The Laugavegur path | My arrival at Reykjavik, Iceland

The strong buzz of the plane has already disappeared, replaced by the soft and unknown sounds of an Icelandic night. But let’s rewind where everything began: a hot and humid night in Nashville. I arrived early at the airport, as a good rules follower (which I am not normally), buzzing with a strange mixture of nerves and emotion. I was going through the ocean, just to walk along the Laugavegur path in Iceland, the first part of my second middle -aged crisis and a commitment.

The Sheraton Music City Hotel was my parking lot, more squeaky than airport parking and a quick transport trip. While adjusting the straps in my backpack, a woman realized and offered me an elevator to the ferry stop, which was of great help. She and her husband had just finished a two -year bus trip through the United States on her converted bus, which they were looking to sell. I was interested and grateful that the universe put me in his vehicle, but Iceland was calling. As well as the shape of the universe to send me with a little magic of paths even before reaching a path.

The flight

On the night flight, the dream remained far. My mind accelerated in advance, and my inner thigh decided to beat in protest. Classic. Around 2 in the morning, the sky began to rejoice, revealing what I thought it was an iceberg: it shoots, it was an irregular Canadian mountain that cut the clouds. He felt like a look at another world.

Landing in Keflavík felt surreal. I made my way through the airport in search of Icelandic Krona, which became a little treasure search. I finally found the hidden exchange near security. Mission One Complete.

From airport to camp

Reykjavík’s transport was quiet. I sat next to a Canadian ultra runner on the way to a solo walk in the remote north of Iceland. His quiet energy was contagious. When we stopped at the Reykjavík ecological camp, the staff kindly let me register early. I found a small grass patch and prepared my store, feeling completely uncomfortable when I learned my new environment and I also felt perfectly at home.

A quick lap around the ground revealed clean bathrooms, warm showers and a community kitchen. I had only three hours of plane sleeping in me, but the adrenaline said it was time to explore.

Find my rhythm in Reykjavik

Next to it there was a delight surprise: a family park and a botanical garden, full, green and in full flowering. I passed, soaking in the crispy Icelandic air. At some point, I began to greet people as I would in Boston, throwing a friendly «hey, how are you?» It didn’t have a good time. Most people looked slightly confused or gave me that educated smile and tight lips that says: «I have no idea what you just said.» Honestly, I should have remembered that it was exactly like it was when I moved to Knoxville. No one responded to «Hey, how are you?» over there. In East Tennessee, the option is a simple «How do you?» Finally, I discovered the international version: just «Hello.» He is friendly, not threatening and does not confuse anyone about whether they are supposed to respond.

Fuel and food

My first message was N1 for the fuel of the stove. Mission fulfilled. I also examined the flavors of unknown chips and noticed the second black person I had seen in the country so far. In a place where it was clearly a stranger, even that brief recognition felt silent. Blacks constitute a small part but growing the population of Iceland, many of the United States, Africa or the Caribbean, and some have been for love, work or the pure beauty of the landscape. There is even a small black but powerful black community, organizing events and sharing stories through platforms such as @blackinicaland.

And can we talk about the genius of the sale of gas from the camp stove at a real service station? In the US, you must track it in an outdoor store or a Big-Box retailer. Iceland keeps it simple: you need gasoline, go to the service station. Practical. Logical. Clearly a less tangled society in corporate nonsense.

Next stop: Bónus, the most economical supermarket chain in Iceland, easily recognized by its bright yellow sign and the pink pork mascot of confused appearance. You knew Was Bónus founded in 1989 and helped reduce the cost of living in Iceland by refusing to store faces branded goods? A national hero in the form of a discount pig.

The Auto-Checkout was an act of faith, I think I paid? Anyway, I went out with mint chocolates and a small feeling of triumph. Back in the streets of Reykjavík, mosaic sidewalks were surprisingly useful to navigate with a limited vision. Each step was part of a quiet rhythm: learn, adjust, realize and advance.

Tour on foot: myths, history and steam

Later, I joined a free walking through the city. After some confusion about the meeting point, I found my group and fell to Step. Our guide gave life to the city’s Viking roots with stories of Nordic gods, hard winters and the name of Reykjavík: «Smoky Bay», named for the steam that rises from the nearby geothermal springs.

We stopped near the house of Parliament, we passed extravagant sculptures and learned that many Icelanders still believe in the elves, known as Huldufólk, they said they live under rocks and hills. Even road construction has been redirected to avoid disturbing its invisible homes. In Reykjavík, the myth and the dance of reality next to each other.

Vegan and Walk by road dinner

Dinner was in Peace of the vegan worldA cozy and cozy restaurant hidden enough from the main drag to feel like a discovery. The menu is completely based on plants, with a mixture of dishes inspired by Asians, abundant bowls and Icelandic turns in comforting food. It is one of Reykjavík’s most beloved vegan places, presented by a small team committed to the idea that food can be healing and quiet. I entered everything: a snack, a hot main dish and enough leftovers to cover breakfast the next day. The food star was Mapo TofuSilky and spicy with the right heat kick to relive me after the accidental marathon of the day.

Speaking of that, he had walked 16 milesInvoluntarily, accumulating 37,000 steps just for wandering the city in all directions. It turns out that the preparation of trails does not always require mountains; Sometimes, your legs break well on the mosaic sidewalks of Reykjavik and the soft hills. When I sat down to eat, I was the same exhausted and grateful, my muscles buzzed and my stomach ready for a reward. Vegan World Peace delivered on all fronts: food, warmth and the type of quiet calm in which you want to wrap yourself before a great adventure.

Camp kitchen conversations

Back in the camp, my phone and my watch were loading, and also my spirit. The community cuisine was buzzing at 10 pm, fills with the type of low energy you only get when strangers become neighbors. The pots stuck, the mixed languages and the whole place hummed with that beautiful chaos of shared space. That’s where I met Martin, a friendly German guy who had just moved to Iceland for technological work. He lived in the camp while waiting for his apartment to be ready, an unexpected arrangement that seemed perfectly in tune with the Icelandic rhythm of rolling with what nature and time allow.

We found two points at the counter and we started chatting. He wasn’t eating, just taking the room while his laptop sat in front of him. «Do you want to see something great?» He asked, already turning the screen to me. They were images of drones, captured very early that day by their friend, of the Erupting swimming craters Near Grindavík, who had started a few days before on July 18.

The footage was impressive. Bright rivers of curved and pulsed lava through the dark ground as bright veins. But it wasn’t scary, he was fascinating. Surreal and alive, as the earth had briefly removed its skin to show us what is underneath. What surprised me most was how calm Martin was when he described walking with his friend. This was not an adventure tourism, it was life here. A real -time reminder that Iceland is still being formed just below your feet.

We change stories for a while, about backpacks, trail plans and places that we both expected to explore. Martin’s move to Iceland was not just a job. He talked about wanting something quieter, more punished. He mentioned how the medical care system works here, as in Germany, it simply works. «It’s one less thing to worry about,» he said. Coming from the United States, where even a routine check can be a financial commitment, that hit me more than I expected.

The conversation went to politics, not of the burning and divisive type, but the soft round trip of two people trying to understand the world. He said Islandia felt like a place where people solve problems together, where things move slowly but deliberately. We both laugh at how easy it should be to make national decisions when you can literally call everyone. But even so, he felt the type of place he believes in the common good.

I did not know then, but this moment, sitting at a counter full of people in a smoking community kitchen, seeing the lava flow through the screen of a laptop, it was a preview of what Iceland would offer me again and again: not only an epic landscape, but small human connections that change the way you see things.

The night before all

When midnight approached, heaven still refused to get dark. I controlled my store and stayed there, surrounded by the soft whisper of his travel companions that hurt my legs, my brain hurt and my heart felt ready.

Tomorrow, walk. But tonight, rest in Reykjavík, a city of steam, stories, trolls and strangers who greet when you greet.

This is the time before the walk. And even now, I can feel the path calling.

«I had already walked 16 miles without taking into account, accumulating 37,000 steps with only Kingkjavik’s vagabundo in all directions. It turns out that the preparation of trails does not always require mountains, sometimes the sidewalks of the city and a confusing ‘hey, how are you?’ I will do it well. «

Iceland has a way to sneak out, from unexpected volcanic eruptions to discover «international greeting» is just a simple «Hello.» Unique me while I enter the unknown and commercial meetings for moss -covered lava fields and finding adventure in every uncomfortable greeting.

Curious how a middle -aged crisis became a trip of his life? Look at my first moments in this new wild world: