Disappointment Was The Cause for the Pause

I was planning to share with you the next great adventure after posting about this wonderful trip to see Tulips and Puffins. The trip is one that nearly nobody has ever done. It was the perfect fit for the life of Ric the Traveler. https://www.lifeatseacruises.com This is a three year cruise around the world. The itinerary has them going to some of the best places and staying for several days in many places that warrant the extra time. Yes. There are other cruises around the world, but they only spend a few hours in ports that are worthy of a deep dive into their wondrous food, history, culture, and architecture. Playing a game of tag with Tokyo, Capetown, Papeete, Rome, and a dozen other icons of the traveling holy grails is insulting to both the venue and the traveler. Not for me.

Within days of hearing about the adventure I had signed up and paid my deposit. I was committed and ready to spend three years in a 142 square foot cabin for the opportunity to see the world and share it with you. Then there was an internal collapse of the program that left much doubt about the ability of the cruise to deliver on their promise. The sales and marketing team left and the owners of the vessel indicated that they would go ahead anyway. They indicated that this would be the first of many such trips.

Taking them at their word I decided to let them identify the issues that needed fine tuning and join them on one of their future voyages. There seems to be a lot of interest in the concept and I expect that others may compete for the true adventurers willing to invest the time and money for such an experience.

The dashing of such a vivid dream left me conflicted and a bit melancholy. Now, having accepted the delay of such massive gratification, I am getting back to posting on my last wonderful trip and planning for future delights for the senses.

Where did we leave off?......

Oh yes. We had just departed our magical island of puffins off the south coast of Iceland and were on the ferry returning to Iceland proper. The cabin with the hot tub was awaiting us about three hours away. That gave us the opportunity to check out one of the more famous waterfalls of Iceland. Seljalandsfoss falls was only a few kilometers from where the ferry docked and we drove there in just a few minutes.

When we arrived the wind was blowing and there was a chill in the air. I was surprised to see that this was not just one waterfall, but several cascading streams of water from a sixty meter high plateau.

The 500-meter stroll along the path brought us near a number of birds and past a picturesque house and fields.

One of these is a snipe. One is not. My wife is the birder. I am just the photographer.

At the end of our stroll down the trail there was another significant falls called Gljúfrafoss. It was half hidden behind a slit in the rocks that if you positioned yourself just so you could get a really cool look at the falls and the rock formations.

The wifi in the car allowed our phone to use the mapping app to get us around Reykjavik and into the mountains beyond. The road wound up and up into the clouds and rain and for a bit we felt like we might be approaching Olympus or some other Icelandic version of a kingdom in the clouds.

The phone took us from a major highway to a side street to a gravel road and soon I was worried that I had really screwed up on my reservation on Airbnb. When the phone said you have arrived at the destination and there was nothing that looked like the pictures in sight I tried going on a little further. Then I checked the link left by the owner. Then I put in the coordinates again and found I had about another five hundred meters to go. Cresting the rise I saw a stand of pine trees in an otherwise barren landscape.

Turning off the gravel road through the gate we saw a small pond with ducks on it ahead of us and a pier jutting out into it. To our right was the small cabin as seen in photos on Airbnb and a wave of relief came over me. Yes. This was a cute little oasis in the middle of nowhere.

We unloaded our remaining Costco booty into the cabin in a drizzly Iceland afternoon and spent the rest of the day relaxing.