Day 10, 3 flights home

We woke up early to see if sunrise was worth shooting and again, though it was beautiful, there were no clouds! I woke up early anyway, showered and finished packing and then we all went to breakfast at 8, said our goodbyes and thank you to the guides and the owners, and packed up the car and headed out to the airport. Leknes was about an hour away, so we arrived around 10:45 am for our 11:40 flight on our tiny plane. Checked in, went through security, where they made us take out all of our cameras and lenses. What a pita. Our first flight was open seating so we tried to get in line early to get decent seats and room for our large, overweight camera bags. It was a quick 20 minute flight to Bodo where we had a 25 minute layover before our next flight to Oslo. An hour and 45 minutes later we were in Oslo, where we had to get our duffels, check in for our JFK flight and go through security again. It took a while. When we checked in, there was one gate agent who was weighing everyone's carry on bags and we knew that our camera bags were very overweight, so as soon as the woman whom we saw was not doing that was free, we rushed over to her to check in and not have to deal with any consequences of our packs. Whoops! Lol. At security, all of our bags were flagged and they had to be hand screened. All for different reasons which was actually quite funny. I went through with some water in my purse and they didn't even notice that. However in my camera bag, something looked like liquid in the top of my bag and it was a nut bar. Weird!

We had a fairly long three hour layover so we went to Jamie Oliver's restaurant and had a wrap and some pizza, caught up on internet stuff and then proceeded through passport control to our gate right before we were to board. Boarding was free for all and they just announced ok, time for everyone to board and it was a rush! We flew a 787 Dreamliner home. Pretty cool plane part of the Norwegian Air fleet. When our meal came, it was fish or chicken. I'm sure by now you can guess which meal all three of us chose. We had some red wine with the meal too!

We currently have two hours left on our seven hour flight home, but we've just flown over Greenland which was gorgeous to see from above. The few times I've flown over before, it's been dark or cloudy so I haven't been able to see too much! We are close to new foundland now and almost back to the states! We are excited to come home and also sad to leave a wonderful country and end our trip.

More photo adventures will have to occur in the future! :)

Day 3, to Norway or bust

We all woke up earlier than we had planned due to the high winds and hail hitting our hotel windows! After hearing that and all being awake, we decided it couldn't hurt to get on the road an hour earlier than planned to head back to the airport. Well we got on the road and within half an hour could not even see the road; such strong winds and snow made it a complete constant whiteout. We were all looking for the road markers to just move a tiny bit at a time. When we got to a pullout near a familiar waterfall, we pulled over for a bit to calm our nerves and take a break to try and let the storm pass. Meanwhile both aaron and I had been checking our phones for road conditions and it seemed that the road was closed up ahead for quite a ways. We started driving again and figured we would try to make it to a gas station 75 kms away and fill up and wait for the road to open. Good thing we left early. We made it to the base station but there was so much snow that we had to wait for a massive back hoe to plow the entry and area by the gas pumps. Finally just as our empty tank light turned on we were able to fill up. Switched drivers and off we went. At this point the blowing had started to calm down a little bit, not much but from 25 meters per second to 19! So visibility was a bit better... mind you this is still close to 50mph winds. Forecasted up ahead of us were 55 meters per second, over 100mph. We pushed through it and our trusty little Suzuki made it. We are constantly checking the road conditions here on the Iceland road website and when we refreshed this morning, all the roads we were going on had question marks, which means unknown conditions. As we started driving, that change to difficult conditions, impassable, and closed. The route to the airport was closed. We were hoping that it would open by the time we got to that part as we were driving slowly and already it was getting to close for our flight time. When we arrived at the closed section of the main road, we looked at google maps and decided that we could try to go around as it didn't seem as if the road would open anytime soon. So we decided to detour and take a more southern route. This road was a small road and only one lane had been plowed already... we drove down it for a while, made a left hand turn and continued to the coast. When we got to the roundabout to continue on the road, it was completely filled with massive amounts of snow, a plow, and the road we were supposed to take, that on the map was difficult conditions but not closed, it was completely impassable with two feet of snow. Luckily there was a plow at the roundabout so he was able to clear a path for us to turn around! At this point, we all said to each other, we're going to miss our flight. So we turn around and get to the turn in the road that we were at before, this time some road safety workers were outside (they had shoveled the signs out as we drove past them before) and we rolled down our windows and said we're trying to get to Keflavik! He said, the plow just went through this other way towards route 1, follow it but stay behind the plow. And wow, were we lucky. We did eventually catch up with the plow, but had we not made this little detour, the other road is still currently closed hours later. As we kept getting closer and closer, we all get nervous and anxious. The snow was really deep everywhere and there is absolutely no way we would have made it if we were not behind the plow. We were the second car through, besides for a bus, to make it through the closed road. When we got closed to Reykjavik, we just kept seeing cars off the road, cars piled with feet of snow. This was a massive storm in this region. We had no snow when we left Vik and a few hours later, feet of snow! It was almost 11 am, our flight to Oslo was leaving at noon. We were still 20 minutes from the airport... we concocted a plan that one of us would go to the check in counter to keep the woman there while I had time to find my duffel, and one of us would go return the car, ten minutes away. We had a lot to do and no time. Aaron went to check in and held the woman there as long as he could, andy returned the car, and I went to baggage area where the line was almost out the door. I almost lost it. I ran up to the front and these incredibly rude Germans did not want to even let me get by to talk to the woman. When I explained that my flight closed for bags in three minutes, they still did not let me. I stood there anyway and the process was so slow. Finally a woman came out and I quickly asked her if she had my bag and she said, oh yes, meet me by the doors! Whooppie! A few minutes later she came out with my duffel! Yay!! And I grabbed it and ran to the departures area to drop off the bag. I quickly grabbed my contacts and some face cream out and really wanted to get underwear socks and my snow boots, but I didn't have time. She had to take my duffel. I am crossing my fingers it is on this plane.
I still wasn't convinced we were going to make the flight. We ran to security just as our plane started to board. Security was efficient but slow and of course Aarons bag was flagged and had to be quickly checked by hand! We told Andy to run ahead to our gate and have them hold them plane for us! Luckily it didn't take too long for his bag, and Aaron and I ran through the duty free shop, which is huge and you have to go through it to get to the gates. We were worried that passport control would be quite long too. So we kept running. Little did we know that because we are flying Europe to Europe, we didn't have to go through passport control! Lucky us. We got to the gate and thankfully, everyone was moving slowly today and there was a little line to board. None of us can believe that we actually made this flight. We didn't fill up the rental car with gas, none of us had time to pee, couldn't fill up our water bottles, we all smell like sweat and anxiousness, but we are on the flight! Currently it's the first of three flights today. We are headed to Oslo first, where we will pick up our bags and go through customs. I will know if my bag made it or not there and then hopefully the next two flights will be smooth. They are relatively short flights, an hour and a half and 25 minutes, respectively, on tiny planes!

I cannot wait for a shower and clean clothes!

Oslo was a very nice airport and in the middle of a large remodel. When we landed, we had to get our bags (all arrived!), go through customs, and then go upstairs to departures and proceed through security again. Ugh! Everyone is very nice so far and everyone speaks English. For some strange reason I feel very insecure when I ask about a city in Norway as I am sure I'm completely messing it up. The language is very hard and thank you is the only word that I know.  We have a long layover in Oslo on the way home, so we may be able to explore a bit more. Our passports or ID have not been looked at once so far today. No one has asked. Even through security, we didn't even have to show our tickets. It feels so odd. However, we all had to take our cameras out of our bags for security. What a pita. When you travel with six cameras, and at least 15 lenses between us all, that is not fun. The only camera I didn't take out, because I forgot, was the GoPro! Also, Everyone I have encountered is incredibly good looking. Even our male flight attendant on our flight from Oslo to Bodo was very good looking and tall. I feel very short here!

We are about to board our tiny prop plane for the last leg of the trip! We're ready!

Iceland Day 2, waterfall cave!

The main and only reason we are in Iceland this year is to go to the waterfall cave. We went the first year we came to the northern lights cave and crystal cave, but not to this one. This was a private guided tour to the cave. We had a quick breakfast at our hotel, yogurt and granola for me, wrapped up some bread for later snacks and off we went to the ice lagoon to meet our guide and our other photographer friends who had actually made it to the lagoon after the roads had reopened. A quick exploring around and a few photos of sunrise were nice to get our fingers warm since it's the first time I've taken out my camera since we've been here. The biggest difference that I have noticed is the extreme number of people and tourists who are now here. It is crazy and makes it not as pristine and quiet. It's unfortunate because there is so much beauty here and wonderful for people to be able to see and explore but respectfully. One of my biggest pet peeves is rude tourists. Ok, rant over. Still beautiful, just not as pristinely quiet. We found our guide, Stephan, in a huge 4x4 red monster truck and the three of us plus our three photo friends, jumped in to the truck. And when I say jump in, I literally mean jump. At one point during the journey out to the cave, I had to jump out of the truck, at least 5 feet to get out. Well the journey was an adventure in itself. Iceland is having the warmest winter in a very long time. The blizzard we drove in yesterday was their first big winter storm. There was a lot of snow on the ground and to get out to the caves, we had to let air pressure out of our tires, about 6lbs, and go on a dirt, snow, sort of road up and down hills, over rivers, if there were woods, I would write that right now too, and on lots of ice. We ended up getting stuck multiple times. The first time was at the bottom of a steep hill at a river crossing and we just sunk in. Everyone got out except for me to take photos and Stephan got the shovel to dig out the front tires. My hiking boots are not waterproof (and I had already gotten them soaked earlier taking some photos so my socks and feet were wet and cold to begin the day). As everyone jumped out of the truck a few of the guys sunk in so far they got their boots wet. Everyone else had waterproof boots and crampons, except for me. After about 15 minutes and several tries, we finally got loose. We all thought it would be a good idea for the guys outside still to walk across the ice above the river to take some photos of the truck driving through, so Joe started to walk across and within a matter of seconds, he had stepped right through the ice and his next step totally in the water, almost waist deep and he tried clambering and crawling to get to the other side without getting his camera wet. He was successful and we all laughed but felt really badly for him because now he was soaked! We made it past that point and got stuck again in super deep awkward snow on our side so at this point, I jumped out to take some photos. All was good and a few minutes later of shoveling, we were unstuck! It took us about 2.5 hours to get out to the sign where we parked the truck. Stephan gave us harnesses and rope lines with carabiners, ice climbing crampons, and helmets with headlights. We were ready. The hike began in a rocky snow field and continued out towards the glacier gaining a little bit of elevation. When we made it to the glacier, we flew the drone for a bit over it as the light was better then rather than later in the day. Then the hike uphill began and we needed to put our helmet on and our crampons (though everyone else had been wearing their smaller crampons). Stephan taught us the trick for clicking our carabiners onto the rope line (so we didn't fall off the icy cliff), using one hand only to switch carabiners from one rope to another and putting our carabiners on right side and backwards to catch us correctly. I think we were all a bit nervous and excited at this point. Up we went until we got to the top of the hill just before descent into the cave, where we had to stop as the line was so buried in snow we couldn't continue. Stephan decided to take us down one by one because it would have taken him too long to dig out the line. After the first person went down he decided that we were all outdoorsy and could make it down without help. Down we went. The snow helped make nice steps down. The cave beckoned us and there were two caves this year there which made it really neat.
It took us 3.5 hours to get out there. We had about 1.5 hours to explore the cave and take some photos. The blue ice is magical and I love the detail shots from inside the cave. Water rushing through the cave was loud but nice. Of course, I would have liked to get some photos from the water, but no water shots for me without my snow boots! The time went by quickly and soon it was time to head back. We were in the cave all by ourselves the entire time. We didn't see anyone else the whole day. A long hike out and a fun drive out where at the end we had to blow the tires back up and that took 15 minutes so I got out and took some photos! By the time we got back to the lagoon, it was almost 5! We thought we would be back at 1! It was a great day! We said goodbye to our friends and drove back to Vik to spend the night as we would be three hours closer to the airport. It started snowing just as we left and more snowy, windy roads were in store for us for the next few hours. We made it safely around 8:30 and we knew that restaurants stop serving at 9, so we checked in and quickly went in search of some food. Aarons cousin was doing a photo workshop here and he happened to be at a restaurant nearby so we went there to say hi and see if we could eat. We said hi, but the place was so busy they couldn't accommodate us! We quickly googled if there was anything else in the town and luckily there was one more restaurant. We went there and had pizza and grill chicken pasta. Pretty good! Then it was shower in the shared bathroom, which is gross, and bedtime.

Gale force Iceland Day 1

Iceland Day 1
Travel day commences with a long drive to Newark, yet there was no traffic so I arrived super early and could hang out in the priority pass lounge before heading through security to board my slightly delayed Wow Airlines flight to Reykjavik. The low fare airline touts their low fares to Europe and they are low because they charge for every thing separately. Checked bag, carry on bags, seats, even water! They gave us absolutely nothing on the flight for free. The flight was good though and about an hour before we landed, we were greeted with Aurora outside the plane window for about ten minutes! So beautiful as usual and dancing through the sky. Of course my camera was above and I had a window seat, so I just sat back and enjoyed the view.

It started really snowing a few days ago in Iceland...before that there was still grass and mud everywhere. When we landed, all I could see was snow and wind. I was meeting Aaron and Andy at the airport and they arrived about twenty minutes before me so they got their bags and went to rent our car. My bag however decided not to come out or even arrive and so I was left dealing with incompetent people who had no idea where my bag was! (Luckily, my mom is terrific and after I bought a SIM card at the Dunkin' Donuts!! I was able to text her to call the American wow offices and figure out what went wrong.) They were much more helpful, or so we thought and said that my bag was still in Newark. However, less than five minutes later, the airport here called me and said they have my bag! Seriously?! But they road was closed and they couldn't deliver it to me today and tomorrow is a weekend and they do not deliver on weekends unless wow authorizes it. I'm jumping ahead of myself... when we got the rental car, there was a sever warning for a hurricane, as they call a blizzard with gale force winds, forecasted for today starting at 10 am and most roads would be closed. Fun! We got out of the airport as quickly as we could and were on the road by 6.


Well, the storm started early and as soon as we left the airport it was dark, whiteout conditions and very windy. We pushed through, stopping when we couldn't see anything and not enjoying the white knuckle, stressful driving. After about four hours of this, we made it to Vik, where we quickly stopped, filled up and bought snacks. We also discovered that the road was now closed from the airport to where we just arrived to and so we are very lucky that we made it through. We experienced a huge bus off the road, a flipped car and more cops than I have ever seen here in Iceland.

We decided to continue on and try to stay ahead of the storm a bit, though its super windy, snowy, and icy. Back to the duffel saga. I asked mom to call wow back and see if they could authorize them to send my bag out tomorrow to vik where we are staying tomorrow night only. They said they would get it out after the road opens; however I'm not in vik tonight. We are staying close to the ice lagoon and when mom told them this, they said it was too far for them to deliver. Wow is all I can say! I bought some socks, gloves, hat, the only pair of underwear I could find, a hot pink pair that says Iceland on the butt, and a toothbrush. Who knows what will happen with my duffel but for now, I will pick it up at the airport when we get back there on Sunday. What a pita! You would think that a direct flight from one location to another, baggage would not be lost!

I am currently sitting in the backseat of the car while Aaron drives through the storm. It will probably be my turn soon. Tomorrow we are doing what we came here for, a private ice cave hike! And my snow boots are in my duffel! Whoopie! Forecast is calling for 50-60 meter per second winds today... equates to over 100 mph sustained winds. Gotta love Iceland.

We finally made it to our hotel for the evening after 9 hours of driving in the blizzard! If you follow me on instagram, I put a story up! @Photographybyrs

For some reason I cannot post any photos at the moment, so when I figure that out I'll get on it. Good thing I'm traveling with a google guy and a smuggie!

Iceland & Norway

Adventure awaits starting tomorrow!! Excited to be traveling back to Iceland for a few days and then a week in Norway. I've wanted to explore the Lofoten region for many years now, so i'm looking forward to finally getting there. I am traveling with two cohorts on this photo excursion, but the first leg starts tomorrow on a flight into Reykavik by myself on an airline I have never flown before! My first choice is always Delta for flights, but they were 4 times the cost for this one and with 7 flights for this trip, things add up quickly!

Stay tuned as I will be updating this as often as possible, wifi permitting!

Map of the eastern US and Iceland and Norway to get your bearings!

2017!

Happy New Year! As we begin this new year with a fresh outlook and many goals that we wish to accomplish, it's always nice to look back as well and see what was accomplished during the previous year!

2016 was a busy but great year for traveling and also getting organized at home! After being a wanderlust for the past few years, it was nice to be able to finally go through some of my storage unit items that i've been missing for a long time! I still made it overseas and to many spots in the U.S., so my travel bug has not swayed, thank goodness, but it has allowed me to focus on working from home for a while.  2016 took me to Wyoming, Utah, Iceland, California, Nevada, Florida, Texas, Washington, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Arizona, and Rhode Island.  Many new places were explored and old standby's were returned to.  Thousands of photos were taken to document and I tried to keep up as much as possible with my blog! I'm always trying to be better with my posts! For a few of my favorites from the year of places and wonderful clients, check out my Best of 2016 gallery: http://www.rebeccasternphotography.com/Galleries/Best-of-2016/n-FD2dBv/

iphone photo from above :)

This year will take me to Wyoming, Utah, Vermont, Iceland, Amsterdam and Norway within the first three months! Follow along on my adventures to learn about all of these wonderful places.

A few trips later!

Sometimes we all go through periods of dull moments and periods of extreme creativity. We are artists, thinkers, creatives; this is part of our process.

I have had this blog post open for days now with those first two sentences written. Apparently, in the middle of writing this post, I lost that creativity for a little bit and couldn't figure out what to write. I find it challenging to keep up with blogging as I really do not think people want to know my whereabouts on a daily basis or how many miles I've ran, sweat I've created, poops I've made and so forth. Really?! You do not want to know all of that information.

Seeing that it is almost June, I have gone on a few trips since my last post about Iceland. Vegas was right after Iceland, for a photography conference, which is always fun. Then Utah for a few weeks of work and skiing, and Florida for a week or so. Most recently was a quick trip up to Maine for the weekend to open up the house. If you aren't already following me on Instagram, feel free to do so and then you'll get more up to date photos of my locations! :) @photographybyrs

Awesome photographers in Vegas!

Utah!

My favorite place on earth, Alta.

Florida!

Maine

Maine lobstering!

I'm trying to figure out summer trips at the moment, so if anyone has some ideas, let me know! I'm open to suggestions and travel partners!