Daniel and I just got back from a week-long visit to Iceland, and besides packing and laundry, one of the first things I've been thinking about getting started on is a blog post/journal entry about our trip. I write private journal entries on my laptop occasionally, but I figured this time, I could make it available to anyone who wants to see it. I've been using this blog very occasionally for artwork stuff, and study abroad stuff before that, so I'm just putting it on here.
I'm not a blogger or writer or anything like that, and I don't care if what I write gets like 4 views, but if anyone has been thinking about visiting Iceland but has been deterred by having to spend a million dollars and plan a super complex trip in a foreign country, you should read this. We LOVED Iceland and recommend everyone to go. I know you're probably rolling your eyes and saying to yourself "Yeah well, I'd go if I have the money". I felt the same way two months ago but if you plan smart and look for good deals on flights, it is possible! I'm writing this because I want to help other young and semi-broke (lol) people make their Iceland trip happen.
Two months ago, we did not have this trip booked, nor were we even considering the idea of going to Iceland. Daniel and I are both in the middle of figuring out post-undergrad plans and working, so an expensive vacation was the last thing on either of our minds. But one day, I was casually scrolling through my Facebook feed and I noticed a post from The Flight Deal. If you don't know what that page is, they scour airline websites for good sales and discounts on flights, and pretty much post every day with the results. 95% of the time, I ignore their posts because the flights are to destinations I'm not currently interested in, but I finally saw a post for Reykjavik, Iceland. AND it was on Icelandair, an actual good airline instead of the discount airline WowAir. I think I saw the post at like 9:30 AM, we thought about it really fast, said "screw it", and by the next day, Daniel and I had the flights booked. We paid around $300 each for a round trip, which is an amazing price because it's usually like $600-$700. You also have to decide and book really fast after the tickets go on sale, because people take them all within like 36 hours. I just happened to get very lucky with my work schedule so the timing worked out. The flight itself wasn't bad either, it was nonstop and about 5 hours each way. That's like two movies and a short nap and you're done! As someone who hates flying, even I would say that it was doable.
How to Save $$$
As for cutting down spending during the actual trip, you can make the trip as expensive or as affordable as you want. For example, I really wanted to go on a whale watching boat tour, but we decided not to book tickets for that because 1) they were VERY expensive 2) I get really bad seasickness. In fact, the only attraction we actually paid for was the Kerid Crater lake (Around $4.00 a person), and parking at a few waterfalls (I think we paid $5.00 like once). We also cut costs by not going to the Blue Lagoon near Reykjavik, which is a popular man-made geothermal pool and it costs about $60 a person. We went to the Secret Lagoon on the Golden Circle instead, which cost only $25. It's not nearly as big and it doesn't have that pretty blue color, but we really enjoyed it just as much and have no regrets. There's also a few geothermal pools actually in Reykjavik that you can look up, and those are cheaper (I think some are even free) as well. Plus, you don't have to make the 45 minute drive out to the Blue Lagoon.
This is the Golden Circle route, and it takes one day to complete. There's also something called the Ring Road that goes around the entire country for people who are staying longer for their trip. For our trip, we were able to complete the Golden Circle and go down the South Coast all the way to Jökulsárlón (the giant glacier lagoon on the southeast coast of Iceland) and come back. You can stop at as many destinations (there's more than just the ones on the map) as you want, assuming you have time. Most of the places are free to visit, as well. You can definitely do it on one tank of gas. Speaking of gas, it is EXPENSIVE!!! It's by the liter, but it comes out to around $8.00 a gallon. Daniel and I took turns paying, and I think we filled up about 3 times over our whole trip, and we drove a LOT. Or more like he drove a lot, because only his name was on the car rental contract. So basically, I have to drive us everywhere for the next month. If you think about the fact that most of the attractions are free, it's not so bad anyway.
Food
Another IMPORTANT thing I want to write about is the food. Okay, if you're like us and want to spend as little money as possible, you will not be able to eat out at restaurants in Iceland. Anywhere. It's insanely expensive. I think a single-person pizza was like $25-30, an entree with meat or fish was like $35, and even fast food was like $10-$15 at some places. If we ate out all the time like we normally do on a trip, we would have spent an atrocious amount of money (we did not go to a single restaurant and I don't regret it at all). And in my opinion, even if we did have that kind of money to spend, it would not have been worth it. The food is just okay, and sometimes it's honestly pretty bad. I mean, who knows, maybe the more expensive restaurants are delicious and worth the money. I guess I'll never know. It was definitely strange for me and Daniel to be on a vacation and not enjoy the food or eat out at all, because when we go on a trip to NYC or Philly or wherever else, the MOST important thing I plan is our meals. Our itineraries are usually centered around eating the most delicious food in the city, and I'm sure a lot of other people do the same thing. But yeah, Iceland is not a foodie/culinary destination whatsoever. What they lack in food, they make up for in the beautiful sights.
Grocery shopping
With that being said, if you want to save money by not eating out, you'll have to go grocery shopping and make your own meals. So definitely book AirBNBs/hotels with full kitchens. We stayed at four different places and only one of them did not have a kitchen, but we were provided with a pretty good breakfast. In Reykjavik there are a few grocery stores but Bonus is the one you want to go to. Their prices are supposed to be the lowest (even though they were still ridiculous at times). I also recommend bringing as much food from home as possible. We brought a lot of granola bars and snacks, but if we could do the trip over again, we would have brought much more instant meal-type stuff (like good Korean ramen and Easy-Mac). You can buy that kind of stuff in Iceland for relatively cheap, but it tastes TERRIBLE. I mean, how do you mess up chicken ramen? It's not hard. The one I bought tasted like it was made by someone who had absolutely no idea what it was supposed to taste like. We also bought one of those instant pasta packets and we ate a few bites and threw the rest out. If you know me and Daniel, you'll know that means the food is REALLY bad. So just bring some from home if you have space in your luggage, you'll thank me later...
Car Rental
As you might have guessed, you will have to either book a bus tour (expensive), or rent your own car to get around the destinations. Anything outside of Reykjavik is super remote and there's no such thing as public transportation. We went with Lagoon Car Rentals and had a pretty good experience. If you pay a little extra, they will give you a wifi router that you can carry around with you everywhere and use with Google Maps. That was extremely important during our trip and I honestly don't know how people find their way around without an internet connection (besides reading an old-fashioned printed map). You land at Keflavik airport, someone from Lagoon will pick you up from the arrival hall at an agreed time and drive you to their rental site like 5 minutes away, and then you'll pick your car up and sign some papers for the contract. When you leave, you drop the car off and they'll inspect it really quick and drive you back to the airport. Another thing I want to mention is having protection against car damage. There's a LOT of gravel roads in Iceland and also something called F-roads which are much worse and most rental car companies don't even let you go on those (unless your car is equipped for it). I recommend that everyone get gravel protection for the windshield (it costs extra but worth it in my opinion) because there's a chance you'll need it. It just means that if you get a chip on the windshield from gravel, you'll be covered insurance-wise. We actually did end up getting a chip and it totally wasn't our fault because it was from an oncoming car that was going too fast and kicked up a ton of gravel, but it ended up being fine because we got the gravel protection. You should also take pictures of any damage like scratches on your car before you drive it off of the rental lot so you can prove that it wasn't you. Lagoon has a lot of bad reviews online for some reason which worried us, but our experience was great and the employees were very nice.
Clothing
I'm not sure what's good to wear during other months of the year, but if you go in August, the temperature is actually really nice. It never got hotter than 55 F or colder than around 45 F. It did, however, rain a lot, so you HAVE to bring waterproof gear. A waterproof rain jacket/shell and pants, and waterproof hiking shoes. I was really lucky and either already had what I needed or borrowed from other people that went to Iceland too, but Daniel had to shell out some money for waterproof hiking shoes. He actually got a pair of "waterproof" pants from a thrift store (even though I kept telling him to just buy a real/new pair) and he ended up regretting it because whenever it rained or we were near a waterfall, his pants got wet and it was miserable. Don't bother bringing an umbrella either, because when it rains, it rains sideways, diagonally, upside down, the works. The wind makes an umbrella useless and you're better off just protecting your body with waterproof clothing. I also recommend bringing lots of layers. The thickest piece of clothing I brought was a zip up hoodie, because the weather changes so quickly that you're going to want to take off and put on layers throughout the day. Also, when you're hiking and going up steps on mountains near waterfalls/etc, you get really hot and sweaty and all of a sudden you don't want that big sweater on anymore.
If anyone is considering going to Iceland and has questions, please don't hesitate to ask me! I'm definitely not an expert but I can give some advice on what to do in preparation and what sightseeing destinations I recommend. It was an amazing trip and I'm really glad and lucky to have been able to go because it's a beautiful country! Icelandic people are really proud of their country and I can definitely see why.
One thing no one told me about is how HILLY Reykjavik is. I don't know why I thought everything was going to be flat... but it's actually all hills.
I loved that even just driving around was fun, because the landscapes are so diverse around Iceland. There's fields of volcanic rocks with moss growing on them, tons of mountains with sheep everywhere, ginormous glaciers, etc.
We went to the Seltun geothermal area as our first little trip outside Reykjavik to get used to the driving, since it's only 40 minutes away. We actually messed up with Google Maps and weren't thorough enough in looking at where it was and it sent us in a huge circle and it took us another 40 min to get there... but no worries. It was really cool to see actual active geothermal sites, and even though it is close to Reykjavik, we were the only people there. Of course, we did get there at 8:30 PM so maybe that's why. In the summer, there's a ton of daylight so it was still light out until around 10:00 PM. The smell takes some getting used to (it smells like farts or rotten eggs) but it's not that bad.
When you are driving around, you'll see sheep and horses EVERYWHERE. I legitimately think Iceland has more sheep than people. They roam around freely and are really cute, and sometimes they climb up super high on mountains. I actually got out of the car once to try and get closer but they ran away from me :(
Bruarfoss Waterfall "The Blue Waterfall" - We were actually the only people here, since it's not a popular destination on the Golden Circle
This is the Secret Lagoon that we went to. As you can see, definitely not as big as the Blue Lagoon, but we had a great time there. You do have to shower before getting into the water, so keep that in mind. You're supposed to shower completely naked but a lot of American tourists don't want to so they shower with their swimsuits on, and I was unaware of that so I just walked into the shower area butt naked and was surrounded by women in bathing suits lol...
The Kerid Crater - You can also go down some steps to see it from the bottom
Seljalandsfoss is a waterfall that you can go behind - but you better be wearing waterproof clothes
Skogafoss
You can't go behind this one, but you can climb up to the top. If you climb 430 steps up Skogafoss, you can hike about 1.5 km beyond the main waterfall to see a bunch of smaller ones
Dyrholaey, near the town of Vik, is home to puffins! you can see some in the above picture chilling on the grass if you look really closely. I couldn't get a better shot because they were so far away and I was actually up on a higher cliff and unable to go down there.
Icelandic people have a lot of stories and myths, and they have one that says dwarves live in these basalt rocks.
Diamond beach was my FAVORITE spot by far during our whole trip. Chunks of glacier break off and wash up on the beach in the morning, and it looks amazing especially when the sun is out and shining off of the ice "diamonds". I could have stayed all day looking at these. We got super lucky because it had been raining for about 36 hours before we got there, and the rain finally let up and we were able to see the beach really clearly.
We came here the night before to check it out since it was close to our hotel and we saw seals swimming around! Unfortunately they weren't there the next day, I guess they don't hang around during the daytime
