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Hey fam...
So... I went to Iceland and it was fun! I know I made a vlog series documenting A LOT of what happened but I've decided to make this fun post to share the untold stories and what I've decided to keep out of the vlogs and social media.
THE PROLOGUE: EVERYTHING IS CANCELLED + A deal
Prior to this, this whole Iceland adventure was sorta originally planned to be a "duo trip" w/ an online friend + 1 of my parents as a chaperone for my 21st birthday. The plan was that the friend and I just to Iceland together + meet each other for the first time, but my folks has to come with me cuz... they still don't trust online friends.
Sadly that didn't happen and going on my birthday is a huge inconvenience + my dad said I won't survive the cold temperatures. So... it ended up being a graduation trip... EXCEPT I have to cover for it. So in 2018, my parents and I made a deal after declining my internship offer to go to NYC cuz it's too expensive to get the money before the date - I have to get at least $5000 by the end of 2018 AND I have to graduate (no summer school, no failing). How will I get that money + get the grades? Who knows. Work hard I guess.
Don't get me wrong, I did spend a lot. Like there was a live show + so many conventions I've attended + university fees that it was a challenge. Also, uni got harder at 3rd year + my mental illness was starting to kick in again that it leads to the point where I was back "on watch" by my entire friendship group, classmates, and family members due to my shit mood (it was worse than before apparently - won't go into it). But I eventually did it. I managed to save up $6200 for a trip to Iceland in 2019 and I was able to graduate.
Originally, it was meant to be a trip with my mum, or just someone else in the fam, or just me alone, but it ended up being THE WHOLE FAMILY going + My dad said he will cover my share of the trip (except spending money) as a graduation gift.
So 2 months before July, we booked tickets and 2 months later - OFF TO ICELAND... after the UK
Chapter 1: UK
This was my dad's idea. He knew if we're just going to stopover in the UK, why not just visit. It was a short trip and it was hot AF!!! I regret bringing my long sleeves and had to buy new clothes (rip my UK budget).
We visited my dad's old hometown and saw the place where I COULD HAVE LIVED (yeah, UK was a country of consideration to move to).
It was fun. Got to see stuff and my dad told me the story on how he'd get homesick when he sees London Eye cuz he wishes to ride it with us back then in like 2004 but cant + he tried to ride it solo but bailed.
Chapter 2: ICELAND
UK was done and we're off to ICELAND!!!
Originally, my plan for Iceland was to be there for 1-week cuz... I'm broke. But my dad was like "LETS MAKE IT 9 DAYS!!!"
We stayed in the Reykjavik area and... our AirBnB had scaffolding at the exterior. Like... it was being renovated on the outside. EVERYONE IS SHOCKED --- Including Mani (more to that later). My mum joked by saying "don't judge a book by its cover" cuz the interior is really good... except we had no microwave and rice cooker so... YAY MY FOLKS GOT TO TEACH ME LIFE SKILLS!!! (I can sorta know how to cook rice without it).
You have to know - my trip to Iceland, only 10% was LazyTown related. The MAIN REASON I wanted to go was because of the photography aspects of it. I wanted to take photos there as it's sort of a "rite of passage" to all travel/landscape photographers. So a lot of my time was mostly tourist spots + tours and whatnot.
Before my trip, I reached out to a few of my friends who are Icelandic descent from other fandoms/communities and asked for their opinions about a lot of things like where to get food, what sim card is the best or how to at least SURVIVE Iceland.
DAY 1: Exploring Reykjavik
Couldn't find a bank and we need a sim card (mostly me). So yay... walking to a bank, took photos at a yellow lighthouse, got our sim card, then went to Kringlan (sorta like the Westfield of Reykjavik). Sadly, Pandora doesn't exist anymore in Iceland so... rip our Iceland icon charm (each country gets an exclusive charm if the country sells a certain amount in total). I did get a snowglobe though which is on my desk right now.
We also went to Hallgrímskirkja and went at the top of the church (REGRET NOT BRINGING MY FISH EYE LENS) and ate at Rok. In fact - I treated my whole family at Rok and I ended up paying 17 000+kr (nearly $200 AUD).
DAY 2: Song of Ice and Fire - South coast tour
Not gonna lie - this day one of the things I was looking forward the most. A lot of this tour though requires a lot of physical activity. Went to 2 waterfalls, the crashed airplane, a glacier, and a lava cave.
The waterfalls were nice. One of them is where they shot game of thrones. The other, you can walk around it, but there was a part where you needed to use like a rope to climb up the rocks. The crashed airplane site was a total blast since that's where I wanted to go the most. Luckily, we no longer have to walk for 1 hour as there is a bus service to take us to the spot (it will cost you 2000 kr).
The glacier and the lava cave was the most physically demanding since WE HAD TO CLIMB UP THE GLACIER and CRAWL DOWN THE CAVE. My dad lost his glove in the glacier, my mum hated the cave as it wasn't what she signed up for... but it was ok. Worth the adventure. Saw a dead sheep.
DAY 3: Meetin Mani Svavarsson
Yep - I got the chance to meet the guy and... holy crap I was scared af. I detailed a lot of the experience on YouTube but I will share the ones that haven't been mentioned online. Like I said earlier, Mani was shocked that my Airbnb had exterior scaffolding. The actual conversation went:
Mani: "Is that where you're staying?"
Me: "yep... we were shocked too"
Before that... like when we were figuring out where to meet, Mani gave me an offer: either to hang around Reykjavik with him (so Idk... a Mani tour of the city) or go to his studio. I chose the studio cuz I know it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
So how did Mani gave me the offer to visit his place? - Some of you may be wondering.
For most people, it was through LazyTown. For me... it was because of a 90's film that Mani was in for 5 seconds. Yes... my invite was through writing a review of an old film that mani's old band were involved in WAYYY before Afram existed.
During the drive, mani told me about Jodi being in Iceland recently, Chloe in Iceland recently, Matthias Matthiasson is apparently off radar (like no one has heard of him since season 4), this thoughts on Eurovision, how he and Gem met and was married last year... and a few topics that I remain still uncomfortable talking about since... it's really not of my business.
At Mani's house, the first stop was the kitchen and more private conversations happened. One thing I can share was stories about Stefan and how we all dealt with the news last year. Then Mani asked "how many lazytown fans are there left" and I was like "uhhh... idk... 10???". I told him stories about my time in the LazyTown Tumblr Community so that's fun.
I met his dog and his cat and BOY HE HAS A HUGE DOGGO.
I met 2 of his kids - Mikey (Gem's son) and one of his daughters.
The studio was cool too. One memorable thing was when were looking through the lazytown forever file and mani did a giant improv session at the ending that was WAAAY more darker than expected. More dark and melancholy... I LOVE IT (and I own a copy of it too).
Mani "taught" me a few Icelandic words: Goda Daggin (it's supposed to sound like "you're dying" or "go die"), eyjafjallajökull (i was close to pronouncing it right), and that the colour "blue" has like a past, present and future tense version.
I got to hear stories of production and how not everyone was happy with season 3 and 4. Mani was shocked that Magnus got engaged (apparently, both arent that close that we may all think... or to anyone else in the set/production site really).
One fun story I shared with him was when the community found out that Mani, Magnus, and Stefan were in the UK on the same day back in 2017 and a lot of us were like "OMG SEASON 5 CONFIRMED" as a form of wishful thinking.
One thing I regret on that day is that I forgot to ask mani if he can take me to the Flee market cuz I didn't know it was only open on weekends. Doh.
Chapter 4: North coast tour
This one was my mum's idea and.. it felt a bit rushed due to the driver getting a tiny bit lost and someone needing to go to the airport straight after. It was fun... but we didn't get to go on the black sand beach. Waterfalls and lava caves are nice though.
If I were you... just drive there.
Chapter 5: Blue Lagoon
The most stereotypical Icelandic tourist thing you can ever do but worth it... blue lagoon.
We got the 2nd package so we get free drinks and a 2nd free face mask. The water was boiling hot so it took a while to get used to the temperature. It was hard to film there since we had no waterproof casing and I had to borrow my dad's phone when filing in the water. Apparently, you can use your cameras as long as you're still in your swimsuit.
The spa was nice too. It was very relaxing (but it was very pricy). My mum and I really wanted to do it though so we let fate decide (you need to book it and we booked ours very last minute... like after lunch).
Chapter 6: The LazyTown Pilgrimage in Reykjavik
BEST WALK EVER!!!
This was when I found the CD's in the library, then got to see national theatre... which kinda sucked since road works were happening, then went to a cat cafe and EVERYTHING WAS SOOO CUTE. I was recommended by Mani to visit the National Art Museum and I enjoyed it. It was fun - like Johannes kjarval's work (apparently, the museum was named after him). Then ate at Rok for one last time. I even found the Sun Voyager by accident.
PS: If you want to see the Sun Voyager... just keep going south from Rok.
I liked this day the most since it was my own adventure, on my own terms. No parental intervention. Also... there was a park there and WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME ABOUT THAT.
The library was sorta a struggle since not everyone can speak English as "fluently". It's ok but they had to pass me on to another staff who can understand and respond to me better. I should have practiced my Icelandic and asked "do you know how to speak English" - would make their life easier.
The CD part - as mentioned in a previous thread, you can't extract them due to copyright laws. Apparently, Mani had no idea the CDs are found there too. When I brought it up, he was shocked to see them in mint/perfect condition. All the CDs are donated so that's nice.
Chapter 7: Filipino restaurants and going home
Before all of this happened... like in 2018... my folks have no idea what Iceland is. They think it's a waste of money for me to go there. But thanks to facebook, they're all in. So during my "solo adventures", my mum found some news reports from philippine media where they talked about Iceland and Filipinos who live there (not to mention the Duterte issue where Iceland wanted to start a UN Human rights investigation towards the Drug war that's currently happening there) and we went to a Filipino restaurant and my folks talked to them. My dad was wondering how he could work in Iceland cuz he's interested (and if this happens, I will consider studying in Iceland for 6 months). Apparently, it's really difficult - and not to mention, only 1k Filipinos live in Iceland so... not really a huge community.
The next day was our flight back to Australia and... that was really eventful.
FAQ:
Did you go to the transport museum and the studio?
No.
I can't drive and no one in my fam wants to drive to Borganes to see a museum so... that didn't happen. And no one in my family wants to drive me to Gaudaber so that didn't happen either. Mani told me that the whole place is cleared out so there isn't much to see in the old studio.
He also told me that.... going to the museum isn't really worth going to (but it's still up to me if I still want to go). Reason being: when people went, their response after visiting was: "Is that it?".
Did you buy some lazymerch?
Nope.
1. Missed out on flee market so that didn't happen
2. No CD store sells aftam and ggil CDs. Apparently, Iceland sucks as archiving music so it's hard to find old copies + newer songs are now mostly streamed so... the closest thing you will get it a limited vinyl (THIS IS COMING FROM THE MUSIC STORE OWNERS).
Why wasn't your entire trip tailored to lazytown?
Because I wasn't meant to be.
I heard of Iceland back in 2016 during my Dan and Phil days cuz their official photographer went to Iceland and I loved the photos. I wanted to do the same as it looked like a creative challenge (and it was + due to time constraints... it was a time trial).
So in 2017, when an old friend and I discussed about this weird possibility of going to Iceland together, I said I'd go for the touristy-landscape parts and the remainder was for lazytown.
Also, I can't tell my parents "I want to go to x country just for photos". That's a stupid excuse. It has to be grander. So when I was invited to meet mani... IT WAS A BEGGING FEST!!!
Any regrets?
I should have gone in August. Reason: Pride weekend. Also - there is a culture festival happening soon on the same month and one of the street food in offer is a Filipino-based food truck.
When I take photos of Reykjavik, I want to put colour into it... not just stick with the usual greys that you'd commonly see online. Pride Weekend would have been really colourful + Hatari and daði freyr were performing live so AAAAA.
Also knowing more about the country just so I could have done more tours or something... see more landmarks... etc... cuz I was so close to not seeing the Sun Voyager.
+++
I'd love to share photos with you but... the file size is super large and it's like 2 am as I'm writing this so... I might put them later maybe??? IDK... I had fun going to Iceland though and I plan to go again maybe in 2021... maybe this time in the winter so I can see northern lights!
So... I went to Iceland and it was fun! I know I made a vlog series documenting A LOT of what happened but I've decided to make this fun post to share the untold stories and what I've decided to keep out of the vlogs and social media.
THE PROLOGUE: EVERYTHING IS CANCELLED + A deal
Prior to this, this whole Iceland adventure was sorta originally planned to be a "duo trip" w/ an online friend + 1 of my parents as a chaperone for my 21st birthday. The plan was that the friend and I just to Iceland together + meet each other for the first time, but my folks has to come with me cuz... they still don't trust online friends.
Sadly that didn't happen and going on my birthday is a huge inconvenience + my dad said I won't survive the cold temperatures. So... it ended up being a graduation trip... EXCEPT I have to cover for it. So in 2018, my parents and I made a deal after declining my internship offer to go to NYC cuz it's too expensive to get the money before the date - I have to get at least $5000 by the end of 2018 AND I have to graduate (no summer school, no failing). How will I get that money + get the grades? Who knows. Work hard I guess.
Don't get me wrong, I did spend a lot. Like there was a live show + so many conventions I've attended + university fees that it was a challenge. Also, uni got harder at 3rd year + my mental illness was starting to kick in again that it leads to the point where I was back "on watch" by my entire friendship group, classmates, and family members due to my shit mood (it was worse than before apparently - won't go into it). But I eventually did it. I managed to save up $6200 for a trip to Iceland in 2019 and I was able to graduate.
Originally, it was meant to be a trip with my mum, or just someone else in the fam, or just me alone, but it ended up being THE WHOLE FAMILY going + My dad said he will cover my share of the trip (except spending money) as a graduation gift.
So 2 months before July, we booked tickets and 2 months later - OFF TO ICELAND... after the UK
Chapter 1: UK
This was my dad's idea. He knew if we're just going to stopover in the UK, why not just visit. It was a short trip and it was hot AF!!! I regret bringing my long sleeves and had to buy new clothes (rip my UK budget).
We visited my dad's old hometown and saw the place where I COULD HAVE LIVED (yeah, UK was a country of consideration to move to).
It was fun. Got to see stuff and my dad told me the story on how he'd get homesick when he sees London Eye cuz he wishes to ride it with us back then in like 2004 but cant + he tried to ride it solo but bailed.
Chapter 2: ICELAND
UK was done and we're off to ICELAND!!!
Originally, my plan for Iceland was to be there for 1-week cuz... I'm broke. But my dad was like "LETS MAKE IT 9 DAYS!!!"
We stayed in the Reykjavik area and... our AirBnB had scaffolding at the exterior. Like... it was being renovated on the outside. EVERYONE IS SHOCKED --- Including Mani (more to that later). My mum joked by saying "don't judge a book by its cover" cuz the interior is really good... except we had no microwave and rice cooker so... YAY MY FOLKS GOT TO TEACH ME LIFE SKILLS!!! (I can sorta know how to cook rice without it).
You have to know - my trip to Iceland, only 10% was LazyTown related. The MAIN REASON I wanted to go was because of the photography aspects of it. I wanted to take photos there as it's sort of a "rite of passage" to all travel/landscape photographers. So a lot of my time was mostly tourist spots + tours and whatnot.
Before my trip, I reached out to a few of my friends who are Icelandic descent from other fandoms/communities and asked for their opinions about a lot of things like where to get food, what sim card is the best or how to at least SURVIVE Iceland.
DAY 1: Exploring Reykjavik
Couldn't find a bank and we need a sim card (mostly me). So yay... walking to a bank, took photos at a yellow lighthouse, got our sim card, then went to Kringlan (sorta like the Westfield of Reykjavik). Sadly, Pandora doesn't exist anymore in Iceland so... rip our Iceland icon charm (each country gets an exclusive charm if the country sells a certain amount in total). I did get a snowglobe though which is on my desk right now.
We also went to Hallgrímskirkja and went at the top of the church (REGRET NOT BRINGING MY FISH EYE LENS) and ate at Rok. In fact - I treated my whole family at Rok and I ended up paying 17 000+kr (nearly $200 AUD).
DAY 2: Song of Ice and Fire - South coast tour
Not gonna lie - this day one of the things I was looking forward the most. A lot of this tour though requires a lot of physical activity. Went to 2 waterfalls, the crashed airplane, a glacier, and a lava cave.
The waterfalls were nice. One of them is where they shot game of thrones. The other, you can walk around it, but there was a part where you needed to use like a rope to climb up the rocks. The crashed airplane site was a total blast since that's where I wanted to go the most. Luckily, we no longer have to walk for 1 hour as there is a bus service to take us to the spot (it will cost you 2000 kr).
The glacier and the lava cave was the most physically demanding since WE HAD TO CLIMB UP THE GLACIER and CRAWL DOWN THE CAVE. My dad lost his glove in the glacier, my mum hated the cave as it wasn't what she signed up for... but it was ok. Worth the adventure. Saw a dead sheep.
DAY 3: Meetin Mani Svavarsson
Yep - I got the chance to meet the guy and... holy crap I was scared af. I detailed a lot of the experience on YouTube but I will share the ones that haven't been mentioned online. Like I said earlier, Mani was shocked that my Airbnb had exterior scaffolding. The actual conversation went:
Mani: "Is that where you're staying?"
Me: "yep... we were shocked too"
Before that... like when we were figuring out where to meet, Mani gave me an offer: either to hang around Reykjavik with him (so Idk... a Mani tour of the city) or go to his studio. I chose the studio cuz I know it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
So how did Mani gave me the offer to visit his place? - Some of you may be wondering.
For most people, it was through LazyTown. For me... it was because of a 90's film that Mani was in for 5 seconds. Yes... my invite was through writing a review of an old film that mani's old band were involved in WAYYY before Afram existed.
During the drive, mani told me about Jodi being in Iceland recently, Chloe in Iceland recently, Matthias Matthiasson is apparently off radar (like no one has heard of him since season 4), this thoughts on Eurovision, how he and Gem met and was married last year... and a few topics that I remain still uncomfortable talking about since... it's really not of my business.
At Mani's house, the first stop was the kitchen and more private conversations happened. One thing I can share was stories about Stefan and how we all dealt with the news last year. Then Mani asked "how many lazytown fans are there left" and I was like "uhhh... idk... 10???". I told him stories about my time in the LazyTown Tumblr Community so that's fun.
I met his dog and his cat and BOY HE HAS A HUGE DOGGO.
I met 2 of his kids - Mikey (Gem's son) and one of his daughters.
The studio was cool too. One memorable thing was when were looking through the lazytown forever file and mani did a giant improv session at the ending that was WAAAY more darker than expected. More dark and melancholy... I LOVE IT (and I own a copy of it too).
Mani "taught" me a few Icelandic words: Goda Daggin (it's supposed to sound like "you're dying" or "go die"), eyjafjallajökull (i was close to pronouncing it right), and that the colour "blue" has like a past, present and future tense version.
I got to hear stories of production and how not everyone was happy with season 3 and 4. Mani was shocked that Magnus got engaged (apparently, both arent that close that we may all think... or to anyone else in the set/production site really).
One fun story I shared with him was when the community found out that Mani, Magnus, and Stefan were in the UK on the same day back in 2017 and a lot of us were like "OMG SEASON 5 CONFIRMED" as a form of wishful thinking.
One thing I regret on that day is that I forgot to ask mani if he can take me to the Flee market cuz I didn't know it was only open on weekends. Doh.
Chapter 4: North coast tour
This one was my mum's idea and.. it felt a bit rushed due to the driver getting a tiny bit lost and someone needing to go to the airport straight after. It was fun... but we didn't get to go on the black sand beach. Waterfalls and lava caves are nice though.
If I were you... just drive there.
Chapter 5: Blue Lagoon
The most stereotypical Icelandic tourist thing you can ever do but worth it... blue lagoon.
We got the 2nd package so we get free drinks and a 2nd free face mask. The water was boiling hot so it took a while to get used to the temperature. It was hard to film there since we had no waterproof casing and I had to borrow my dad's phone when filing in the water. Apparently, you can use your cameras as long as you're still in your swimsuit.
The spa was nice too. It was very relaxing (but it was very pricy). My mum and I really wanted to do it though so we let fate decide (you need to book it and we booked ours very last minute... like after lunch).
Chapter 6: The LazyTown Pilgrimage in Reykjavik
BEST WALK EVER!!!
This was when I found the CD's in the library, then got to see national theatre... which kinda sucked since road works were happening, then went to a cat cafe and EVERYTHING WAS SOOO CUTE. I was recommended by Mani to visit the National Art Museum and I enjoyed it. It was fun - like Johannes kjarval's work (apparently, the museum was named after him). Then ate at Rok for one last time. I even found the Sun Voyager by accident.
PS: If you want to see the Sun Voyager... just keep going south from Rok.
I liked this day the most since it was my own adventure, on my own terms. No parental intervention. Also... there was a park there and WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME ABOUT THAT.
The library was sorta a struggle since not everyone can speak English as "fluently". It's ok but they had to pass me on to another staff who can understand and respond to me better. I should have practiced my Icelandic and asked "do you know how to speak English" - would make their life easier.
The CD part - as mentioned in a previous thread, you can't extract them due to copyright laws. Apparently, Mani had no idea the CDs are found there too. When I brought it up, he was shocked to see them in mint/perfect condition. All the CDs are donated so that's nice.
Chapter 7: Filipino restaurants and going home
Before all of this happened... like in 2018... my folks have no idea what Iceland is. They think it's a waste of money for me to go there. But thanks to facebook, they're all in. So during my "solo adventures", my mum found some news reports from philippine media where they talked about Iceland and Filipinos who live there (not to mention the Duterte issue where Iceland wanted to start a UN Human rights investigation towards the Drug war that's currently happening there) and we went to a Filipino restaurant and my folks talked to them. My dad was wondering how he could work in Iceland cuz he's interested (and if this happens, I will consider studying in Iceland for 6 months). Apparently, it's really difficult - and not to mention, only 1k Filipinos live in Iceland so... not really a huge community.
The next day was our flight back to Australia and... that was really eventful.
FAQ:
Did you go to the transport museum and the studio?
No.
I can't drive and no one in my fam wants to drive to Borganes to see a museum so... that didn't happen. And no one in my family wants to drive me to Gaudaber so that didn't happen either. Mani told me that the whole place is cleared out so there isn't much to see in the old studio.
He also told me that.... going to the museum isn't really worth going to (but it's still up to me if I still want to go). Reason being: when people went, their response after visiting was: "Is that it?".
Did you buy some lazymerch?
Nope.
1. Missed out on flee market so that didn't happen
2. No CD store sells aftam and ggil CDs. Apparently, Iceland sucks as archiving music so it's hard to find old copies + newer songs are now mostly streamed so... the closest thing you will get it a limited vinyl (THIS IS COMING FROM THE MUSIC STORE OWNERS).
Why wasn't your entire trip tailored to lazytown?
Because I wasn't meant to be.
I heard of Iceland back in 2016 during my Dan and Phil days cuz their official photographer went to Iceland and I loved the photos. I wanted to do the same as it looked like a creative challenge (and it was + due to time constraints... it was a time trial).
So in 2017, when an old friend and I discussed about this weird possibility of going to Iceland together, I said I'd go for the touristy-landscape parts and the remainder was for lazytown.
Also, I can't tell my parents "I want to go to x country just for photos". That's a stupid excuse. It has to be grander. So when I was invited to meet mani... IT WAS A BEGGING FEST!!!
Any regrets?
I should have gone in August. Reason: Pride weekend. Also - there is a culture festival happening soon on the same month and one of the street food in offer is a Filipino-based food truck.
When I take photos of Reykjavik, I want to put colour into it... not just stick with the usual greys that you'd commonly see online. Pride Weekend would have been really colourful + Hatari and daði freyr were performing live so AAAAA.
Also knowing more about the country just so I could have done more tours or something... see more landmarks... etc... cuz I was so close to not seeing the Sun Voyager.
+++
I'd love to share photos with you but... the file size is super large and it's like 2 am as I'm writing this so... I might put them later maybe??? IDK... I had fun going to Iceland though and I plan to go again maybe in 2021... maybe this time in the winter so I can see northern lights!
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