iceland.

If I had one place from all of my travels that I had to recommend for people to go.. it would without a doubt be Iceland. I've never seen such gorgeous landscapes in my life, I literally felt like I was on another planet.

We got in at 6 am, hadn't slept and while we're about to get off the plane the air host we made friends with lets us in on a little secret - Bjork is on the plane. What are the chances that our first time to Iceland Bjork is on our plane!? We get to baggage claim and she happens to be the only person there, in lime green tights and shoes. I try to strike up a conversation and she hurries off with the creepiest smile I've ever seen. Needless to say, she wasn't as interested in talking to us. Once exiting the airport in sleeveless shirts and skirts realized we should have packed warmer clothes because it was bloody ]FREEZING. We couldn't check into our hostel until 2pm so we call our friend Stefán to come have breakfast with us before he heads off to work, where we get to try the Icelandic food 'Skyr' (note me holding it up with a big smile on the bottom right photo).

Later in the day when Stefán gets out of work we meet up with him and his friend Eydis and he takes us to the Blue Lagoon, which isn't too far from Reykjavik. It was beyond incredible. It was like a gigantic hot tub full of cyan water and gorgeous backdrops. We took about a million photos and harassed some of the old Europeans floating around.

The next day Stefán set us up with a private tour with this crazy amazing Icelandic man named Yonni with 'Choice Tours Iceland'. For $90 he takes us all around South Eastern Iceland for 9 hours seeing Volcanoes, Glaciers, Mountains, Craters, Waterfalls - everything. We couldn't get enough of him, he was beyond entertaining. So if you ever take a trip there, you MUST use him as you're guide. He told us he weighed 260lbs and lost 80lbs dancing on his own which we were like.. hmm ok. But little did we know we'd wander into a pub later that night to see Yonni dancing by him self in the corner to Pink Floyd.

Iceland was definitely the most incredible place I've ever been. The people were seriously so nice that I constantly thought I was about to be robbed or sold into sex slavery (the New Yorker in me). That's the one place I wish we had more time in.

indulging in: Isobel by Bjork.
[photo © Kristen Schultz; please don't use without permission]