Iceland Trip Report - Part 1 of 12

PRELUDE

What will follow is synopsis of the trip to Iceland my brother and I took between August 23rd and September 2nd of 2007. We opted for an itinerary that would allow us to spend two nights in downtown Reykjavik at the start of our trip, 7 days circling the country via Route 1 (aka "Ring Route") staying at farm houses for the night and one night in downtown Reykjavík at the end of our trip. We wanted to experience both extremes of Iceland. The crazy party scene of weekend Reykjavík combined with quiet natural beauty of the countryside. We knew this itinerary wouldn't leave us time for extended hikes, long tours or a journey to the Westfjords but we were comfortable with that.

PRE-DEPARTURE

We got our international airline tickets, hotel rooms, farm houses and rental car as part of a package from Icelandair. Icelandair worked in cooperation with Icelandic Farm Holidays and Hertz in handling this trip. We opted for a hotel upgrade in Reykjavík, choosing to stay at the Radisson SAS 1919 right in the heart of downtown. We chose a Toyota Avensis for transportation giving us plenty of room but no 4WD capability (and thus no F road driving). Total cost was $2414 each and also included transfer from the international airport in Keflavík to our hotel in Reykjavík as well as morning breakfasts at the farm houses.

Prior to the trip I did extensive research using Lonely Planet's Iceland guidebook, the Thorn Tree Travel Forum and numerous other Iceland information web sites. I charted a course on International Travel Maps Iceland coming up with multiple things to do each and every day above and beyond the Farm Holiday recommendations. Included were numerous diversions from the main route which we could decide whether or not to do based on energy level, time and interest.

I packed a single large suitcase for check-in and a backpack for carrying on the plane. Forewarned about cool and often wet weather, I came prepared with numerous long sleeve shirts, long pants, a fleece jacket, light gloves, light hat, full rain gear and plastic bags. To save a few bucks on food, I brought along some peanut butter, granola bars and some pouches of tuna. I brought $600 in cash. Since we were going to be spending so much time in the car, I burned copies of 24 CDs I owned. Two separate voltage receptacle converters were also purchased so I would be able to charge my camera and my PSP. I also purchased an international cell phone primarily for emergency purposes from OneSIMCard. Finally, my most important item, short of my money and passport, was my Nikon D-70 camera. Looking back on the items I packed only an extra pair of shorts and the cell phone could have stayed home. The cell phone was primarily a disaster because I simply couldn't get a good signal during 90% of our trip. I believe it was more the phone than the network as my brother got decent signal, most of the time, from his Blackberry.