Perhaps one of the coolest features from Couch Surf is the Hangout feature. You don’t have to spend the night in someone else’s home. You can just hang out with them. This is one of the best ways to see the place where you are from a local’s perspective, and that can lead to some amazing experiences. That’s what happened when I was in Iceland in 2019 and I had a free weekend, but nobody to hang out with. 

The Hangout Feature on Couch Surf

Through Couch Surf, I found a guy named Christian, from Italy, as well as his wife, Isabella, who was pregnant. They were wanting to go camping, and they were looking for people to go camping with them. They posted a Hangout on Couch Surf. Though the feature is supposed to be for spontaneous activities, we started direct messaging and made plans for the weekend. The only thing I needed to provide was my camping gear. 

I was staying with my host family during my last Workaway of 2019 in Reykjavik. I had camping clothes, but no tent. Thankfully my host family had everything that I needed. Since I didn’t have any duties over the weekend, my host mom Rosa, drove me to the meetup spot on Friday afternoon and I was free to hang out until Sunday evening. Sweet! 

What Are The Odds? 

There is a funny story with Christian. A few days prior to our meetup I had gone to a crowded hot bath next to the ocean in Reykjavik. I had the afternoon off and I was looking for something to do. I visited a hot bath that I had never been to before and when I got there I discovered that it was a popular spot, and for a good reason. The place was a complex that was part beach, part park, and part spa, and it was very crowded. 

I had never been to that hot bath before and I was taking it all in. I was distracted by the beauty of the golden sand next to an Icelandic cove and sail boats passing by, the experience of the hot bath engulfing my body, and by the girls in bikinis. Reykjavik is a city of around 150,000 people, so what are the odds that I would bump into someone who was in that same hot bath later on in the week? Well, turns out those odds are really high. 

When Christian saw me, he said “Hey, don’t I know you?” I was like “What do you mean? I was here a year ago, but I didn’t meet anyone.” He goes “No. I saw you recently. Where do you live?” So we started pulling the thread until we arrived at the hot bath. He asked if I had any pictures and sure enough, in one of the pictures I took of the hot bath Christian was looking right at my camera. Huh. What are the odds? We had this conversation as we were loading up their little RAV4. Soon we were ready and we started driving north. 

Camping Under The Midnight Sun

Christian and Isabella were so cool. They were from Italy and they were childhood sweethearts. Christian was a doctor, and they had lived in Iceland for a few years at that time. They were very familiar with the area, so the trip consisted of a lot of “Hey, there’s this waterfall up here. Do you want to stop?” Or “Hey, there’s this cool stream up here, do you want to stop?” And we did stop quite a bit. 

We never lingered for very long, though. That’s the thing about Iceland. Every little waterfall or stream is beautiful and you can linger there for hours, but the flipside is that there is certainly always something more impressive and more beautiful where you can also linger just around the corner. The first night we made it to a quiet cove at the very entrance of the Westfjords and we set up our camp. We made a meal out there with the propane cooker and then we tried to go to bed.

It was so bizarre to be camping at midnight, and everything was still bright. There was even shade from the fjords, but it was bright as heck, and it was windy, so it ended up being quite chilly. We all had a rough night, so we were glad when it was morning time. After camping, the first night, we drove to a gas station, fueled up, and saw some giant blue eggs that one can buy for like $10 for 4 eggs. 

Driving In The Westfjords

Soon we stopped at a hot spring next to the road. The hot spring was a pool where hot water sprung from the ground, filled a natural cavity of rock, and flowed into the ocean. The water from the ocean was one of the many coves found in the West Fjords, so despite the ever present wind, there were no waves. The sun was up high now, and the weather was warm. Christian and I got changed, we said hi to some people who were already bathing in the pool and we let the warm water engulf us. 

After a little while though, when I got too hot, I had the idea to jump in the ocean. Christian decided to join me and we both got out of the hot pool, ran into the freezing ocean and then ran back to the hot spring. This was a happy moment for me. A few days prior, when I had gone to the hot bath in Reykjavik, I had met someone who had helped me overcome my fear of cold water. I was no longer afraid of jumping in the ocean because I had done it just a few days before. You can find the story here. 

We continued on our way to the westernmost point in Iceland. The goal was to see all the nesting birds for the summer, including the puffins! The West Fjords are some of the most remote places in Iceland and the roads out there were rough, and narrow, sometimes so that only one car could drive through. They snaked up and down the cliffside, and sometimes we could see another lonely soul climbing up on the cliff opposite to us, but other than that we were by ourselves most of the time. 

On the way we found the famous Garðar BA 64 shipwreck, and we stopped to explore it. The ship had stairs, so it was easy to actually get on the boat. Once aboard we walked on deck, climbed ladders, got to the cockpit, and looked around all the rooms. We discovered letters that previous visitors had written and left for the next guests. It was just a really cool thing to see.

The Puffins!

We eventually got to the Látrabjarg cliffs, the western most point in Iceland where they say that on a clear day you can see Greenland from there. We got out of the car and found that the weather was absolutely perfect. Bright sun, and a few white clouds decorating the crisp blue sky. There were birds everywhere in the sky, mostly seagulls, of course, but then we started to see others like black Razorbills, and northern gannets, but the prized Puffnis were more elusive. 

Though they nest in the cliffs, and are great at flying, puffins prefer to float in the water or to dive, which is why they have short wings and stout bodies. They are about the size of a football, and when I finally saw my first one, standing on a rock some 5 feet below me I was convinced that they are indeed the cutest thing around. In the 2 and a half hours that we were there I must have seen about 10 puffins. I really didn’t take many pictures of them. I kinda just watched them. 

Seeing the puffins was special. It was on this day that I got an affinity for puffins. I’m sure that this was the inception for the idea that eventually became Peter the Brave Little Puffin. The full story came in 2023 when I went back to Iceland with my friends Christian and Joel. Eventually I will write about that experience. 

Camping Under The Midnight Sun, Again

After that we drove to a red beach where the tide covered everything in a thin reflective layer of water, which made for a beautiful sunset. As the sun was going down we made our way to our campsite, which was by a park in the tiny town of Bíldudalur. It was one of those adorable little fishing towns with a small harbor nestled among huge cliffs. The campsite was next to a park that even had an inflatable blob for the public to jump on, but it wasn’t on because it was nighttime. 

That second night was so cold. It got down into the low 40s F. I had the sleeping bag that Rosa had let me borrow, but it was not enough. I was still so cold. I remember even considering getting into the heated bathroom of our campsite and sleeping in there to escape the wind. It was also so bright. I had my sleeping mask, but I think I only slept like 4 hours that night. That’s when I discovered that camping was not my thing. 

The Hike To The Top Of Iceland

After another rough night we all got up bright and early. We drove a little bit to a trailhead where Christian informed me that we were doing a hike. I was surprised, but I wasn’t about to miss out on it so we started going up a dirt road, past a bridge over a stream. Soon, the grassy road turned into just rock, but the slope up to the top was so gentle and gradual that you didn’t really feel like you were climbing. It was just kind of a nice walk up the hill until eventually we reached the top. 

Up there the terrain was a little bit undulating, but mostly flat and dry. It was almost like a desert, just dried moss and rocks piled on top of each other for miles in this giant plateau. I remember one of my favorite things was just hearing the crunch, crunch of all the dead moss. From up there we could see that the rest of Iceland, or at least this whole peninsula that we were in, was just like that, giant plateaus leftover from the ice age. 

Eventually, we made it to the end of the plateau. To our left we could see this giant U-shaped valley made by a glacier, you know, some 10,000 years ago or so, with what looked like a creek running all the way down the middle until it reached the beach. There was the dark ocean cove below, and beyond we could see the flat tops of the Westfjords on the other side of the cove. 

Christian and I just sat and admired the view. As we were sitting there, I saw birds coasting with their wings wide open. There was so much wind from the updraft from the bay that the birds would just let the wind carry them. Man, I loved watching the seagulls just coast. They weren’t moving, they weren’t flapping, they weren’t doing anything except just taking in the wind. Some of them would just float up and appear out of nowhere. They weren’t putting any effort. It was just so graceful to watch them. 

We just sat up there for an hour. We just sat there and talked and looked at the birds. It was just so magical. To get back down we walked back along the top of the plateau, and then we went towards that U-Shaped valley. It was really steep, slippery and the rocks were sharp. Definitely dangerous, but definitely fun. 

I remember that on the way down, I was so happy and elated, that I just did a somersault down into the tall grass. The terrain was still steep and unsteady, so Christian, being wise, called me out. He said “Raul, I know that I’m a doctor, but if you fuck this up, I’m leaving you up here,” I started laughing like a child who knew he did wrong, but who got away with it. Christian was right. I really shouldn’t be doing anything so risky, but what else was I supposed to do? it was all just so amazing. Yet, little did I know that Christian and Isabella had one more big surprise up their sleeve. 

Dynjandi Waterfall: The Hidden Treasure 

When we made it down we found a dirt road where Isabella was waiting for us. We chatted about the hike, we had a snack and we got in the car. We started driving towards what I assumed was home. I got on my phone and looked through the pictures I’d just taken, when I began to notice that the terrain was unfamiliar. We hadn’t been here before. When I inquired as to where we were going, they told me that we were going to see a waterfall. And what a waterfall it was. 

We were headed to the Dynjandi Waterfall, the freaking best, most amazing waterfall, I think, in all of Iceland. I cannot possibly describe it. It’s a waterfall, sure, and you can look at pictures of it, of course, but nothing prepares you when you are standing face to face with something like this. Should I mention the scale? The fact that this waterfall, though it can’t be seen, it can be heard from the road? It’s tucked in the very back of a cove, but when you see it, it commands the attention of everything around it. 

It flows from a river on top of one of those plateaus in the Fjords. On the way up to it there are several smaller waterfalls building up to it, but the big one is a monster. It is a tall and broad curtain of water and foam hiding the bulges of rock behind it. It’s such a big and powerful feeling. To me, only the Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls matched how impressive this waterfall is. 

This was the cherry on top for me. Yes, the puffins were great. Yes, hiking up the plateau that morning was great. Camping was just OK. But seeing the Dynjandi Falls was the most beautiful wonderful waterfall I’ve seen. This was the highlight of the weekend.

Going Back To Reykjavik

From Dynjandi falls back to Reykjavik it’s almost a five hour drive. On the way back we passed a place that I was familiar with. On the north of the Snaefellsnes peninsula there is an ice cream shop with a swing outside. I remembered it from my last trip when I had visited Iceland for the first time. I told Christian and Isabella about the hot bath which was just ahead which Jana told me about the year before. Christian didn’t know that about that hot bath. He asked “There’s a hot bath over there?” I said “Yup”. He goes “Hmmm.” and noted it on his phone. 

I haven’t talked much about what Christian and Isabella were doing or saying. There really wasn’t much that they said that was memorable, or outstanding, and that is most certainly a good thing. I write all about what we did, and that means that we did all of that together. I was happy to be with them, and thankfully, they were glad to have me with them, too. We mostly just chatted about everything and anything and about nothing at all.

How else is a good trip supposed to happen? You cannot have the patience to endure a nagging person that you just met, nor the joy to be fully present in what you are seeing. Even with only a collective eight hours of sleep over two nights, these two made it possible to have a blast. Praise God! 

Eventually, we made our way back to Reykjavik, and they dropped me off at the same place where our trip started. We said good bye, we exchanged contact information, and my host mother picked me up. That was it. What a fantastic experience it was to be able to spend time with such amazing people? I got to do something that I was never expecting and I got to do things I didn’t know I could do. All of it was thanks to this feature that Couch Surf offers. It sure makes it easy to meet strangers and have amazing experiences with them. 

• P.S. I’ve also used this couch surfing hangout feature in Berlin, Amsterdam, and also in Copenhagen. But the most memorable one was definitely this one in Iceland.

I hope this story is encouraging to you. If you know somebody that you think this might be encouraging to as well, go ahead and share it with them!