to the moon, alice!

As you know, we had a whirlwind marriage – we ran off to Santa Barbara on the last weekend Mr Nikki could take a day off of work.  No muss, no fuss, just as I like it.

But that also meant no honeymoon, and for as much traveling as he & I did before we met (traveling and living abroad, that is), we’ve done almost no traveling together.  I’d say “no traveling at all,” because when we speak of travel, we think of NOT the United States, but the US still counts as travel, so… we’ve been back to see our parents a number of times, we’ve been to Wisconsin (to see his family there), Seattle, and a million places in California.

He’s adjusted to sitting still, but my feet have been itching like mad and it breaks my heart to have not really gone anywhere in over a year.  We’re waiting to see if we can, indeed, go live in Japan (for his work) for a year and we have a trip to Thailand planned towards the end of next year with a friend of mine who’s family is from Thailand, but that’s all… theoretical yet.

Mr Nikki’s Big Project is over in March, and he’ll have 2 weeks comp time.  Originally, we were going to go back to the hometown & throw a big belated wedding reception shindig/picnic for the family.  Not my ideal, but… ya know.  Families demand such things.

Then last week, my mom said to me, “Instead of just coming out here and doing your party in March, why not drop Nugget off, I’ll take a week vacation to watch him, and you guys go do a honeymoon?”

YOU DON’T HAVE TO SUGGEST THAT TWICE.

We’re in.  And I’ve already been feverishly planning.

Do you know how hard it is to choose somewhere to go when there’s a million places you want to revisit and a million places you’ve yet to see and when you travel, you’re used to REALLY TRAVELING?

I wanted to go to Chile, to see a friend of mine & do a wine festival, however – if we have to drop Nugget off at my parents, it makes the most sense to head East and revisit Europe.  I contemplated something like Fiji (I found a deal in Frommer’s for $1200/each 6 nights) but… I want something more interesting than an island.

(I’ve spent plenty of time on islands and almost moved to one, ahem, before Mr Nikki stole me away to LA instead.  It’s far more interesting than it sounds – living on an island, that is.  Electricity is variable, at best, showers run on rainwater & tend to be unreliable, the heat in summer is unbearable and all there is to do is drink.)

We thought about Amsterdam – each of us, before we even met, had made yearly trips to our favorite city and OH! How we’d love to go back, together.  Yes, yes, the pot is fun, but there’s so much more to Holland than pot & prostitutes.  It’s GEZELLIG! which is something I can’t possibly explain.  You either get it or you don’t.

Though, at this point, since we’ve each been there so many times, there’s only so much to do and see & so much money to be spent, so… what could we do that would let us incorporate a couple days in Holland, but not our entire trip?

Hmm….

And then it hit me.

Once upon a time, I read a description from someone talking about soaking in geothermal waters while surrounded by cliffs of ice.  Dark, winter landscapes that looked like something out of one of my favorite sci-fi movies.  Especially now, living in the land of sunshine and aching for some cold, cozy, need-to-bundle-up-weather…

Iceland.

It’ll be March, which isn’t the optimal time for Icelandic tourism – the days will still be short, the weather will be completely unpredictable & most likely very, very cold.  Many things will be closed & few other tourists will be about.

Which is fine, because I’ve never in my life been a “tourist” and I hate tourists.

What we CAN do is meet some locals, check out the scenery & take a gazillion photos, possibly go on snowmobile rides, bundle up in sweaters & mittens while warming up with the local apertif and… and we can do SPA DAYS. Every day.

I’m not one for “spas,” typically.  I’m not a girly girl.  I don’t do chick flicks, Lilith Fair Vagina Music, shopping, or spas.  But if the spa days involve soaking in natural hot springs surrounded by cliffs of ice in frigid weather while it possibly snows, then running indoors for massages – I’m down with that.  Hell, one of my favorite skincare lines just happens to be Skyn Iceland.  They make the only eye cream that actually works.

Mr Nikki jumped at the idea.  It’s unique.  It’s unusual.  And people will think it’s a little nutty.  How many people go to Iceland for their honeymoon?  How many people flee constant sunshine to get a good dose of cold weather?

There was a winter, when I lived in Prague, when the temp dropped to 20 below.  It honestly didn’t bother me that much – I’d take that over these !@#$^& nonstop sunny days in Santa Monica, any day.  (I grew up in the NorthEast.  I’m a northeast girl all the way.)

I’ve wanted to go to Iceland for… oh, the past decade.  Iceland Air has had a steady stream of incredible deals for just as long – they’ve been trying to ramp up their tourism, so you can get ridiculously low airfare if you just stop over in Reykjavik for  a day.  So WE’RE thinking – let’s do a week in Iceland, with a day or two hop over to Holland.  And right about now I’m thinking our honeymoon can’t get any better than this. (I know you think I must be joking, but truly, I am so sick of Southern California & the lack of a proper Fall & Winter, at this point.  I’ve been begging to move North again and as soon as it’s possible, we will.)

I’ve heard the Icelandic people are an incredibly friendly sort – and with the cold weather, we’re sure to have a great experience hanging out in pubs & meeting a few.  And hey! There’s Bjork!  I’ve heard that their music scene is IN.CRED.I.BLE.  However, we’ll see see if we still have the energy for such things.  Music is a centerpoint in our lives, so the idea of just coming back with a few new cds from artists never before heard in the States is a huge bonus.

All photos from Lonely Planet website: