How long is 24 hours
A moment lived in Iceland by SiDash Travels, a traveling couple from the United Kingdom.
When travelling, one day can pass too quickly. After anticipating something for so long, time often comes and goes faster than we’d like.
Unfortunately, travel has its dark periods too, and sometimes a mere 24 hours can feel nearly endless.
We experienced both sides of travel’s time-bending phenomena during our recent trip to Iceland.
On one particular morning, the snow was coating the streets, and we could hear a storm whistling through the windows.
We bundled up and scarfed down a warm breakfast, eagerly looking forward to our day at the Blue Lagoon.
It was the last day of our holiday, and we were going to spend it being pampered at the world’s most famous thermal pool.
On our way to the hot pools!
Our flight was early the next day, so we decided to save some money by not booking a hotel room for the next night. We’d just catch a few hours of sleep at the airport before it was time to board.
If the universe occasionally foreshadows trials ahead, maybe this was a sign: As we gathered our belongings, Kristin somehow managed to throw her phone across the room.
We swear it happened in slow motion, but we couldn’t move to stop it – and the phone soared right out our 3rd story window.
To say we are a bit addicted to our phones and social media is an understatement. We are bloggers, after all. Kristin was in a panic but the phone had survived by landing in a soft pile of snow. On with the day.
On our bus ride to the lagoon, we couldn’t believe our luck. The views were absolutely stunning covered in snow. We knew the lagoon was going to be cozy and surreal with this storm on our side.
Sure enough, it was heaven. We sank into the outdoor thermal pools, glasses of white wine in hand, and enjoyed many hours of relaxation as the snow fell lightly around us.
Before we knew it, the day had passed and the lagoon was closing. Warm and happy, we went back to the changing rooms to prepare for the next leg of our journey.
Here’s where everything turned.
The unexpected…
We still had an open tab with the bar for our wine, so I started digging in my bag for my wallet.
Gone!
All of my money, bank cards… All gone. I suddenly remembered putting my wallet in the bus seat’s pocket. It’s weird how we react in these moments. I was mostly consumed with grief that I had lost something I’d owned since I was 16 years old.
Kristin’s concerns were more practical. First, that we couldn’t pay our bar tab. Second, that we couldn’t pay for our transportation to the airport. Third, that we’d just lost a huge amount of cash that we absolutely had to have for our next few weeks in England. Finally, that the last bus to Reykjavik was leaving in 20 minutes. We had very limited time to find solutions to all these problems.
We will always be thankful for the customer service at the Blue Lagoon for handling our situation with such compassion. They covered our bill for us, tracked down the bus where we’d left the wallet, and helped us make arrangements to pick the wallet up once we were back in Reykjavik.
We were saved, but stress levels were understandably high.
What was the last thing we wanted at this point? A night without a bed. But that’s exactly what was waiting for us.
Especially when that plan also fell to pieces.
By the time we were back in the city, wallet in hand, there were no more buses to the airport until morning.
Instead of spending our homeless night in a relatively comfy airport (with cushioned seats and a working heater), we slept in a cold, uncomfortable, drafty bus station.
We settled in for a long wait in the middle of a fierce blizzard – had we really been thankful for this weather just a few hours before?
When we finally arrived at the airport, our muscles were screaming, our faces were sore from the cold, and we hadn’t slept a wink.
We were a little overexcited to finally be in a warm building, but that euphoria was short lived.
Because remember that blizzard? Of course, it had delayed our flight.
Worse and worse
It delayed our flight for SIX HOURS.
The delay was so long that we missed the bus we had nonrefundable tickets for in London.
And by the time we finally reached that beautiful, coveted, blessing of a bed in Northern England, we had been awake for 36 hours straight.
In the morning, we reflected on the day before.
And we concluded that we genuinely love the adventures that make up our travelling lives. The world can throw any disaster at us, and we’ll still want to explore its every nook and cranny. We are addicted to the thrill of mixed emotions, and we’re fascinated by how much you can really experience in just one day.
The result? A great memory!
Here’s the truth: the best parts of travelling are those moments when you think ‘WHY?’
You won’t remember many details from seeing the famous Blue Lagoon; you’ll remember every slow second of the night you slept in a bus station during an arctic Icelandic blizzard. They create your most hilarious stories and you will laugh about them for years to come
This traveler has a blog: SiDash Travels
Wow that sounds terrible! BUT it could have been so much worse… I’m glad the wallet landed safely back with you after all that!
Oh man, that sounds awful! I’m so sorry to hear all that happened! That kind of experience does feel terrible in the moment, by makes for a good story later on! I would’ve been so stressed!