Iceland was one of the most unique and different trips I’ve ever made. Mainly because there was no specific city to explore or travel to.. only an island of ice, sharp mountains and squashy moss.

The set up for the trip was also bit pleasant and a bit strange as well. I was going to meet my girlfriend at the time who was living in Amsterdam, and also travel with someone who has been an extremely close friend since Highschool that, just a few months before, had abruptly closed our relationship over a lifestyle dispute.

That made it awkward and enjoyable at the same time, but all in all it was a very magical and everyone behaved well. The country is small enough that you can drive around the perimeter using one main road, so that is what we did. Only spending one night in the capital after flying in gave us some time to get our plans in order and hit the road the next morning to explore.

Our first Airbnb was a solid travel away to the south east, so we headed that direction on the ring road and left room for pit stops and cool sights to be seen.

Randomly in the distance after an hour or two of driving we saw a beach and decided to explore. It has black sand, which I had never seen in my life, and massive rock formations jutting out of the ocean water like an old colossal sword fight gone wrong. This was all in December so it was too cold to take a dip or sit and collect sun, but the sight alone was spectacular.

As we kept driving east we started seeing these huge rock formations and fields of moss. I had heard about them before so we stopped and played around on the,. What a unique and outlandish kind of plant, yet so fun and relaxing.

We made it to our first spot after a few hours of driving through winding mountain-edge roads overlooking the jagged ocean front below. Since it was getting dark we were very happy to settle down before it got too late. We cooked dinner and were fortunate enough to see the Northern Lights briefly. It is physical things like this that confirm my belief in the magical and mystical world that lies beyond our normal perception of things.

Also in its own magical way the next morning was my birthday and we awoke to the first snowfall of the year. This has happened a few times in my life, and because of my intense love for snow, it was extremely special.

We stayed in this small town and mainly went on snow hikes to check things out and have a relaxed two days. On our next leg we headed towards the second largest city with a very long and hard to remember name. On the way we planned a nice stop in a thermal bath pool, and a few walks up natural elements like fjord edges and old volcanoes that had gone to permanent sleep. What was so impactful about the landscape was the mounts and their scale.

Not only were they more massive then any I had seen before (even in Switzerland), they shot vertically our of the ground with no gentle taper or slope at all. Because most of the stone in the mountain was dark or black it was extremely difficult to look at them and have a sense of scale! Every jag or sharp edge looked like a fractal of the same shape, with no trees or vegetation to help compare size to. It was like a visual ocean of shapes that was un relatable.

It was a truly individual landscape and very calming atmosphere that I would definitely visit again, and perhaps this time in the summer so I could sit in the black stone beach more.