This would mark my first experience with international travel since I went to London with my school choir fifteen years ago. This would also mark my first time travelling alone like this. That being said, the first day of my journey would begin rather slowly. I planned to arrive in the capital city, get my bearings and get into my hostel and just make sure I was ready for the journey ahead.

My flight landed at 5:30 AM local time and I didn’t sleep on the plane (too excited?) but I was ready to rock. I got my rental car and headed towards Reykjavik (a 45 minute drive). The only problem? I didn’t have cell phone service yet so I didn’t have GPS navigation. I had planned to buy a local SIM card from a gas station in Reykjavik. I made it to Reykjavik without much problem despite the lack of GPS and I got my SIM card but… it didn’t come with a SIM card ejector to actually get it into my phone. So I was a bit stuck for a while. It was 6:30 AM local time and nothing was open and I had no GPS and no internet and no idea what to do as I couldn’t even find my hostel without internet. After a long search, I found a store that was open and asked if they could help and they did. I got my SIM card in and got internet and all was well again.

So, with that, the exploration of Reykjavik began and I continued on throughout the day and night with basically no sleep but I was still riding on adrenaline of being in this new country. I’d explore the city for a while, check out the shopping and I’d end up meeting some great people from around the world at my hostel that I stayed up until 2:30 AM chatting with. My first day of solo international travel was a success.

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