1 July 2019

I am drawn to the north….

Many people want to travel south where it’s warm... to Mexico, to the Caribbean, to Florida... but there is something about the north that just pulls me in. I also love dramatic natural landscapes and unique environments. Considering these interests, Iceland is the most natural choice for our next adventure!

The Sun Voyager sculpture on the Reykjavik waterfront, celebrating their seafaring founders

“When” to visit Iceland was a difficult question. On one hand, seeing the Northern Lights is one of the highest items on my list. This has been a big thing for me for a long time now, and honestly with all that we have done it’s amazing that I haven’t done this yet. In addition to the lights, there is a special intrigue of visiting the sub-arctic in the winter, with all the winter activities that accompany it. However, Iceland is also known for amazing landscapes, stunning waterfalls, great trails, and plenty of places to get away from the crowds... many things on that part of the list are easier to do in the summer, some are even impossible to do at any other time. So what would it be? We chose to go for the whole island, to see as much of Iceland as we could. We chose the long days that never get dark, the pleasant temperatures in the 50s-60s F, the stunning green landscapes contrasted against the white glacial ice... we chose the summer!

Getting to Iceland is cheap. Once in Iceland however, you find it is expensive. Very expensive. In an effort to juggle food costs and hotel costs and rental car costs, we decided to take the more creative approach and combine them all by renting a camper van!

We found a small van, one that would be perfect for just the two of us, that didn’t need to go through tons of gas or fit a small apartment in the back. A long-wheelbase Ford Transit Connect proved to be perfect. We decided to skip on the 4x4, of course limiting our access to the interior, but in return we were able to find a very affordable vehicle that also spared us the cost of hotels, and there is still plenty to see around the island without crossing the interior anyway. For the nine days of our trek around Iceland, we were going to drive in the van, sleep in the van, relax in the van, and make the majority of our meals from the cooking gear with the van. #vanlife indeed!

“Diamond” on the beach at Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon

There are lots of preparations needed for travel to Iceland. Just the same, there are preparations for you to take before joining us on this journey as well! As we follow our adventures through this amazing country, we are going to encounter lots of places and things with Icelandic names, naturally. Icelandic uses some different characters that people may not recognize, but I’ll help you through them quick, as for English speakers it is actually really easy! The letters thorn (Þ/þ) and eth (Ð/ð) were actually once used in Old English, and they both make the sound of the English th. The Þ/þ character makes a more soft th like in the words thin or thing, where the Ð/ð makes a more vocal th like the or this. It looks kinda like the letter “D” so imagine a th with a slight d sound included, listen as you say the. And that’s it. Easy, no? Now imagine if these letters were still used in English… instead of this thing, we could be saying ðis þing instead! That seems a lot more fun!

On this journey around Iceland we are going to see Reykjavik city, the subarctic wildlife in their natural habitats, the waterfalls, black sand beaches, glaciers, and geothermal areas along the southern coast, the famous hot springs and unique Icelandic cuisine, the eastern fjords and their dramatic landscapes, the harbors of the north, and the rugged and wild coast of the west. Along with all those things, we are going to have a full 24 hours of a bright sky!

If this sounds like fun, follow along as we post the stories and pictures from this amazing adventure!

Onward to Iceland!