We leave for our trip in under two weeks now! Between my husband, myself and little Dylan, we’ve got the minimum of our lives packed up to trek out to the wilderness of Iceland to set up camp around the island.
I cannot even rightly express how excited I am about this trip. We’ve been planning it for a while now. Although we’ve camped many, many times in the past…toward the west, in the heart of Yellowstone or all the way from the North to the South along the East coast of America, I know nothing will really prepare us for the unforgiving weather and wilderness of Iceland. Even at regular campsites with full showers, I know we will be tested up against mother nature with the cool nights and the likely potential of rain and wind storms. No, from what I’ve heard, Iceland doesn’t have the calm, warm, dry August nights like here in Illinois. I have to say, that’s part of it all, traveling to different parts of the world and taking it in for exactly what it is.
Yet aside from all the absolutely beautiful photography I’ve seen, aside from the aquarium and whale museum I know Dylan will be in complete awe of, and aside from having this opportunity to go to another place off my long list of places I dream to travel to, this trip will be so much more than that. This trip will really bring us back to the sheer simplicity of life again.
I am looking forward to the people we will meet, the opportunity to make new friends and to have the chance to see how others live their lives, for we will be immersed in their culture. I’m looking forward (as I do every camping trip) to fall asleep and wake up in the middle of the outdoors and the sounds of nature that go along with it. Nothing beats the fresh morning scents after being bundled tight against the cool night air. I’m excited for the new experiences we will come across, experiences completely different from our everyday life. I am excited for the memories that will be made and the lessons that will be learned. Especially the lessons Dylan will learn. This has to be life changing for a 4 year old. Camping and being immersed in such raw beauty is not anything anyone at any age can walk away from unchanged.
I have heard Iceland is a place like no other and I am sure the moment we set foot on the island it will be clear to see. Yet no matter how many photographs are out there, no matter how much information there is to read, none of it can replace the actual experience of being there. Nothing can replace the experience of being in the center of what this beautiful world has to offer.
Travel, to me, is one of the greatest opportunities anyone can take. It gets us away from the superficial ‘things’ that somehow tend to creep into our lives. It brings us closer to nature once again, especially if camping. Travel not only helps us clear our minds, bringing us back down to earth again, but it helps us find ourselves again. Traveling to places where you are left to do nothing but be surrounded by the vast beauty of our world reminds us once again of our place. It reminds us of the fact we are small against this big, beautiful, vast, powerful planet.
So I won’t be posting while we’re gone, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be writing. I know I will have plenty to share when we get back.
Leave a Reply