You may be richer than me,
but you will never be free like me
I'm traveler @rbaggo
who is finding 'Humanism' in
'Capitalism'
I didn't know where to go because I had no plans to travel east of Iceland. I was very lucky to arrive at the home town of Puffin, Iceland's leading bird, while riding in a hitchhiking car!
After saying goodbye to Jeff and Josseline, I had to choose at the crossroads. Taking the main road along the mountain road Or the coastal road, which almost tourists use. I thought tourists would take more coastal roads... But I chose the mountain path with the main road.
Although Iceland is an one of easiest country for hitchhiking, but jsut few drivers used 'A1' main road.
About 30 minutes later, an Icelandic lady stopped me a nice camping car. Then she said, "On the contrary, all the tourists go to the east road(coastal road). If you're lucky here, you'll catch a car. It's hard to catch it, but it's beautiful here."
She dropped me off in the middle because she had to go somewhere near the farm. There was a place with no cars, but the scenery around it was the best. There is a treasure where no one else goes.
Another half hour later, the camping car stopped in front of me. The driver was an Italian couple and they looked very free.
We met a really nice lake on the way, and the name of the lake was 'Stephanbud', and he took a picture of himself calling his name 'Stefan'.
By the way, It's not easy to find the location of the lake on the google map, but it's been melted by the glaciers, and the water is glowing with emerald light.
I arrived in the largest city in the East, 'Egilsstaðir'. Contrary to expectations, there was nothing special about the city. I stopped by the mart to replenish the food and water, and I went to the tourist information center because I didn't know where to go.
The information center says there is a port city called 'Seyðisfjörður' which is a port city where you can sail from Europe, France, England, and so on, heading east from the city. Usually, camping cars come through this route. Also, if you go northeast, there is a beautiful village called 'Borgarfjörður Eystri'.
Since I haven't decided where to go, I've decided to go in the direction where drivers led, at the crossroads of the two cities. I think hitchhiking trip is good because I can relax like this.
The lady with your two sons stopped me. The kids in the back seats told her, "There's a man standing by the side of the road," and she stood there.
She gave me a ride near her house, and if it's too dark, she pointed her hand at her house and said, "That's my house, so come and sleep." I think it would have been a great memory even if I just failed to hitchhike and stayed at a local house for a day.
I hitchhiked a lot, but I kept trying because I couldn't give up so easily. But the problem was that it was a remote place with no cars passing by.
At this time, I was thinking, "Treasure is in a place where others don't go often." And the car didn't pass by, so rather than being afraid of not being able to get out of this place, I felt more interested in finding a new place and challenging myself.
Soon the car stopped, and the driver was an old couple. The car was headed to 'Borgarfjörður Eystri', located in the northeast of the two cities.
They introduced me about 'Stórurð', which is called Lake of Elves. I saw a picture of the area on Google Maps for a moment and it was a very beautiful lake. What was a bit disappointing was that we had to walk in after we drove to the nearby road. It's a must-visit place if you have time!!
It's a treasure-like place in the mountains where you can only go if you ask a local person because it's not on Google Maps.
After, I stopped two cars, hitchhiked to ask which of the car goes farther away. It was because there was no car. The kind Icelandic local people readily understood my situation and helped me.
They dropped me off here saying they were going to another village and left. And then 3 cars passed by me. There's not much traffic going on. I wonder if I can arrive today. It was around 7 p.m.
Finally, a white Bongo car passed by me, and then the car that was following behind, stopped. This is a rare village in the northeastern part of the country, and I went up the winding road above the ridge, and the view was so beautiful.
The old German couple who gave me a ride. This was almost the last car to come here. You must be lucky!! Hahaha
There was also a house covered with grass. It must be an exotic house with its own tradition in Iceland. It seemed to be used as a museum.
I was looking for a place to camp, and there was a camping site here too.
1100 ISK(10 USD) per person for camping,
400 ISK for shower(3 USD) and
electric charge for camping car was 1,000 ISK(8 USD).
I'm not sure about charging electronic devices like cellphones.
As I was walking around the campsite, Kevin from the U.S.A. said, "Where are you from, are you sure you want a glass of whiskey?" He asked me 2 times. And as we were talking, they called me an excessive white van. He said it was strange because he had never hitchhiked or given someone a ride. In addition, he was more worried because his tire was flat. So he suggested whiskey because he felt a little sorry. They were cooking while we were talking, cod with butter and beer.
In fact, I didn't know there was a Puffins, an Icelandic bird, near this town. After we arrived, people came to this place for such a special reason. When I visited Iceland in the winter before, I thought it was just a representative bird, but I didn't know I would see it with my own eyes. A repairman will come next morning to change the tire, and he asked me to come and see the birds when it's fixed.
Kevin and Anne's car wasn't a camping car, but it was a slightly modified van for camping. The camping site included setting up a tent for a camping car, They paid for my space!
I'm going to see Puffin tomorrow!