because it makes you want to smoke, A LOT.

My brother, on the other hand, was the ideal traveling companion– except when he was cockblocking me because people mistakenly assumed that he was my boyfriend.  Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Iceland was beautiful.  Punto. Period. I have never seen so much open space or experienced such a deep appreciation for nature.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not necessarily the outdoors type unless it involves being outside on a beach with a big drink in each hand and a cabana boy waving a large frond over me.  Iceland changed that feeling.  It is so underveloped and untouched you can’t help but feel blown away by it.

My brother and I hiked up Mt. Esja on Friday morning and I spent the entire hike trying not to die from the constant blast of 33 mph winds blowing straight at us, and thinking about what I want for my life next year.

This is me thinking. Can you tell how deep my thoughts are?

We were the only people on the entire mountain and we got there just as the sun was rising and it was spectacular.  It was also extrememly cold and windy.  The cap of my water bottle froze after ten minutes of hiking.  Just in case you are thinking of hiking Mt. Esja in November/December, you need to be prepared for the wind more than anything.  It can knock you flat on your ass if you are not careful.  At the end of our hike, my face was burnt from the force of it, even though I had wrapped my scarf entirely around my face.

If you still can’t appreciate how cold or windy it was, here is a shot of me and my mom trying to battle the wind earlier on in the trip.

The wind won.

A little bit after this picture was taken, my mom and my brother busted ass.  They went flying in the air like cartoon characters and landed straight on their bums.  I would have laughed, but I couldn’t uncover my face long enough to make the necessary facial motions.  After the Great Fall of 2008, my mother refused to get out of the rental car at any subsequent tourist destinations.

So she missed seeing this:

Overall, Iceland was one of the best trips of my life so far.  I would love to go back, just maybe in the summer next time.