First Day

Hi, y’all! Sabrina reporting on behalf of the Sabrina/Brandon adventure team. I’m excited to share this experience in writing since the most ‘damaged’ area of my brain controls language in writing and I enjoy the exercise for my mind. Also, Brandon is a mechanical engineer and writing is not his favorite brain function lol.

Our first day in Iceland might be considered low key by some, but we had a blast, eyes filled with wonder and synapses firing full throttle. Picking up the camper van was relatively easy since most Icelanders speak English. Hitting the road in said van was more interesting. Paying attention to how traffic flows in other countries and deducing what signs say is an adventure on its own. This was Brandon’s first time out of the country not with the military and this was my first time renting a vehicle in another country.

The first stop was a grocery store. Seems like a boring location, but I enjoy observing the layout of retail aisles and grouping of products on the shelves to figure out what items are when I can’t read the language on the labels. It’s a lot like recovering cognitive skills after a brain injury, looking at the big picture and filling in the missing parts.

We planned to take the Ring Road highway around the country with a list of attractions saved to my phone in geographic order. Most folks choose to drive counterclockwise, but we opted for the less trafficked side of the country first and began the clockwise route. Not far out of Reykjavik, we stopped at Hraunfossar and Barnafoss (foss means waterfall, -ar being plural) for a short walk, restroom break and coffee. There are waterfalls all over Iceland and each has a different personality. After a bit more scenic driving we parked the van at Hvammstangi, cooked dinner and called it a night.