It is past one o’clock in the morning and we are sitting at a Walgreens waiting on a prescription that an urgent care doctor was supposed to phone in for me more than an hour ago. I am still hoping to get in a few hours of sleep before heading to the airport for our flight to Reykjavík, but it never really happens. I spend the seven-hour flight playing Tetris and Solitaire on my phone, unable to sleep and feeling miserable overall. Once we arrive in Reykjavík, we pick up our campervan, stop to get a few days of groceries, and head out for the five hour drive to the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. We stop to take a two hour nap along the way, arriving in time for sunset. We photograph sunset, heat up a dehydrated meal for dinner, and get ready for a long night. We are now approaching a day and a half with almost no sleep and, not surprisingly, all this traveling has only made me feel even worse.

It is March and we are going to be in Iceland for three weeks. Our primary goal is to see and photograph the aurora borealis (also known as the Northern Lights). Based on advice from some friends who traveled to Norway for the aurora and only saw it once, on the last day of their trip, we decide that we cannot miss an opportunity (opportunity = clear skies+interesting landscape+good aurora forecast+right amount of moonlight).  Starting a long trip sick with a growing sleep deficit is a less than brilliant plan, but at about 11:00 pm, we see a faint green glow on the horizon. This is what we had come thousands of miles to see!  It all instantly feels worth it.