Iceland a must see

Here are some of the places that I have been to in Iceland.  The first 3 places are part of the Golden Circle. The 4th one is in the southeast coast.  I will be posting more photos of places I´ve been to in Iceland.

The best way to get around Iceland would be to hire a car.  I recommend www.discountcarrental.is  as they have the cheapest car rental prices in Iceland.  Taxes and insurance are included in the price.  You get unlimited mileage too.  The convenience is the most important part though, they bring the car to the airport and they will meet you at the airport when you are returning the car.  You may drop it off in reykjavik also.  They have two offices, one near the airport and the other in reykjavik.  

I suggest going on the Golden Circle tour.  You can start in Reykjavik or from the airport and go around the golden circle.  With a rented car, you may go on the ring road, a road that runs all around Iceland along the edge of the country.  This may take at least two weeks on a tight schedule with very little time for stops.  If you want to enjoy the sceneries a bit more and if you don´t want to be in a hurry all the time, I would suggest spending at least 18 days to go all around Iceland. 

Here is Strokkur.  A geyser in Iceland that erupts frequently (every 10-15 minutes).  One of the must sees in Iceland.  This is one of the sights that visitors can see when doing the Golden Circle Tour.

Still part of the Golden Circle.  Þingvellir (Thingvellir) is a natural phenomenon that is to me both amazing and strange.  The European plate and the North american plate meet at this point in Iceland and are actually pulling away from each other.  In a few thousand years from now, Iceland will be halfed into two parts.  One belonging to Europe and the other one to North America.

The most amazing stop of the Golden Circle tour is the Gulfoss.  A huge waterfall that looks very powerful and overwhelming.  A story goes that an Icelandic woman, threatened to throw herself into the waterfall if the government (or some private company) would continue with their plans to make a hydroplant at Gulfoss.  A discussion started about whether it was worth it to turn something so beautiful and grand into a dam and destroy all that beauty.  Luckily the dam project never pushed through and we were able to see this beautiful rough nature.

A gem in the southeast coast of Iceland.  It is about 3 hours away from Reykjavik.  A wonderful sight to behold.  This would really give you the Arctic feel.

*These photos are copied from the internet.  I didn´t use my own photos as they are not very good.

irate passenger meets irate flight attendant

i wanna run too...

WILD HORSES by natasha bedingfield I feel these four walls closing in Face up against the glass I'm looking out, hmmm Is this my life I'm wondering It happened so fast How do I turn this thing around Is this the bed I chose to make There's greener pastures I'm thinking about Hmm, wide open spaces far away All I want is the wind in my hair To face the fear but not feel scared wild horses I wanna be like you Throwing caution to the wind, I'll run free too Wish I could recklessly love like I'm longing to I wanna run with the wild horses Run with the wild horses, oh whoahh Yeah, oh oh, ye-yeah I see the girl I wanna be Riding bare-back, care-free Along the shore If only that someone was me Jumping head-first, head-long Without a thought To act and damn the consequence How I wish it could be that easy But fear surrounds me like a fence I wanna break free All I want is the wind in my hair To face the fear, but not feel scared Oooh, wild horses I wanna be like you Throwing caution to the wind, I'll run free too Wish I could recklessly love like I'm longing to I wanna run with the wild horses Run with the wild horses, oh I wanna run too. ohhh ohhh recklessly abandoning my self before you I wanna open up my heart tell him how I feel woah woah Wild horses I wanna be like you Throwing caution to the wind I'll run free too Wish I could recklessly love, like I'm longing too I wanna run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses ohh woah ohh woah Yeeaaaah I wanna run with the wild horses

balikbayan box

im thinking of sending a balikbayan box so i can experience doing this at least once in my OFW/expatriate life. i want to know what it's like to send gifts and all kinds of stuff back home in this way..this balikbayan box has become almost like a tradition among filipino overseas workers. i never did this before mainly because i think that it is such a hassle keeping such a big box in your room..filling it up with anything and then sending it away.
i have a problem though. how can i carry the box all the way to a pickup point, it's gonna be very heavy for sure. the freight forwarder that ive contacted once doesnt do pick ups where i live. oh well im going to worry about that later on. ill just buy that box first and then think about how to send it later on :)
i'll be resigning soon and i think that i might also put some of my personal stuff in there, stuff that i want to bring home with me. home sweet home.

breakfast in bed

We landed in Medina just a few hours after my birthday. My birthday, 24 hours..stretched for a few at least 3 hours because we were flying westward. I had not given myself any birthday treat so I decided to order from the hotel room service. Unfortunately, they couldn’t make all the lunch dishes in the menu because of Ramadan, the room service guy told me. This was at about 3 or 4am, fasting has not started yet so I don’t know how this is in relation to Ramadan. I felt a bit disappointed about this and told the guy that it was my birthday and spent the whole day working and now I’m tired and hungry but I couldn’t have what I wanted. It was a very unlucky day. The guy called to the cook and asked what is available and he told me then on the phone that they can make pasta dishes now.
So I went over the pasta dishes and ordered for myself a fettuccine carbonara with some sort of lemon chicken on top. But I didn’t get just that. The room service guy on the phone was so kind to give me some dessert and orange juice and some bread in a basket as a birthday gift. I was so touched by his action that I called up room service again and thanked him. Some minutes later, a room boy knocked on my door and handed me the guy’s name, phone number and email. Thanks Joy Patwary. Although I didn’t email or text you, I am very grateful and think you are a kind person.

10 year plan

I like it when the aircraft has soared up into the sky cruising above the clouds. the space around you just makes you feel so small. it feels like the flight,just like the sky, would just keep going on and on and on. looking outside the window, i see puffy clouds so white and pure like cotton laid like a carpet on a floor of different shades of blue. the serenity, the endlessness, the peace and quiet makes me look back and think. this happens to me all the time. i start to imagine things, daydream, remember the past or plan my future. this time, this morning, i was looking back and planning my next moves.
when i was younger, i read my kindergarten yearbook on which i (probably) had written that "when i grow up i want to be a cpa lawyer". i couldnt have possibly known what that is at age 7, my parents had decided that for me i guess. in highschool, we were asked to write down on a piece of paper what we see ourselves will be in ten years and this was to go in the yearbook. i forgot what i wrote down but i know it has the same ring as growing up to be a cpa lawyer. next year would be the 10th year since i graduated highschool. i did graduate accountancy 5 years later and worked for some time in the commerce industry but i am not a cpa and i am nowhere near being a lawyer. did i want to be a certified accountant? yes. did i want to be a lawyer? yes. so what happened? i have no idea. but its obvious that i didnt want it so much cos if i did id have gotten what i wanted.
now at 25, im still a bit confused about what i really want to do. my midday daydreaming has helped me come up with another plan (among other plans) that i have for the future. stay in this line of work for at least 2 years but with another employer. resign and do a full time review for the cpa exam when im 28. get married at 29 after having passed the exams. have one child and work at home doing internet based jobs for certified accountants. when my child is 2 years old, id go back to school and take up law. after 4 years, id be 34, id graduate law and a year after at 35 im a lawyer. when you daydream, all seems pretty simple and easy and even impossible situations seem normal and not uncommon. on another clear day, with just the right combination of cirrus and cumulus clouds 35,000 feet up in the air and the blue sea of space surrounding the metal tube i work in, maybe i could dream up a better dream.

i love flying. i love my job. i did imagine myself when i was in highschool, travelling to different places, meeting different kinds of people, eating different kinds of food, smelling different scents, experiencing so much of the world around me. of course that changed when i started to think about college and what i want to be in life and the actual study that i chose for college. becoming a successful woman in an office working for a successful company doing occasional travels that come in travel packages when the company gives you time for it.
although some flights are really stressful, i always see a lighter side in those. the work is never boring for me, never been so far. i enjoy the flights, the destinations, the getting there, the passengers, the lingual debacles i often have with passengers, the beam of pride i feel like im exuding everytime i receive a grateful smile from a passenger. i feel like im a very nice person. and thanks to them, i get to use that side of me.
sure there are downsides aside from turbulence and other naturally occuring disturbances to the flight we've got unsatisfied pax venting out on you, really demanding people asking for everything all at the same time ahora mismo and annoying, imposing colleagues. but you know, i've handled all of these things really well in all the flights. and my colleagues, although there's tension at some point in the flight, we forget about it after. it's just work, nothing personal. the same for passengers, and when i nod to them goodbye and wish them safe on their journey i really mean it.