Iceland Overview
This country was more than what I dreamed it would be. Driving the Ring Road, we we able to take in the subtle differences of each part of the country, as well as the vast changes in terrain and sights. On our way over, we were told by our flight attendant that we were going to have the best week of weather ahead of us, and it was such a gift to have the sun out for the whole week, except the last, from sunup (4am), to sundown (10:30/11PM).
It's true about the food. Its expensive! I kept hearing that the food was also nothing to write home about, but we ended up finding that Reykjavik was full of unique little eateries and restaurants. We found a few good places to splurge, but for the most part, we did most of our own "cooking" and preparing of meals via campervan to keep costs down. And to be honest, I didn't actually cook anything - just boiled water; for ramen, oatmeal, coffee, and tea to be exact. With a tiny cooler and expensive groceries, I was OK with making ham and cheese sandwiches by day, ramen by night (when there were no other food options), and creamy delicious Icelandic Skyr yogurt for morning if it was too cold/windy in the morning to get out of the camper to boil water. And by "cold" it was around 6-9 celsius (42-48 F) some mornings, totally bare-able but not as inviting as the sleeping bag.
We did a little more driving than we anticipated, but while on the Ring Road, many of the sights were right off the road and easy to find. We'd drive for a while, stumble upon a thundering waterfall, hop out of the car and go take a short hike or walk to get a better look and feel the mist dance around us in minutes. The geological activity in Iceland is something to behold; climbing up the sides of craters to get a better view of the inside, soaking in hot springs that are heated by the geothermal activity deep below the earth, walking behind waterfalls that are spilling out of glacial valleys, and hiking down into gorges, made from tectonic plates shifting. These things all evoke a wild sense of wonder.
Some of my most memorable moments are these: cozying up in our camper at the end of a long day, running around in a storm trying to find the puffins, floating around in the blue lagoon while taking in the raw beauty of the volcanic terrain surrounding us, waking up to a misty morning at the base of a waterfall, sipping hot coffee. More important than all the sights and places we added to our list of adventures, are these tangible memories woven together by the Ring Road we traveled along in our cozy little VW campervan.
