Monday, 11 June 2012
Another great thing about travelling was talking to the locals. These were opportunities to find out about stuff that are not in travel guides. It was by talking to the museum assistant that I found the most amazing swimming pool that I have ever been in the my life. For me Hofsos was not just another town in Iceland.
The local knowledge not only helped to make the most of the opportunities around. Perhaps more importantly (certainly for me) local knowledge would also improve the safety aspects of the trip. Since I now “plan” professionally, i.e. a company pays me actual money to do it, every detail of my trip was a little bit too predictable. I knew exactly where the location of every nearby petrol station was, the range left in the car at any point, the driving duration from each destination, the amount of food and water available, my energy level but the one critical thing was the road conditions. Somethings only the local knowledge would be up-to-date on. The swimming pool life guard gave me further information of which route was safer to take and general advisory notes on the next destinations.
The swimming pool in Hofsos provided me another topic in conversation making with the locals. It was actually a really well known swimming pool within Iceland. I learnt more background knowledge about the swimming pool, which was fascinating. I would write it here but you could go there and find out for yourself.
Not all local advice are good. For example, the tourist guide recommended a visit to the Penis Museum which was the only one in the world. I might not be in Reykjavik in the near future. I might had 2 hours to burn. Somehow a visit to the largest collection of (both in variety and sizes) of animal pricks in the world did not sound too appealing before dinner or any other meals for that matter.
Adventures of Delboy 