And suddenly, it’s 2012! How long has it been since my last update? Let’s see… Oh, only 3 months. I’ve done worse. What can I say, I’m a crappy blogger. I should’ve stuck to posting stupid links to my blog instead of trying to be all deep and thoughtful and write journally entries that no one gives a crap about. Even I don’t give a crap. But why am I writing this? Um, out of guilt, I guess? The two or three people who are still reading this blog deserve to find something new here every once in a while.
So, since this is my first post of 2012, I should probably write about the highlights of 2011. Well, I became a full-fledged Canadian citizen in March and voted in my first federal election in May. Sadly the Conservatives won a majority government this time. And later in the provincial election, the Conservatives won in our riding so now we’re represented by a Tory in the parliament. Sigh. PEOPLE, Y U NO VOTE?!?
In June, we made it to Newfoundland and back. Did a fair amount of hiking, ate a lot of fish. I even had a moose burger once (good but kind of dry) as well as iceberg tea (iced tea with chunks of iceberg in it). I found out that iceberg doesn’t melt very quickly in your mouth (it’s so dense). It was an amazing trip with a lot of moose and some iceberg sightings. Words can’t do it justice. Go there if you can! Don’t wait until you’re old and retired and not fit enough to do a lot of hiking! I would love to go back there again someday.
Right after the trip to Newfoundland, we took up a new hobby, which is geocaching. Soon I decided that I prefer hiding geocaches to trying to find them because I’m not a big fan of beating around the bush. When we go geocaching, I usually just observe the area around the ground zero and try to figure out where the geocache would be with my mind’s eye. If there are bushes to beat around, I’ll just summon Troy to do the dirty work. Yes, I’m a princess. But Troy actually enjoys beating around the bush so I don’t feel too bad about it.
And the last but not the least highlight is, I finally got an Etsy shop up and running. Not only that, I even got people buying the stuff I was selling! Craziness! I’d thought it would never happen! I sell vintage cameras (mostly Polaroids) and expired film on Etsy. It’s enjoyable. I like selling stuff that I actually care about and getting to meet customers who love cameras and film photography as much as I do, if not more. Having a shop also makes our weekend thrifting rounds more exciting because I have something specific to find as opposed to just thrifting for whatever, and when I do find cool cameras, I just can’t wait to list them at my shop. Except, of course, I have to procrastinate and now I have a big pile of cameras waiting to be listed. Such is my life.
My plan for this year is to sell a lot of cameras and save the money for a trip to Europe next year. I’ve decided that I want to celebrate my 40th birthday somewhere in Europe. That’s right. I am turning 40 next year. I’m an old lady! Just give me some cats and the picture of me as an old lady would be complete. I’ve already got the white, thinning hair part covered. So far I’ve only saved enough money to fly to Amsterdam and back, with Icelandair. Have you flown with Icelandair before? I could use some reviews. Their fares are affordable but I heard the service is not all that great. But then again, being a budget traveller, you’ll have to deal with crappy service every so often since you get what you pay for, beggars can’t be choosers and all that. Still, I’m really excited about this. I’ve even been checking Airbnb.com a lot for apartments to rent. I figured renting an apartment would probably make for a more enjoyable travel experience than staying in cheap, shady hotels and would cost just about the same.
Oh, and Troy said he’ll take me to Ottawa this summer. Finally! I haven’t really felt like a bonafide Canadian citizen ever since I became one, having never been to the nation’s capital. I would love a road trip to Ottawa, also known as the land of shwarmas due to the high concentration of shwarma restaurants in the city. I love me some chicken shwarma for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Anyway, we started the new year by being sick with head and chest cold. We’ve been coughing like there’s no tomorrow since the beginning of the year. At least I have. I so can’t wait to get rid of this cold. So tired of this. You see, I don’t get a cold very often, but when I do, I always get the whole shebang. Annoying. I’m getting better, though. I don’t cough as much anymore. Hopefully I’ll be back in tip top shape within a week. Fingers crossed!
I’ve flown Icelandair on my round trip to Iceland (not that I had much choice) and it seemed fine enough. It’s no luxury airline, but no Ryanair either.
Is the service to Amsterdam you are considering the layover at Reykjavík-Keflavík? If you can at all swing it, I would really recommend seeing a bit of Iceland while you’re there. Even half a day, rent a car and drive around. Don’t bother with the Blue Lagoon tourist trap unless you like paying to sit around, however pleasantly (IMHO); but the landscapes even on the drive from airport into Reykjavík are not something you see every day.
I figured Icelandair is no luxury airline, considering how much they charge. Though my main concern is mostly in terms of delays. I hate waiting! Not too concerned about in-flight service.
I am considering spending a couple of nights in Iceland before flying to the mainland. If anything, it would be nice to have a prolonged break between flights. Now how miserable Iceland is going to be in April is another story. Northern Newfoundland is pretty miserable in June!
On the climate side, Iceland in April shouldn’t be bad – temperature just above zero, decent sunshine hours on average. Days are already longish with sunrise around 06:15 and sunset around 20:45 by April 10. On the weather side, it’s obviously difficult to predict. As a pretty tiny island in the middle of an ocean it can vary a lot from day to day, you might end up with nice sunshine or you can end up with wind and rain and fog. But I think make sure you have a good wind/rainproof coat and it should be bearable.
I didn’t find Icelandair that budgety – the experience was comparable with the time I flew Air Canada. It’s a flag carrier so it’ll probably be slightly better that the average airline at the price point. I haven’t had any delays when I flew in May/June – they do fly throughout the winter, so I expect they shouldn’t have major problems in April. What volcanos might do is anyone’s guess, though…