Happy 1st April!

"The Iceland Trip" video and photo gallery now online!

Got the T-Shirt...

I visited Iceland for a week at the end of January last and I must say it was the best holiday ever! I celebrated my 55th birthday there and since I returned home to Ireland I've been working on editing the photos and videos I took there for "The Iceland Trip" as well as composing and recording the soundtrack which is now done and up on Youtube. I considered making a documentary but it's not really my thing so in the end I did what I do best and that was to make a music video.

It was such a unique holiday, going there I didn't know what to expect but my main goal was to get some Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) photos, do some sight seeing and experience the Icelandic culture as best I could in the short time I was there.

I barely scratched the volcanic surface but still got far more than I hoped for!

I went on four tours, the first was a Northern Lights Tour with Happy World Tours which was amazing but also a challenge of man versus Nature's extreme cold and wind! The Aurora Borealis itself was absolutely mindblowing but trying to operate my cameras in the extreme conditions proved next to impossible! I did manage to get some shots nonetheless.
See my photo gallery of the trip. This photo was taken by Ástþór, our tour guide with Happy World Tours.

The second tour was The Snæfellsnes Peninsula Tour with EastWest Tours which took us to breath taking locations such as the famous Kirkjufell Mountain in the photo below. We also stopped at Djupalonssandur Beach, The Black Church of Budir, Arnarstapi and we finished up at Lysoholl Farm for a traditional Icelandic meal which was very welcome and delicious after all the travelling. I can't remember ever doing a bus tour before that but it was fantastic and I also met some lovely people there! The one thing about the weather in Iceland in January is it changes dramatically just about ever hour, from blizzard to beautiful sunny skies so it was great for taking different kinds of photos. You can see all these places I mentioned in my photo gallery and video.

The third tour was The Golden Circle Tour with Nice Travel Tours, again a bus tour to stunning locations such as Gullfoss Waterfall pictured below, Þingvellir (Thingvellir) where the North American & Eurasian tectonic plates meet, Strokkur Geyser, Kerid Volcanic Crater and finally chilling out and boiling (at the same time lol!) at The Blue Lagoon for a couple of hours which was a very interesting experience being clad only in shorts in -7 with wind chill from the waist up and hot geothermal water from the waist down! It's a great place to experience as was the entire tour!

The fourth tour was the icing on the cake for me, a helicopter ride to the Hengill Geothermal Fissure Area with Nordurflug Helicopter Tours.
As I had never been on a helicopter before that day I was nervous going on one but nothing was going to stop me so I braved it and I absolutely loved it! It was definitely one of the best experiences in my life, such an amazing buzz as you can see from the grin on my face taking this selfie lol!

The rest of my time there was spent sight seeing, photographing, hanging out with new friends around Reykjavik and I even got to play the guitar at the Icelandic Punk Museum, a visit and experience for another video at another time. I also spent a few evenings at the waterfront chasing the elusive Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and I was successful on a couple of occasions so all in all it was a fantastic holiday, my wish is to return one day!

Check out my video below...

So that brings me to the end of this blog edition. I want to express my deepest gratitude and respect to the wonderful people of Iceland for giving me the experience of a lifetime. To all the tour guides, the people I met along the way, some friends for life made, it was a pleasure and an honour to meet you and experience your culture and country. Thank you!

As for the here and now, I'm busy working on my live show for some as yet unconfirmed shows during the summer, I'll post dates as soon as I have them myself. I haven't done a live show in almost 5 years and I've written quite a lot of new songs and produced a lot of new videos in that time so I'm really looking forward to getting my new show on the road later this year.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope you enjoy my photos and video and if you do please do the liking and subscribing and sharing and all that good stuff. Although I don't post regular blogs I regularly post on facebook so you can connect with me there.

Until next time,

Peace & Love,

Denis.