The most memorable day of my trip to Iceland

I went to Iceland for the beautiful views, waterfalls, volcanoes and the feeling that I had accidentally landed on another planet, although I bought a ticket quite officially and no one took my passport at the border. 

That day, we woke up quite early, had a quick breakfast and loaded into the car, because there was a long route ahead, and in Iceland the distances on the map for some reason look much more modest than they actually are. I didn't know at the time that this particular day would be the most memorable of my entire trip, and to be honest, if someone had told me that in the morning, I would have just shrugged and continued to search the navigator for the nearest gas station.

View of the peak of Khvannadalshnukur

From the very beginning, the weather was typically Icelandic, meaning the sun seemed to be there, the rain seemed to be there, the wind generally felt like the master of life, and you were standing in the middle of it all and trying to figure out which jacket to wear. I decided that a regular waterproof jacket would be enough, and after 20 minutes I realized that Iceland treats my decisions with some disdain. However, the mood was great, the road stretched between black lava fields, green slopes and mountains, and I photographed literally everything, including a single pillar, which, judging by the number of my photos, was supposed to be the main architectural monument of the country. I was most impressed by the view of Hvannadalshnukur Peak. I share a photo of a place where time stops, and I want to endlessly look into the distance. 

When did the navigator decide to add adventures

After some time, the navigator suggested turning off the main road, and I, as a person who for some reason trusts technology very much, obediently turned around. The road was getting narrower, there were fewer and fewer cars around, and then there came a moment when I looked ahead and thought that the word "road" was being used quite boldly here. We drove on because it was already somehow inconvenient to return, although we had a perfectly good opportunity to turn around and pretend that nothing had happened.

After a few kilometers, it started to rain, and not the kind of rain that beautifully drips onto the windshield and creates a traveling atmosphere, but a real Icelandic rain that clearly had personal complaints about my clothes. I turned on the wipers at maximum speed, tried to control the car with one hand, adjust the hood with the other, and with the third, which, unfortunately, I did not have, I just wanted to hold the coffee. It was at this moment that I finally realized that for some reason the photos from the travel booklets very rarely show this part of the trip.

The waterfall that we found by chance

And then the rain suddenly stopped as quickly as it had started, and the Gullfoss waterfall appeared between the mountains ahead. It wasn't Iceland's most famous waterfall, there were no buses with tourists parked near it, no one was selling magnets, and no one was trying to take a photo so as not to accidentally get into the frame of another person. We just stopped, got out of the car, and stood in silence for a few minutes, because sometimes words really get in the way.

Gullfoss Waterfall

I got closer and at some point realized that I was completely soaked, and it didn't matter at all whether I was wearing an expensive waterproof jacket or a supermarket bag. The wind was splashing water around, the ground was wet underfoot, my hair instantly returned to what stylists usually call "natural carelessness," and I was just laughing because I probably looked like a man who had just been fished out of the ocean.

And that's when I thought for the first time that such moments remain in my memory. It's not a perfectly sunny day, not a photo of you standing beautifully and looking into the distance, but you're completely wet, the wind, the waterfall, and the feeling that there's nothing around but this vast northern nature.

An Icelandic beach and a little struggle with the weather

After the waterfall, we continued on our way and reached the black beach. I had seen photos of such places before, but in person everything turned out to be much bigger and more severe, especially when there was an ocean nearby, huge waves and a wind that was clearly not interested in my comfort. I decided to get closer to the water, because a traveler should take a photo near the ocean at least once in his life, even if this ocean is going to prove in a minute who is in charge here.

Of course, I got too close. One wave turned out to be noticeably bolder than the others, and I had to retreat sharply across the wet sand, maintaining my dignity for about the first two seconds, and then finally losing it. It was a good thing there was almost no one around, because I didn't want to explain to strangers why an adult man was backing away from the wave with the expression of a man saving the national library.

The most unexpected ending of the day

In the evening, we got back in the car and decided to just keep driving until we found a place to stop and have a hot coffee. It was already getting dark outside, the rain started pounding on the glass again, and I sat looking at the endless road and suddenly realized that much more had happened in one day than I had planned to see in a few days of a regular sightseeing trip.

We stopped at a small cafe, where I finally got a hot coffee, took off my wet jacket, and discovered that my phone had somehow survived the whole day better than me. I was sitting by the window, looking at the gray sky and thinking that in the morning I had absolutely no idea where exactly this road would lead us, and now for some reason I didn't want to change anything.

Iceland has taught me one simple thing in general: the most memorable days rarely look perfect according to plan. Sometimes you need to take a wrong turn, get wet to your socks, lose the battle with the ocean wave, ruin your hair with the wind, and accidentally see a place that you didn't even want to remember at home.

When I returned from a trip and was asked what I liked the most, for some reason I didn't name any famous waterfalls, volcanoes, or black beaches. I told you exactly about the day when we took a wrong turn, got caught in the rain, accidentally found a waterfall, got wet, almost lost to the ocean, and in the evening we drank coffee, looking out the window at the Icelandic bad weather.

That's probably why this day was the most memorable of my entire trip. Because traveling is memorable not when everything goes perfectly, but when, years later, you tell a story and smile yourself even before you reach the end.