It was a pretty lazy morning. Bus was leaving at 1:50 so I didn’t really go out on too big of an adventure. Just a simple walk around. I didn’t want to get distracted and miss the bus.
Organizing, packing, coffee, Youtube videos, 1:00 eventually rolls around and I headed out, leaving behind a couple of maple syrup hard candies and a loonie. I’m doing that at every place I stay at.
I saunter over to the department store because the game I got, Deponia, works best with a mouse. I get to the gas station/bus stop with 20-minutes to spare. I order a grilled cheese and a pop and wait. 1:50 rolls around and goes by, so I continue to wait.
Waiting.
Waiting.
The bus finally arrives at 2:20. After loading my bag, I pay the fair for getting me to Akureyri, I inquire if we’re going to get there in time for me to catch the 56 bus. He tells me that it doesn’t run on Tuesdays nor Thursdays and proceeds to take out a schedule and shows me. ‘Huh,’ I say. ‘Neat. Well, let’s see what happens when we get there.’ He chuckles and pulls out. I find a seat, put on head phones, then almost a hour into the trip I’m white-knuckling the seat in front of me. The reasoning is because we fish tailed twice. Looking at the road, it’s completely covered with ice. I’ve been in two accidents during the winter and they were caused by icy roads. I came out of it all fine and dandy, so if we got into one I would be fine. That’s based off of my track record of accidents, incidents, and dangerous encounters of which I should have been seriously injured.
We eventually get to Akureyri, getting off and strapping on my bag, I look at my surroundings. I’m stranded in Akureyri. Well, it had to happen at some point, better here in Iceland’s second largest city as opposed to some place in the middle of nowhere.
I head into the Tourism building, tell them my story, and I’m just looking for a place to rest my head for the night. They take out a map for me, circle a few places nearby, and then compliment me on my high spirits. I respond with ‘Thanks! Why get angry and panic? That’ll only make things worse. Might as well make the most of it, if anything, it’ll make a great story afterwards!’ They laugh and seem impressed.
I head over to the hotel, check-in, and go up to my room. I unpack the essentials and then spot my dead Gameboy. I sent home my old charger because didn’t work here. Not because of the outlet prongs, but because it’s rated only for a 110v system, where Iceland is 220v. I go downstairs to the concierge and ask him if he knows of any computer store nearby. He takes out a map, points out three places nearby, the closest one is right across the street, the other is a 15-minute walk away. I give him my thanks and head out into the night (night being 4:45pm) and start my hunt. The first two places didn’t have what I was looking for and both places told me to check the third. I walk over there to find out that it has closed down! Defeated, I look around the area for another one. Luck be on my side, I found one! And it’s about to close in 5-minutes! I pop inside, purchase the cord, and then finally notice that the Sony Playstation owns Iceland, allowing Nintendo to have a presence, and next to nothing for PC nor XBox. It took me three towns and eight stores to realize this.
Returning to the hotel, I take off my jacket, plug in my Gameboy, and go downstairs for dinner. Very fancy restaurant here! I order the Catch of the Day, which turned out to be Arctic Char no greens and fried potatoes, with a side of fries cooked in truffle oil and topped with parmesan cheese. Also ordered an Icelandic stout called Black Death. After trying a bite of everything, this was the best fish, fried potatoes, and fries that I have ever had! The stout had an interesting sour smell and taste to it, I couldn’t decide if it was intentional or the tanks weren’t cleaned properly. Still, a tasty beer.
Going back upstairs to my room, I play Deponia for about a hour, chat with my roomie Laura back home, then head off to bed.
I was told that tomorrow was supposed to be nasty. I hope not.