Throughout my last six months at university and during my Master's exams, I was looking to go abroad to work, but I couldn't find anything. My friend found a job in Iceland as a kayak guide, which subsequently turned out to be a win for me in July. On 5 July my friend texted me that one of their guides had to move away so if she could recommend me. Was it possible to say no to such an offer?
The owners contacted me the next day, and it was decided that I would leave for Iceland in six days. During that time, I had already planned a hike across the Beskydy Mountains and two days in the Jeseníky Mountains, so there wasn't much time for preparation. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to find cheap plane tickets.
Do you think my journey to Reykjavik was peaceful?
Yes, you're guessing correctly that there were some issues. From the Beskydy Mountains, I took a train to Brno, which was only ten minutes late—a perfectly normal delay for trains in the Czech Republic. However, the bus coming from Prague that was supposed to pick me up in Brno and take me to Vienna Airport was an hour late. This caused a lot of uncertainty about whether I would make my flight from Vienna to Reykjavik. The entire journey, I was in my head urging the driver to speed up, and when he stopped at a gas station for coffee, I almost gave him a piece of my angry mind. Nevertheless, I kept calm, and we arrived at the airport one hour before the flight.
But the real nightmare began at the airport. At security, they confiscated my expensive Manuka honey because I mistakenly thought the allowed size depended on the weight of the ingredient rather than the size of the jar. The flight was delayed by two hours due to bad weather, but we eventually took off from Vienna. The flight itself was quite smooth, with no turbulence. However, an hour before arriving in Reykjavik, the pilot announced that due to bad weather, the plane had to turn back to Vienna, and that’s when the real madness began. All the passengers looked at each other in disbelief, but unfortunately, it was true. The plane turned around, and we spent another two and a half hours in the air, landing back in Vienna.
We landed in Vienna after 3 AM, and no one from Wizzair could tell us whether they would arrange accommodation or at least provide some food or compensation. In the end, people had to wait until 1 PM, they arranged accommodation! Luckily, I contacted a friend who lives in Vienna, and she and her boyfriend took care of me for the entire day. The flight was rescheduled for 9:50 PM the following day. After spending the day in Vienna, I headed back to the airport, and after another two-hour delay, we finally set off for Reykjavik, where we landed shortly after 3 AM. Thanks to two people from the plane who gave me a ride to the city, I found myself in my hostel room, booked by my employers, by 4 AM.
I managed to get a solid four hours of sleep because, in the morning, my friend picked me up and took me to the place where I would be working—Grundarfjörður, a town famous for the mountain Kirkjufell.
My job here is a kayak guide just around Kirkjufell Mountain, so if you are in Iceland and plan to go to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, I give you a tip for a great activity during the day. It's a very simple activity that you can easily do and have nice pictures!:) I work for Vestur Adventures.
Helping with translations: Deepl
Helping with grammar: Grammarly