So anyway, there I was in Iceland

Soon after this WOW moment

I landed the world's most civilized airport, where a helpful city bus meets every flight. Every one of them! I boarded one. 

And it took me to the moon

Have you ever wondered what a crazy person looks like after a 7 hour train escapade followed by a 9 hour flight then a bus ride to the moon of the next calendar day when/where she dips her tired bod into thermo heated water and scrubs her face with silica? 

You missed a spot, crazy

The anklet I picked up the second day on Maui, just 6,000 miles south 

As far as pit stops are concerned, this one was a sheer stroke of genius

After I'd sufficiently soaked and sipped and showered, I followed the lava brick road back to the magic spot where busses show up whenever you want one

I was deposited about half a mile from my hotel, the hotel I'd booked on a whim because someone I'd never met or heard of had said on her TripAdvisor review that she'd stayed there, and I think several stars were included in that review. 

I walked in to my 5th floor room, opened the big closet doors along the entry hall, and fell deeply, immediately in love

Everywhere I turned, I fell more deeply 

The hotel was called A Room with a View, for some reason

Go figure. 

I putzed around for a while then decided it was time for a meal, so I walked around the town indecisively for 3 hours. 

Popping in here and there

In search of the exact perfect meal, with no clue what I wanted to eat. 

I strolled up and down the streets

I strolled the land

and I strolled the sea

I actually walked into at least 2 restaurants and considered staying, but nothing felt quite perfectly like the exact thing that I didn't know I wanted. 

Until I found it

This was at 10pm

I got back to my room around 11 and settled in for what I knew would be a short night. 

I watched the late, late sunset from my pretty balcony and windows

And I hung around out there for a bit to watch the colors change as the sky darkened

Except that it didn't

This is as dark as it got

I went to bed at 12:30 and set my alarm for 3:30, so I guess technically it might have gotten dark for a few minutes in between those hours, but I didn't really sleep and I think I would have noticed. 

Before I knew it, it was time to get up from that comfy bed in that pretty room in that weirdly wonderful city and start the next leg of my journey. I had received a printed map of the half mile I had to walk (over cobblestones with my awful suitcase), it was the same route I had walked when I arrived, exactly one turn down exactly one street. I'd walked those streets for hours the night before, what could possibly go wrong? 

Well, yeah. I got lost. But when the bars closed at 4 there was no shortage of helpful drunk vikings to set me on the right course. Sigh. 

I flagged down a van that had the same logo that was printed on my ticket, and he took mercy on my poor dumb soul and drove me to the bus station, where I was in plenty of time for the shuttle to Keflavik, the world's most efficient airport.  I had some time to kill, and I was thirsty, so....

Until next time, Iceland. And oh yes, there will be a next time.