The second day of Iceland was
absolutely gorgeous. We traveled the golden circle tour and got to see the standard
tourist elements like the Gullfoss, Geyser and the national park which I’m not
even going to try to spell because I will definitely mess it up. During the
tour I also learned how much geothermal energy makes an impact on Iceland. Most
houses use hot water for heat and electricity. Ever wonder why their streets
are so clear of ice and snow? They heat all the streets and sidewalks so that
ice doesn’t accumulate with the excess hot water they have. An absolutely
beautiful country to visit for sure!
I continued my journey on to London
where we did the tourist thing for another three days, you know the museums,
Buckingham palace, Harrods (so beautiful but priced to match), and concluded
our stop with the Tower of London. The history there is phenomenal! We came at
the right time too, they had thousands and thousands of metal poppies placed
where the mote used to be in memorial of the soldiers who died in the war and
some of the proceeds they get from selling the pieces will go to a few
different charities. So cool! When we entered the tower we hooked on to a
beefeater tour which was definitely the way to go, he led us around the tower
telling us history about the architecture and some of the people who forcibly
and voluntarily resided in its walls.
From London we continued on to
Bristol which I enjoyed more than London. I’m a small town girl and London,
while beautiful and thriving, grates on my nerves after a while. Bristol is far
smaller with still enough historical architecture to keep my camera on and the
shutter clicking, but not give me a headache.
Only two days in Bristol before we
were off to my school by train. We arrived safely and I’m still settling into
my new room and getting used to using the communal showers and bathroom.
Thankfully I have a few days to settle in with the other international students
before the rest of the students arrive. Which was great because I didn’t want
anyone to witness my huffing and puffing as I pulled my huge suitcase up the four
flights of stairs.
I went for a large suitcase instead
of two smaller ones when I was packing, with a large collapsible duffel packed
away for my return trip luggage expansion. How has that worked out?
Alright.
Its heavy, but I then have a hand free to open
doors. I had stuffed a few things into my parents bags so I wouldn’t be overweight
and then when they dropped me off I inherited all the stuff back again. I
figure I will be using up and throwing away a lot of things before the return
trip, like my old pjs I brought, the toiletries as I use them up, and my
clothes as they wear out. So I should be fine for the return trip, plus I have
the extra duffel just in case.
One thing I did oops on was
toiletries. I brought half empty bottles of shampoo so I would have something familiar
to use, which worked out fine. What got me into trouble was the excessive
amount of travel sized bottles of stuff I brought thinking ‘hey I know this
brand and the hotel is giving them away for free!’.
Big mistake. The few handy bottles
turned into half a gallon Ziploc bag of space and weight. A few would have been
awesome if I had stopped there, but I couldn’t say no and brought way too many.
One thing that is working well is
the adapter/converter I bought. It has worked great! It’s made by a company
called Bestek and has everything I need. It has plug adapters for Europe,
England, the United States and a few others in case I decide to travel. There
is room for three 3pronged plugs and 4 usb slots for charging iPods, kindles
and anything else (except hairdryers and straighteners! Those will blow up no
matter what you do and they might take your converter down with it) you could
think of. I chose mine because it had three pronged plugs instead of just two
which is the norm and I would need three pronged anyway to use my laptop.
Oh by the way if anyone is shaking
their heads on what I’m talking about, don’t worry I was the same way. An
adapter fits on the end of the plug so it can use the outlets with a foreign
countries prong arrangement and a converter charges the electrical cycles that
come out of the wall so your foreign tech won’t be overloaded.
I think that’s in for now, but expect another post pretty
soon as I settle in.
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