Iceland – Land of Fire and Ice

Hi and welcome to my blog on our journeys.  This post was written after our journey to Iceland this past May 2016.

Iceland is known as the land of fire and ice and it was quite clear during our travels around the country that this is true.  Wherever we travelled on the island, and we covered a large part of it, signs of volcanic activity recent and past were visible.  Ice was also highly visible in the form of snow-covered volcanoes and glaciers ending in blue glacial lagoons.

Choosing Iceland as a destination came about initially from an Icelandic co-worker that basically planted a seed.  Later, I came across a photographic seminar on Iceland presented by a professional photographer that convinced me that Iceland would soon become a place that we would journey to.

Planning the trip took several months and tons of research online.  From that research, I created an agenda for the 10 days that we would be on the journey.  We then looked at air travel and accommodation.  Given that Iceland is quite expensive we chose to rent a camper after first considering a camper van.  While a good idea at first, in retrospect renting the camper had its pros and cons.

The pros were;

• a place to stay each night,
• a place to make and eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
• a toilet when required,
• a shower when needed,
• only had to unpack once,

The cons were;

• we had to learn how to manage the camper, water, greywater, toilet, propane, fuel, the hot water, stove, sink, etc.,
• the camper could not stop on a dime and had to drive carefully over speed bumps,
• in Iceland, they have not invested in pull-outs to stop and take photos along the highways,
• it was big and cumbersome at times,
• it was a sail on windy days which in Iceland is a regular occurrence,
• tough driving on the narrow country roads, slow down when approaching a bus or truck,

Because this post has been added after the fact it will be mostly photos of the journey.