Planes, Packs, and Snoring Machines

Well, the day started out rightly enough. The sun was shining, the abhorrant week long wind had finally calmed, and the temperatures made it seem as though it was an early spring day.

After spending most of the day soaking in the nice weather, we met up with our Couchsurfing host Damien for his weekly pizza outing followed by bubble tea. We then saddled back up with our backpacks, said our goodbyes, and hiked over to the Reykjavik airport (which was conveniently only a 15 minute walk from where we were staying).

After a smooth flight to Egilsstadir, we hiked to our next hostel in town. The reviews were great, leaving us no reason to doubt our night would be equally nice. It was interesting, to say the least.

To start, there was a 20 person party staying at the hostel, and they were celebrating one of the member’s birthday. By 7 PM, piano covers of all the latest top 40 hits were being played and vocals at peak volume. Morgan and I were playing the part of wallflower reading most of the night to try to make ourselves tired. It was like that scene from Garden State where the party is going on all around him and he’s sitting still. Haha.

About 11, Morgan left me to go to our 12 person dorm room. I shortly followed around midnight after I accidentally crashed the surprise birthday (continued) party trying to get to the bathroom in the building. I crawled into my bed in the dark ready to close my eyes and drift off into a sweet slumber.

I….WAS…VERY…WRONG.

All the phone and tablet lights illuminating the dark should have given it away. There was a (figurative) bear in the room, producing the loudest snoring I have ever experienced in my almost 30 years of life. I laid there in disbelief, shock, horror. I cast a nervous glance at Morgan in the top bunk across from me. Marriage ESP is a real thing bc even in the dark, he caught this. He immediately turned toward me as indicated by his Kindle light. I shook my head helplessly, and we both silently resigned to the rest of our night.

It continued to grow louder…and louder until I thought surely this man would suck in objects surrounding him. I literally was so shocked I audibly cackled thinking this could not be real. This coupled with the poor soul below him who continued to use his inhaler and cough throughout the night, the 84 (literally) year old man shuffling (also quite literally) to and from the bathroom multiple times throughout the night, the man flipping on the overhead room light at 3 am to take medicine was a reminder why sometimes the cheap way is not always the best.

The next morning I had to pee at 5 am. I climbed out of my bunk and as luck would have it, the bear was the only other person awake. He even asked for my assistance in helping him down from the top bunk!! I came to learn he had a physical disability and immediately thought, “I’ve got a reservation for one to the hot place for all the thoughts I had plotting your demise throughout the night. However, why are you on a top bunk with a disability?!” After helping him find a stool, he managed to get down and ended up leaving early. I managed to catch a couple hours after this point, thank God.

Folks, you win some, you learn more on others.

*Morgan slept just fine, don’t worry.