My First Trip Outside the USA--Iceland at Beltane--

At Ostara, on March 20, 1997, I lost my job as manager of the college bookstore where I had spent the last five years of my life. You know what they say--no good deed goes unpunished. In retrospect, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I suddenly realized that I had one full year of unemployment in which to find another position. I decided to do something absolutely crazy wonderful. I had a bit of money saved up and I was going overseas-Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, maybe even further. I was 41 and in pretty good shape for me. Time to head across the pond! I had been dreaming about Scotland and Ireland for too long.

I searched for discount airfare and found a flight to Glasgow on Iceland Air. During the course of booking the flight to Glasgow, Iceland Air offered me an inexpensive two night stop-over in Reykjavik. I had no intentions at that moment of going to Iceland, but since I was a foot loose traveler, I thought, “What the heck...”

I stepped out of the plane from my first trans-Atlantic flight on April 30, 1996--Beltane eve--in a place where Paganism is one of the official state religions. (In 1972, after a long campaign by poet and Gothi Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson, Iceland once again recognized Nordic Paganism as a legitimate and legal religion.) That night, I watched breathlessly the many bonfires lighting up the hillsides which I could see glittering in the darkness from the window of my hotel room. I could hear the wild shouting of celebrations echoing from the hills around the hotel. The night was literally on fire with excitement.

After my own small Beltane ritual in my room, I submitted to jet lag and slept like I hadn’t since the date of my unemployment. Beltane morning, I awoke and drank a toast to the first day of summer with my wonderful Icelandic coffee. (Who knew that the Icelanders took their coffee so seriously?) I decided to take the Golden Circle tour offered from my hotel and it was one of the most wonderful tours I ever set upon.

The tour is still offered by Reykjavik Excursions and is affiliated with Iceland Air who made all this possible for me to enjoy. They also offer a special discount on the tour to Iceland Air passengers. The quote below is from their promotional brochure. The pictures of Gullfoss, the largest waterfall in Iceland, are mine.

You can walk around the world-famous Geysir area, a geothermal field where hot springs are in abundance, geysers explode and pools of mud bubble. The Geysir museum is included as a main feature of this area, an informative multimedia exhibition that vividly shows how the forces of nature shaped the country and the people.

One of many highlights of the tour is the volcanic crater, Kerið, and another is the Gullfoss waterfall, the queen of Iceland's waterfalls, tumbling down a deep gorge. Finally, but no less spectacular is a visit to the Þingvellir National Park. This is the place of the most historic events in Iceland and exceptional beauty. Þingvellir is the original site of the oldest existing parliament in the world. The Great Atlantic rift is clearly visible, a rift which is slowly pulling Iceland apart along tectonic plates.

Locations visited include: Hveragerði greenhouse village, Kerið volcanic crater, Gullfoss waterfall, Geysir hot spring area and Þingvellir National Park.

This entire area is quite amazing from a geologic perspective, as well as for someone who has an interest in Norse mythology. The bookstores and coffee shops of Reykjavik are full of copies of the Icelandic Sagas. In addition, it was just outisde Reykjavik that I made a purchase that has blessed my life ever since that day. While wandering through the Hveragerði greenhouse village, I came upon a traditional weaver of Icelandic wool. On her loom she had a magickal creation of sea blue and green. She looked at me and she could see the longing in my eyes. She said, "I am just about ready to take this off the loom, do you want it?" I asked her how much it was and she even translated the krona into USD for me. She said, "For you, $90." As you can see from the photo below, this cape got a lot of wear in Scotland over the next two years of my journeys and I wear it every winter to this day.