Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 32 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Monday 1 May – part four: “we’re now at the point of no return”
We made our way out of the Perlan and headed over to the botanical gardens, as I knew they had a large display greenhouse there, and I figured maybe we could go in there, plus if the gardens were sheltered, then hopefully we wouldn’t get too wet. We saw the Laugardalsholl Sports Centre on the way, complete with Olympic rings on it, because it’s home to the National Olympic and Sports Association of Iceland. Cool!
We got to the car park by the botanical gardens, and found out from Google Maps where the greenhouse was, but the problem was it seemed to be quite the walk away, and there wasn’t much shelter to get to it. We sat in the car, hoping that the rain would ease off, but it didn’t. Neither of us fancied going out walking in this, as we’d just get wet, and that wouldn’t be any fun. So what to do now?
Mark fancied the idea of going to Seltjarnarnes, which is about as far east as you can get from Reykjavik, and why the heck not? There wasn’t much else to do on such a miserable day, so we set off. As we drove through the city, we saw various people on motorbikes in hi-vis jackets who appeared to be getting ready to close off roads. Goodness knows what was going on, as they didn’t seem to be police.
Our hotel
Lots of construction work going on…
When we got the other side of Reykjavik (as Mark said, “we’re now at the point of no return” when we passed the maritime museum, which was as far as we’d explored last time), it was very pleasant. I figured a lot of people probably live here, and I can see why. I bet the properties here cost a fortune…
This was as far as we could go at the northern tip…
… so we decided to go to the southern tip, about a half mile away, which is home to a golf course. I bet they don’t get many weeks of play a year here!
When we arrived in the car park, Mark spotted this guy…
He decided to fly into the car park, as he really didn’t like the look of the seagulls, which were obviously in “his” car park. As Mark said, they have all this open space out here, and he decides to take ownership of the bit of concrete! At one point, the seagull flew on to this lamppost, and he was safe, with the goose still strutting around below, owning the place!
Once we were done watching them, we turned the car around, and realised the sun had come out in the distance over the mountains…
If only it was here. Sigh! We found this guy as well…
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Nice pictures of the goose. Geese are funny creatures. We have a pair that have taken ownership of the parking lot at work. Sorry the weather wasn't the greatest but you still got so great pictures.
Liz
I love your adventuring around when there's nothing else to do! And entertained by the birds. That last one is a cutie, I wonder what kind it is too!
I never figured Iceland for having a golf course. But I suppose why not? They've got like 20 hours of sunlight in the summer.
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Too bad the weather continues to be a problem, but still you're able to do a lot. That was quite funny with the goose in the car park! Glad you were able to get some macarons to enjoy! Strawberry and licorice sounds quite gross and I'd avoid that one!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
I believe that the black & white bird with the long orange beak is an oystercatcher. It is a common wading bird to the coasts worldwide. Beautiful pic.
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I believe that the black & white bird with the long orange beak is an oystercatcher. It is a common wading bird to the coasts worldwide. Beautiful pic.
I think you're right. I just Googled an oystercatcher and that looks like the one.