Facts About Iceland I've Learned So Far

I've been researching Iceland for a few days now. I joined Facebook groups and pages, bought books about Iceland, etc. So far what I've learned isn't much, but is enough that I know better what I'm facing.

Things are expensive in Iceland. Not just "this bag of chips is $2 more than it would be back home" expensive, but "holy shit everything is so expensive" expensive! Food, lodging, GAS. I just learned that gas is over $9 a gallon! Yes, you read that right. $9 a gallon. Considering I'm planning to rent a vehicle and drive the Ring Road (827 miles) for most of my trip, that's something that's definitely important to know. Lodging can get very expensive, also. Even hostels can be pricey depending on the location. Camping is the cheapest option, but most campgrounds close in mid-September (my planned arrival). Pulling over on the side of the road and sleeping is illegal. With the huge boom in tourism that Iceland has seen over the past decade, people were doing this to save money, but imagine thousands of people just pulling over on the side of the road. It became such a problem that they had to make it illegal.

In one of the Facebook groups I joined, I learned that in the Summer months drones are everywhere and a huge nuisance. I can imagine that would get a tad annoying to have these things buzzing overhead when you're trying to experience the beauty and tranquility of Iceland. I had considered bringing a drone, but I'm still on the fence about this. I would never use it around other people so it's still a possibility to get some amazing shots in remote areas. Not to mention a drone can go places I physically can't like the beach, etc, so it may be beneficial to me to bring one just in case so I can get a bigger experience of the landscapes. It's not that difficult to have some common human decency and not have my drone buzzing around other travelers who are trying to enjoy their vacation so it just might be worth bringing along.

There are guided tours you can purchase, including one that allows you the freedom of renting a vehicle, but even there you are at the mercy of their choices in hotels and your itinerary. I am such an independent person that I don't see myself enjoying that. I want the freedom to explore how I want. It's cheaper to go with the tour option, but allows less freedom. If I'm going somewhere I've never been, I want to experience it my way.

There's so much to see that I no doubt will want to return over and over to see things I know I will miss. There are festivals aplenty that I am certain I would enjoy. Ten days seems like a long time until you're packing every single day with as much as you can possibly do. I have a tendency to get homesick, however, so ten days will be way more than enough for my first trip.

I definitely am going to want to cut costs as much as humanly possible. I am already adjusting my diet to not only lose weight and get in good shape for the trip, but this will help with costs as well. I plan to choose lodging that has breakfast included as often as I can which will also help.  A fuel efficient vehicle is now my top priority after learning about the extremely high cost of gas. I had wanted an SUV, but I can live without seeing certain areas if it means saving money on gas. I won't be there in winter when the roads can get bad, and off-roading is just another thing that's illegal in Iceland as it disrupts the beauty of the landscape and is harmful to the natural eco-system. As nice as an SUV would be, I'd prefer to have more money to spend on interacting with people and enjoying other areas of my trip.

Lodging doesn't matter much to me. I love camping and will not be adverse to that option, but since most campsites close around mid-September, the next cheapest option is hostels which I am also not adverse to. There's no better way to mingle with other travelers than to stay in a hostel. From what I've seen most hostels are very handicapped accessible and the large shared bathrooms will make things much easier for me. Some of the hotels I researched looked rather small and cramped. There are also hostels that offer sleeping "pods". This is exactly as it sounds, They are a space age type pod made solely for sleeping but offer TV, AC, and a quiet, cozy environment for sleeping among other people. I have to experience this at least once. I am hoping this turns out to be a great option as hostels are a wonderful money saving option. Camping cabins are another appealing option for me. These are small wood cabins with just a sleeping and sitting area. There are shared outdoor bathrooms which kind of sucks for me, but I am going to research bringing along a folding portable potty that might work. If not, I will just have to restrict fluids and brave the night. I will be traveling in a foreign land, I'm willing to do just about anything necessary to have the most amazing experience I can!

Moral of the story and what I've learned so far? There are a lot of ways you can save money while traveling in Iceland, but if any of them are a huge concern, stay home.

Traveling To Iceland

This Saturday morning I am continuing to plan my vacation to Iceland next year. According to "Iceland" by Lonely Planet (available on Amazon Prime for free) June-August are the busiest times for tourists in Iceland, so I am planning my trip in mid-September. I was having trouble deciding if I wanted to go in the Summer when it's warmest and the days are endless, or in the Winter so I could view the beautiful Northern Lights, but then I realized I've never been to Iceland so I really just want to see Iceland. I don't like crowds and it's less expensive to go during off-peak anyway, so mid-September 2019 it is! This gives me more time to save and plan anyway.

According to the aforementioned book, there is a road that traverses the perimeter of the entire country/island called Ring Road. So far, my plan is to rent a vehicle and drive this road seeing as many sites as I can along the way. I will stop at pre-planned destinations and stay a day or two, taking in everything each site has to offer. I can't wait!

As far as lodging goes, the options are almost limitless. You can stay in anything from a tent (cheapest) to a farmhouse to a luxury hotel. I want to stay in as many varied places as possible. Some hostels offer sleeping capsules and I must try one! According to the reviews it's an amazing experience all its own! There are camping cabins that are basically just a tiny cabin with a sleeping area and a sitting area and I must stay in one of these as well.

I can't wait to experience the culture the most. I know that Iceland's scenery is breathtaking, but most of all I want to experience its people. Reading travel guides and planning ahead will help me to familiarize myself that much more with my destination so as to help ease my anxiety about traveling so far alone. Traveling alone can be daunting enough, but when you are doing it in a wheelchair and are completely unfamiliar with the area and it's accessibility, it can be terrifying. So far, from what I've read and researched, Iceland seems to be largely accessible! This makes me very happy. I do follow a few people on Instagram (@fromheelstowheels) who use wheelchairs and who have been to Iceland and I will contact them to find out more about accessibility.

I want to take a whale watching tour, but most of all I want to drive Ring Road and take in Iceland's beauty along the way. Driving during the day a couple of hours and then stopping to take in its culture.

Have you ever been to Iceland? Share your experience in the comments!

Visit Iceland: visiticeland.com

Words Are Meaningless Without Action

A picture is worth a thousand words because words are meaningless without action. A person can say words all day long but never actually follow them up with actions. I learned this the hard way growing up.

I was just browsing someone's Facebook timeline who I used to be close to and it was full of posts that were nothing but empty words. I know this to be absolutely true. Words about being "happy" and "thankful". Words about wanting less. Words about love. Words. Empty, meaningless, overused words. I heard "I love you" every day of my life from someone who has never loved anyone but themselves. I never saw any actual loving actions. All I saw was a narcissistic, selfish, word spouting liar. Someone who used whatever words necessary to fit the situation and get their way. Not getting their way meant everyone around them suffering the consequences. I suffered those consequences my entire life until I realized who this person really was inside. I believed those empty words they spoke for most of my life until I finally came to the realization that anyone can say anything at any time, but unless it's followed with the corresponding actions, it means absolutely nothing. The words aren't even worth the air on which they are spoken.

I'm thankful I learned my lesson. I am thankful that life has shown me to pay closer attention to someone's actions rather than believing their words. This is why I love animals and children so much; neither of them can show their feelings without action because they don't know how to use words to lie.

Hartz Nearly Killed My Kitten

I will start this post by stating that I do know better and normally do not use any kind of products on my animals (especially kittens) that could be potentially poisonous or are not natural or organic. That being said, I did not listen to my instincts and used a shampoo of which the label said "gentle", "mild", "moisturizing", but my gut said "don't even think about it". I should have listened. Lesson definitely learned. (honestly, I don't know why I ever don't listen to my gut instincts - they're NEVER wrong *eye roll*)

This particular shampoo contained NO FLEA OR TICK medicine. This was simply a moisturizing and cleansing shampoo that claimed to be "extremely gentle", etc etc. My vet even said that these shampoos are SUPPOSED to be formulated with consideration that animals will lick themselves after a bath and that not everyone "rinses thoroughly". She claimed my kitten would have to drink half the bottle in order to exhibit the symptoms my poor little kitten was suffering through. NOT TRUE.

I adopted a little kitten from a lady who had some in her barn. She was quite well taken care of by this couple even if they were kept in the barn. They were warm and well fed with plenty of fresh, clean water. They each had their own little kennels with beds and were obviously loved. Mama cat liked to hunt, and they let her. She would bring back rabbits for the kittens which they would eat along with the cat food the couple provided. The night we picked her up, she seemed perfectly healthy and happy. She's a big time cuddler and super, super sweet. It was obvious to us that they had actually spent time with these kittens and weren't just unloading some cats they didn't want. Since she was a barn cat and spent a lot of time outside, she needed a bath, and she needed a bath with shampoo. Water just wasn't going to cut it. I had this Hartz Oatmeal Moisturizing Shampoo under my bathroom sink so I just grabbed it and thought "a tiny little bit should be fine". I would never use flea or tick medication of any kind on a 10-week old kitten, but I figured just a plain and supposedly "gentle" shampoo would be okay for now. I was SO WRONG it hurts.



I used about a dime sized amount (if that) and washed her up good. I then rinsed her for a good 10 minutes, maybe longer. I know I rinsed her for what felt like an eternity, on purpose. I wanted to be sure I got as much of that shampoo off of her as possible, because as cats do, I knew she was going to go off and lick herself dry -- which of course she did. This was in the morning after we had picked her up and by that evening she started having small seizures. Her head would drop and wobble back and forth and a few times it looked like she was trying to shake her head but was severely lethargic. This was a small seizure. After this she would search around as if she couldn't see and then she seemed to be okay, although still pretty lethargic and slept a lot. This started around 7pm the night after I shampooed her and by 9pm she had a full blown grand mal seizure. From a standing position she fell over like a fainting goat. From that she spazzed out flipping over onto her back then onto her stomach again and began dragging her back legs as if she was paralyzed. She crawled off a little bit and then vomited violently. She would paw at the back of her head and was so out of it I thought for sure she was dying. My daughter came over to comfort both her and I and we did some research and found out that the vomiting and every other symptom she was having was a direct result of the large seizure and these symptoms can go on for hours afterward (which they did). They will vomit, appear to be blind or paralyzed at times, become disoriented, wobble when they walk, often drag their back legs and urinate or defecate where they stand as they lose all control. There was nothing I could do for her and I was devastated. I just tried to keep her as calm and quiet as I could and prayed this would stop. We called the vet and subsequently made an appointment for her to be seen the following morning.



Overnight she had two more seizures. I kept her in her kennel on my bed with lots of towels around just in case and made sure she had lots of blankets and quiet. She seemed to do okay through the night and just slept. The next morning she was still wobbly like a drunken human, but there were no more seizures or vomiting. Off to the vet we went.

She had no clue. They did bloodwork for the feline 5 which came back all negative (thank God), but aside from MRI's and extensive and expensive further testing they couldn't pin down the cause of her seizures. Again, according to her she would have had to drink half the bottle of shampoo in order for her to have such acute symptoms. I decided to just take her home and wait it out and see what happened.

Well, guess what, not one seizure since. Not one sign or symptom of any kind of illness or malady that would cause her to have seizures. Perfect health. Happy, playful, inquisitive and a giant pain in my ass just as a kitten should be! I've never been happier to have an animal drive me nuts in my life. She constantly tries to lay right on my face and I am so happy she does! This means she's back to being a normal, healthy kitten.

Moral of this story? DO NOT USE ANY HARTZ PRODUCTS ON ANY ANIMAL. EVER. A friend of mine even sent me a link to a blog of people telling their horror stories about Hartz products and the SEVERE consequences of using their supposedly "safe" products. Some animals have died.

You can view that blog here: www.hartzvictims.org

We all should seriously consider a class action lawsuit.

ParCor