Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Travel Tuesday : That Moment


I commented in my department meeting a couple of weeks, that I knew I needed to get away, and hoped that I would be less grumpy when I returned.  One of my colleagues had a bit of a breakthrough moment on that comment, it was me being stressed when I was occasionally short with her and others.  I know when I get stressed, I get grumpy. The best solution is a change of scenery. 

A note to Iceland:

Dear Iceland, 

Please don't change, stay wild, and clean, don't cave into McD's or Starbucks (there are none of either in the country,) but please build more scenic pull-offs so people can stop and absorb the wonders around them. 

I pulled into one of the few wide spots to take this photo, opened the door, and I could hear the birds, and a tiny waterfall rushing down the cliff face across the road.  It was one of those magical moments, when I knew I was someplace different, someplace wondrous. 

I was in Reykjavik a couple of days, when I realized I was one of the few people with a mask hanging around my face.  Iceland mastered test and trace early on. The adult vaccination rate is extremely high.  While we were there the minister of health declared that Iceland has reached herd immunity, enough people immune to COVID 19, that the illness would have a hard time getting beyond isolated outbreaks.  The moment, feeling safe in public. I won't say a return to normal, I am not sure that normal was all it was cracked up to be.  But certainly a light at the end of the tunnel.  I splurged on a taxi back to the airport Saturday morning ($133.) The taxi driver was a local, he said the United States Centers for Disease Control called the Iceland health minister and asked how did Iceland do it? His answer was, we did what I was trained to do, when I went to medical school in the United States, follow your training. 

It was 6 days filled with moments. 


14 comments:

  1. Every country anymore seems to have more common sense and knows how to live better than the US, I swear. The picture took my breath away.

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    1. Common sense and following the science

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  2. Every moment is a moment... Don’t forget it for a moment though.

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    1. Let me think about that for a minute

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  3. Anonymous5/17/2022

    I hope we hear more about Iceland. It is a rather telling comment by Iceland's health minister. If only Fauci wasn't sidelined and instead given the support of the government.

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    1. That is what happens when idiots are in charge. Iceland will be a common theme for a few weeks

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  4. ❤️❤️❤️❤️ 😘

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  5. No McDonald's or Starbucks?
    There really is heaven on earth!
    Glad you got your moments.

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    1. McDonalds gave up after a couple of years, and closed up shop in 2008. Lots of great coffee, lots of small local coffee shops.

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  6. This is a prosaic comment but . . . does Reykjavik have a good public transit system, do you know? I know the price of gas is sky high there so it's no wonder taxis are so expensive.

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    1. There is a decent bus system, we didn't really use it. There are no trains in the country. The package included shuttle bus service to and from the airport (it is about 30 miles from the city.) Driving is easy, the right side of the road. Traffic the road layout in Reykjavik are a challenge. I had a GPS unit - a huge help. Gas is around $9 US per gallon.
      You were in the comment filter.

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  7. What a wonderful experience you must have had. My friend went last year and her photos are simply stunning.

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    1. Well worth the trip, I took over 1,000 photos.

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