My Thoughts on Travelling

I am not easily impressed. I come from Greece where beautiful landscapes are just around the corner and there is always a nice place to hang around nearby. I have travelled a lot around Europe and I know what to expect when visiting a European country. However, even before landing in Iceland, I could understand that everything was different to what I am used to.
From inside the airplane you could see the diversity of the landscapes. Black sand beaches, followed by green grass-lands only to end up to white shining volcanoes. The first thing I could think of was that these views really solved the aisle or window argument for me. If I was on an aisle seat I would really miss that wonderful panoramic view of the island.
We were approaching Keflavik airport when the man sitting next to me, as if he understood my amazement, asked me: “First time in Iceland? It looks like scenery from Mars doesn’t it?”. Leaving the aircraft, my whole field of vision really reminded pictures of Mars; the sun hitting on odd shaped, sharp rock formations, lava fields, steam columns and in distance the white peak of Snæfellsjökull.
All these made me see how wrong I was expecting certain things. I have read a lot about Iceland before travelling there. I have planned carefully the days to come and I have seen quite a lot photographs before getting there, but nothing replaces the experience of actually being in a place like that; the way you see yourself compared to the power of nature. Every corner in Earth is different and has different things to exhibit. It is in our hand to discover them.
The passport control room’s walls were decorated with quotes and one really made me think: “Better weight than wisdom a traveler cannot carry” –Viking proverb. From time to time my friends ask me why I like so much travelling. My arrival in Iceland summarizes everything I love in travelling; there is always a place in the world with landscapes to amaze you, different culture to discover and new things to do. Travelling broadens your horizons and teaches you how small you are compared to the massiveness of this world. So the best advice I can give to anyone is: Keep an open mind and travel a lot, there is nothing to replace the knowledge you can acquire by travelling.