It was 2 degrees when I arrived in Iceland, totally different than all the other places where I have been on this trip. Well, New York was pretty cold too, but iceland was a complete other dimension. I arrived 6 o clock in the morning. I booked my hostel in Keflafik, that is where the airport was and this town was only 15 minutes from the Blue lagoon, the reason why I wanted to visit Iceland as well. There were no busses driving and walking to the hostel took like one and a half hour, that is not very comfortable without clothes for this kind of weather and with a backpack. So, I decided to take a taxi. That cost me the incredible amount of 15 euro for only 3 or 4 minutes of driving. Taxi prices are ridiculous in Iceland. I had only withdrawn 65 euros and so I blew a big part of my budget already. I arrived in the hostel and there was nobody there. No other guests and the reception was closed. There was a phone though with a speed-dial to the reception. I called the reception and the owner told me to open a box behind me and I could find three keys hidden there. I was allowed to chose my own key, apparently I was the only one in the hostel.. and thus I randomly took one key and went straight to bed after looking for information about the Blue Lagoon. I hadn't slept at all in the flight from NY to Iceland. I put my alarm at 12 o clock to be sure not to wake up in the evening and missing out on the Blue lagoon.

Obviously, I couldn't share a taxi with people from the hostel to the lagoon and the taxi prices were way too high to pay alone. A return to the lagoon would certainly cost me 70 euros. So, there was only one option left, hitchhiking. I had been hitchhiking with Dan in Hawaii and because of him I knew that it was actually pretty exciting and easy to get a ride. I ripped the shopping bags out of New York apart and made 3 signs: 'Blue lagoon', 'Keflafik' and 'Airport'. I misspelled 'Keflafik', because on the way back I saw that it was actually Keflavik. No big deal though. So I walked to the road and raised my 'Blue lagoon' sign and put my thumb in the air. Don't forget to smile when you are trying to hitchhike! In 5 minutes a car filled with 3 girls and a baby picked me up. They were going to Reykjavik and thus they dropped me halfway on an innersection. I raised my sign and thumb again and exactly 10 seconds later the next car already picked me up. Sandra from Germany, who now lives in Iceland, offered me the rest of the ride and even let me stop to make photos on the way. So, I made it to Blue lagoon in less than 30 minutes, without spending a cent and in good company. I felt like a really experienced backpacker at that moment. I got into the lagoon for a couple of hours and it was really relaxing. The lagoon is a natural lake warmed by the geysers. Outside it was freezing, but the lake was 36-40 degrees, it was amazing. They also say that the lagoon has healing, cleaning and relaxing effects, so it was the ideal way to end my trip. I could use all that after 3.5 months of traveling the world in a very high pace. After coming to rest I had to hitchhike back. In 10 minutes and with freezing hands a couple from Keflavik picked me up and dropped me right in front of the hostel. I was exhausted and went to back at 7 pm. I woke at 10 and every hour since, I was so jetlagged. I woke up at 2 again and after that I couldn't sleep anymore, so I just started watching Skyfall, the newest James Bond movie (yea I know I am behind).

I decided to leave to the airport at 4.30 am. I had two options.. I had 2200 Iceland Krona left. A taxi would cost 2500, but I think I could negotiate it down to 2200 if I wanted. So I could either take a taxi and have no money left for breakfast or I could walk and hitchhike my way to the airport and spend the rest of my money on breakfast. All of you who know me well enough know that I chose for the adventure + food option. In 5 minutes I already got picked up by a woman who works at the airport and thus I had enough money left to buy myself a big breakfast, yeeeeey!

Now I am in the airplane and I have to admit I am excited to go home. I will write a last blog from the Netherlands, in that way I can complete my travelmap on this blog with all the pins.