Fun Times in Iceland

With a journey as exciting as Iceland, it sure did start out kind of rough.

First being the passport rule (U.S. Passport must be valid 3 months beyond intended stay), that Iceland never enforces, but showed up on American Airlines computer on July 4th. I was not allowed on the plane. July 5th started with me standing in line at the passport office downtown at 6am and being 150th in line, getting a new passport didn’t look good. But with persistence, and the help of the Honorary Consul General of Iceland, Thorir S. Grondal (and good friend of Palmi the groom), I got out of line and headed back to the airport with now a document saying I was allowed into the country. Word to the wise, if you are traveling internationally anytime soon, check out this website, www.traveldocs.com

I experienced a couple more delays due to weather, lightning in Miami, and missed connections in New York. Luckily I have good friends in the city and a place to stay for the night until the next flight to Iceland that next evening, Friday.

I arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland on Saturday morning at 7am, the day of the wedding. A 2-hour nap at the amazing Hotel Thingbolt, www.centerhotels.is, and I was back in business.

The wedding of Ana and Palmi was very quaint and sweet. 40 close friends and family from all over the world. A beautiful little church from 1857. The ceremony was in English and Icelandic. The winds were blowing and you could here the local birds singing.

Palmi is a direct descendant of Ingolfur Arnarsson himself (founder of Iceland).

After the ceremony, we were able to spend some time on the hills and black beaches shooting some amazing images.

The reception was a nice dinner in Akranes, Palmi’s hometown. No dancing or music, but that will be made up for on July 28th, the second half of this wedding, in Miami.

July 8th, Sunday, I was able to catch up on some sleep and shoot around town. Also had time to shoot Eva, Palmi’s niece, a young model here in Iceland and I’m sure to star in the US very soon. She’s the Icelandic Hip hop national champion in dance.

That evening several of us went driving to the family summer country house in Fluider, where the sun didn’t go down until 12:30 at night, 3 hours of night. Some rest for the next big adventure on Monday.

Monday we were driving for a total of 16 hours round trip. We went to the Skaftafell National Park to shoot around glaciers and a glacier lake. Also one of their most famous water falls, Svartifoss.

The weather was cloudy most of the day until we got to the location and the sun came out, amazing. We had the sun for 15 minutes.

We didn’t get back until 3:30 am, and of course the sun was coming up.

Tuesday was an easy day, sightseeing, gorgeous day in the 60’s. From the original Geyser, where the name originated. It’s the second highest in the world. They have a lot of geothermal activity since this island is based on volcanoes and they are still active.

As much as I was looking forward to seeing my family again, I was sad to leave. The people are so friendly, a small country, but so welcoming. I can’t wait to bring my family here for a summer adventure. I don’t think it will be a winter one, since they only have 3 hours of daylight.

They had a farewell barbecue for me and Ana’s mother, we were both off to Miami again on Wednesday the 11th.

I couldn't wait to hug my little boys and take Carson on his daily bike ride. I missed my wife Alison and our 7 week old Cameron too.

Enjoy the show, I did.