Next up is an actual holiday. Seems so strange to me. I usually don’t go somewhere for a holiday. I’m already there and only take some extra days off. This time it’s different. Having 2 weeks off and flying to Iceland. We planned this trip a while in advance since we knew it would not be cheap. We reserved a simple camper van to go around there. Having a home and a way to get around is key in Iceland.
We hopped on the 4-hour flight to Reykjavik operated by Icelandair. Arrived there, and we really felt the temperature difference. Almost July, but only 10 degrees Celsius. Another difference is that it never gets completely dark during that time of the season. So already a very interesting atmosphere just after arriving. After renting the camper, we were searching for a place for dinner and found a nice burger place. We got confirmed with our apprehension that food might be expensive. The burgers and drinks costed us 50 Euro – Swiss prices, which I’m not used to.
The following days were packed with driving a lot, hiking and seeing waterfalls, beaches or hot springs. We circulated the island anti-clockwise on the Ring Road. This is the main road which is possible to drive all year round and can be done without special tiers like ours. People who want to go more into the centre need better cars. We were only allowed to drive on the main road with our rental car. Speaking about our camper. It was very basic, a Dacia with a bed on the bad. Above was a wooden construction for storage with some boxes for food and cooling box.
Sadly, the weather wasn’t that great. Wet and cold, we had trouble staying warm and drying our clothes. Showering was also an issue. So sometimes we just booked a hotel to warm up and shower, which didn’t help us keep the budget low. In the end, we spend almost 8000 Euro together on everything. Gasoline and the camper rental were for sure a big part, but everything together adds up.
One morning, we were a bit in trouble. I forgot to turn off the light during the night, so our motor couldn’t start anymore. There was no one around who could help bridge our battery. We saw only a very friendly New Zealander, who helped us push the car up a hill to kickstart it manually. After trying it 2 times and almost being able to start it, we found someone who had cable in the car to bridge it. That made everything simple and we could continue our journey again.
My birthday was in the middle of the holiday. So I searched for a local Airbnb somewhere a bit away from the mainstream and found the oldest house in a small fisher village. That was a sign and I booked it for 2 nights without plans and knowing that my birthday will be an amazing days I will remember for long. The day started very slow, a local picked us up to drive a bit into the mountains. They brought a small cake with a birthday candle and wished me happy birthday. Then we continued up a small road – untouched nature. We stopped at some point and walked down the field and saw some horses running in the wild. So peaceful everything, exactly my taste. After returning to the car we continued next to the coast until we arrived at a hot tub with an amazing view into the fjord. We enjoyed some time in the hot water while talking. At the end we drove back to the apartment and spotted some wales in the sea while making a break. Arrived home my friend prepared my favourite Swiss dish – Tatsch. What a day! And the day hasn’t ended yet, it’s still bright. So we took the car and drove to the coast to watch the midnight sun. At 1.11 AM the sun hit the horizon
Reykjavik, Iceland
After 2 weeks, we ended our trip back to Reykjavik. Driving for many many hours and seeing amazing nature, it was impressive. We have one more week before our flight back to the South. I’m back to work again that’s why we decided to finish the trip in 2 weeks and stay/rest one more week in the capital. Reykjavik is a nice and vibrant city too with just 140’000 people.
Even from the capital, there are quite some places reachable within a weekend trip, those places we spared and could check out now. In the South, for example, there are active volcanos. Sadly, they were just on a break while we were there. Nevertheless, we could visit the cold magma stream.
Another place is a small island in the South with a unique bird species that looks cute and has heads like penguins. Or we also visited this Insta famous airplane which crash on a beach. As a goodbye to Iceland, we went to a fancy hot spring, which just recently opened.