Strangers In Paradise

I’ve just done my legend… wait for it…trip in 2021 so far in a legend… wait for it… country, the combination of ice and fire, Iceland! we were 18 girls (including me) plus one leader in total. All of us are girls that was born in one country and yet live in another country or has been everywhere so the question of where do you come from indeed became a really hard one that need a further explanation 😉 Nevertheless, I am so glad I met you all, this trip won’t be the same without you <3

Here to show what a togetherness of 19 strangers looks like 🙂

Kicking of with dinner at BrewDog. Our Northern Lights Tour scheduled for the second day but according to the weather forecast, on 30th Oct it will be better so we changed it. I remembered we were kind of in a rush of eating, just order Burger because it’s easier and faster to make, said Kimmy. No way! I ordered ribs 🙂 haha, it was confirmed by the waiter that if only one of two person order it, it won’t slow down the process. Jesslyn and I ordered it.

(right after this pic was shared, I know we have a professional photographer @tracyrusso)

Not only we have Magnus from @nicetraveliceland that took picture of us in the beginning where the lights started to appear.

We also have @tracyrusso who stays for the next two hours and took a silhouette picture with a more crazier Northern Lights!

What a relief feeling to achieved your only reason to travel to Iceland on your first day 😀 Northern Lights, checked! More story about it just click here Just Have a Little Faith-Part 2

We started our second day with chill because we’ve done the most important thing already last night 😉 Today will be solely dedicated for Reykjavik City Walking Tour.

Nana explained it all so detailed but sorry not sorry I couldn’t care less, I care more about how to not freeze to death! We finished our walking tour with a Lamb Hotdog, I don’t eat Lamb but since it’s in Iceland so I had one, it was so so, eatable. I think it suppose to be a famous lamb, I don’t know the name, just look for Radisson Blue Hotel and across that there is the lamb’s stall 🙂

We went separate way before we met up again for dinner. Anu, Helene, Alex and I stick together because we don’t want to go back to Hotel and came back to city center for dinner, so we went up to Hallgrimskirkja (the church) so see the beautiful view there. It is beautiful but the wind was also beautiful, my hands are freezing.

Right after this, we needed to warm ourselves us in Cafe Loki where I met….. a very…. interesting waiter that I couldn’t resist, I need to have a picture with him 😉 It is Halloween and he is very dedicated for it! He showed us how he showed up for work that day but his boss asked him to remove the make up. Nevertheless, I think he is still dedicated, his eyes were really shocked me. But Hey! me, Irina, Sarah and Jemima also wear something for our Halloween dinner 🙂

Our third day is my favourite, The Golden Circle Tour 😀 Not only “Down To Earth with Zac Efron” had a scene there, we also went way more than him. HA! Take that Zac! Ofc the must see Thingvellir National Park, Geysir and Haukadalur Geothermal Area, The Golden Waterfall Gullfoss, Kerid Crater Lake and Secret Lagoon.

The bonus, an ice cream stop in a remote upland farms and as if that’s not enough, we got a stop and pet Icelandic horse!

Thanks to @tracyrusso who snapped a beautiful picture for us 🙂

A good way to close this tour is with one and only Icelanders know well, diving ourselves into a warm Secreet Lagoon!

Fourth day with GGI is called The South Coast tour where I translated it as the many waterfall days tour 🙂 We went to see Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrabui Waterfalls, Skogafoss Waterfall, hike Solheimajokull Glacier and entertained by Irina’s Stand Up Comedy in Reynisfjara-Black Beach.

I think somewhere before we went to Reynisfjara-Black Beach, we stopped to see the kind of house that using nature aka rocks! So the house is actually small but it located under a rock, it is very interesting but Christina said no one want to lives here because it symbolize poverty.

Oh here is the proof that we hiked the Glacier. Bravo Erin!

We’ve done many activity today, we deserved some alcohol. Did I tell you that two of our girls having a birthday while on this trip? Yes they are Anu and Sarah. This is how we celebrate it 🙂

Happy birthday to both of you 🙂

Fifth day is our last day with GGI and we went to The Snaefellsnes Peninsula. This is the day where the weather is really not compromise with us, you have no idea what is the meaning of cold and windy until you come to Iceland. This is the place where the so-called waterproof and windproof clothes really got tested 😉

We went to Snaefellsnes Peninsula, Ytri Tunga Seal Colony, Black Church-Budakirkja, Arnarstapi, Londrangar Cliffs and Black Beach of Djupalonssandur. Not that I care but I am more concentrating of how not to fall down from the cliff due to super heavy wind and rain, we were all soaked wet. Ugh, unbelievable.

More story about this day is on Films

Then came the sixth day, the separation day oh nooo 🙁 some of the girls will extend for few more days but some already said goodbye. Thank you girls for the laugh, food, pictures and stories that we shared together.

We were all strangers living in whole around the world who somehow happened to take GGI opportunity and create our own paradise in a country that foreign for us all, Iceland. I really had a great time and I will never feel Iceland as cold as it was before because of you all.

Thanks to Kimmy our leader who never raised her voice to any of us and never late with information of what to expect from the next day, respect! I wish I can be like Erin every time I go to my home country I will take a first class ticket! and make sure I got serve a Champagne from a silver glassware 😉 Followed by a hope that I can adapt to coldness like Susie, just got on board ready without any layers haha. Sarah as the only person who got many ISK money, I asked her “in which currency will we gave a tip to Christina?” She said “Icelandic” “do you have the cash” “a lot” whoah! haha Jessica who by the end of the trip I still don’t know why I got a feeling that I met her before, this will be my forever homework. Jesslyn my Malaysian lady who not only mistaken a fork with a chicken bones and almost put it inside a glass, she did a heroic thing such as let me know her room code so Jemima can’t stop me from getting in 🙂 I don’t like when I see Jemima is in peace I need to come and bother her haha Louise who’s not only the Viking but she has the most complete Insta-story ever, seems like nobody need to go anywhere, just follow her IG and you will know exactly what to expect from any place she visit 😉 The very beautiful Alya, look almost in every video she never realized the camera or say hi but the camera loves her, she can definitely be a supermodel. The very humble and nice Helene, I will never forget how you explain everything what we’ve done to a girl that keep pressing our elevator up to the Church, while I said “don’t press” and you just asked her to join us from Church sightseeing to Cafe Loki and to dinner. Alex, the very right person to ask what time the bus will pick us up, guys, always go for the Germans, they know everything! The very genuine person Katey who is OK with us ‘almost’ cancelling the last visit to Arrowhead Mountain due to the weather is not promising while she was the hardcore fans of GOT, she said during lunch “if I’m the only person who wants to go then we can just cancel it” no way! I’m not a fans of GOT but I objected! We have a couple of girls that has a high sense in fashion, I’m talking about Katie and Tracy, not only these two seems to change their clothes everyday, they changed it from head to toe, it’s always matching and good looking and Tracy also taken picture of us with professional camera 🙂 Ana who gave me an insight of starting my side-job doing something with the Internet such as content creator or something, I always want to do that and you challenged me for it, thank you, I’m up for it! Dami who eats a lot of protein while everyone have a light breakfast, she’s having chicken already, yes girl! Irina who always put up with my bullshit and I really think the picture will just do the justice 🙂 Anu, my demanding roomate who moved her body butter from her bed to her table-lamp so I couldn’t just use it when I needed, the one who force me to get up and have breakfast in Airport hotel, the nerve you got Anu!