Springing back to Iceland to see it in the green! COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 15 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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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Don't think I'd have opted to go back out in that weather to go elsewhere for dinner.
Oh my goodness it was just vile out.
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We have Skyr yogurt readily available in the grocery store here. The description, and look, of your dessert is very appealing. Too bad the flavor was lacking.
Especially as I had an idea in my mind of how tasty it would be.
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Cured horse? No thanks. My grandmother had stories of eating horse meat during the war when beef was rationed, and it seemed like something that would push me to being a vegetarian.
I can understand it in the war, but as a delicacy now? Not my thing...
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I actually like a good wind, it reminds me of how insignificant I am in the bigger picture and to be thankful for what I have.
I tend to feel like that on a cruise, when I realise how huge the ocean is.
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It's funny, I was just talking with my grandson about foods that other countries eat and we do not. Horse was not one of them and that's the first time I've ever seen it on a menu. From your pictures, it looks like a lovely place to stay.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Friday 28 April – part nine: learning about a dairymaid’s travels around the world….
After dinner, we went to explore the rest of the hotel a bit more, as there was a sign that said “bar/lounge” and another one for “exhibition”. The lounge area was very nice…
… but what awaited us in the next room was a bit of a shock. We never expected to see such a big room!
The exhibition is all about Anna of Moldnupi, otherwise Sigridur Anna Jonsdottir to give her her full name (the nickname is easier, I think… ). It was fascinating to learn all about her life, and to see things from her travels.
She was born in 1901 at a local farm and was a weaver and dairymaid. She was keen to be educated, but of course this was back in the days when women’s education was not a priority. She never became a college student, but studied in the “university of life” I think we’d say nowadays in the form of travelling, reading and studying foreign languages.
She first got into writing via newspaper articles and she then undertook political exchanges with various Icelandic politicians! However, as she approached the age of 50, she had a desire to travel and boarded a ship, planning on spending her summer in Denmark, even though she’d only ever travelled once to England. The next year, she went to England and continental Europe. Her travels next took her to Paris and south Italy, and she wrote books about all her travels. Go girl!
She then undertook a grand tour of America in summer 1964. All her books were published at her own expense and she did most of her own marketing. She travelled on a shoestring, but did everything she could to acquaint herself with the people she visited. She was fluent in English and Danish and able to get by in French, German and Italian. She passed away in Reykjavik in 1979.
After that, we headed outside to explore the sauna and hot tub, as they were in a separate building, which put paid to any idea I had of using this trip, given the weather. Outside, it was a lot calmer now, and we could see the majestic hills rising around the hotel…
The hot tub and sauna building was pretty neat, and definitely something I’d have used, had we been here in more welcoming weather.
We headed back to the room, and watched Madam Secretary that we’d downloaded before we left the UK. Unfortunately, the TV choices weren’t great here. Earlier on, there had been foreign programmes with subtitles, but after we came back from dinner, those were all gone, and the channels said the programmes were scrambled.
I did take some photos of the sky as the sun started to set. The last of these shots was taken at around 9:10pm, and as you can see, there was still plenty of light outside. It was very weird.
The weather today was a bit of everything – exceptionally windy, heavy rain, some light rain, a little bit of sun, and a lot of cloud. The best thing today was exploring new parts of Iceland we hadn’t seen before. The worst thing today was the weather. The funniest thing today was finding out Bath and Body Works at the duty free shop in Icelna.d Today we tried visiting the Reynisdrangur beach at Vik And the result was it was nice, but almost impossible to stand in the wind. The most magical moment today was seeing the beautiful scenery the country has to offer.
I will tell you one thing. After seeing your photos if we ever get to Iceland, I am toatally staying in that hotel!!! I love the bar area and the exhibition room is awesome!!! What a forward life Anna had!! The hills outside look like something out of the Sound of Music and the sunset photos are beautiful!!
I just realized this was all still your first day!
Such an interesting exhibit! And a postcard from my hometown, Chicago! Can't count the number of times I've driven on the Congress Expressway!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
What a great hotel room! Poor Mark trying to get the cases out of the car! A nice, light dinner! Love the mountains in the background. Beautiful. If only the wind wasn't a factor.
Great exploring at the hotel! Very neat that they display the story of Anna. From that time period, she was quite adventurous!
Even when you find a hot tub, looks like Mark wants to play with the buttons for the water....
__________________
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
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Great exploring at the hotel! Very neat that they display the story of Anna. From that time period, she was quite adventurous!
She was - I kept thinking that. I remember going to America for the first time with my parents in 1981 and back then, no-one from the UK really visited the States. All my friends at school were like "you're going where?" Take that and go back even further in time and what she did was utterly amazing.
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Even when you find a hot tub, looks like Mark wants to play with the buttons for the water....
Oh my goodness, I hadn't thought of that! Yes, true!
Saturday 29 April – part one: the mountains are weeping….
We had a very good night’s sleep. I only woke up once, about 5:30am Mark told me, when the wind was howling again. We got going slowly, as there was no rush, given breakfast didn’t start until 8:00am. I battled to back up my photos on to CDs, and failed, and eventually concluded that perhaps the problem lay with the 100 CDs I’d bought last weekend, rather than the computer, as it managed to write the first one (which wasn’t part of that batch) fine, then struggled with the others. Great!
We headed into breakfast about 8:30am, and it looked as if we were the first ones in there…
We were joined by another couple, who I think had been here more than one night, as they seemed very familiar with the staff and the set-up here, and then two other couples later on, so maybe we were the first in. We were very pleased by the selection that awaited us…
… and even more pleased when we were asked if we wanted bacon and scrambled eggs. Mark said while I just went for scrambled eggs, and my goodness, look at how much I got!
We saw this cargo ship in the distance out to sea, while we were eating, although it is hard to pick out. Mind you, it was on 63x zoom…
While we were eating, we also experienced two hailstorms. Honestly, the weather here is all over the place!
We headed back to the room, and loaded up the car. Again, Mark had to hang on to the trunk, and the woman on reception told us to be sure we did, as she’d seen one come off its hinges in the wind!
When we finally headed out to the car, I stopped to take a photo of the hotel, and this was the result…
I was literally almost blown off my feet, the wind just caught me, and after that, that was it, my hair was all over the place. So much for having put my brush through it earlier! I needn’t have bothered!
When we left the hotel, we went the wrong way, and ended up driving along a gravel road for about two miles. All I could see was the message on front of me in the car, which informed us that damage to the chassis was not covered under any insurance. Thankfully, we made it back on the main road with no damage, but a lot of stress for me….
Once again, the colours were striking…
Today I was able to capture some photos of all the waterfalls in this mountain. Mark had described it yesterday as looking as if it was weeping, and I thought that was a good description.
Great looking breakfast! And the trunk lids actually do blow off in the wind?! Well there - I just learned something new today.
The mountainsides are weeping! Awww, it's cute when you think of it that way. Just trickling down like that. Still very pretty though.
__________________
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
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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it was just vile out. 
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Pixie Dust
). It was fascinating to learn all about her life, and to see things from her travels. 
She passed away in Reykjavik in 1979. 
I love the bar area and the exhibition room is awesome!!! What a forward life Anna had!!
A nice, light dinner! 
Love the mountains in the background. Beautiful. If only the wind wasn't a factor.
while I just went for scrambled eggs, and my goodness, look at how much I got! 
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