Iceland—a small country, the size of Ohio, hanging just under the Arctic Circle between Greenland and Norway—has become a very popular tourist destination. No surprise! Deservedly called the Land of Fire and Ice, it has 32 active volcanic systems sitting above a mantle hot spot and 269 named glaciers, including Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest. It also boasts about 10,000 waterfalls and is a highly ranked place to catch the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). But would you want to go there in winter when there is very little daylight and the weather is less (a LOT less) than balmy? I did…and loved it!
My logic: This is the first winter in many years that I was not going skiing—for a few reasons, one of which is a recently rehabbed knee. I did not want to sit home with FOMO while my friends were schussing in Colorado. Seeing the Northern Lights was at the top of my wish list, with the Continental Divide (Mid Atlantic Ridge) a close second. Plus, I have all the cold weather gear that would be needed. So…Road Scholar’s trip A Long Weekend in Iceland seemed like a good fit. The net-net: I did get to meet one goal (walked the Continental Divide) and not the other (no Northern Lights) …but I was constantly delighted and awed by everything else I experienced.
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I consider myself a well-seasoned traveler. I’ve logged many miles, for business and pleasure, both in the States and abroad. Except for ski club trips, I’ve always traveled on my own or with one or two people from my inner circle (BF, family, good friends). I frequently noticed these large groups of people get off big motor coaches and file through tourist sites listening to their guide using some kind of headset. They are kind of hard to miss. I scoffed at them, haughtily at times, thinking they looked like lemmings blindly following their leader. Then I took a 6-day 
accidental goddess 