Reflection on traveling - Dublin, London, Reykjavik (Patreon)

I landed in Reykjavik March 30 around 5am completely exhausted, memory foam pillow stuffed up around the top of my head over top my one backpack and thick coat. Reykjavik, by my own estimates, is cold enough that I wished I had a huge blanket to snuggle in. I could sense cold air as I sat next to the window drinking miniature bottles of fruit smoothie...they sell a lot of fruit smoothies in Iceland. At exorbitant prices. Once I was on the plane for Dublin, I fell asleep again, waking up almost right as we landed. From there it was a quick trip to have a miniature Irish breakfast close to the hostel I stayed at (note to self: you are too old for hostels...or at least too crotchety for them) before showering and going to sleep immediately. 

The next day was a full day shoot, the one after I spent seeing some different things in Dublin including the Kilmainham Gaol Museum  and the National Gallery in Dublin.  You know you've seen too many art exhibits when you go to a museum and accidentally go to see an exhibit you've already seen before years prior. I did that at the National Gallery by seeing the Caravaggio exhibit they have...which is, as I thought the first time, misleading, as the majority of the works in the exhibit are not Caravaggio's but are people who were inspired by Caravaggio. Both times I have seen this exhibit, that has annoyed me, and both times I have paid for it. This probably means I'm the one with a problem.

The day after I spent shooting with a lovely older gentleman who told me he would pick me up in his "Rolls-Rust" as he called it....which turned out to be neither a Rolls-Royce nor very rusty, but it was very old (1968) which he did explain to several passersby and then explained the paint job to him. After which they discussed the weather as it was sunny that day which is unusual for Dublin. They day after this, I did a couple of shoots before packing and preparing to leave the next day for London.

Upon my arrival in London, I made an hour train journey north to get to London. When going into certain cities - NYC and Toronto are good examples - it's a bit overwhelming the first time. London though huge, is very small in a way. The buildings themselves are fairly short on average, so it didn't feel overwhelming until I got off the national rail in Victoria Station in London. The sheer amount of people in London is overwhelming, the rushing about colliding with the aimless slow plodding of others, the amount of stuff that is everywhere. I eventually got to my airbnb and collapsed in bed. I did shoots every day while in London, so I barely saw anything to be honest. My mother found this a bit disappointing...I did manage to see the exhibit of Elton John's photograph collection at the Tate Modern as well as the outside of Westminster Abbey  and Big Ben.  I walked around a lot, met so many lovely people (Helene V ., Tiggy Ara , Donatas Zazirskas , Selina Mayer , and a few others), and did really enjoy my visit despite seeing very few tourist attractions.

I just caught my plane to Reykjavik after being really afraid I was going to miss it, and when we landed and I got off the plane, it was a completely different climate. I actually did not book any shoots in Iceland as a model outside due to the cold - I'm notoriously bad with cold weather. I was still able to spend a lot of time with a model I know there - Svala  - and the kind person who hosted me - Odinn . Odinn was kind enough to drive us both to a location and Svala modeled for me as I tried to take photos in between being impressed by how well she handles the cold. We had coffee and cookies before I prepared that night to leave. The next day, Odinn drove me to the airport, I ate the weirdest sandwich ever (smoked lamb with egg vegetable mayo salad) and my new favorite candy, marzipan inside black licorice. They love black licorice in Iceland...some of the treats I find to be repulsive, but that particular combination is wonderful.

It was really an amazing trip overall, though extremely tiring. I'm happy to be back as I do always start to miss the US after a few days away. It's very strange. When I was younger I never had that feeling, but I think I'm simply becoming more attached to staying at home and the further away I go the more I miss it. I really love exploring new places and trying new things, but even that becomes routine at a certain point. And being in bed with my fur babes is something I always miss a lot. 

I'll be uploading the travel photos to separate posts by city.