This is WHY.

So, the trip that we have been talking about since last year 2013, when we all met in NUS, is finally happening! The grand reunion at Ivan's :D

Just arriving at this place, and immediately recognising it was just so overwhelming, as we have seen it before, when ivan showed it to us on google maps. It still felt like a fairytale, that we were finally here! Picked us up from Zadar and headed straight to šibenik to meet Ivana and to see the city for a bit! :D

And the meals, we had, typical dalmatian! :D woohoo!

So we arrived a few days before the sailing trip, what else to do than Fjaka?

Spent a good few days just in the blue sea, with Ivan's boat and played water polo in the sea hahaha!

Then, we staged a VIP pickup for maurits and he was pretty overwhelmed when he saw all of us hiding in the Van to surprise him!

Tadah!

Oh and Beli doesn't come europe to see places, but dogs!

Heres the dog that was guarding Ivan's vineyard!

A random dog we met at the supermarket.

And even a stray while we were watching the world cup finals!

while i, met a BEAR!

Then, its time, Sailing! Woot Woot!

We went to Vis, Hvar, Stari Grad and Brač. It has been the most amazing week out in sea, and calling to port, trying all the food, especially this awesome cheese we tried, TRUFFLE CHEESE!






And we found a submarine parking spot, back in the world war! How cool is that!

Well, then it had to end, and it was the Grand Reunion!
We had Peka :D :D :D

So awesome! Best lamb EVERRRRR.

And then, what we came for.. from Hardwell to Nicky Romero, Tiesto, Guetta, Armin and Aoki!

ULTRA EUROPE 2014!

Then on the last night we were all together, it was dinner, world cup and the last and final ultra party day! Here we go!


And of course, the amazing balkan food!


And gio, being an ass, bought finn a gelato of white and blue, the argentinian colours for finn ha!

FINAL ULTRA!

This week has been the most amazing one out of my whole exchange experience here in Europe, thanks ivan for hosting all of us and i really miss all of you guys! It was a good one! What a way to end it all!

1. bestunderwaterexperienceever

Miss y'all guys. :D

For as long as i can remember, this was the one place i wanted to go since the beginning! Finally managed to get here! Its so insane! On the morning we left, 0500 Beli got this photo! Woohoo! And the rest are just for enjoyment! The best place we found to dine was Konoba Rafaello, where the steak is the BEST i've ever had! Not to mention the others! :D Got to see the sea organs, monuments to the sun, the old city, and by accident, KRKA! my goodness, Croatia, why do you keep stealing my heart away! I love you so much!

Picture of Ulm taken by Beli!

Lets begin this post with a Cevapi burger :D

Zadar!

Sadly the sunset we saw wasn't that great, due to the clouds blocking, but we were too late the next day to get a nice one when we got back from Krka But at least we managed to get a glimpse

The Garden was such a chill place! :D

Rafaello




Let me quote themingthing,
The steak, is so GOOOOOOD, that you know that the cow studied hard in university and got a degree, with no government loan!

Krka

We even went to Šibenik to meet ivana for some drinks and to see the city as well! :D

And that night at our apartment, i did a startrail :D

After the South, it is time to go north! And whats the first thing i do when i get there? EAT of course!

Then take a walk around..

Then EAT again!

Even Tims Happy!

Then Party! :D

And of course EAT and see the sights again.

And we stumbled upon this hipster bar along the canals, such a pretty place, with a huge collection of alcohol!




And our poison of choice :D

Then Aperitivo! While watching supporting Italy!

Of course there comes a day, where you just give in and become a tourist.

And the best place in Milano!

After much drinking, a heated argument is unavoidable!

And then when it all gets hungry, just envy the people eating on a moving tram

The next day, headed over to the city, got my finale gelato and tried Frappe! Then it was to Gio's for our lunch :D
Thanks for the wine Ivan and for the food Gio!

So after a long journey, sleeping at the airport and the train station, WE ARE FINALLY HERE!

Casa Gaudio!

Gio even has strawberries and grapes!

And all these beautiful flowers!

In Singapore, i asked him for a full italian meal and i got it! But i wish i never did. Cause i got more than i asked for.

We even got to ride on the Vespa

We even went to all the nice beaches in Calabria, and this was the typical breakfast here ;D

And the sunsets were amazing!

Here are the pics of the beach! We got paddle boats and we went to other coasts and saw spectacular stuff!


Asian motor works for our Italian Prince!

And we saw tunas! And this was our attempt of taking photos of it. hahahahahaha

Food food food! Then we headed downtown to get more food as well!

And to this pizza place, my goodness, i don't know what italy doe with their crops, they are all so rich and full of flavour! The mushrooms and tomatoes and the ham and, well just everything!

The Antipasti!

Pizza!

And then we were just too full to continue hahaha

Even went to the Monastery near his place, as there is Saint from this town!



It was so huge and spectacular!

A typical lunch with his family!

And his father was just so skilful with the knife, he did that with a butter knife -.-

And then we headed out to this ruined castle and saw the nicest sunset here!

We even went to this place, Pizzo to have the BEST TARTUFO. BEST TARTUFO AND I MEAN IT!

And the day, our challenge has arrived, the one we have been fearing, lunch with his grandfather.

So typically, an italian meal consists of these - Antipasti, Pasta, Seconds, Fruits, Dessert, Coffee right, and this was what we got..

Antipasti

There were more, probably it was 16-18 in total but i just lost count and didn't manage to capture it.
YES WE HAD PROBABLY 18 ANTIPASTIS.

Pasta

Yup, then it was 2 pastas. Kill me now. And a a friend of Gio's Grandfather made this out of bread!

Second

And finally, we made it to the second dish, Swordfish!

And WAIT, we are not done. Theres more!

Gelato, Fruits, Dessert and Grappa!

And i have no idea, how we even managed to get this shot after that much eating! The most feared words from his grandfather was - La Pasta.

After all that eating, we were done, no dinner, no activities, just dead. Food Coma! Haha at least we saw an epic sunset that night!

The following day, we headed to Sila in search for wolves! But on the way we saw other wild lives as well!
And this was breakfast! Panini!








We didn't manage to see the wolves in person, but we saw them from the camera! :D

That night, there was a thunderstorm and it was insane! There was even a cyclone!

Thank you so much for everything! It wouldn't have been so italian, without all of you guys and your hospitality and kindness!
Gratitude!

So Beli came to visit and i showed her around Germany! It's her first time! Some pictures of Ulm, since the weather is much better now!

Then, one random night, we decided to do a star trail, and on our way, we met Sonic (The Hedgehog)! Well, worst thing that could have happened was i ran out of battery, and i had to do it manually, so i got a pretty crappy photo, like this -.-

We also visited the Freunds! What an epic sunday.

The Dog Whisperer at her best!

Till things escalated!

Some pics i got of that day!

Le Model

and we also had dinner with Matthias in Esslingen

Typical Swabian dish!

And decided to cycle from Ulm to Blaubeuren!

Passed by Herrlingen just to find the grave of this remarkable man, The Desert Fox - Generalfeldmarschall Rommel!

While cycling we also saw this stand where we had the best chicken!

And finally Blau!

So, we got the first available ferry out of Vestmannaeyjar back to mainland! Immediately started trying to head to Þórsmörk. But on our way there, our car, BROKE DOWN! What the crap right! So we were stuck in the middle of nowhere! We drove it at 10km/h, till we got to a farm and managed to get some help from a farmer, holy! What we did to the car was insane, which I shall not say here, lucas is just pretty insane haha!

While we could roll the car, we started heading out to the mainroad to seek assistance, and on our way, we picked up 2 polish girls who were hitchhiking, haha they had some pretty sick stories as well! Could you imagine, 7 people in a car, and a trunk full of luggage, when the car could barely function? Yeah, we did it. Haha!

Managed to reach somewhere near Selfoss at a gas station and we rotted there for prolly 5 hours, and tried getting help. It took so LONGGG! I had to be at Þingvellir by 5, for SILFRA! BY 3, I was panicking as i knew i couldnt make it there on time! Then, Gnusi called his dad to come and send us there, aww so nice of them right? When he came, around 4, the replacement car came before him. So I felt really bad, chatted with him for awhile before we sped off in the rain to Þingvelir!

My gosh, my heart was beating so fast, worried that i might not make it in time, started to change in the car and guess what? WE MADE IT! WOOHOO!

Oh my, the pre-procedure to prep for the snorkel was so intense, we have to put on so many layers for 2˚C water, holy moly, it was really cold! Just right before we went into the water, it HAILED. Yes, it hailed.

Finally got into the water, by the way, Silfra is a valley that is between the north american and european plate with glacier water. Snorkelling halfway, my lips went numb and i ended up drinking water while breathing, but the water tasted so good, so no complaints! The view there was so amazing! Sadly i dont have much photos, as we had to wear this really thick gloves which disabled me from taking photos ): Took some though, from the phone, but its really bad, but still!

Got out of the water, and immediately had a brain freeze! And man, this lasted for pretty long! Haha, better than drinking slurpee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGjjUzsiOVw

Oh yeah, by the way, while i was doing silfra, guess what? Luke and Ray were crazy enough, to jump into it by themselves, just in their trunks, Insane buggers! Well at least they didny have to pay haha!

That night after all of this, we headed back to Reykjavik and then decided to head out in seach for hot springs! So, we were driving out of Reykjavik at midnight, in the rain, with visibility of almost only a metre. Pretty insane stuff i would say! And we got to Hveragerði finally! We did explore abit of the town in the dead of the night, and could see all the geothermal activity, oh my gosh! So amazing!

Got up the next day and started hiking towards our destination! The Geothermal hot springs! Weather wasn’t that good for our hike, it was raining pretty much the whole way for our way there, so it was pretty muddy and all, but when we finally arrived. ZOMGD:


Best feeling ever! To be in a hot spring, while it was drizzling, oh man, felt so good! But guess what, while hiking, I ripped my second pair of jeans -.-




Yeah, sadly, we had to leave as well as I had a flight to catch back to reality :’(
Guess what, when I was all cleaned with natural geothermal water, while I was hiking back, my whole foot sank into mud. -.- ABOVE THE ANKLE.

By the time I got to the airport, I was smelly, muddy and yes, BAREFOOTED. Haha the stares I got from people were just hilarious! Well, it felt like I survived one hell of an adventure, really gonna miss you Iceland, till the next time.

Bless Bless.

Its a beautiful day today! Finally we see the sun again, and what a perfect day for our glacier hike! :D Got picked up and we were off! On our way to the glacier, we saw the 2 germans again, trying to get a ride! :/ Yeah, hiked up the glacier and learnt alot from our guide, like the rocks with moss, how glaciers and crevices are formed.



Even learnt how to drink glacier water the viking way!

Learning how glaciers form and reconstruct geographical landscapes is just pretty amazing!






We even got the chance to go into a cave! Check it out! Never imagined i could learn so much from such a trip and to walk on ice, another bucket list is ticked off!


And heres our guide, whose name i can't even pronounce haha!

Next we headed back to Vík and back to the basalt columns! Got better pictures now and the tide was higher since it was nearer to the evening. Went to Skógafoss again to try to get better pictures but at this point, the weather just turned south again.

Again, we tried to get to Heimæy and this time, we escaped the rain and saw pretty good scenery while trying to get to the island!

Got off the island and immediately tried going to the south in search for puffins! :D On the way to the island, we actually saw some of them near the cliffs. ZOMGD!

We managed to hitch a ride all the way till the south, and started hiking around to get a good look, didnt see any puffins as it was still early, but got to see some sheep! :D

Walked around the whole island but to no avail and it started raining.



And it was at this point, at the end of the world, at the cliff, we saw RAINBOWS. RAINBOWS IN THE OCEAN. Not one, but TWO.

As we were climbing up and grabbing our stuff, DISASTER STRUCK!

Snorri’s sleeping bag went tumbling down the cliff and i tried to chase after it, but it was just too fast for me, and when i thought i was so screwed, Luke peeped over and it was hanging on the cliff, by the edge, before a 100m plunge. So, i grabbed him and he used my tripod, and we got it back. HOLY CRAP. Now thats a story to tell.

Decided that that was enough, and we started heading back, enough adrenaline rush for 1 day. :/ As we were walking back, guess who we met? PUFFINS!


They are really frighty though, i tried crawling as close as i could and got some photos. Didnt manage to get good shots, all i did was get wet. Well, i can die a happy man now, and yet again, we managed to hitch a ride out of the south and back to the city where we were camping! :D And Heimæy won the icelandic handball, so theres a celebration going on, but i’m just too tired to go to the harbor to join in the excitement. Goodnight y'all!

And we pitched our tent by this legendary place - Herjólfsdalur!

Well, peace out!

After another cold night on the farm, we headed east.

To Jökulsárlón, yeah man, for what we came for. Yet again, the weather wasnt on our side and it started raining. Got some pretty cool photos but yeah, even cooelr photos due to the rain.

Saw these people doing a photo shoot and check out the mist!

Saw the most unexpected animals here at Jökulsárlón, guess what? SEALS. Didnt manage to get good photos due to the rain and my lens. ): I really hate it that when i try to do shots, and rain gets onto my lens! Always facing this problem bleah.

Well, after we had our fun here, we headed back to Vatnajökull to head up to Svartifoss!

Little did we know that there were actually 4 other waterfalls besides this!

Finally after hiking for a pretty long while in the rain, we are here!

Took another route back down to Sel and saw viking houses again


Hee hee hee. Ended up on the ring road and had to take a long walk back to the visitor center to meet up with the guys! Back at the farm, we met these 2 germans who were hitchhiing towards Höfn to climb, pretty cool guys! Nothing much done today due to the weather but yeah, just some pictures, and rest up for our glacier hike on Skaftafell tomorrow! :D

After surviving the cold night, prolly 2˚C, We headed to another viking house! This one definitely looked much better and more accurate, unlike the other one with a zinc roof. Man, such great times they must have had. Yeah, and this was abandoned when the volcano erupted prolly back in the 12th Century.

Couldnt do much there as it was not opened, but next stop, it blew me away! Seljalandsfoss!


Not sure if it was raining or was it just the waterfall. This is the waterfall, where you can go behind it and well basically get wet! And right at this epic moment while i was shooting, my film ran out! Urgh! Guess what Mr. Smarty pants did, changed his film under a waterfall, and continuted shooting. Guess what, the next day, i realized the film never caught on i actually shot 36 photos on the leader. WHAT A NOOBIE MISTAKE. Kill me. All my photos were lost. ):

Waterfalls everywhere! The next one was just close by, but the weather just started going south. Skógarfoss was immense.


Seriously, just driving along the ring road, there are waterfalls everywhere! Just look out for them! :D Then we tried backtracking to head towards Heimæy, but it was a storm! Sadly, we had to ditch this plan and once again, NO PUFFINS. Kill me now. :’(

What else could we do in the rain? Head to Dyrhólæy!

Sadly, couldnt get nice pictures as well due to the weather, but i’ve seen amazing pictures taken from here during the golden hour, and the sunset from Heimæy. I’ll be coming back for you!!!!! Collected hell lot of sand along the beaches and even got a volcanic rock from Gnusi! Got bored and started to climb the basalt columns in the cave, just to kill time from the rain! Well, we couldnt hide from the rain all day as well, so we proceeded to check Vík to try to escape the rain and cold, and guess what, free wifi again! :D

While we were driving east, we came along this ruin of a bridge that was destroyed by glacier water back in the 90s. The water had a volume of 50,000m3/s. Holy crap!

And yeah, it was still raining -.- But we pulled up at Svínafellsökull!

Hiked around and it was also a glacier lagoon!


Cant wait to see Jökulsárlón though! Sadly, back in '07, 2 germans lost their lives here and were never found i suppose. :/ Hiked along and Gnusi started collecting slugs, ZOMFGD. There were really nice flowers up in the mountains as well. Iceland really is ALIEN LAND, just look at the flowers!

It wasnt a nice place to camp so we headed futher east and found this spot!

Its just right outside the glacier national park, so you can guess how cold it already is, whats more, it rained the whole night! Glad we survived :/ Anyway there were pretty amazing huts here as well! Check out all the icelandic sheep!

Well, goodnight and to prepare for tomorrow!

Till we meet again!

Started our day early and as we were driving by Þingvellir, we passed by this place and saw all of this amazing cairn!

What a sight, later i found out from Gnusi that travellers used this to mark trails! Pretty cool stuff!

AND ON THE SECOND DAY OF THE TRIP, I CREATED ROCKS!
-.-

Moving onward, we stumbled upon Öxarárfoss, something I believe to be overlooked by travellers! So we pulled up, and didn’t see anything.

But just creeks and followed the trail, and tadah!

Oh yeah, by the way, Game of Thrones was RIGHT HERE, filming the set, the scene where the wildings were in one of the episodes, CHECK IT OUT!

Pretty sure you know which scene that is!

Ok back to the waterfall! The waterfall is in sight!

Sup guys!

It just blew me away, something like this! It’s a must stop for people, going for the golden circle! Luke started climbing up till the top and when he got down, he was soaked. Ha, pretty damn worth it I must say!

Well, moving on!

And check out the alien flora of Iceland!

Continued on our way and arrived at Geysir. Popped into the souvenir store and this, is the best Souvenir! Didn’t managed to see puffins at Látrabjarg, but yeah, saw a giant plushie here

Took a walk around and check out what we found!

And of course, Strokkur! :D

The smell of sulfur was just everywhere and hordes of tourist on buses! Guess what this means guys, FREE WIFI! After we left this place, we were tailgating the bus just to tap on the wifi. :P And this pretty much happened all the way when we spotted the bus!

Headed to the next place – Gulfoss!

Its pretty near and because of the lovelier weather today, managed to get some pretty good pictures :D Even managed to catch the rainbow when the sun was out! One thing that just annoys me is how water gets on the lens all the time, just trying to get pictures. Someday, im gonna invent a coat for the lens, just to solve this problem! Walking along the path till the end of the waterfall and back, it felt like I just took a bath.

HAHA, and yeah did you know Gulfoss is actually comprised of 2 waterfalls? Sick right.

Yeah, after much water, we headed to the next stop of our trip. And here it is! Kerið! An explosive volcano, which is now a crater lake, sort of! Pretty much of a stop and go place here, nothing much!

Next stop, to meet Gnusi! Picked him up from his place and he brought us to a campsite that he knew, which was out in the open of nowhere?

Saw a viking house, which actually is a recreation of back in the day, which was abandoned during the volcanic eruption, prolly more than a milenium ago.

Just standing inside of the house, was just jawdropping. It felt like i was on the set of vikings.

Proceeded up higher and we saw a river and decided to follow it.
Low and behold, waterfalls, waterfalls everywhere!

Yeah, just when you thought that was it, BOOM!

What do you do when you see a waterfall, FILL UP ALL YOUR BOTTLES!

Even saw somewhat of Basalts!

This picture is pretty hilarious, we never met to stand according to height! -.-

:D haha, then proceed back along the river to set up our campsite!

Collected firewood along the way and this is the final product!

Then Ray decided to get high and this was how he did it. He tried smoking a twig haha, and even tried to toast his bread on branches. Well, saw the “sunset” or somewhat, and on the other side of the horizon, the moon. Pretty sick stuff, the last time i saw something liek this was when i was out sailing in the pacific. Some memories just never go away! Wish i had a camera then, but anyways, Day 1 of camping! It was COLD.