Arriving

Mana Rush Guarana The Cure For Jetlag

We left the Hawaiian Islands on a Friday to arrive in Iceland a week ahead of the beginning of our expedition into the wilderness. We wanted to explore Strandir in the West Fjords, a somewhat remote region of Iceland that is known for witchcraft, goblins and elves. A place that looks like Mithrandir, Gandalf and a bunch a hobbits would call their home. Fact is that Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones thought it to be a perfect settings for their tales.

We arrived in Reykjavik slightly before lunch time after a 14-hour flight from Honolulu. We flew Alaska Airlines to San Francisco then jumped onto a non-stop WoW Air flight and got off the plane with a slight hunger as food was scarce on board. Little did we know WoW Air was going to be worse than Alaska air at including any meals in the flight plan... so once we landed at our final destination we were obviously a little (a lot actually) hungry. But still at the airport we found traditional health food.. some delicious island style smoked salmon with dill.

My job was to drive the team throughout all our adventures.  And there was going to be a lot of driving even before the startup of our actual expedition. Having extensive experience with traveling and the subsequent effects of jetlag I knew coming to Iceland was going to be a big undertaking having to drive long distances from the very minute I got off the plane. Anyone that ever traveled across time zones knows what I mean about the effects of jetlag. Sometimes it takes a week to get used to your new time zone with all kinds of not so nice side effects. But I was ready to combat my expected jetlag.

Jetlag

After I fed my belly it was time to pickup the team car. But before we collected the car we met what we feared most: the weather. Icy rain and a temperature that put my freezer to shame.

While at the rental agency I noticed a few people with very drowsy looks. Great reminder! Time to MRG it! I took my Mana Rush Guarana green medium shot while I was waiting for the agent to bring our car around.

Once loaded we started our adventure! First stop was a traditional island thing to do… visit the Blue Lagoon. Yup. You read that right. Literally two hours after we walked off the plane we were lounging inside a bluish silky white pool of warm steaming water with a mud mask on our faces and a drink in our hands, in the middle of a lava field surrounded by a wide landscape of flatness. Ahhh… very relaxing.

Reykjavik

We arrived in the capital just after sunset to settle in at the hotel and wander around the town and the harbor in search of food. A good lobster soup, some halibut skewers with skyr based sauces, and a sampler of whale meat hit the spot (yes people here eat whale).

After sleeping like a baby I loaded up on breakfast, stocked up the cooler with food, loaded the gang into the car, set the destination on the GPS, and took a shot of my green Mana Rush Guarana and I was on the road!

Coffee vs Guarana

Right at the start of our Adventure an intense conversation broke off between the coffee lovers and the guaranies. The pros and cons of each drink was debated very intensely, the coffee guys debating quite fiercely for their side. A little defensively if you ask me. After two pee stops for the coffee drinkers (apparently drinking coffee involves a lot of fluids) the conversation died down. Not long after that the coffee people took a nap while the guaranies navigated and drove them to our destination.

Conversion to Guaranie

After 5 days of driving almost 2000 km (3000 miles), having seen a million rainbows, even more waterfalls, seals, horses, icebergs, and little white puff clouds on the pastures that turned out to be sheep, and numerous random stops to bathe in warm geothermal pools along the roadside, the coffee drinkers asked me if I wasn’t tired of driving.  Actually, I wasn’t. I was impressed at how well my daily green guarana shot had helped me to literally bypass any jetlag effects whatsoever. I was able to drive at full concentration and deal with winter weather, gravel roads, and long stretches of time on the road without feeling sleepy or foggy. The next day everyone in the car decided to get green shots before we left the hotel and it turned out to be a lively car ride on mostly dirt roads to an unbelievable warm pool on the side of a volcano along the shoreline many miles away from civilization.

The Expedition

Our short pre-adventure came to an end after 6 days of crisscrossing the island. It left us with many impressions of this land where winter is coming and the lords wear rings, warlocks are as common as the sheep are on the pastures, and volcanoes and clouds create the most amazing dramatic scenery. We had no idea what our next journey would bring…

That’s until we picked up our real vehicle. We called him Miki Tompson..yeah we traded our Hancock’s for that.

Stay tuned for Iceland Expedition Part 2...