The final day was here. I packed up my stuff the best I could into my 70L backpack, gave the car a nice scrub and wash, and returned it to the rental company.
They did a quick inspection and didn’t notice the paint chips, or they did notice it and didn’t care. I hadn’t applied the paint from the paint-pen I had bought earlier. The colour was a terrible mismatch.
It was a bittersweet moment saying goodbye to the car. I had driven ~4800 kms in the last 3 weeks, had been through some highs and lows with it, had taken it to the to extreme ends of the island and on roads that I probably shouldn’t have been on, I had stalled it, revved it, eaten in it, slept next to it and had spent more time driving it than I had expected to.
Sure, it wasn’t really built for Iceland terrain, but the little Spark sure had heart (for a car anyway).
I guess this was it. I mentally switched from “outdoor mode” into “city mode” and walked to the bus-stop to take a bus to the airport.
As I saw the terrain on the way to the airport, it didn’t look as alien as it had when I had first gotten in. Lava fields, distant volcanoes, snow-capped glaciers. I had seen it all.
As we pulled into the airport parking lot, I knew this wasn’t goodbye. I would be returning to this magical island many more times….
My stuff 