I have a growing list of places I want to see someday. One of the more exotic destinations is Iceland — the Land of Fire and Ice, inspired in part by the dramatic images appearing in the flashbacks of Hallgrim Ørn Hallgrimsson, the protagonist of the edgy Danish drama “The Eagle,” which we have been watching on Netflix these hot, summer nights.
After one particularly gripping episode, I decided to google “Iceland” to get some basic travel information to bookmark and store away for future reference.
Near the top of the search list was a link to a contest in which the prize was an all-expense-paid trip for two to Iceland! Closer reading revealed that the winner would be the person who submitted the best travel story from a trip to Iceland taken within the past year. As “Tourist of the Year” the winner and a friend would have the opportunity to “relive” his or her adventure. That ruled me out.
What, I wondered, had inspired such a contest?
The next paragraph on the Iceland Naturally homepage revealed the answer: “The contest was inspired in 2012, when a tourist to the country was mistakenly reported as missing [August 30, to be exact]. Not recognizing her own description, she joined the very search party that was looking for her, and only many hours later did it occur to her that she was the missing woman.”
Here is the link to a story with all the details — “Tourist in Iceland Spends Weekend Finding Herself.”
The woman had stepped off the tour bus [apparently the best way to get around the country to see the sights] at one of the destinations, and while taking a break, had also changed her clothing. Apparently the driver [and the other passengers] had not recognized her when she stepped back onto the bus.
What, no buddy system!?!
The police chief in charge of the rescue effort stated, “The people on the bus had not been counted correctly.” Luckily they were spared the expense of a helicopter search due to bad weather.
It’s going to be difficult to top that travel memory!
The contest winner will be announced in December, 2013.
The next time everything in which you are involved seems totally screwed up, take a deep breath and remember this story.
Have a nice weekend.
Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).
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