compass pull: travel edition.

i went to magers & quinn a while back to sell some books. it's been a while since i've done that...they've totally got a nice selling set up in the back now. bought in two paper bags worth and plunked 'em down on the table. "have at 'em," i said. "i'm gonna look around."

i had a list of books to look for, thinking perhaps i would be lucky enough to get enough moneys from those they would buy from me to put toward something. i found one or two titles, but once i picked them up and scanned them, i was dissatisfied and shoved them back on the shelf.

i happened by the travel section then. and i do really love me some lonely planet guides. i would never ever go anywhere new without one. and right now, there's only one place i really wanna go.

iceland.

i can't say what it was that really got me thinking about going. about a couple of years ago, i started switching over from thoughts of visually stimulating europe (don't get me wrong, i still plan to go to italy and spain one day) to the quiet of scandinavia. (yes, i know iceland's not technically scandinavia, but i lump it in with all the nordic celtic countries.) and something was just pulling me there.

and some time after derek and i started up, i was surprised to find that he had an interest in going there too.

so it's kind of taken the top spot on my vacation list. i don't have the money right now, nor the time, but i have my new passport and a plan. it will happen.

anyway. i was delighted to find that they had the newest edition of the iceland lonely planet. and almost at the same time i picked it up, my name was called, and i went up to find out how much my books were worth, forgetting to put the guide back on the shelf.

surprisingly, they took about a third of what i had brought in. and the total store credit was more than i'd really expected. i looked down at the book in my hand. "great," i said, "i'll take this. and what's left over i'll take in cash."

and then the light changed in the room and went all golden. and the very nerdy bookstore guy's glasses flashed. he got that look in his eye like dusty bookshop owners do in movies, like he knew something.

he pointed at the guide. "when are you planning on going to iceland?"

"oh, i don't know. soon, but not so soon. my boyfriend and i talked about going."

"why iceland?"

"i guess i just want to BE somewhere. with the people. and it's wide open and quiet and did you know that they have government-sanctioned 'mystical places?'"

"yep." he smiled. "follow me. i have a book you might like."

and he led me to the local authors section and picked a book off the shelf without hardly having to search for it. there is something very mysterious and trustworthy about someone who can stand in the middle of so much and know exactly where something is. an expert in his field. i bet those books whisper things to him.

what he gave me was a book called the windows of brimmes: an american in iceland. it's written by a minnesotan that spent lots of time in small towns around the island. the bookstore guy told me how it's probably the best study of the people and of just "being there."

i looked at the price; i had earned enough store credit to get both this and the guide. the type to not question coincidence, i took it and thanked him. he said i would not be sorry. then he went back to his counter and put his magic away as he started to catalog what he'd traded from me.

i'm not really sure what i'm meant to do there or what it will teach me. but i think i'm being called. it happens. the correct time will present itself, and i'm not ready to dig into the books just yet. but i'll know when. and then it's off to the land of glaciers and vikings and trolls. and northern lights all year 'round.