Below is a synopsis of how our trip went.  Hopefully, we've covered everything of significance and more importantly we hope this instills jealousy in all those who chose not to go!

Day 1 (Friday)
Well despite most of this day either in the car or in the air, it was a good start to the trip.  We gathered at the Makowsky estate and split into our two rides for the exciting trip to BWI.  Traffic cooperated and it took around 2-3 hours to get there.  We were smart enough to bring a soccer ball with us and tried our best to put our spin on the Nike commercial with some great foot skills in the airport.  We also met Barry from Travel and Play, who was coordinating the trip.  He had actually gotten stranded and was supposed to fly out the night before.  After some delays, we finally got into the air and all tried our best to get some sleep on the plane for the big trip.

Day2 (Saturday)
Around 6 hours later (big time difference between here and Iceland), we landed in Keflavic and got our first view of Iceland…well, at least the airport.  More importantly, we were shopping for cheap alcohol at the duty free shop and it was around 7am.  We loaded up in the bus for the trip to Reykjavík.  At this time, we got our first glimpse of the other teams from NY and some of us finally realized that Allen Sullivan from NVSL was with our group also.  We arrived at the hotel after about a two-hour bus ride and got checked in.  Nice rooms and a little time to wind down and get unpacked (or have a drink) before we went on the "Golden Circle Tour".  This tour was to check out the natural wonders of Iceland and we saw a number of things.  We saw some geysers, a huge waterfall, and also the area where the two continental plates meet each other.  Iceland has a lot of geothermal activity to include volcanoes, geysers, and the plates actually are shifting so the country is still growing every year.  We would not advise standing near the geysers in areas where the ground is wet…chances are it's wet for a reason.  We got back from the tour and had a little time to get ready and down to the tournament pub, the Dubliner.  This is where we got our first taste of nine-dollar beers.  They taste the same as three-dollar beers!  We hung out at the Dubliner and got informed that our games the following day would not start until sometime after 2pm. So, off for some dinner at Café Victor where we got an assortment of foods and some more $9 beers.  The local brew there is "Viking" and one of the crew successfully grabbed a souvenir pint glass.  Finished dinner and back over to the Dubliner for more beer.  At this time (somewhere around 11pm), things started picking up.  Nightlife there is insane!

Day3, (Sunday)
We hit some clubs as a group and then people started heading in various directions.  Somewhere in the mix, Jeremy lost his prized Viking glass when he sat it down in the Dubliner and it was retrieved by the waitress.  They didn't even use Viking glasses, but Jeremy was not guarding it well at all.  Being the responsible one out of the group, I felt it necessary to get back to the hotel before everyone else…so I got back around 4:30am.  Couldn't hold out for the breakfast (started at 5am), so off to zee-land so I'd be rested for our games.  Others arrived at various times between 5am and 2pm.  We met up in the lobby for our trip and as we prepared mentally to play soccer (and tried to focus our vision after many 9 dollar beers) someone made notice of how much this girl looked like an actress.  Bothered us for several minutes until it dawned on the group that this girl was an actress, the very attractive Julia Styles.  After some investigative research we narrowed this down to either her attendance because she occasionally plays soccer with the NY women team who was on the trip, or because she heard that Paul warms up for the games without a shirt.  Not sure which is more likely, but definitely one of those two reasons.  So…on the tournament.  The facility was great and was like the Fairfax indoor complex, however the field was full-sized.  We played cross-field and from the start we realized that we were playing great soccer.  We out possessed all our opponents, but did not win the cup!  Makowsky was MVP for showing up even Tim in the scoring department and Stefan was by far the best keeper of the group.  However, Ryan's self-sacrifice by diving on the line to clear a ball would only be outdone by his play in the Icelandic derby match to be held later in the trip.  We got back from the tourney and again had some naptime before we had to attend the trophy presentation at the Dubliner.  While shocked that we didn't get the hardware…we were more shocked when all the teams were presented "I Love Iceland" t-shirts…we were even more shocked when the NY women's team were harassing Makowsky and trying to get him to do "the worm" in the bar in celebration of his dancing abilities…we were finally most shocked to see that Jeremy was served one of his $9 beers in, yes, his Viking glass from the night before.  Odds of this happening are, well…low!

Day4 (Monday)
The morning continued much as the previous one with a lot of partying and visits to various clubs.  We returned to the hotel and gathered the masses for a trek to the beach.  Wonderful time to visit the beach as it was pitch black and freezing cold.  Not cold enough to stop our own Tim Martin from proving the machismo of the Rampage and heading out into the murky and freezing waters of the river to prove his valor.  Finally joined by Matt Aberant, Jeremy, and Paul…with alcohol in hand.  Much of the next hour was spent trying to explain the difference between a pint and a handle to Ryan.  We finally got to enjoy the complimentary breakfast which came with the trip and it was well worth it since we were up anyway.  It is amazing how much Paul will argue his point when he is trashed and even more amazing how you can twist his own words around to argue your point for you.  Great discussions which are emblazed into our brains forever.  We got some rest and departed for the world's largest hot tub, called the Blue Lagoon.  Although the thing smelled like rotten eggs because of all the sulfur, it was pretty cool.  Tons of people and the water was hot!  This also allowed us to drop off the early departures at the airport.  We headed back to the hotel and this concluded the organized portion of the trip.  We decided to head downtown and get into an area where we could just walk and do some shopping.  Somehow in the small amount of time from the hotel to our drop off point, a windstorm of historic proportion rolled into Iceland.  We literally could not walk on the street and our main concern was losing Aberant.  After a couple of blocks of suffering, we found shelter in a coffee shop and locked ourselves inside.  Ryan and Stefan began the chess battle in Iceland and myself, Matt Aberant, and Paul ventured out to get some photos.  After again battling the wind, we made our way back to the coffee shop.  Finally, the wind settled down and we made our way out.  We got some quality Italian food and a few people helped me finish off a descent bottle of wine.

Day5 (Tuesday)