Hello backpackers! It’s such a pleasure to meet you. My name’s Carol but my friends know me as Mare – a shorter version of my second name Marie – or also as Compass because of my Instagram username @thetropicalcompass.
About me
In a nutshell, I’m a wedding social media manager, content creator, and part-time traveller here in my beautiful home of Puerto Rico. It’s been a long time since I caught a flight and at times the nostalgia of travelling stirs up strong emotions.
While I save up for my next trip, I take nostalgic moments like these to reminisce about the best moments and adventures I’ve had in the past years. Out of all of those memories and moments, there is one in particular that really changed my life.
Have you ever travelled in a group and worried if everyone would get along?
Add wonder how they might react towards other travellers? Are they chill with other people they don’t know? Are they gonna enjoy the trip or start fighting in the middle of it?
These and other questions were fluttering in my mind as I planned to visit Iceland for the second time after visiting it back in 2018. Iceland holds a special place in my memory, I had such a great time the first time I travelled there that I felt drawn to go back and see more.
So, what happened?
I had 8 of my friends telling me they wanted to visit Iceland with me, but nobody knew each other. Some of these friends are people I’ve known since I was much younger, some from high school, and others I’ve made along the way over the years.
It was a bit of a stressful trip to plan because there was such little time to get everything ready for everyone. I wanted them to sort of get to meet before but that was tough so we only had a few online meetups on Zoom to at least introduce them “face to face” beforehand. The trip to Iceland was my last trip of 2021 and was really hoping this group trip would be great.
I had mixed emotions about this trip and worried maybe not everyone would get along or vibe well. Truth is, I really didn’t know how to feel. You see…the last group travel experience I had didn’t go as planned, and the one before that was a total disaster. So, this was really my last shot at testing if group travel experiences were for me.
On the one hand, I tend to always travel with friends because through word of mouth I always end up finding more people who are up for an adventure, but it also makes travelling more affordable so I always leaned towards this option. Being able to travel together and experience certain kinds of adventures or wanting to do similar things can either work or not even for the closest of friends.
The trip
It was a complete 2-week schedule to go around the Ring Road for 5 of us as the other 4 were only staying for a week. This was not a weekend away so things had better go well!
Everything started at the airport. As my friends began to arrive and I’d introduce them to each other, and I noticed that they all started to get along almost instinctively, I was really shocked! Was it the destination that piqued their common interest? The excitement of travel? The fact that this was the first international flight for some of them?
Whatever it was, the good vibes were electric! The chemistry between everyone was something I’d never felt in a group before. Everyone was so pumped and hyped to go explore everything we could in the little time we had that I felt we’d been travelling together for so long.
It’s as if we all knew we’d be experiencing something special on this trip together. But what?
As days kept passing by, our bond kept growing and growing until one specific and special night; the night everyone saw the AURORAS for the first time.
Words can’t really describe the feeling at the exact moment when you see these bold strokes of colour in the night sky. Something you don’t see in my home country that really makes you think “is this even real!?”.
It felt surreal, so beautiful, calm, and epic. We looked at each other and saw that we all had tears running down our cheeks, and then we started to scream! I bet the happy sounds of our screams of excitement and awe could be heard from the top of Dyrhólaey! Oh and the photos from that moment were incredible, it was as if the sky was glowing just for us. As if it knew we wanted a show to remember.
memories that will last forever
That moment, that exact same moment, everything changed for me.
Wow, as I’m writing this right now and started remembering everything, tears are falling down my cheek exactly as they did at that moment. The energy was so powerful. It was as if at that exact moment, we were all so interconnected, making everyone feel like one – like we knew each other for such a long time. There was such a rush of emotions and excitement that made us feel alive, it was the greatest feeling I had ever had.
This group travel experience got me thinking…it made me realize that the perfect people will always come into your life for a reason. These are those with who you can share the things you love to do the most and at the same time, show them that life is filled with amazing things. You can meet strangers and feel like you’ve known them for years because you decided to take a risk and travel together.
Travelling builds moments for bonding, moments beyond your typical day-to-day experience and you get to share these awe-filed moments and just connect, even if it’s just for that one trip.
It’s moments like this that also remind me how precious life and our time is. Your life is more than your work, and the memories you make “living” and doing things that excite you are what feeds your soul. And the people you find with who you can share these moments are invaluable.
Now, while life is much more than a 9 to 5 (although, this is what helps us get the money we need to fulfill these amazing experiences and create the best memories) we should remember to never stay in a place where you don’t feel comfortable or happy enough.
Jobs will come and go and so do the years. Take the time to start working on your dreams and go after them. Your memories will be the only thing that money will never buy.
Since this trip, Iceland will forever be my second home. There’s something about this place that makes it difficult to get out of my mind.
Maybe I’ll need to move there for a while… or for a long time. Next time I go, I wonder what my next group travel experience will be like.