We had a lovely time in Iceland, and we were so excited to start our first workaway experience in the Faroe Islands. Workaway, for those of you who don’t know what it is, is a website that tries to help people from all over the world connect with each other through a work exchange program. There are hosts and there are workaways. For a host, they decide what work they need help with, what they are able to offer in exchange (food, accommodation, use of car/facilities/etc), a bit about their home/city/country/living situation/personality/etc. For a workaway profile, they advertise what skills they have, their personality, and anything about themselves a host might find helpful language/diet/personality/etc. From there, as a workaway, you can contact hosts in areas you want to visit, and work out the details for the exchange through email.

Isaac and I had made a couple’s profile (about $40.00 per 2 years in 2015) nearly a year before we began traveling. One of the first host profiles we found that made us believers was this young couple in the Faroe Islands. They were about our age, 2 dogs, new house they were renovating from scratch, and loved good food! She was a Faroese Fashion Blogger, and her husband was in the construction industry. They had tons of fun projects, and were fluent in English. We knew we were contacting them way too early for our travels, but we just wanted to know if the process worked. Talking to Harriet & John made us almost instant believers in the program. We kept in touch with them for almost a year and coordinated our travel dates with them.

In mid-May we finally flew to the Faroes. The flight was very short (less than 2 hours), but they managed to feed us lunch and give us wine, water, and coffee! We flew Air Iceland out of the domestic airport in Reykjavik. Just flying into the airport in Vagar, we were instantly amazed! The way the mountains rose out of the sea, and seemed to part just enough for an aircraft to glide in, was unforgettable – so picturesque.

It was a small aircraft, so it didn’t take long to get our bags. Harriet had said over workaway that she was sending John to pick us up from the airport. We had only really seen one photo of him on their workaway profile, and hadn’t friended them personally on Facebook yet, so we had no idea what he really looked like! It was sort of like a blind date, to be honest. I told her what I was wearing (crazy colored leggings and we were both wearing blue coats). Luckily we sort of made eye contact and when we both looked a little uncertain, we decided to approach each other. Thinking back, it really could have gone quite horribly wrong. It was after this that we decided that adding our hosts on Facebook was essential before booking travel plans to their destination.

The drive to Harriet & John’s house was an epic journey through mountains, valleys, and bays that lasted about an hour. What was also surprising was the frequent long undersea and under-mountain tunnels we had to go through to cross the islands. We had some of the best chats in the car, and we really connected to him. Harriet had dinner on the table by the time we got home. She even let us have the first day off to recover from the jet lag. We had let them know before coming that Isaac did have to work a few hours for his freelance work, but that it wouldn’t affect our commitment to them. They seemed fine with it, but I suppose we have to prove it to them. 😊

Our room is small but has everything we need! Harriet & John built Isaac a desk to work from, and the bed is so comfy! We even have a full-length glass door that overlooks the ocean. They are in the small village of AEduvik, only about 10 houses. It’s very peaceful and picturesque. Today has been very cold, and the weather looks like it might be worse for a few days before it gets better. John mentioned to Isaac that he will help him finish the chicken coup. I wonder if they will still do it even if it rains. Harriet is making some bowties to sell at a festival in a few weeks from traditional Faroese fabric, so I will help her make them.

Our host & her foster daughter. Never could imagine such a chocolate monster!!!

cleanup crew “lady”!

Spring in the Faroe Islands!

Isaac working away on Promedica designs.

“Jess” Isaac’s new friend. They are almost inseparable!

Oh yeah, and I accidentally left my laptop bag which had my hard drive in it (which had the backup of all my clients’ photos on it from my desktop computer at home). LUCKILY, before I freaked out too bad, Harriet & John called the airport (which I felt powerless/inconvenience having no car, no phone, no understanding of the language) and apparently someone had turned it in. They said I could come pick it up when they open tomorrow. I hope everything is still there, or it will be a massive pain in the butt. Isaac is looking at cloud storage through Amazon.com, 50.00/yr for unlimited storage for your photos and it even has an app that manages the downloading/uploading/syncing of your images.