Iceland: Day 1 Preparation

Iceland has been on my "must-do" list for at least a decade. I had these grandiose plans of running the Reykjavik marathon and then hitting every geothermal lagoon until my legs recovered. I might still do that. Instead, Nick and I are taking two weeks and driving the infamous Ring Road. It circumnavigates the entire island so we can see as much of this beautiful country as we can. Definitely an upgrade and much less painful. 

After picking up our rental car we headed to Reykjavik to our Airbnb. It was in an amazing location surrounded by shops and restaurants. My favorite part about it was what Nick called the "sleep cubby".  It is a spacious studio apartment and the ingenious host had built a second level where the bed was supposed to go. There was a ladder to get up into the bed and a curtain to "hide" the closet underneath. It felt like a bunk bed and it was amazing. I wish we were staying more than one night. We went to the local Bonus grocery store (the logo is a giant pink pig!) and grabbed food for dinner, breakfast and road snacks. Reykjavik is small but really beautiful and it was fun to get a few quick glimpses of it. We will be back at the end of our trip to really explore it. 

We have been considering how to handle the Iceland updates and decided that we will just post photos with captions and maybe throw in a few anecdotes where necessary. Pictures will barely do it justice but we will give it our best shot. 

Here are some logistics on how we decided to see Iceland (in case you are interested):

- We are driving the entire ring road counter clockwise starting from Reykjavik, heading south first and around. 

- We did a lot of research on car vs campervan vs RV. We decided to rent a 4x4 SUV from Blue Rental (it seemed the most reputable and was recommended to us multiple times) so we could comfortable drive on the F roads and the many other unsurfaced roads around the country. Nick REALLY wanted an RV but it just didn't make sense for what we wanted to see.  :( We will do a RV trip sometime in the near future (most likely around the US...who's in?!) 

- We are staying at Guesthouses/Hotels along the way.

- We aren't eating out a whole lot. Iceland is astronomically expensive. We knew it would take a major portion of our budget but since there is little we can do to save on gas, etc. We are choosing to pass on whale watches, cave tours, etc and focusing on DIY'ing our meals wherever possible. Guesthouses often times have kitchens to make dinner and provide breakfast in the cost of the room. We make PB&J sandwiches on the road and stock up on fruit and nuts to snack on in the car.  

- We are renting a WIFI jet pack to use on the way so we can have GPS as well as access to the weather and road conditions while driving. We also bought an actual map of Iceland off Amazon before we left so we had a backup in case the WIFI didn't work. 

I think that covers it for now. Let us know if you have specific questions and we will let you know our experience!