DWT

Just got back from what seems to be my Annual Major Trip (around this time last year I was in England), spending almost 2 weeks going 'round the Ring Road of Iceland in this:



I'd link to pictures for the interested but on my bargain basement DSL it's gonna take half a day to upload them so instead I'll just paint a little mental picture:

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Most folks have a sense of what the Highlands are like thanks to pop culture. A significant chunk of Iceland is like the Highlands except with lupine instead of heather and the fascinatingly bizarre sound of snipe overhead... other than all the many parts that aren't at all like the Highlands and are more like the moon or Mars or an as yet undiscovered hairy green and black planet. It is simultaneously stark and remote and teaming with people (mostly the Miniature Cities of Tourists that now occupy the south west). It is deeply friendly in the cities and town camps and very mildly hostile in the (deserted) village & farms camps (irrespective of the welcoming flags).

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Being the perfect mix of The Outside and The Weird (on multiple levels: culturally and naturally) it really was just about one of the most perfect places in the world I could visit.

I both really liked it and have no idea if I'd ever go back (RE: multiple levels of weird). No matter what, I'm really glad I went.