Adventures in Iceland: Notes from the Nose

The organist hammered out the final chord and let go with a flourish. We visitors sat in spellbound silence as the notes ascended and then evaporated into the arches of Hallgrímskirkja. All was still.

The moment was shattered when my friend Siu Yen suddenly convulsed violently and let out an explosive sneeze. The sneeze bounced joyfully off of the church pillars and upwards, as if chasing the last notes of the organ. A second, heavier silence.

“Well... that was embarrassing.” My friend muttered.

Adventures in Iceland: Discovering Reykjavik

Deciding to go to Iceland was definitely the most impulsive thing I have ever done as a self-confessed overthinker.

It was also definitely the best.

I've decided to do a lot of good things for myself in the past: Taking up Mandarin again, exercising more and eating less, writing more often- all things to build the awesome Tash 2.0 model that I want to be. Simply going on holiday wouldn't be what I usually count as self-enrichment, but this was the first time I'd ever arranged a holiday for myself. People always cite the Aurora Borealis as a 'thing to do before you die'. Well, why wait? I did everything: booking the flights, hotel, tours, transfers, the whole lot. My inner PA was giddy with glee, and my outer exhausted worker was glad to be getting a break at the end of it, so the process killed two birds with one stone.

My good friend Siu Yen was my partner in mischief during our three night stay- we'd often talked about having a 'girliday' (girly holiday) in the years we've known each other, so we were pretty darn hyped up when we got on that plane. Even the plane journey was pretty awesome- WOW air has now become my favourite airline of all time.

“On the left shoulder is a light to make you look fabulous,” the head air hostess said as the life jackets were being modelled. “Also great for attracting sailors.”

We saw some amazing things made by humans:

Hallgrímskirkja and it's massive, er, organ

Some amazing things made by nature:

Strokkur geyser and Gullfoss waterfall

And ate some amazing food:

Herring and rye bread, and soup in a bread bowl

Soup in a BOWL made out of BREAD. How much of an awesome idea is that?

As for seeing the Northern Lights... technically we did. 'Technically' because although we were staring straight at them at the time, we had no idea what we were looking at. This was because they were in the grey spectrum, and sort of look like weird streaky clouds. We only found out that they were the Aurora when we saw a fellow tourist's photos from the same night: they had come out a faint glowing green. Apparently this is a thing. Who knew?

Even though I didn't catch the Lights on camera, I did manage to catch a rainbow corona around the moon:

And we got a pretty clear sky for star gazing, so it was still a great experience. Next year, either Finland or Norway! Although it's going to be hard not going straight back to Reykjavik, because I did enjoy the beautiful natural wonders and the easygoing people there.

In the meantime, I'm writing up a short piece for the British Guild of Travel Writers New Travel Writers 2014 competition. I have so many stories about the people I met out there, but this blog will have to wait until I've completed the piece. The deadline is the beginning of next week, so it won't be long!

We were sad to leave, but it was good to leave on a high. Anyway, when I got back to the office I found a box of tea and a bottle of coconut water a colleague had left for me, along with my Christmas present:

 

Those guys know me too well.

RE Possibly Having a Bona Fide Heart Attack...

My results came back today. Tissue damage to my heart and chemicals in my blood indicate that:

a) I probably have pneumonia

b) I actually may have had a blood clot after all

c) I definitely have had a severe allergic reaction to a medication my GP insisted I couldn't possibly be allergic to

and

d) I definitely have/ had a, b or even both, as well as c.

As you can imagine, I'm not to thrilled about the less than concrete diagnosis, and even less thrilled that the options are, well, potentially deadly.

In any case, I'm not dead, and although I'm still suffering some symptoms I'm far from those couple of nights when I felt like I was actually dying (the 'joke' is that I was closer than I or the doctors thought).

So. I am now being treated for pneumonia, and I'm having another X-ray done- but in a week's time. The potential blood clot is being ignored and labled as 'probably unlikely', and the allergy is not being officially tested for- despite it being a common type of antibiotic that I may need to be aware of in the future.

The reason why I'm being treated in such a blasé manner? It' s because I'm young and (otherwise) fit. Long story short, I actually went to hospital over a week ago (you know, when I thought I might be dying) and suggested tests for both pneumonia and heart failure. I more or less got laughed at. I was refused an X-ray, and it took another trip to convince my doctor that I needed one. And whadayaknow, it turns out I was- very unfortunately- correct.

In any case... not a great start to 2014. However in a few days I am off to Reykjavik with a friend and I can't wait! I just have to remember to take it easy. My doctor said I should be fine to go.

Then again, my doctor has said a lot of stuff...