Phillip Holt's World

After meetings in Kingston today, a walk around the shops and riverside was the call of the day.

The hottest day in April for the UK since 1949, saw shoppers and families wearing summer clothes, sun hats and sun glasses. People sat next to the river drinking and relaxing.

Children fed the swans that flocked to eat from the food thrown to them.

Charter Quay, Kingston upon Thames

Swans in Charter Quay, Kingston upon Thames

Swans on the River Thames in Kingston upon Thames

The last day in Iceland.

The tour company have a transfer bus service from the hotel to the airport.

But they offer an add on tour to the transfer service, a visit to the Blue Lagoon. 

As we approach the resort of the Blue Lagoon, steam from the geothermal spa and factories that capture the hot water that is piped to the surrounding area and Reykjavík for heating, showers, etc, rose to the sky in brilliant white.

Blue Lagoon, Iceland

The road leading up to the spa, meanders across the lava plain, and we pass a milky blue lake. The bus disgorges its’ passengers, giving us about two hours to experience the spa, and we follow the pathway cut out of the lava to the main building.

Here we are given an electronic tag and a towel. It is a good job we had taken a swimming costumes.

On changing, I followed the signs to the blue lagoon, entering a warm room, with steps leading into a large pool. At the far side of the pool there is a door. Walking across in warm waist deep water, I open the door, and there in front of me is the outdoor milky blue-green water, steam gliding into the air from the surface.

People were up to their shoulders in this warm water. Even standing with my bare chest to the elements, I was not cold, unlike the lifeguard, standing on the edge of the lagoon in a full arctic survival suit.

                                                                 www.icelandholiday.is

I joined Mee Len, and we waded across the lagoon, the water reaching our upper chest, people were not swimming, just standing there, enjoying the warmth.

On the far side people placed white mud like mixture on their faces, to give some unknown treatment. It reminded me of the mud bath I had taken in Antalya with my host, the owner and a participant from the NLP course, Asu my translator and an assistant, sitting there like a little Buddha.

On washing off the mixture, the taste of the water was very salty, but there was no smell of volcanic sulfer I had expected. 

Perhaps this treatment will make me look younger than my 94 age.

Soon the experience was over, and a short two and a half hours flight on Iceland Express,  we were back  the UK.

The world is a small place.    Visit my web site www.nlpnow.net .

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Me and the sea do not get on. I get sea sickness.

I remember many years ago, with a group of fellow scuba divers, we borrowed a large motor launch, and sailed out into the Red Sea, off Saudi Arabia, to Fifteen Mile Reef, to spend two days out at sea, diving as much as possible. I spent much of the time being sea sick, turning every colour you could think of.

Strange I was later to live on a boat for six years, a 52 foot (16 mtr) ocean going Dicken’s Class vessel, Mr Toots.

I was prepared, I had my sea sickness tablets, and I took one before leaving the hotel.

A short distance from the Hotel Klopp, is the port of Reykjavík, not large, but full of ships.

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An early start the second day, well 8:30am. We are to go on a 10 hour tour called the Golden Circle in a super jeep, to see some of Iceland’s natural phenomena.

The tour operator’s have these tours really well organised. Mini buses pick-up clients from individual hotels and take them to a central tour bus depot, where payments are made and the clients transfered to larger buses.

Three super jeeps, each with about eight people set off from Reykjavik, transit vans modified with big wheels.

Super jeeps on Langjökull glacier

Our first stop-off was a two hour journey to the Langjökull glacier. We certainly needed a four wheel drive as we left the tarmac roads, taking a lava track road, up towards the glacier.

We were told how the Langjökull glacier was receding, especially over the past five years, something the driver of our super jeep had noticed himself, and he predicted that not so far in the future the glacier will disappear completely.

As we climbed, the track got rougher, with deep tracks to negotiate, and we entered the snow band. It was surprising to see small lakes in the ice flow, so blue.

On the Langjökull glacier

On arrival, we were issued with a crash helmet, and a jumpsuit or thick overalls to place over our own thick clothes, I felt like Michelin man. But I was warm. Very warm.

After a short introduction to safety and how to ride and control a snowmobile, we set off one behind the other, up and onto the glacier, for one hour of freezing exhilaration. The flat ice of the glacier melted into the sky, and I became mesmerised by the singular white landscape racing past me, as I tried to keep the snowmobile riding in a straight line. Of cause it did, it just felt very strange, as I used to ride scooters or motorbikes, or bikes, as you turn a corner you lean the machine. Not with a snowmobile.

From the glacier, we traveled down to the Gullfoss waterfall, where the glacier waters fall producing a spray that freezes on the fences in long icicles, and feels extremely cold on the face.

Gullfoss Waterfall

See video click here.

Again, frozen to the bone, we boarded the super jeep for our next destination, the world renowned geothermal area around Geysir hot spring. As we approached the area, steam rose into the sky like smoke from chimneys.

We were warned not to place our hands in the water to test the temperature as it was very hot (100 degrees C). Obviously, some people did not hear this warning as I noticed more than one person test the water, only to pull the hand away quickly. Boiling.

Pools of hot water steamed from the hot springs, heated by the inner earth, rock heated by magma, the water overflowed and ran down to Geysir itself.

Geysir, Iceland

www.icelandtotal.com

Here was a hole in the ground, and hot water flowed down into it, filling it to the rim. Every few minutes a great gush and a column of hot water shot into the air, showering unsuspecting visitors who walked downwind.

Leaving the warmth of the Geysir hot springs we entered the Thingvellir national park, where two tectonic plates, the American and Eurasian, are slowly drifting apart and the oldest parliament in the world was founded in 930 by the Vikings.

This is where our guide on the Northern Lights tour had told us about the fissures, enough to swallow a man. When we walked into the area the bus had parked the previous evening, it was a big tarmacked car park, and not a crack to be seen.

Oh how our minds can build mountains from mole hills.

The great wall of the American tectonic plate rose above us. It was strange to walk in the fissure, the main divide.

The American tectonic plate rose above us

A wondrous day, an adventure I was glad to have made.

I am sure there will be many metaphors to be made from my journey to be told in my courses.

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The first day in Iceland saw an evening trip into the cold night air on a warm coach full of people expectant on natures free light show, The Northern Lights.

The scientific name for the Northern Lights is “Aurora Borealis”, or aurora for short. The same phenomenon can also be seen in the Southern Hemisphere but known as the Southern Lights, or Aurora Australis.

The Sun is one gigantic nuclear explosion, which emits clouds of plasma. These clouds race through space and some towards earth. As these plasma particles start to enter our shield of defense the atmosphere, they collide with gases which create photons or light particles.

Rich Lacey www.northern-lights.no

These light particles form ribbons of light which dance along the magnetic force lines around the poles at a hight of between 80 to 200 kilometres above sea level.  

Different colours can be observed, according to time of the year, the activity of the sun, and the composition of the nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere.

Our bus took us to the site of the worlds first parliament formed in 930 by the Vikings. We were told that this is where the American Tectonic plate and the Eurasian Tectonic plate meet, and we were warned of many fissures around making it a dangerous place. As we got of the bus I edged my way in virtual total darkness, hoping I would not fall down a gap in the earth’s crust.

Venus shone brightly off our left shoulder, the North Star was up above us, as other stars twinkled, but no Northern Lights. We were told that the show does not happen every night.

Then, a white mist like cloud started to appear above us, and within minutes an arc of ribboned light, lit up the night. It could be likened to watching a rain storm in the far distance, etched against a dark sky , but this was far more visual and brighter.

I remember as a young boy in the Midlands of the UK, standing in the field at the back of my parents house looking north and seeing the sky dance with colours. Yes the Northern Lights have been seen as far south as Singapore.

Tonight we only saw white light. It was freezing, and one by one people sought the warmth of the bus. Nature must have known we had had enough, because the show was over, and we set off back home.

Ever eager not to miss this wonder of nature, we gazed out of the bus windows, and suddenly, nature gave us an encore. 

We stopped and again wrapped-up against the intense cold, we stood in awe as right above our heads, the Aurora Borealis gave us a dancing display, it was as if I could have reached up and touched the light. 

Like any encore it was short. We departed to get warm, and for me a hot chocolate. 

My first impressions of Iceland, (situated just south of the Artic Circle), which was limited to the south of the island, was the great lack of ice. Although very cold, -0 degrees and less, there was little or no snow, that what could be seen, was only visible on the mountain tops in the far distance. The land was covered with dead brown grass (it was just finishing winter), with the flat lava landscape covered in moss, and leafless small bushes.

   

I was told that neighboring Greenland is covered in ice and very un-green, and Iceland is green with vegetation, and the names were swapped to keep away visitors.

The land mostly volcanic, with some of the lava flows been laid down in the 1970’s, has had little time for fauna to establish itself, and certainly not enough time for nutrients to be established to support trees. The Icelanders are planting what they call forests, or small areas of trees.

Perhaps it was Easter, and the Icelanders had gone away for a long weekend to their “summer houses”, but the main shopping street in the capital Reykjavík was empty of shoppers. The street itself did not have the usual high street shops as other major towns or cities. There is no McDonnell’s, no Next dress shop, only one shop name I did recognise being Subway the sandwich shop.

I am told that the international shopping names do exist, but in the preferred shopping malls.

Driving was so leisurely. At no time did I see a traffic jam of more than three cars, there was no rush hour. A big difference to Istanbul, Milan or London.

Prices

Although the airport was only some 40 minutes drive, the first indication of how expensive Iceland is came with the cost of transfer from the airport to the hotel, nearly £26. As much as a taxi fare in the UK.

A simple meal in a standard Italian restaurant, the Rossopomodoro which seemed very popular with tourists, a pan fried chicken breast with potatoes and stir fried vegetables with a hot chocolate, (well it was cold) came to £30.

A sandwich at the Blue Lagoon (as seen) over £6.

Entrance into and taking tours was very costly, an evening coach trip to see the Northern Lights over £20.

Very expensive place, Iceland.

Clean

Everywhere is very clean, the houses look as if they have just been painted, and all appear to be in a very high state of repair. Perhaps this is due to the contrast between the hard, jagged dark lava and the very angular buildings sitting square on the land.

   

The hotel Klopp and side street, Reykjavík, Iceland

The hotel Klopp, Klapparstigur 26 101, Reykjavík, was well presented and clean. Our room was as a normal hotel room, except we had a small conservatory where we could watch TV. Only breakfast was provided, but free drinks were always available, and did I need my hot chocolate to warm me up after a trip outside. 

With a population of only 380,000 people, Iceland is a rich country, relaxing, slow and very clean. A big difference to the hustle and bustle of London, Paris and Istanbul having a population of 13 million.

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I love flying, especially if I have a widow seat, and on a clear, cloudless day.

I wonder, as we speed across the sky, how many of the people below know that someone, me, is looking down upon them. The people on the trains, in the cars travelling on the ribbons of motorways cutting across and scarring the surface of the earth.

I marvel at how humans have spread across the surface of the land, yes surface. We have only scratched the surface. We only dig or excavate a few inches into the surface to build our houses, factories, schools, shops.

I look at the vast areas of emptiness, yet we are said to be over populating the earth. We humans are social beings, we stay in groups, as you look down, there is the proof, houses, flats, apartments, factories, clustered together. At night it is even more noticeable, as towns pollute the dark night with their street lights. 

A last minute decision was made to go to Iceland for a couple of days. It was a place I had always wanted to visit. A place of mystery, of wonders.

With todays cheap travel, a booking was made with Iceland Express a low cost but good carrier. I can see no difference between a scheduled carrier, BA, Turkish Airlines, Virgin etc, and low cost EasyJet. Perhaps the only difference is that you get “free” food on non low cost airlines. At least on low cost carriers you can choose the sandwich you want, unlike other carriers, where you get what you are given, and the cost of the nondescript food bumps up the price of a ticket out of proportion.

As we fly over the UK at 10,000 meters, you look down on a patchwork of fields, vast areas of countryside, how can the UK be full, over polluted?

Either side of the aircraft the coastline can be seen, so the country is not very wide, and I sit here considering the pollution being made by me flying to Iceland. But, wait, what about all the smoke that can be seen from heath fires. On this cloudless day, you can see how far the smoke reaches, as it drifts, polluting as it passes over lands. What about th cars etc?

Looking down, it is possible to make out landmarks, towns and cities I know. Airfields standout like scares on the face of the earth. It is amazing how many old airfields there are, especially in the county of Lincolnshire.

The lakes or lochs of Scotland are like long dark fingers. Mountains, that must be high, yet they look nothing, have little patches of snow, like little pieces of string, as the un-melted snow lies in the gullies. I would have expected to see more snow at this time of year. Maybe global warming? I feel sorry for the skiers and the lack of their main requirement, snow.

We soon leave the UK, flying high above the cotton wool clouds, so bright and white, blinding to the eyes. But what shapes appear as my imagination runs riot, some clouds reaching even further into the blue sky.

Below, in a break in the clouds, I spot a fishing boat ploughing through what looks like an angry sea, as I can see the white of waves breaking in the open ocean. I seem to remember they are called “white horses” from the days I sailed yachts.

Soon it was time to land, and as we descended, the countryside of Iceland looked barren. There was no patch worked fields to be seen, no green, and no trees.

This was going to be an eye opening trip.