Going to Iceland: A dream comes true...

I'm not very good at cancelling plans or abandoning schedules. As in, I don't like to.

In the last few days I've had to cancel being at two friends' birthdays, a visit from my brother and his girlfriend and spending the day with a special girl I haven't seen for nearly a year. I feel rotten.

And then there's my short stories. The ones I have been tending to like newborn children, nursing them all day and all night on occasion. Thinking about them when I wake and falling asleep with their journeys on my mind. But I'm leaving the kids at home on their own for a while. It feels strange and wrong. It will certainly delay my schedule.

But I instantly knew this was an opportunity too sweet, too tempting, too dreamlike to turn down.

Because I'm off to Iceland. Today.Iceland is a country I've long wanted to go to and I always knew my chances of going with NewMan anytime soon were limited (he's been there before) so when an email landed in my inbox with an offer as potentially tasty as chocolate, I decided to take a bite.My interest in Iceland was heightened by a recent visit and photos by  Olivia Rae James, a Charleston-based photographer who seemed to capture the country exactly how I imagined it, but with much more depth. These are her photos that I'm sharing, aren't they a bit magical? I wrote  more about Olivia, her work and her passion for her home town for Travelettes. Her blog is one of my regular reads and I adore these stunning and atmospheric  photos of Iceland.I will be based in Reykjavik and with a small group of others I will be heading inland to explore Iceland's volcanoes. In fact, in the itinerary it was described to me as " volcano-hopping". As someone more accustomed to city-, beach- and disco-hopping, this will no doubt be a little different to my usual travel adventures.

But I look forward to changing my understanding of "adventure" travel.

I am grateful that I'll get a chance to see urban and rural Iceland side by side.

I am hopeful for dry weather that lets me explore Reykjavik's corners.

And I can't wait to experience a night of small darkness and a day of seemingly endless light.

I hope that you'll stick around and let me share the journey with you.I'll be sharing photos and words about Iceland and hopefully not falling into volcanoes on  Twitter,  Instagram and  Facebook.

My dream coming true is happening thanks to WOW Air and Bus Hostel in Reykjavik. I'm there on behalf of Budget Traveller (a seriously good resource for budget travel lovers).