Iceland - The Planning Stage

Iceland. So... out of the norm? Well. Kind of. It's becoming more and more popular from what I've heard. What made us decide to go there you ask? A combination of a couple of things I guess.
  1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - if you haven't already seen this movie, you should watch it ASAP.
  2. Close friends of ours who took a trip a few years back and returned with some epic stories and pictures.
  3. Love of the outdoors and a desire to "see it all."
We've been talking about taking this trip for years now; finally the stars have all aligned and we've reached a place in our lives where we're actually able to take the plunge. Once  making this decision we soon realized the ambitiousness (is that a word?) of it all. Planning a trip of this scale is both extremely exciting and very overwhelming. I figured I'd share our process with you as well as a few resources I found to be very helpful.
Ok babysteps. The Plane Ticket. You can find super cheap deals (so I've heard) from airlines like Wow, but we decided to go with Icelandair. We made this decision for a number of reasons. They have much better customer reviews and satisfaction. One carry-on and one checked bag is included in the ticket purchase. Their stop-over program is pretty freaking sweet. In fact, the stop-over deal is what finally pushed us over the edge to finally do the trip. Our plan is to spend 5 days in Iceland and 8 in the UK. But I digress. For the sake of simplicity I'll only be writing about Iceland in the next few posts. The UK will come later, don't you worry.
Tips for Purchasing a plane ticket:
  • Look for flights out of other (close enough to drive to) airports. It just so happens that it's way cheaper for us to fly out of Miami rather than ATL. Who knew?
  • Use apps like Hopper (only available on your phone) or the flight watcher services on websites such as Kayak to tell you when to purchase your tickets in order to get the best bang for your buck.
  • When possible search for the cheapest day to fly. Most websites allow you to search flights by month/week allowing you to see when the flights are cheapest.
Whew. Onto the exciting stuff. What to do when we get there. Only having 5 days on the Island we realized there would be no comfortable way we could travel the famous Ring Road (full circumference of the island). After reading and researching a bit, we realized the best bang for our buck would be to stick to the southern side of Iceland. While it's true this is the more "touristy" part of the country, it's popular for a reason. There are lots of things to do and see in the area.
The first really helpful blog I stumbled on during my initial blind search is this one. It really helped me start making a list of attractions we'd like to see and figure out what was feasibly possible to do in a day. Other blogs I found to be helpful include, but are not limited to, iheartreykjavik and zigzagonearth (particularly when it comes to the Iceland Highland areas). There are TONS of blogs and websites out there to brows through and glean ideas from. I found these three to be most helpful though.
I few more quick things before going onto our planned itinerary. Accommodations are sparse. Book in advance! We learned this the hard way. Once I finally nailed down a rough itinerary and started looking into places to stay the pickings were slim. This factor alone is what lead to our daring and adventurous decision to camp all 5 nights in Iceland. Yikes! Not going to lie, I still get nervous at the prospect. Here's to hoping all goes well. This blog helped me feel much more comfortable about it though, and gave some really good tips on how to make it all work out (cross yo fingers).
Do your research about car rentals. Again, lots of blogs and sites with good information on the subject. We decided to go with a 4-wheele drive using Sixt car rental.
Google maps is your new best friend. Yes, I've heard how notoriously unreliable the service is when it comes to actually directing you as you drive around the Island. But it was EXTREMELY helpful getting a guesstimate of how long the drive times would be between each destination and grouping attractions together to make the trip as efficient as possible.
Alrighty. Without further ado; here's our proposed 5 day itinerary (I'll let ya know if anything changes as we go in subsequent posts):

Day 1: Saturday June 10th
  • Reykjavik to Vik
    • Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrabui Waterfalls - 45 min drive
    • Seljavallalaug - hot spring?
    • Skogafoss waterfall - 10 min drive
    • Solheimajokul Glacier - 15 min drive
      • 10-15 min walk from parking lot
    • Dyrholaey Puffin Nesting Site - 30 min drive
      • *check if open
    • Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach - 30 min drive
      • Rock formations
    • Camp at Thakgil Campground - 11 min drive
      • $17 per person - no reservation needed
Day 2: Sunday June 11th
  • Thakgil to Skaftafell National Park - 2:15 drive
    • 10:40 am Jokulsarlon Glacier Ice Lagoon Boat Tour - $50 for ~1 hr
      • Diamond Beach
    • Fjallsarlon - 20 min drive
      • Another glacier lagoon, but more quiet/private
    • Skaftafell National Park - 40 min drive
      • Visitors Center
      • Svartifoss falls - 1.8 km walk
      • Skatafellsjokul - 3.7 km walk to glacier face
    • Camp at Kirkjubaer II - 50 min drive
      • $13 per person - no reservation needed
Day 3: Monday June 12th
  • Kirkjubaer II to Arnes campground
    • Fjadrargljufur Canyon - 15 min drive
    • Holaskjol - 1:05 min drive
    • Ofaerufoss falls - 20 min drive
    • Landmannalaugar - 1:30 min drive
      • hot springs
      • hike Brennisteinsalda volcano 2-3 hrs
    • Frostastadavatn Lake - 15 min drive
    • Sigoldugljufur Canyon - 40 min drive
    • Haifoss Falls - 1 hr drive
    • Hjalparfoss falls - 30 min drive
    • Arnes campground - 20 min drive
      • $12 per person
*The plan for this day completely dependent on the weather. The roads we're planning on taking could are highland roads and could be closed due to poor conditions. It would be a 4.5 hr to drive around (on the main roads) to Landmannalaugar if F208 is closed. We'll have to check road conditions once we're there.
Day 4: Tuesday June 13th
Golden Circle
    • 20 min - Salkholt Cathedral
    • 20 min - Minilik Restaurant Eathiopean Food OR 10 min - Fridheimar Farm for food
    • 10 min - Faxi Waterfall
    • 20 min - Gulfoss Falls
    • 10 min - Gysir
      • Geysirstofa Museum
      • Strokkur Gyser
    • 15 min - Bruarfoss Waterfall
    • 10 min - Efsti-Dalur I for Ice Cream
    • 40 min - Oxarfoss waterfall
    • 3 min - Pingvellir
      • Flosagja fissure
      • Visitor Center - free
      • Thingvellir Church
    • 30 min - Nesjavallavirkjun (not a stop, just a route reference)
      • *check roads for this route
    • 40 min - Reykjavik campsite - $20 each - no reservation needed
Day 5: Wednesday June 14th
    • Reykjavik
    • Hike Mt. Esja (20 min drive from city, by car)
      • 4 miles
    • Hallgrimskirkja church
    • Walk Waterfront - Sun Voyager Statue
    • Blue Lagoon?? ~$60
    • Sandgerdi Campground (7 min from airport) - no reservation needed
Other Things To See in Reykjavik: National Museum of Iceland ($19 each), Harpa, Arbaejarsafa, Perlan, Reykjavik 871 +_ 2, Vikin Maritime Museum ($15 each), Tjornin, Laugardalslaug thermal Baths
For you visual people out there, here's an Itinerary Map with all the attractions mapped and color coordinated by day.
*Drive times are calculated via google maps and should be used as a rough reference.
Does it look like a lot? It seems like a lot, and we may find our plans to be a tad too ambitious. What kind of trip would it be without ambitious plans though amIright?

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