car

How much will my liability insurance be a month?

I'm buying a 1996 Mitsubishi eclipse gs and I'm a 16 year old girl. I'm completely paying it off. So roughly how much will my insurance be a month? Any tips for a first time car owner?

Getting car insurance on the spot?

I am looking for my first car at the moment and I have a question about insurance. Let's say I go to look at a car that I've found on the internet and I decide to buy it right there...how do I go about getting insurance right away? I live in the UK btw

Car accident and no insurance!! Advice?

My brother just got caught driving without insurance. I know this sounds bad, but he has been struggling with money for some time now, and has many school loans he is paying off.... Too make a long story short, he can't afford car insurance and made a dumb move to drive to work and back without insurance. Now a car drove in to him, and had no insurance to show the officer. He now has to show up to court to prove that he had insurance!!! I feel bad for him.....what is the fine? He wasn't at fault for the accident! He just got back on insurance but he didn't have it at the time of the accident.... What is going to happen? What should he do to save himself??? Please help.... :S""

Does engine size make your car insurance go up?

I have a 1.4L engine at the moment and thinking of getting a car that has a 1.6 engine. There are not a lot of differences between the two cars, apart from the engine size. (they are both very small cars, made in the same year etc) Will this make my insurance go up?""

Do your insurance rates go up as soon as you get a driver's license?

I'm about to turn 16. I want to get my driver's license, but my parent's are wondering if the insurance rate's are going to go up right away as soon as I get my driver's license or do I have to tell my insurance company? Can someone give me a little more information about this? Thank you.""

Car insurance rates depends on Car Makes?

I have a really big issue on my hands, and that is finding a car that doesn't have a high insurance rate. What is the difference in insurance prices with different cars like BMW and Honda/ Toyota and Cadillac? Also, provide a source! plz! thnx!!""

2-door and 4-door car insurance?

I'm considering about buying a new honda civic car . I heard somebody say that 2-door car's insurance is always more expensive than the 4-door one. is that right ? (remember that the 2-door car and the 4-door car have the same features,machines) And how they calculate the amount of my car insurance? What do they depend on?""

How do I find out if my insurance covers Mirena?

I have Blue Advantage/MN Care for my health insurance and have been looking into getting the Mirena IUD.. I am on daily birth control pills now, but would like to switch to something more effective/semi permanent.""

Car Insurance Question?

I am filling out paperwork for an insurance quote. I wanted to know if the lock/unlock/panicbutton key lock device considered an anti theft device? I would also appreciate if any one could recommend any car insurance agencies. Thank you.

How would McCain guarantee affordable healthcare for all?

Healthcare costs are hurting the budgets of working families, businesses, states and the federal government. Don't tell me someone is looking for a handout when it comes to something as basic as healthcare. A simple accident can wipe out hard-won savings in any family. Now how's McCain gonna do it? Please?""

What happens if you get in a accident with no insurance?

I got in an accident today. It wasn't my car it was my moms, I gave the cop my license, registration, and insurance. However, I didn't know that the insurance was lapsed. It hadn't been paid. There wasn't any damage to the lady's car, and minimal damage to mine. Me and the women were getting ready to take off, but a cop came up, and said that because it was a main road, that we needed to fill out an accident report. She isn't gonna call her insurance company, but if she does, and they find out there wasn't insurance, are there fines to pay, do they take the car? I know I'll have to pay for whatever damages she may have on her car out of my pocket.""

How? First car insurance under 2k?

I've passed my driving test and followed almost every rule out there: Low insurance group car Park in a garage/driveway Try fully comp and third party Try pass plus discount Try a 'black box' scheme Use named drivers Get a lower engine size Etc. Everything I try, my insurance quote is always 3K+ however I did manage to get it to 2.6k with a 'black box scheme'. A lot of people I know drive and their insurance varies, some have paid a lot and some a little but everything I try fails. I understand as a 17 year old male car insurance is always going to be steep and 2.6K is probably a good quote but is it at ALL possible to get a quote for around 2K or less? That's still a lot in my opinion but would be just about affordable. I simply don't understand how a 17 year old at college 5 days a week is expected to be able to fund this, even if they do work weekends (which I do) It's extortionate""

What are some cheap auto insurance companies in florida for teenage drivers?

I am 17 years old. I currently have liberty mutual insurance with my parents for $5,901 annualy (about $550 per month for three cars). Is there any cheap car insurance?""

Co-op smartbox for young drivers?

I am 18 and considering going through the co-op box scheme for young drivers. Everything about it looks great (I've gone from quotes of 6000+ to 3000!) but there's one area that concerns me - I can't imagine I'll be confident enough driving any time soon to be a wreckless driver, but I intend to go on holiday around Scotland with my friends in the summer where I'll be driving for a long time. I was wondering whether this might affect my insurance premium. So for example if I drove around 5 hours a week, consistently, for a few months, and then went on a road trip and drove for 30 hours one week, would this raise my premium? I ask because on the quote page it asks for how long I'll be driving on a weekly basis. Do any current customers happen to know whether they care at all? Thank you in advance! :)""

How To Get The Best Homeowners Insurance?

Cheap Drivers Insurance For Teenagers?

So im about to get my first car an it be a luxury car but i wanted to know what place would have the cheaper insurance for me, keep in mind i do have decent grades also.""

What is the average cost of sr-22 insurance ??

i need to sr-22 to get my license back after 7 years w/o driving. i lost it in 2001 due to a dui, and haven't driven since. its finally time for me to start my life over, and this is a major step to do it. i learned from the dmv (ca) that i need the sr-22 + insurance, and just a 125.00$ reinstatement cost. i know there are a lot of factors to consider, but just an idea of the cost would be great.""

Carson Washington Cheap car insurance quotes zip 98610

Help me with car insurance quotes?

Ive been doing quite alot of online quotes with comparison websites lately and I have noticed some of the insurers with the cheapest prices have disappeared... is this because I have done this loads of times? Or am I blacklisted. Im just worried as my insurance this year was 2300 and I will not be able to afford that again! It is only this high due the age of being 19. And also I have tried to go onto elepahant, admiral and even diamond to do quotes on there websites but i got a message appear saying I had to ring them as they were unable to do a quote for me online""

What is the best car insurance for a first car and someone in the early 20s?

Hey guys.. So, i'm only 22 years old and i'm looking to to buy my first car really soon but first i want to find a good and affordable insurance agency. So far i'm looking to compare the following insurance companies: Geico, State Farm, Progressive, State Farm, etc. Any other suggestions would also come in handy.. Thank You!.""

If I upgrade to full coverage insurance can I get previous car accident damages fix?

I have liability and I was in a minor car accident two months ago. I need to upgrade my insurance because the bank than loaned me money for the car requires me to have comprehensive and collision coverage. If I upgrade could I fix the damages to my car?

What would be cheaper to insure for a 16 year old 2003 lancer evo or a 2008 subaru wrx?

what would be cheaper to insure for a 16 year old 2003 lancer evo or a 2008 subaru wrx i get good grades i live with my parents and i could raise the deductible if needed what one would be cheaper to insure.

""Cheap teen car insurance, best car to get?""

16, licensed, in high school with a b average. I know some insurance places give a discount for a b average. I know older cars with a good safety rating tend to have cheaper insurance quotes, if you can, please list some cars that you know would be cheaper to insure. Also, if you know the insurance companies that do discounts for a b average I would like to know. I am a safe driver so I'm not too worries about good coverage, I'm only driving to school and back daily. I need to pay for this myself so doing high school, running start, and having a part time job I wont be able to pay for anything too expensive. So, best cars to get? and best insurance?""

Which car = Cheap insurance for young female driver?

I'm female, 20 and live in England. I've been on moneysupermarket, comparethemarket and confused.com but all I seem to get is quotes over 4,000 on car insurance for a KA 1.2!! I haven't bought the car yet, as I think it's wise to check out insurance quotes. I'm not really bothered about the car, aslong as it runs fine.. So which car is best to get insured when your a 20 year old female, newly qualified driver?? thanks p.s. other notes if you need them: I will be driving roughly 5,000 - 6,000 miles a year. The car will be parked on a public road or public car park. I don't really want to spend more than 1,000 on my first car. Only using for social/pleasure""

""Whats a cheap car to buy, insure, Tax and repair?

i live in kent and i am getting close to getting my full licence. I am 20 years old so i know insurance is going to be expensive no matter what car i have. I don't mind the car being second hand and i don't really want to spend over 1500. I don't care what the car looks like but i need it to be as cheap as possible to insure so like the lower insurance bands and lower tax bands. It also needs to be cheap for the MOT and any repairs that need to be done. I understand that it may be cheaper to have the car in a older persons name and me as a third person but i want to start getting my no claims bonus so its cheaper for me in the long run.

UK car insurance question?

Cheapest car insurance for 17 year old boy, 3rd party F&T. 1. Provisional licence holder 2. Full licence holder Thank you""

Is serenity insurance a ligitimate company?

Cheap auto insurance

Mandatory health insurance provision?

Should the federal judiciary act to either overturn or support the mandatory health insurance provision of the 2010 health care law?

How does car insurance really work for new drivers?

I passed my road test with flying colors last Friday, but my parents refuse to either get me a car, or allow me to drive theirs by myself. They quote insurance as the main problem - new drivers who are male and under 25 typically get insurance rates that are like 200% plus the normal rate. Now if that were the way it really worked for everyone, I wouldn't say anything, considering that I know it's not my car I'd be driving. However, I have plenty of friends who use their parents insurance, but don't pay a penny extra. I'm wondering how exactly that is done, because if my parents had their way, I'd be driving with them sitting in the side seat until the age of 25 - not happening.""

How much is insurance per year on a E46 BMW M3?

I'm looking into buying a 2002-2004 M3. I'm 18 yo male with a clean driving record.

How much will my car insurance go up?

I accidently hit a parked car. No damage to my car. Damages to the other car add up to about $900. I have liability insurance with USAA and wont be paying a deductible. My driving record has been clean for 12 years. Should I just pay out of pocket or file the claim with insurance?? The person who owned the damaged car is a neighbor and said they won't file a claim if I pay them directly. I'm concerned.... if my insurance premiums go up 40% over 5 years then I'd just pay myself. I don't know.. I really can't decide.

Does auto insurance cover a person or an automobile?What if someone drives your insured car and they have none

If you drive someone's car who has insurance on their car but you don't have any auto insurance and you get in a wreck does their insurance cover it or could you get a ticket for driving without insurance? Would you be an uninsured motorist even if the car you drove was covered by someone elses insurance?

Health insurance options for single moms?

My daughter is on my boyfriends health insurance right now, but he is switching jobs and his new job makes him get through 60 days of training before being able to receive health insurance. I am personally covered under my parents insurance, but they will not allow me to insure my daughter with them, so I was wondering if there is any affordable insurance options for my daughter while my boyfriend is unable to insure her. I am currently unemployed (to stay home with our baby) and since we are not married I am considered a single mom""

Purchasing health insurance?

I need to purchase health insurance. I should have purchased it a while ago because now I really need to use it. Will I be able to use it for a preexisting condition (fracture)? Any advice on a plan to purchase?

Perth; Can I ride a motorcycle without insurance?

And if I am buying motorcycle insurance, how come they ask me how much I want to pay? Please see the link at http://rac.com.au/Insurance/Motor-insurance/Motorcycle-insurance/Motorcycle-insurance-quote.aspx So how much must I pay? I bought my second hand scooter for A$1,000 on bikesales.coml.au""

New car insurance with only a learners permit?

I am a 16 year old student that lives in the state of florida. Ive had my learners permit for a year and my sister gave me as a gift her old car. I dont have anyone to ask so im asking you guys.. I want to get my operators license but i was in an accident in california a few months back with the other person involved at fault (i am a florida resident) Will that affect my car insurance rate? Will it affect my chances in getting my operators license? Please lend me your knowledge i need to know! ..Thanks.

""How much does it cost for one adult to live in an apartment, with food, car insurance, etc?

I want to know so I know how much I'll have to make a month once I move out of the house.

""Someone hit my car, do I have to report to my insurance company risking the rate increase?""

Few months ago somebody hit my rental car in their rental car during vacation. Other party's fault, he admitted, police report confirms this is his fault. Both me and the other party were insured. The other party seems to be reasonable. Now I have a repair bill, few thousands. I am reluctant to report this to my insurance company, since I heard over and over again that even though it's not my fault my rate can and probably will still go up (read here if you don't believe http://www.carinsurancecomparison.com/does-your-auto-insurance-go-up-if-someone-hits-your-car). I think this is ridiculous, but that's the way how things are. So is it possible, and is it a good idea that I contact the other party insurance myself without involving my insurance since my case is a clear cut case? Are there any pitfalls that I should be aware of?""

How do you pay an insurance deductible?

Well i sadly wrecked my car today i have full coverage because i have a loan from a bank and im still making payments on it. I let the insurance company know. But my deductible is $1,000.00 and i dont have a thousand dollars. Can you like make cheap payments on that or do you need it all upfront? Or do i not have to pay it right away?""

Where do I look for health insurance for my family?

Can i call insurance agents and get quotes from them for free? my husband is self employed do they have any health insurance specifically for that?

How can I get insurance for my kids?

Does anyone know of any affordable insurances out there? We are a family of 4 and my two kids dont qulifiy for Chips, or medicaid. Is there any advice anyone can give? My kids are little. 1 and 7. It really sucks because my husband and i work full time and arent bums and cant even get any insurance for our kids.But i wont even get started on all that!.""

""How much is Homeowners Insurance in FL on a $150,000 home?

I'm a first time home buyer and very curious how much cash I'm going to need before closing a house.

Can i put my parents on my medical insurance at work .?

what would i have to do to qualify them to be added to my insurance.

Carson Washington Cheap car insurance quotes zip 98610

Question about MA car insurance?

I have a car parked in my apartment's parking lot that doesn't run. Can I cancel the insurance on it so I don't have to pay for it every month? I'm in the process of trying to sell it. When I cancel the insurance, do I have to return the plates, too? I don't think it's legal to have a car with no plates parked in a parking lot.""

Auto Insurance help thanks?

I am 16 thinking about getting me a car in the next year (17) can i get on my own insurance plan or try to get on my moms (me and my mom don't look eye to eye) so i don't think she wouldn't do it and if not how much would it cost if i get on my own insurance and what would be the best insurance for my age thanks so much.

What is a good type of home owner insurance to get?

I may be purchasing my first home on a land contract from a person that i know that owns the house out right. the land contract would be a five year contract or sooner if i can afford to pay the house off. i have lived in the house at one time, not for sure about a few things on the house. i was wondering if anyone may know of a website or a website that may give an estimate quote on home owners insurance on the home i may be buying. i wanted to get some idea of how much it may be and what home owners insurance covers. i have looked at a few websites, but there are a lot of different things to include in insurance and different requirements that may need to be met before the house is insured. the house is a bit of a fixer upper and needs lots of tender loving care before its decent. its livable but i need insurance if i buy it. the owner who is selling isn't requiring insurance, but i want to be smart and safe and have insurance. any suggestions? i must give an answer to the owner tomorrow, because i know he has others wanting to buy. i don't want to get into something that i have no clue about before purchasing. i am looking and getting the idea, but was looking for tips or more info. thanks""

""Adding my car to another's car insurance, how does this work?

I want to add my car and me as driver to another's car insurance (who has established rates) how can I do this?

Health Insurance question?

Hi i am a 22 yr old college student looking for health insurance. medicare denied me because i did not meet the requirements. my school offers insurance but it really doesn't cover anything. I'm in the state of Virginia if that helps. The question that i am asking i guess is is there any free/to low cost insurance out there for me

Car insurance ?????/?

Well.I have permanent general car insurance they used to charge me 60 dollers it when up to 80 a month. Idk I found a cheaper insurance what should I tell permanent general

Where is the cheapest place to get motorcycle insurance in Michigan?

Its for a 2006 Yamaha R6!

Someone hit my car parked at work and i do not have insurance. whats the next step?

i was at work and when i came out, someone had hit my car while i was working. they left all their insurance information and a note apologizing, however, i do not have insurance. whats the next step for me?""

I need Health Insurance Tips?

Hey there, I was hoping to get some input from families in WA State, or anywhere if you want to help me. I just need ideas on where to get affordable health insurance for my family? If anyone has advice for me that would be great. Thank-you!""

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME OUT WITH THIS (CAR INSURANCE)?

i'm a learner driver with my 1st car that im covering with 3rd party fire & theft since i'm not able to go out alone either my partner or dad will be with me while i drive but just say say for whatever reason they had to take over would they be covered to drive my car even though neither would be a named driver on my policy? They both have fully comp insurance for their own cars does this cover them?

""2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, [price help]?""

I am looking to purchase a 2011 STI sometimes EARLY july. There are few USED ones in my area, but the price is not much different, becuase low miles NEW 2011 STI limited, MSRP about 37,999 Used--- that i am looking at, with 4,000 miles is 36,950 I was wondering if it is even worth it to buy it used vs new, and if i did buy it used how far can i get the price down, since it is only like 5 months old. And if anyone has any tips about down payments, I.e how much to put down ETC ---Im 19 years old, have a good paying job for my age, my dad is going to co sign. If you have any advice that is un related, please share Also, my heart is set on this car, nothning else""

Best whole life insurance company that isn't that expensive?

My husband is planning to start driving a cab in the next few months. I have life insurance that my mother pays on, but we want to start a policy with a good company for my husband that is whole life, any recommendations?""

Consequence of lending your car in terms of car insurance?

If I lend my car to my brother or sister, but I have car insurance, will they get a ticket when they drive? The car insurance covers the cost of the damage to the car, so does it matter who is driving it? What is the purpose of having someone as a secondary driver?""

Car insurance????? ?????????

ok i turn 17 very shortly and want a peugeot 106 diesel(which is a 1.5) it is insurance group 3 and good mpg, but would it cost much for me to insure and could i get an insurance quote from a insurance brokers at 16 without owning the car first? i hope it won't cost much but one off my mates has the peugeot 106 gti quicksilver and that's a 1.1 and his insurance is 2500 while another mate has a corsa 1.1 3 door fully mod with subs,amps,alloys head unit all covered 3rd party fire and theft at 880 a year so surely a diesel 1.5 shouldn't cost much? right.lol""

Car recommendations for a college student?

I'll be getting my first car in the spring of 2012. I'm staying in an apartment near the campus, and I'll have a bike for that. The majority of my driving will be errands around town, and driving the 117 miles back home occasionally to visit family. Low insurance, high gas mileage, and safety are top priorities. I've got about $15,000 to spend on the car. I will have a part time job to pay insurance/gas/etc. So far the only car that appeals to me is the 2010+ Mazda3 because it has a nice exterior, and I love the interior and features compared to other small cars. Gas mileage is decent, but not the best. Also, if I go for the hatchback, will that raise my insurance costs? Do you have any other recommendations? The Mazda3 has the best interior that I've seen so far, that's the basic factor that's keeping me from other cars.""

I need affordable insurance on my car any suggestions?

well i've been driving around for 9 months now w/out insurance. my car's a 2001 dodge neon standard model and i paid cash for it (no car note). im afraid that if im pulled over by the chp my car will get towed. im on a budget and i really need an affordable monthly premium. im 28 yrs old i got my driving license at 26 yrs old then got 2 tickets like 2 months later. one ticket was a failure to yield on a right turn w/ a red light and as a result i caused an accident but there was no bodily harm or property damage to the other driver only to my car it was totaled and i wasn't harmed. i recently was pulled over and given a speeding ticket too. what is the difference in full vs. liability insurance? i do know that liability is cheaper. which should i consider? also does anyone know of any insurance co. that don't require a huge down payment to start?and would insure my car w/out a huge monthly premium?

Has anyone had a negative experience with Progressive Insurance Company?

""I will turn 64 in March, I am a widow, how can I get affordable health insurance?

Dental and Vision most important No current health concerns

Can somebody help me with Car Insurance?

Earlier this month I was added onto my Dad's car insurance policy as a named driver fully comp. Now I need to cancel it (long story) and was wondering, would I have to pay for the following months insurance? Or will I get some money back?""

""I live in California. and need cheaper auto insurance, and have 2 dmv points. Any ideas?""

I live in California. and need cheaper auto insurance, and have 2 dmv points. Any ideas?""

""If im already on my parents insurance for two cars, how much more will it cost if they add a new small 03 car?""

The new car is an 03 mitsubishi lancer, the two cars i was insured on before were an elantra gt and a nissan titan (05) I wanted to know if insurance will shoot up a lot more with another car or if it will just be like another 40 or so dollars a month?""

Insurance companies will have 32 million new customers because of Obamacare. How is this socialism?

The Affordable Care Act was modeled after a Republican health care plan by the Heritage Foundation and was first implemented by a Republican governor. All this bill does is makes sure that insurance companies have 32 million new customers. I could understand if you called Single Payer socialism (which I highly support), but calling Obamacare socialist is pretty stupid.""

""Best Place for van insurance, young driver 24?""

I'm just wondering the where is the best place to look for cheap van insurance? I'm 24 and a carpenter by trade and I need to get my own van, something like a standard box ford transit.""

Health insurance for college students?

I'm a full time college student, and there are no state programs out there to help me. I had to move back into my parents house (I know I know) and my medi-cal got cut, and ...show more""

Is there some sort of reason that Car Insurance costs so much more in Nevada than it does in California?

Im looking into moving, and I cannot help but notice that the quotes I am getting are, well, DOUBLE what I pay in California. Granted, I am a 23 year old male and have a decent driving record, it is kind of shocking to see liability only coverage quoted at $250/month for my two 8 and 12 year old cars, when Im paying $125/mo. as of now in California for the same 100/300 coverage. Can someone explain this? I have some friends that have moved to Las vegas, with the same shocking increase in premiums... (And yes, I need the 100/300 since I own a home)""

Carson Washington Cheap car insurance quotes zip 98610

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tipper-truck-insurance-online-quote-jason-wilkinson/"

0 notes

mytravelaffair · 6 years ago

Text

Svalbard! Yes, is Svalbard. I have never heard of this place before.

This was going to be my third marathon. If not because of this marathon, I totally have no idea where Svalbard is. OMG — my geography is so bad!

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Yes, it’s about 1,600km from the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes. The Northern Lights are visible during winter. For most of the year, it’s cloaked in in darkness but during summer from June to August, it’s the total opposite and it’s sunlight 24 hours a day — the so-called “midnight sun” phenomenon.

Honestly, it did not come to my mind to research what kind of marathon it was going to be. I was like, “Ok, it’s another marathon in summer, so it’s going to be warm and there will be many runners. I just have to complete the race before the 6-hour cutoff time.” OK, onz! Let’s go.

The race fell on Saturday, 2 June 2018. Training schedule is drafted out, and we decide to start our training pretty early this time in January – 5 months instead of the usual 3 month ramp-up. Spitsbergen Marathon But this time it’s different, we are not aiming for any PB. The idea is to run “together” for the first 21km (so we can take photos together). I will be the one to lead.

Starting from January, my daily weekend routine is always a carbo dinner on Friday night with lots of pasta, after our run is lor mee and more lor mee.

Saturday will be a long run, Sunday I will go for a 2-hour yoga session of stretching and core training. This continued for 4 months and by the time May came around, I was getting physically and mentally exhausted. And with the weather getting hotter, it was making it even more harder to complete my long runs.

Even my DIY self treatment is also become more creative… wahahaha.

It came to a point where I felt so sick of training and I just don’t feel like running. Luckily my husband, sister and brother-in-law who run and train with me, encouraged and supported me. At least, I am not alone.

As race day inched closer, I checked what Svalbard weather was like as well as the running route. PDF for Spitsbergen Marathon Program. Program_spitsbergen_marathon_2018_9 Oh man, it’s less than 10 degrees in Svalbard even during summer time. Damn, I have never run in such cold weather before. Questions like “What is the right attire to wear?”, “How many layers do we need?”, “Do we run with gloves and beanie” started to surface at the back of my mind.

Adding to the pressure, there are only 140 runners and there are the only 6 Asians which include the four of us and 2 from Hong Kong. Ohhh, what a “big event” this is going to be.

Many of my friends asked me, “Why go to such a place to run, is there no other place to run anymore?” and “You must be mad?”. LOL. For many years, our overseas trips always revolved around running. So to me, this trip is just another running event.

After all the training and preparation, finally the day has come. We decide to reach Svalbard a few days earlier to allow us to acclimatise. We are well prepared and equipped — we completed our training schedule and look at the number of bags we carried!

Our first stop is Oslo, Norway and from there, it’s a domestic 1-hour flight to Svalbard and the town of Longyearbyen. The view during the descent is so spectacular — the whole archipelago as far as the eye could see is covered in white.

When we arrived the airport, we are greeted by a big polar bear. Wow! I am excited.

When I step out the airport, I immediately feel the cold, biting wind sting my face. Oh man, it’s c-o-l-d here.

From the airport, it was a short 10-minute bus ride to our Airbnb apartment, and when we entered, I was greeted by a majestic view of the ocean framed by the gorgeous backdrop of snow-capped mountains — all from the warmth and cosiness of our living room. It was so serene, so peaceful, so beautiful — I was blown away. The view of the mountains, the calmness of the sea and the quietness of the surrounding, it was so amazing. And the bonus — an outdoor porch with our own private area of beach and outdoor jacuzzi! We are going to stay for one week. Yippppppeee!

Before the race, we kept busy by visiting the abandoned Russian mining settlement of Pyramiden and we also decided to do a 6km warm-up run to make sure we had the right running attire for the coming race. Somehow, I enjoyed the cold air while running.

On the eve of the race, we walked 15-minutes from our apartment to collect our race pack at one and only sports centre in Longyearbyen (population of just 2,000) in the evening. It’s the first time we don’t need to queue to collect our race pack! And there is only one booth selling event merchandise, that’s it. Indeed a small scale event, but enough to the get the small town buzzing.

We head back to our apartment for our final carbo loading meal — pasta mixed with vegetables and a tray of baked potatoes and breadcrumbed chicken fillets.

Before I head to bed for an early rest, I laid out my running gear for the big race.

Next day, I wake up to a dark and gloomy morning, with not much sun. Luckily, the race starts at 1030am. Why at this hour? Because it will be warmer — mornings in Svalbard can be as low as zero degrees in the morning. (see the photo below)

Indeed, this marathon is a small scale event. We walk to the start point, where a small crowd of runners and their supporters had gathered. As the weather is too cold to stand outside and with only 140 participants, we wait indoors at a nearby sports hall — no need to fight to be in the first line after all. Wahahaha, thats happens if we running in Singapore? We need to be wiggle our way to the front to be as close to the start line as possible.

I can see all the runners are well prepared, most of them from European countries where they experience cold weather but for us, I predict it will be a big challenge.

I never experience running in such freezing conditions. I have to keep in my mind that i have to run slow and try not to stop (if possible) because it will be too cold to walk.

The race starts at 1030am sharp, and straight away, we come against a steep slope but all the “ang moh” runners didn’t even slow their pace, instead they start running faster. After just 500m, we find ourselves last and bringing up the rear. I do feel pressure as we are really far away from the rest even though the race just started. However, our plan is to stick together for the first 21km (to take photos). I make sure I maintain a constant and comfortable pace of 6:30 min/km.

Well, as usual my sister, Jennifer finds a good female “ang moh” pacer big enough to block the cold, biting wind (she is to replace me, so I can conserve my energy). Our group of four fall into a line behind the female pacer and we follow her for a good 5km or more.

Along the way, we take many nice photos. This is the most beautiful race I have ever run. We soon lose our pacer as we are too busy taking photos.

and we drop even further behind the main pack of runners. I thought as long as we are maintaining a good pace we will definitely able to catch up with the rest. I was wrong. They are so good. Maybe, what we all say “ang moh” are really good in running. Hahahaha….

This race is indeed a strange, lonely experience. There are no crowds to cheer me on (not like the previous year in Kagoshima, Japan where town folk line the streets of the entire 42-km course). Around 18km, we come back to the town of Longyearbyen and there are still no crowds to cheer me… hahahaha, indeed a quiet race from the beginning.

The route then leads us outside the main town area and soon, snow mountains appear right in front of me. WOW! what a view. The snow-capped mountains are so close and so beautiful.

This is the most scenic view ever. Running along such view is so therapeutic, so peaceful but however the 2km is quite a challenge too. I was running against the cold winds. It was strong. And there are less than 3 runners keeping me company during this lonely stretch of the race.

The marathon route consists of 2 21-km loops. At 21km, there is a drinking station so I decide to eat more banana and chocolate (the only food they provide during the race). I wanted to increase my pace to catch up with some runners at the U-turn bend but honestly, I can’t catch up with any of them. No one walk in this race! My GOD! They are really good.

I maintain a good pace for the next 10km. I make sure my breathing and my heart beat is constant. I don’t feel exhausted at this point but I start to notice a tightness in my upper right thigh. Near the 25km mark, I manage to overtake my brother-in-law after we took some photos together.

. Another 5km passed without incident but at the 30km mark, during the start of a few uphill slope as we re-enter the town area, I felt myself slowing down. The upward climb made my right hamstring burn unbearably and it was becoming worse and worse. I tell myself not to stop till the end of the slope, with the reward to allow myself to rest my legs before the final 8km. Yes, I stopped to rest, and immediately regretted it. My right upper thigh started to cramp and when I tried to run again, my legs just wouldn’t listen. I start limping as I tried to run. “Oh shit, not this time!”, I tell myself. At this time, Gee Sin (my brother-in-law) overtakes me. Damn, but he motivate me to increase my pace even through I am in pain. Unbelievably, the more I ran, the pain and cramp started to fade. But, in my mind, I was thinking how long can I sustain this? I try to focus on my breathing and try not to think of the pain, so I manage another good 5km along the coastline without stopping. I saw the final drinking station and stopped to hydrate. Regretted, that’s it! There goes the final 4km. I couldn’t get started again as my legs just totally wouldn’t listen. I walked/run the final 4km

. and from my vantage point, I saw the last five runners including Jeff. As I had stopped running, I started getting cold and started shivering. I was struggling. I kept double-checking my watch to make sure I would make the 6-hour cut-off time.

Finally, I reached the final kilometre and I forced myself to run for a good finish. Still there are no crowds to cheer me up except for a few runners who had completed the race and were heading back home or to their hotels. Finally, I see the familiar sight of the finishing line (it’s the same as the start point) and I cross the finishing line. I am so happy, I feel like crying. My sister, who had finished earlier, came to greet me with a hug and we take some photos together.

I am not the last and I take a look at my watch: 4.15pm, 15 minutes before the cutoff time. Jeff still nowhere in sight. We all waited. Most runners had already left and the organisers were starting to dismantle poles, banners and flags. I prayed to myself, “Jeff, please make it”. Finally, we heard his name over the PA system and we are so excited, we rush out to greet him.

We all make it! YIPPPPPPEEE …

This race will stay long in my memory. Compared to the previous 2 overseas marathons in Japan, this was a stark contrast. This race had many up slopes and even some trail terrain. It was cold but luckily there was no rain. And the most strangest part is there was no one along the street to cheer you on. It was you battling against the elements.

As we slowly walked back to our apartment, I could barely walk, similar to what I had faced after the Kagoshima marathon. Both legs were cramping up, I was shivering due to the biting cold and somehow, we eventually made it back to the warmth and cosiness of our apartment. At the end of the day, it made us stronger mentally and physically. After a hot shower and a quick noodle soup for dinner, we all turned in for an early night, exhausted and grateful for a warm, cosy bed.

Am done. But will never forget you.

Spitsbergen Marathon 2018: My best and coolest ever race Svalbard! Yes, is Svalbard. I have never heard of this place before. This was going to be my third marathon.

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yimlfc · 7 years ago

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Day 4: (Mad)Road

Today I took some craziness with me to ride a free bike while bearing my huge backpack again in order to get to the bus station. I knew my back was fully covered by my sweat and that’s a sign pushing me fast forward.

This late morning was hot and tiring enough to put me to sleep. I got myself a traditional northern food called “Khao Soi” for breakfast.

While having my meal, I was going through google to figure out where I should go either a hippie town, Pai, or downtown of Mae Hong Son. Yet, I hadn’t made any decision before so I needed to do it right away as I was about to leave Chaing Mai. Well…One thing I forgot to tell you guys previously was my mom called me, probably a night before, and said she would love to join me in Mae Hong Son so I was like “Okay mom if you would love to…😉”

(In all actuality, I asked my parents about the trip but they were kind of busy and hadn’t confirmed yet, plus, none of my close friends was free as they already had their list to be done. So what should I do if I’m about to run out of time for holidays but I really want to go out? The answer is shaking off my fear, don’t give a hoot and go somewhere)

After weighing my preference, I ended up going to Pai. Later on, I walked into the station to buy a ticket and let my mom know we’re going to meet up in Pai. All too often, there was merely one seat left in the last row of a van. Felt like I won a lottery…

762 curves to Pai…

Let’s eat before you don’t feel like eating anything anymore

As I heard the reputation of the route from Chiang Mai to Pai, first off, I thought I could easily handle it because I didn’t think I would get car sick but when it came to hundreds of curves, my thought was quickly changed.

I started to get dizzy right after we finished everything at the pit stop (1.5 hrs away from the bus terminal) The driver drove a little bit fast as he got used to the route very well but that extremely made me feel uncomfortable, particularly when I was about to fall asleep and then my head hit against the window over and over again because he took a turn.

pray for me…

Actually, I must say this was kinda nice and fun ride due to a beautiful greenery and the challenging curves along the way.

Van company: Prempracha Lenght: 3-4 hours Price: 150 THB Pick up spot: Chiang Mai Provincial Arcade Bus Terminal

The driver dropped us off at the company’s office located on Pai walking street. I felt so relieved that I was still alive…

I got a grip and started to find out where the nearest bike rental shop was. It was not that hard to find one because there were pretty much in this little town. Eventually, I got a pink zoomer x to travel with me this time.

let’s gooooooo!!!

but wait where is my hostel…

I stood gawkily in front of the shop for a few minutes then the staff asked me where I wanted to go. I showed him a google map and he handed me a paper map back and explained the track…10 minutes later I was finally at the hostel.

I booked a bed at Spicy Pai backpackers for one night stay. Adorable rice paddies, beautiful scenery, and lovely style architecture were the reason why I chose this place. But I unexpectedly got some extra giveaways which were nice staffs and cool friends.

I settled down in my dorm room for a while to rest a little bit and make a plan for today. One bed was already occupied which belonged to Lauren, my one and only roommate, she’s a cool British girl who quits her job to travels and does the volunteer works in Thailand and Asia. Really awesome

Well back to my plan…my first stop was “Pai Canyon”. This place is about 8km far from downtown along the road to Chiang Mai. After I parked my bike, I had to walk up around 5-10 mins to reach the top. I pretty enjoyed a panoramic view up there, a light breeze made me feel better under the afternoon sunlight and the nature trails are quite awesome and challenging. I tried to lean out just to see how deep the valley was then I had to pull myself back at once. It’s not that much high but it’s still dangerous since there is no safety bar and the trails are somewhat slippery, Unfortunately, I couldn’t venture more tracks as I carelessly stumbled over a rock or something and almost slipped (my heart fell into my feet in split second) Plus, I wore sandals which were not suitable for trekking at all so I decided to move to the next spot.

Entrance fee: There is no entrance fee Car park: Available Tips: bring proper shoes and water

Driving only 2 km away from the Canyon, I arrived at “Pai memorial bridge”. This antique bridge offers the story of WWII and became a famous landmark that everyone always makes a visit. There was nothing much to see actually so I just took a short walk through the bridge and again, I always did something clumsily, for this time, I almost lost my phone as I dropped it while taking a photo.

Next up, I dropped by for making merit and praying for my trip again at “Wat Pharthatjomjang”. I needed to walk upstairs to see the relic and there was merely me up there. I got my mind off for a moment and continued my journey again.

Regardless of a mishap, I had so much fun wandering around Pai. My next destination was “Kho-Kuu-So bamboo bridge”. I planned to watch the sunset right there but little did I know that there were big mountains surrounded the area that meant it was not a great location to catch the sunset at all.

Before I’m going to tell you how lovely this place is, I’d love to give you some suggestions, just in case you want to make a visit.

Make sure you can cope with a bumpy road and riding up the mountains. As I read the reviews before that it was a bit difficult to access the bridge but once I reached there, it was definitely worth it.

Spare some time for beautiful landscapes. You might be attracted unawares by nice scenery like I was.

Don’t expect much especially when you go there during the dry season.

Eventually, I made it to the bridge. The place itself was absolutely tranquil in the late afternoon like this and even though I came here during the dry season and the sun nearly went down, it was still beautiful with the yellow and brown rice fields. This is a real getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life. Moreover, I’d like to say it’s a great place where you can give yourself a break. I spent some time sitting on the bridge and taking the full scenery, also let my mind wander and left everything behind for a moment.

Entrance fee: There is no entrance fee Car park: Available Facilities: A small coffee shop Tips: Don’t jump or run on the bridge

On the way back to the town, I pulled over again to capture a beautiful twilight. Darkness gradually came so I was a little bit struggling on the road due to my motorbike light which was not working.

My last stop of the day was “Pai walking street” where you can enjoy the authentic taste of Thai street food. This place is well known as a nice spot to hang out or spend a nightlife. Normal streets were turned into bustling ones at a nighttime. There are a lot of bars, cafes, restaurants and several stalls which offer many kinds of unique local foods and drinks, also lovely souvenirs, and handicrafts all the way along the street. This night market was set up around 4pm to 10pm every day along Chaisongkran and the northern end of Rungsiyanon Road.

Spring roll is not a bad choice, isn’t it?

Khai pam; a simple dish made from eggs cooked in banana leaf

Indeed, my first night here didn’t pass by easily. Firstly, I have to say I used to be a big fan of ice-cold weather but ever since I’ve been to Sapa, I kicked my self out of it. Tonight I had to drive through the coldness back to my hostel and it was such a real torture. I didn’t expect it was gonna be this cool as I brought only a thin sweater with me before the plan was changed to Pai.

But the real savageness just started. It happened while I was taking a shower. A water heater abruptly didn’t work when I needed to rinse my body. Back then, I was like…Could anything be this worse? I decided to wrap my self in a towel and quickly changed to another bathroom but seemed like tonight was not my night for real because there was no heater in that room!!! 😫 …so I went back to the previous one and waited for a moment until the machine started working again.

After getting through an amazing bathtime, I still had to face up to a freezing night. The more I tried to keep myself warm under the blanket, the more I felt so cold. I must say tonight was rough and all I could do was only praying for the sun to come up earlier…lol

Long night ahead of me but I will survive…

Day 5: Pang-Ung is calling

I had a plan trekking to a waterfall this morning so I woke up very early because I was concerning about the time. I had to return my bike around 2pm and the trek took about 5-6 hours long. It would be perfect if I started by now but I couldn’t even pull myself out of the blanket as I got a fever so things I could do were just taking a medicine and had a wasting-time activity – sleeping – a little bit longer to get better and to let the temperature outside get higher, so I could go out and explore the town again.

Look! someone just stole my bed

I woke up again after feeling better. This morning I no longer wanted to drive because I realized how cold it was out there but I was hungry so I had no choice. The coldness engulfed me again while driving and my hands started getting numb, yet, I wasn’t gonna give up for sure. People need food, you know, right? Finally, I got myself a simple meal; porridge rice and Chinese donuts. It was still cold out here but a warm and delicious dish could help a lot.

I was thinking about today’s plan and it turned out to be no plan. Since my trekking was canceled so I had no idea where to go. I finished my meal and was about to wander around. The sun was fully shining and now I could feel the warmth and that made me felt much better to drive again.

My no plan led me to nowhere. I saw a sign of “Tha Pai hot springs” so I followed a course until I reached the destination. You just pay 50THB for an entrance and enjoy a natural hot spring as long as you want. I went on a walkabout in the area and soaked up the warmth. The trail is a circle so you can easily enjoy the entire hot springs. There are bathrooms and changing room right there so don’t worry if you want to dip in a pool.

Entrance fee: 50THB (not sure about the vehicle entrance fee) Car park: Available Facilities: Bathroom, Campground, Restaurant Tips: Beware the heat and follow the rule

I stopped by at a few spots along the way back. I would say I had such a great time here and Pai really got my heart even though many people said this little town had been changed a lot. yeah…I couldn’t agree more but at least there’s still an aura of nature that embraces this peaceful town.

My mom had called me by the time I was back in town seeking a place to sit back. We finished everything-motorbike&stuff and then had lunch together. My parents looked so excited being here as I could see my dad bragged about how much he enjoyed hundreds of curves to Pai.

Khao-soi

Sai Aua (Northern Thai Spicy Sausage)

Aside from taking my parents around the town, today we were heading off to Pang-Ung. The scenic way to Pang-Ung was incredibly beautiful, plus a clear blue sky really brightened up this journey. We sometime stopped by a roadside and a viewpoint where we could enjoy picturesque views and the sea of mountains. Unfortunately, I felt slightly unwell because of my fever was getting higher again so it wasn’t such a pleasant journey like I expected.

However, I was not gonna let anything separate me from the beauty of this journey. We decided to go to “The Bamboo Bridge of Faith and Success: Su Tong Pae” as we realized we had plenty of time left before the sunset.

Once you park a car, you first have to follow a wooden bridge until you walk past the temple then go downstairs, the path will take you to the bamboo bridge in the end. I considered this place as one of the hidden treasures in Mae Hong Son. If you love the serenity, I would definitely recommend this one.

Normally, this bridge was daily used by monks and villagers here. It is 500 meters long across rice fields and the Mae Sa Nga River to link the temple at one end with the village of Kung Mai Saak at the other.

Obviously, the place was completely quiet. There were merely my family and a few people down here and it was such a real privacy that I’d been longing for. We spent 1hr enjoy the gentle late afternoon sunlight which shining perfectly especially when it shone down on the fields. Afterward, we walked up back to the car and continued heading out to Pand Ung again.

The higher we drove up to Pang Ung, the darker we only could see. We heard the sound like a gunshot from time to time while driving and we were wondering what it actually was but we didn’t think much of it so we still kept driving. When we drove past the village, another car coming down from the other side but the road wasn’t wide enough to let 2 cars pass by so we had to draw in a sideway. Suddenly, we felt like we fell into a small hole and then we heard the sound again, this time was louder like we bumped into something. We immediately got out off the car and checked all the way under and around it. We found absolutely nothing but only a scratch on a shoulder so we guessed it was probably a root cause of a strange sound. My dad thoroughly checked the car again to make sure we could keep going to our destination safely. Luckily, nothing was damaged. A local guy came and helped us checking everything. I guess he’s a member of a group that looks after the tourists and I don’t wonder why there is a thing like this due to a steep road.

One thing we could see and that already clarified the gunshot sound we heard before was “the moon”. We totally forgot that there was a lunar eclipse today and it was a special one called “Super blue blood moon”. This natural phenomena refers to a belief of some group of people that they have to shoot straight up into the sky to shove Rahu away.

We started moving again and finally arrived at the homestay complex “Baan Ruam Thai”. The complex/village was just right in front of Pang Ung. There are also other choices for visitors. First, you can rent or take your own tents as there is a beautiful campsite by the lake. Second, if you prefer something more comfortable, chalets near the lake were provided for you as well.

At that time, we just walked in for a room. We paid only 1000-1500THB for three people and we got a lovely small hut in a homestay area and this one was within a walking distance to the lake and through the village. The price was so cheap but the only disadvantage was “no water heater”. It was not going to be a big deal if you are here during summer but during winter…I guess Queen Elsa may come for you…like she comes for me

Accommodation: Jing Homestay Tel: 0806779169

A struggle was real again. I had to fight against my sickness and the x2 coldness over there but whatever, I still had fun anyway.

We had a pretty long ride all day and it was time for dinner. The restaurant was right beside our homestay. We ordered a big meal and enjoy it to the fullest.

Day 6: Beyond the beauty

Pang Ung or “Pangtong2” is one of the Royal Initiative projects by HM Queen Sirikit for highland development.

I got through this freezing night and woke up before the sunrise. Queen Elsa came say hi to me all night long until the morning lol

We walked through the cold until we saw the lake. The sun slightly came out so I could see everything clearer. The mist was spectacularly coming up above the lake. A light wind blew and spread it out like a real heaven. Sunlight was shining through pine forest, also to the water and was creating a naturally beautiful reflection. Everything was a perfect combination for this breathtaking scenery and it was such a priceless moment.

The stunning view in front of me got me speechless. My heart was exhilarating and I was very excited seeing something like this. I must say although it was a bit tricky to reach this place, it was absolutely worth the effort!!!

(click a photo to view a full-size picture)

After spending a quality time around the lake, we went back to the village searching for breakfast. Lung Pala Guest House & Homestay was a place where we were going to have a tasty meal today. There are a variety of dishes with an acceptable price. The ambiance was so fine especially an innermost small shed which was perfect for chilling out and impressing a lush nature.

Entrance fee: There is no entrance fee Car park: Available Tips: 1) Drive carefully 2) Make sure you book a room to stay in advance especially on holidays

Later on, we checked out and drove further North to the next destination called “Baan Rak Thai”. This place is best known for nice views and tea cultivation. I’m not gonna say this is a must since I see it’s just fine. Nothing’s special or outstanding. Probably, my expectation is too high. However, it’s still a good place to catch up and spend some time chill out by the lake.

The time had come and we almost had to say goodbye to this trip. We made a short stop at a few places including a viewpoint while traveling homeward. “KAREN LONG NECK VILLAGE” was one of interesting places to make a visit in Mae Hong Son. We were right at the entrance then had to walk a little bit downhill to the village. The picture I imagined was pretty much different from reality. It was a place set up as a market. Each stall sells almost the same kind of stuff such as fabric, handicraft, postcard, magnet, and jewelry. Nevertheless, the vendors, who are Karen, are super friendly and willing to answer what you’re curious about their cultures or neck rings but make sure not to ask a too much personal question.

In short, the overall was not bad and it was such a good experience having a chance visited this place. I was happy to open my world and see something new and unique like this in Thailand.

Last but not least, I’m so thankful to each and every one who helps me through this trip. I truly wanted to prolong my holidays but I know it’s impossible. Even though it was just six days, I’ve gained a lot of valuable experiences from this journey and also realized that “if I put my dreams on hold for somebody else, I will probably never have a chance to do it, and it the end, I will only regret the chance I didn’t take”

Chiang Mai & Mae Hong Son, see you down the road!

Don’t forget to check out my latest video click here

Getaway [Thailand 2018]: Mae Hong Son ep.2 Day 4: (Mad)Road Today I took some craziness with me to ride a free bike while bearing my huge backpack again in order to get to the bus station.

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myphotobucketlist-blog · 7 years ago

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Where To Go For Photography In Iceland

Ok, so I want to write this blog in hopes of saving some photographer out there a lot of time. I went to Iceland and I ended up spending a TON of time researching endless shit websites that gave me clickbait information on tourist hotspots in Iceland. These are all the spots I suggest you visit if you're looking at going to Iceland. I will warn you, this blog is long and comprehensive, but hopefully it helps.

For this blog I will break Iceland down to:

How to get there

When to go

How to plan out your trip

What clothes to bring

What camera equipment to bring

How to stay

What to eat

Where to photograph

I promise each section will have some solid nuggets of gold but if you are just looking for places to photograph start scrolling to the bottom.

How To Get There

In 2016 an estimated 2 million tourists visited Iceland. Keep in mind the population of Iceland is around 334,000. Because there are so many tourists, air travel prices have dropped significantly and it's not uncommon to find tickets for $200-300 round trip. If you are traveling from the US, Iceland Air has direct flights to a number of key cities. I ended up traveling to Norway then doing Iceland Air's Stopover where you book a flight from a European City (I chose Oslo) and then have a long layover in Iceland before continuing on to your US destination. Under this system you can stay up to 7 nights in Iceland. My airfare was $122 for the one way (yes you read that right). I even paid for the barter upgrade where you tell them how much you'd be willing to pay for an upgrade and if you beat the other cheap bastards on the flight you get your own bougie first class seat.

Another solid option is WOW Air which is kind of like the Spirit Airlines of Iceland. If you don't mind tight seats, add-on charges for baggage and window seats and you can suck it up, I'd recommend taking a look at them.

In addition to WOW and Icelandair, United, Delta and now American Airlines all have service to Iceland. However, the US carriers tend to run seasonal routes so be sure to check them out for exact dates.

When To Go

Because Iceland is so far North, when you go can matter a lot. There isn't necessarily a better time to go because it really depends on what you're looking to do when you get there. If you're going for photography I'd suggest going sometime after October to around April. If you go during the summer you will be battling some annoying ass crowds, tour bus trains and random people who just park their car in the middle of the highway, get out and then take a shit photo of nothing important. You will hardly see any sunsets because the sun will be in the sky throughout the day and night. You also wont be able to see the Northern Lights during the summer.

I went in October and had some great luck with weather and lighting. Because of the angle of Iceland in relation to the sun there were sunrises and sunsets that lasted for hours. Also, the weather wasn't too bad and we had some great cloud cover that made for some amazing light and photos. I haven't been in the spring so I can't speak too much on that time of year but I hear it's equally as nice.

How To Plan Your Trip:

So obviously this one is a big one that could take more than just a paragraph in a blog. However, I do have a few recommendations.

When my sister and I went we decided to drive the entire Highway 1 that circumnavigates the island. If you choose to do this I would strongly recommend taking more than 7 days like we did. We ended up spending a ton of time in the car and we weren't able to spend enough time at the places we really liked. If you have 5-7 days I would suggest driving the southern part of the island, all the way to the Jokulsarlon Ice Beach (also known as Diamond Beach.) On that drive you will hit a ton of waterfalls, the famous crashed airplane and the Ice Beach. Skogafoss, Vik and Hofn are all great places to stay as well. The drive from Reykjavik to Höfn will take you around 5-6 hours so spaced out over a few days isn't too bad. You can always turn around and make the drive back or there are flights from Höfn back to the main airport.

If you have a few days check out the west tip where the star above is labeled Kirkjufellsfoss. The entire peninsula is absolutely gorgeous and you won't be disappointed with the amount of great photography spots.

I would avoid going to the Blue Lagoon which is about 30 min south of Reykjavik. You have to make a reservation to get in, usually a week or two in advance and the entire thing is a giant tourist trap. If you want to hit a hot springs you can be rest assured there are plenty of other ones that are way less expensive and off the beaten path.

If you want a real fun day trip consider diving Silfra. This is a fresh water lake that has a point where you can dive down and touch the Eurasian/American contents at the same time. It is a dry suit dive and cold as balls but still one of the most memorable parts of my trip.

If you have 10 days or more I would certainly recommend driving the entire ring road. Iceland is one of those places that no matter where you go you will find something absolutely amazing. If you're not sure what something is, look for the word Foss which means waterfall. The entire country is littered with waterfalls and by the time you leave you will never give two shits about another waterfall again because they wont be better than what you saw in Iceland. Waterfalls that people travel hours to visit in the US are literally on the side of the road and people pass them like they a no big deal.

What To Wear:

I know this may be a give-me but I definitely didn't pack the right clothes. When I went in October it wasn't super cold but it was a wet cold. I took a puff jacket with me that did a decent job but I'd strongly recommend getting a good windbreaker, puff jacket, rain jacket, waterproof gloves and waterproof boots. Also, if you really want to get fancy with it I'd recommend bringing some waders for Jokulsarlon because you will be standing super close to the waves to get the shots you want and if you're like me you will get soaked up to your waist in ice cold water. Another pro tip is to bring enough shirts, socks and underwear with you that you don't have to do laundry because there aren't a ton of laundry facilities on the Island, especially outside of Reykjavik.

What Camera Equipment To Bring:

Ok, in this section I am going to nerd out a little bit, mainly because there are some things I wish I would have done differently.

First and foremost, bring a good camera. If you can't afford a good camera, rent one. I actually ended up renting the Canon 5D Mark IV on this trip and later I bought it. I knew I'd be pissed if missed the photo of a lifetime because I didn't have the right camera. You can rent the Canon 5D Mark IV for around $250 for a seven day trip, I promise you it's worth it. I used lensrentals.com but there are a bunch of other great websites out there that have great deals. If you want a couple of recommendations of a good travel option consider the Sony a6500. I just bought this camera and I think it would have been an awesome back-up/travel camera for the trip.

Bring a tripod. This is a must for photographing the waterfalls and the northern lights. If you want to drop that shutter-speed and get that nice whispy look you will need to get a good tripod.

Bring a remote shutter release. You can use the timer on your camera but if you get lucky enough to see the northern lights you will want to be able to quickly snap away because it changes so quickly.

Bring the right lenses. I would suggest bringing a good 24-70mm, a fast wide angle (really good for the northern lights), and a 70-200mm or better lens. You will go from shooting wildlife to big wide angle shots all in the same area.

Bring an adapter. Iceland uses a 220v system. I would recommend picking up a multi-plug outlet that can charge your batteries and phones all at once. I found a lot of the hotel rooms would only have one or two outlets and my sister and I would have to plan dinner and other events around coming back and charging our different accessories. If you lose your adapter or forget one go ask the hotel staff if they have any. We did that one night and the dude behind the counter pulled out a giant box of adapters that had been left behind by other guests.

Bring extra batteries. If you're like me you will get to an amazing spot and start losing your mind and snap a million photos. I started crushing my battery life and I am really happy I brought extra batteries and battery chargers.

Bring extra SD Cards. If you don't bring a computer and hard-drive to off-load your photos onto, bring a lot of SD Cards. Make sure the card has a U3 on it so it can handle you snapping a million photos at once (important for the Northern Lights).

Bring protective covers. Depending on when you go you could experience some heavy rain. I'd recommend bringing some good rain covers for you and your equipment. This is also important if you photograph any of the waterfalls closely.

Bring a drone. I know drones aren't everyone's forte but Iceland is a clutch place to fly a drone. I didn't bring one but I really wish I did.

Where To Stay:

I am going to make this one brief because it really depends on where you go, how long you're there for and what you want to accomplish. I booked all my hotels with points/money through United and through Kayak.com. The hotels there are not cheap so I'd recommend looking at renting an RV, getting a sleeper car or looking at a VRBO/AIRBNB option. All of the hotels I stayed in were nice, well looked after and offered all the basic amenities.

What To Eat:

I know you might be wondering why I am going to tell you what to eat, but just hear me out. Food in Iceland is unbelievably expensive and for the most part it sucks (sorry if you're Icelandic and reading this.... Make better food.) The entire time I didn't have one meal where I sat there and thought "wow, that was good." We went to a lot of gas stations (a lot of which have diners in them), hotel restaurants and even recommended restaurants and all of them were pretty much an overall let down. My recommendation? Bring your own food. There isn't much in the way of restrictions on food items and you could get away with bringing soups, noodle bowls, protein bars and other stuff pretty easily. Can't be that bad you say? My sister and I ate at a restaurant, had two bowls of soup, two potato cakes and water and our bill was $45. Want to eat something more substantial? Then be prepared to shell out some cash. The other thing to consider is there aren't a lot of shops and supermarkets once you get outside of Reykjavik so if you plan on doing lots of hiking and photography pay to bring an extra bag on the plane and fill it full of some good fat kid snacks.

What To Photograph:

The moment we have all been waiting for. The golden nuggets of wisdom of where to shoot those photos that your friends will like the shit out of on your Instagram account and tell you you're amazing and you say "no Vikki, you're amazing" with some emoji heart next to it.

The map at the top of the page is my recommended places to go so as I go through these locations with photos you can go back and see what I am talking about.

Seljalandsfoss

This is the first of many waterfalls (see that foss which means waterfall?) along HW 1 that is a 1.5hr drive from Reykjavik and is absolutely stunning. Note this one is not shown above because my sister reminded me of it later and I am too lazy to go back and change the image. This one is full of tourists because of how easy it is to get there but it's worth the stop. My suggestion, along with a lot of these places is to arrive super early or late to avoid the crowds.

Skogafoss

Skogafoss is about 20-30 minutes past Seljalandsfoss and equally as crowded. However, it's a great place to spend the night and of all the meals I ate in Iceland that place was on the better-ish side. This is a great place to catch a nice sunrise waterfall shot since the sun comes up to the east of the falls and kind of behind it.

Sólheimasandur Plane Crash

In 1973 a US Navy DC3 crashed onto the beach at Sólheimasandur. All of the crew walked away but the wreckage remained and has since become one of the most iconic photography spots in Iceland and another tourist hotbed. There is no designated spot for the trail to the plane other than a ton of cars on the side of the road. There is a path that leads up to the plane that looked more like a pilgrimage when we were there. This is one spot that you should only go to on the off season, on an off day at an off time. By the time I left I wanted to kill any one of the hundred tourists there flipping peace signs to selfie sticks in front of the airplane. Trying to get a good shot of the plane on its own was almost impossible. On top of that it was about a mile walk to the plane, both ways and I hate walking, it's boring. However, I did manage to get a few cool pics and I'm sure at the right time it could make for some amazing shots for someone else.

Vik

We ended up just driving through Vik but I wish we had more time to stop there. I have seen some photographers take some incredible shots from Vik and the surrounding areas. A good option is to stay in Vik which is one of the larger towns in Iceland and then travel from there for photography. From Vik you can reach almost all of the solid photography spots within a couple of hours.

Jökulsárlón

Jökulsárlón beach and glacier are probably one of the most stunning things I have seen and photographed in my life. It's a 100% must see item. If you're a photographer I would suggest going here if you can only go one place. I actually had this one on my bucketlist and I ended up writing a full blog just on the spot. The beach is a solid 4.5-5 hour drive so don't be afraid to take a puddle jumper to Höfn if you want to save some time. For a pro-tip consider getting a 4-wheel drive car that you can use to drive down the beach away from some of the crowds.

Dettifoss

Dettifoss is absolutely amazing and considered the most powerful waterfall in Europe. This massive waterfall drops 150 feet and is 100 yards wide and was featured in the movie Prometheus. Depending on where you approach the waterfall from you can literally walk up to the very edge of it. I would suggest going to the waterfall off of road 864 from the East, I personally believe it's a much better view and it had a lot less tourists.

Another good option while you are at Dettifoss is to head North down the river along the path. There are some spectacular views. This is especially amazing for sunset since you will be looking west as the sun sets over the river and waterfalls.

Myvatn

Myvatn is another "larger" town and has some pretty incredible views. We ended up staying at the Laxá Hotel which looks like something out of a James Bond film. The surrounding areas have hot springs, waterfalls and a gorgeous lake. There is also a small cave that houses some intensely hot water that is great to checkout but not recommended for swimming since the water is too hot. In this part of Iceland the climate becomes very dry making for some intense desert shots. There is little to no vegetation and it's a lot of driving between scenic places but if you have the time it's worth the trip.

Aldeyjarfoss

Aldeyjarfoss is 1.5 hour drive from Myvatn and includes some fairly sketchy roads towards the end. You should be able to get there in most rental cars unless there is bad weather but be careful when your driving. The waterfall offers a stark contrast against the Black Basalt Rocks. It's also far enough off the beaten path that you shouldn't have too many crowds. This was actually one of my favorite places to go.

Kirkjufellsfoss

This is arguably one of the most photographed spots in Iceland. This waterfall and area is located in west Iceland and requires you to get off highway 1. The town of Grundarfjörður is about 10 min away from the waterfall and has hotels, restaurants and anything you would need to stay for awhile. The waterfall itself is full of tourists and it's difficult to get a shot where someone isn't in it. My sister was able to brave the crowds and rain while I sat in the car and had a half assed attempt at getting good shots with my zoom lens from the parking lot. That being said, the waterfall isn't the only amazing place to photograph there. The entire peninsula is covered in drastic mountains and gorgeous terrain.

Honorable Mentions:

The above is where we spent the majority of our time so those are the spots that I can best advise on. However, on my next trip these are the spots I'd like to go back to:

Puffin boat tour- those little orange billed bastards would be awesome to photograph. Apparently this is a seasonal thing but certainly on the bucketlist

Aerial tour- All of the aerial photos I have seen of Iceland have been absolutely stunning. I will be splurging on this one next time.

Vestrahorn- This is on the southern part of Iceland but features some incredible landscapes and beaches.

Landmannalaugar- These are the southern highlands of Iceland and apparently fairly difficult to get to. They feature drastic mountains, glaciers and stunning sunsets/sunrises.

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minxybabetalks-blog · 7 years ago

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Maybe it was the physical act of changing locations or psychologically knowing that I’m officially away from the daily grind, but I haven’t been this calm in quite some time.

My plane got in at 5:00 am (Iceland’s time zone) and let’s just start with how amazing their airport is! First stop is currency exchange and I’m thinking I have a lot of money to start with. No ma’am Pam. It’s hella expensive in Iceland and I’m not talking about airport goodies. The entire country is on inflation. And let me tell you, to my shock and delight, there are black and hispanic people living in Iceland. Moving along.

Peep the sunrise as I take the shuttle into Reykjavic. Stellar!!

Sunrise In Iceland

I chose to stay at Kex Hostel based off some quick but thorough research. I wanted to be surrounded by people that were friendly but minded their business. That’s what I got. The atmosphere was extra cozy, filled with food, drinks, music and books. The endless chatter from the guests wasn’t obnoxious at all. It felt like the best of a local book shop as you sip tea (or coffee if you’re into that) while you catch up on the Sunday news or browse a new book. I ate breakfast of porridge with muesli, lemon mint tea, and a spicy pate with ground wheat crackers, tomatoes and cucumbers. AH-mazing!!

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Check-in wasn’t until 2 pm and I had hours to kill. I booked the tour for Golden Circle Day Tour which would take a drive around the countryside with stops at the Litli Geyser and the Secret Lagoon. I wanted to go to the Blue Lagoon but I wasn’t aware of how packed that place gets and that I needed to book it well in advance of coming. Lesson learned. I can’t just wing it all the time. But I have no regrets about the Secret Lagoon. More on that later.

Of the things I forgot to pack up, my converter and adapter for my electronics. I stowed my bag away and headed into town. I got what I needed at the local convenience store, grabbed a quick snack at the local bakery and toured for a bit. Maybe it was due to the fact that their tourism has exploded in the past few years. Some 2-3 million visitors a year with a population size of less than 400K. I was the lone black person and not even a eye was blinked. Everyone, EVERYONE, spoke English just as fluently as they spoke their native language. A woman did comment how she loved the color of my braids but it was in such a way that she saw braids before and the particular colors I used was nice. Nor did she give me the inkling that she was about to make a grab for them like I was a new teacup poodle.

Seeing familiar sights of restaurants like Dominoes and Subway.

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Comforts from home

Subway’s a safe bet

A dedicated museum/gallery dedicated to dicks (or phallics, whatever is pc for you).

Suitable dick pic? The Icelandic Phallological Museum

On tour, there was so much to see and take in. The serenity of Iceland is indescribable. Now, I have a serious disdain for horses, but these horses, Icelandic horses (don’t call them ponies) didn’t smell (maybe it’s because of the Icelandic air), were friendly, small and understood multiple languages (or so the tour guide bragged). I allowed myself to pet them. Their fur was so soft and incredible. Have one of them playfully bump in my chest was funny. He thought I had food for him and I had to quickly let him know that I was broke and times were hard.

We stopped by the Sprungna fissure, which is an awesome and overwhelming experience. As told by the tour guide, we were in the valley created by the tectonic plates between the North American and European continents. I was seriously sending out prayers that the Earth did not decide to show off it’s power and move the earth while I was inside of it. Dying on the first day of my trip from being swallowed by the earth is not on my itinerary. With that being said, we bus stopped over the bridge so I actually go to stand in the space where two continental shelves meet. Can you wrap your head around that?

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We stopped by the Litli Geyser. I was able to eat some great, albeit expensive, food. I walked along the geysers. One geyser in the distance erupted and I got to see it from a ways back but the one closest to me, punked me. It looked like was about to erupt, but, after 15 mins, all it did was steam, sputter and cough. Oh well. Moving along.

Our next stop was the Secret Lagoon hot springs. One of the most incredible experiences of my life, thus far. I can’t compare it to any other hot spring since I’ve never tried one, but I’m in love with this one and want to make this an annual health vacation for myself. Having to strip down in cold weather, walk out in to the cold in a wet body, QUICKLY get my ass from cold rock to heated water. That’s a shock to the body. But, man, that water was amazing. Filled with all these minerals, I felt toxins leave my body (no exaggeration). Every bit of stress that I had built up in my body over the last few years was leached out. I braved the cold one more time for a glass (plastic though) of wine and floated around. I played some Bachata threw my phone (Prince Royce), I rubbed my toes all through the heated black rocks at the bottom of the springs (insta-massage). The water was so clear!!! The rocks lining the pool was heated so the water at the edges was hotter than the center. I don’t know if there is a heaven, but this is that experience where you think that this must be that. My level of relaxation went from 0 to 100. I was a mushy mess leaving. All the dead skin on my body was gone and my skin was smooth and hydrated. Not that I was dirty (you have to thoroughly wash before going in) but, like I said, the toxins just came out of me. I didn’t even want to walk anymore, cursing the universe for not let me be able to float like I wanted.

I slept on the drive back. It wasn’t even a choice. We arrived back at the hostel and I grabbed some wine, tea and food (expensive as heck) and regret nothing. To top off the night, Kex Hostel has a nightly Jazz session. It was good music, too. I’ve heard better Jazz but coupled with the trip, the fresh, clean air, the hot springs, and a full belly of good organic food, this would be the best Jazz session I’ve ever attended. I curled up on the couch, sipped my tea and zoned out with the rest of the guest.

What’s a great description of my interaction with everyone? PERSONAL SPACE. I had all I wanted, but I didn’t feel invisible.

My overall feeling of Iceland is one of peace and simplicity. Knowing that there are PoC living there made me think that this place could be a viable option to move to. That’s one of the goals of this trip. I’m long over living in the US. Everyone was chill, friendly and interesting. I must note that I finally saw another black woman later that night at Kex as well as this gorgeous Pakistani woman that was dorm mates with me. We chatted it up over tea and wine. Sharing stories with another woman from Germany who was on a similar journey as me.

I never did get to see those Northern Lights. Considering that I spent a lot for the day trip, limited funds for 6 weeks of travel, I just couldn’t swing shelling out more for a 3 hour night trip to see lights that may or may not happen. Next time, though.

A few things that would stop me. It’s cold there. I know, you’re thinking “No shit, Sherlock”. Hear me out. It’s not a slap you in the face cold like upstate NY, but an insidious cold that creeps in on the cellular level and it was only October. The natives clothing choice is built for necessity. If I never wanted to go out again or needed witness protection, this would be the place to escape to. I would have to make peace with letting go of material possession as their culture promotes interaction with their environment. They are truly outdoorsy people and I find it so cool. For now, it’s a consideration for my next move.

Another note, don’t let these cheap flight to Iceland distract you from the fact that it’s crazy expensive to live here. Carry on…

Twenty-four hours later, I’m up in the air. I had a total of 4 hours of sleep in a 2 day period but I left much more calm and collected, serene, than I’ve ever felt in my life. Maybe, it’s worth giving up all I know, if this is a feeling I can always have.

Next stop, Amsterdam.

#PassportsUp

Day 2: Icelandic Magic – Serenity Maybe it was the physical act of changing locations or psychologically knowing that I'm officially away from the daily grind, but I haven't been this calm in quite some time.

#blog #hostel #hotsprings #inspiration #mental health #relaxation #travel #trip

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smoothshift · 7 years ago

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GT350 Roadtrip: 1 week, 9 states, 4400miles. Lengthy post, pics included. via /r/cars

GT350 Roadtrip: 1 week, 9 states, 4400miles. Lengthy post, pics included.

TLDR: It was a lengthy but short roadtrip. You're welcome.

Ain't got no time for readin and stuff? I got you: http://ift.tt/2vmKRwc

States visited: OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, CO, UT, AZ, NV

Notable locations: Glacier National Park, Pike's Peak, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Zion National Park, Shelby Museum/Factory/Store

I left San Francisco on Saturday 8/12 at 5:30AM. Returned Saturday 8/19 at 11:45PM. Following are the notes I took on the trip and recollections after. I hope you enjoy. I certainly did.

Northern California: Nothing notable, I live here. Took 80 East to 505 North, later merging into 5 North. Met two guys with built-out BRZs in Suisun Valley; they were headed to a meet. Cars were tastefully modded and I favored the burnt orange and black wing combo car. Didn't talk long, but the burnt orange guy wanted to know if I was "driving the ecoboost?" Nah, this isn't the ecoboost. Those are good cars, though, and I envy the MPG.

Oregon: Fast-forwarding to the land of "thou shalt not pump your own gas." Really weird but whatever, Oregon has the most beautiful semi-populated back country I've seen. Didn't find any technical driving roads but the long straights and gentle sweepers were nice. Fantastic ranches you guys have, btw, wow. When the sun hits the golden fields as you're blasting by and the horses look up ya think, huh. I can dig this. P.S. your speed limits are terrible, not updated since 1912 or some such.

Washington: Ah, crossing the border with that feeling of anticipation, the wonder of sights unseen, the joy of... 2 KA bands and 1 laser hit. WTF Washington, nice welcome wagon you got there. But you're not done, no sir or ma'am. Pasco, WA, aka interchange city. So. Many. KA. Bands. And. 2. Laser. Hits. I get it, you need the revenue. But not from me. Motored along merrily on 90NE/E to Spokane, crossing into Idaho.

Idaho: Coeur d'Alene. Wow. Amazing roads; long sweepers in the mountains, gentle and lengthy elevation changes and fantastic scenery. You win, Idaho.

Montana: I'm on the way to Glacier National Park. 3 things of note in this state:

1 - "Keep Right Except to Pass." I've seen posts about this on r/Cars and never really "got it", but now I do. Montananians have this down to a science and it works. Granted the population is sparse but its a model of managing traffic flow and speed. Consider me a full-time convert.

2 - I pulled in to a rest stop on Highway 2; it was 11:30 at night and the area poorly lit. A family was setting up a giant tent on the grass; it was just them, me and a semi parked in the lot. Blacked out the car windows (sunscreen and blankets) and made myself cozy. 3AM and I'm suddenly awake, its time to visit the facilities and take care of urgent business. As I approach the men's room I hear a noise, it's a loud buzzing and a man's booming voice. Montana rest stops have speakers playing the weather report ("The weather in Big Fork was clear, and the wind was..."). This speaker was blown due to the loud volume setting. Creepy at 3AM, moreso with dim fluorescent lighting. Good news though: Bathroom is clean and I've got my choice of two stalls. I take the luxury stall aka the doublewide aka the handicapped version. Oh. Lock is broken. NP, I switch to the economy stall and run down the checklist. Door locks, check. Floor and seat clean, check. Enough TP to build an assnest on the seat, check. We're locked and loaded and I'm going in, Cap'n. Except for one thing: The lone bit of graffiti on the door. It read: "8/11. Let's %$# or at least piss on me. Tap foot." Imagine its 3AM and you're groggy with so few hours of sleep and that's me, mouth slightly open, brow furrowed with squinty eyes trying to comprehend this lonely missive of love and bodily fluids. First thought: Is it the 11th? No, ok good. Second: I'm the only one in here. Third: I no longer have the urge to do anything but GTFO; the creepy factor went from 3/10 to 10/10. Not that it mattered to the disembodied man's distorted voice; he continued belting out the weather report as I left a contrail of relief denied.

3 - Glacier National Park. My first must-see destination and it was so worth it. Lovely, narrow roads albeit packed with appliance cars. On the West Glacier Road there's a spot to park and take a shuttle bus up. Not for me but it's a popular thing. Some tourists get bored waiting and attempt to hitchhike; as I rounded a curve I saw a hitchhiker sorta gently shove his (I presume) SO away and say loudly in his Brit accent, "I know what I'm about!" Hey brother. You're ok hitchhiking in a park, but don't do that anywhere else. Unless you like the song Goodbye Horses in which case have at it. Anyway, GNP: Pictures can't convey it well, nor can they convey the batshit crazy old lady driving a minty green Fiat ... Fiat uh, not the Abarth but the lower spec model. Old lady, her Fiat and personal GNP Formula 1. Like everyone else she'd pull over for pics, but when I saw her coming I got out of the way.

Wyoming: Plains. Plains as far as the eye can fall asleep.. I kid. Beautiful state, really. Pulled over and listened to a thunderstorm slowly roar across the open land. Amazing, spiritual, awe-inspiring. Congrats, Wyomingians. All 3 of you.

Colorado: Colorado is amazing, and as a California native I'm genetically predisposed to moving there. But don't worry, Coloradorians.. eh, Coloradori, F it, lets just go with Pot Smoking REI Junkies and Rednecks. As I was saying, I won't move there, ever. Not me. Nuh uh. Well. Not unless I get bored, or ... wait. Wait a second. Huh. Zillow says I can buy how many bedrooms, with how big a garage and a backyard that's spacious in a good neighborhood for how much? Hmmmm.

Pike's Peak. You've heard about it. If you've not gone, go. Don't expect a Hill Climb though, the usual appliance cars and Lifted Lambos (trucks) clog the roads - although I did get lucky in spots, and did a Matt Farah a few times by making a gap on the straights. 14k elevation, no big deal, I've done that before in Ladakh (India, Himalaya foothills). Think again, that 14k kicked my ass. Just taking pictures of the car was wearing me out. While at the summit some lady hiked down (apparently there's a trail) and needed rescue, she simply could not climb up. I believe it.

Great Sand Dunes National Park. Yep. It's sandy. The approach road (well outside of the park) is minimal to no traffic, you can go 10 mins without seeing a car. I may or may not have done a triple. Or as I call it, 25 MPH in Mexican school zone. Because I'd never do that in the US. Not me.

Small towns. We all know its common for small towns to be speed traps. Colorado small towns take it to the next level. Its dark, I'm in BFE, and 1-2-3 small towns in a row: K Band, X Band, KA Band, no apparent falses. In one case the local popo followed me about 3 miles out of town. My very first police escort, I'm so proud.

Montrose, CO. I'm a coffee nerd so this trip has been mostly hell. The hell of McD's coffee or worse, gas station coffee. Swill. So what makes Montrose, CO, special? La Zona Colona Coffee off Highway 550. You're going to pass it when heading to Silverton, so stop. Clean outside and in, tastefully done decor and, crucially, outstanding coffee with what seems to be an extra dose of caffeine. I suspect this because it wasn't long before I was road raging pretty hard, I mean come on. LANE CAMPERS RADKJEKEJREKJFDKJ gargle scream do nothing but wait to pass. Yep. Road raging. Best coffee I've ever had.

Silverton,CO. Quaint, preserved old-timey Western town. They even have a steam train and stagecoach, actual ones that move along and make old-timey choo choo noises and whatever sounds horses make. Popular place.

Highway 550 to Durango. Rounded a curve and a blond guy with man bun waved me down. He and his GF were stuck, older Toyota with a dead battery and as it turns out, bad alternator. I had a battery charger but no cables (ugh) so he plugged it to the battery and we waited. I suggested waving down a truck as those guys must have cables. Cars go by, no one stops or acknowledges his waving. Weird; he's young, good looking and dressed in Mountain Chic - I mean, he's not scary looking and its full daylight. Finally a red F150 stops, older guy with cables. He's a little sauced, not drunk but he's had a few. Engine turns over and I follow the Toyota couple a while, and it dies again. This happened 4x til we made it to the guy's house in Durango. On the last pullover the red F150 guy shows up again. "I wanna see how fast this Shelby can go," he says, slightly slurred, "It's ok, I party with the cops in Durango." This was just not gonna happen, Durango's not a little town with deserted roads and I didn't see any signs for open track night. I politely ignored him and we got the Toyota couple home, wished them luck and off I went.

Utah: I dunno, it's Utah. Mostly impressed with the people vs. the places, although those are nice too.

Four Corners. Not sure what I expected, maybe something grand to commemorate 4 state borders, maybe some good dining and driving roads. Nope. You get a short dusty road (fine, its the arid desert), a $5 entry fee, signs saying cremated remains cannot be spread here (huh, who, why?), vendors selling Navajo-themed jewelry and stuff and that thing. That thing set in concrete marking the celebration of 4 state borders meeting. I was done before I got there and was walking back to the car when I saw her. No, not the love of my life. Rather a woman wearing an awesome tshirt which just then struck me as hilarious. Pic taken. Nice lady, she was a riot. She liked the GT350 too.

Zion National Park. 105 degrees. Two European guys driving below the speed limit in a rental Focus. I get it, you're here to see the sights. But uh, pull over. Thanks bye.

Kanab: Nothing notable here other than I stayed in the Quality Inn's "suite." But there was one cool encounter at the local car wash (I detail my car religiously): Mr. Walker with his 1965 Thunderbird. OMG. Maroon paint, black leather interior, dusty engine. Overall excellent shape (driving condition, not concours) and he's the second owner with all maintenance records from new. Mr. Walker liked the Shelby and had a lot of questions; I had just as many for him. He showed his car and apologized for being unable to wipe down the front and rear chrome due to his age. Not a problem, yours truly wiped it down for him and it was a pleasure doing so. What a car. Tip of the cap to you, sir.

Nevada AKA Las Vegas: Stopped to visit the Shelby Factory, Museum and Shop. The shop is the first thing you see once inside and lemme tell ya. Need a Shelby leather coat? They got you, Holmes. Socks, tshirts, bottle opener, model car, hat, travel mug, earrings, key chain? No problemo. I made a dad joke (tm, not an actual dad) after buying some shirts: So uh, you guys have everything, literally everything for sale, don't you? Sales lady: (thinking FFS not this again): Yes, we do. Me: Great, I'm in the market for a new fridge. Sales lady: Points to her left and there it is, a I-kid-you-not-Shelby-branded-fridge. Joke's on me; abort abort mission failure RTB.

Walked outside and there was an Aussie family sorta standing by my car. The dad went on about how much they liked it, and a US friend of his was considering buying one. Told him to tell his friend, yep, buy it.

... And that's pretty much it. Went to SoCal but there's 2 kinds of SoCal: coastal (nice) and inland desert (less nice). At Barstow I couldn't take it anymore, GTA got crappy desert towns right. Connnected to 5 North and pulled over for gas: $3.89 for premium, the good ole welcome home price. Drove 6 hours north to SF, woke up the GF and flopped right into bed. Best parts about coming home: GF reunion, Game of Thrones and 7 hours detailing the car. Still haven't got all the bug bits off the grille.

Random stats:

23.1 MPG

Cheapest gas / Premium: $2.48 (Wyoming, Ethanol blend)

Oil consumption: 2 quarts

Breakdowns and flats: 0

Truck Stop Hookers Observed: 2

Drunk Drivers Observed: 1

Accidents seen (after the fact): 3

Road rage battles seen: 1 (SoCal. Of course)

Live deer: Too many (Montana, but especially Colorado)

Dead deer: 12 +

#reddit #autonews #auto #cars

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