For my first ever big girl solo vacation, I spent a week traveling the ring road in Iceland. My first day in Reykjavik, I was SO exhausted and jetlagged I actually fell asleep in a park in the middle of a bustling cultural festival. Luckily nothing was stolen, Iceland is a very safe country! But when I came to, the park was being set up for an evening concert and a young man who was sitting near me struck up a conversation. He was from Germany visiting with his dad, but his dad had had some sort of flare up with his chronic health condition and needed to return home urgently for treatment, and this guy was bummed to spend a few extra days in Reykjavik alone without even a car. And I was like "...well, I have a car :)" I couldn't bring him back to Reykjavik for his flight in like 3 days and he had to handle his own accomadations last minute at whatever hostels I stayed at, but still he was down to tag along as I went sightseeing across southern Iceland. Even chipped in for gas! We also ended up picking up a few other hitchhikers along the way and spent two days with them and personally, I had a great time. Taking a random strange man along with me as a solo female traveler was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done, but it was also incredibly fun, and if I hadn't stayed up late chatting and playing cards with those people, I would never have seen the northern lights! The group of us losing our fucking minds as we watched the colors dance at 3am is still one of my fondest memories.

So why tell that story paired with this album? Because during our time roadtripping together this guy was in charge of music and let me tell you, he had FANTASTIC taste, so eclectic. And the very first song that came on as we left Reykjavik into the surrounding countryside was one from Pirate's Choice. I had never heard anything like this at the time, and the feeling it conjured, looking at the almost otherwordly flora of southern Iceland, sat next to this cool stranger, the promise of adventure all around me, is seared into me forever.

A year or two later, I was fortunate enough to see Orchestra Baobab live in Barcelona. I just happened to be visiting the city during some cultural festival, and I think they were the headlining act at this free, open air music night and let me tell you, they are spectacular live. These guys have been making music together for like 50 years. They are so good at what they do, and you can feel the joy as they do it!