This was my first time driving on the opposite (to us) side of the road and it took me a good two days to get used to doing certain things differently.
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Prologue
Ever since I discovered the northern lights, I have wanted to go see them in Iceland. Over the last few years, this trip to see the lights and glaciers started getting higher on my bucket list every time I watched a new global warming documentary.
Towards the start of this year, my friend and I started thinking about actually going to the island, however, due to a tight work schedule and the visa office being in a different city and remaining closed over weekends in the US, my friend would not be able to apply for a Schengen visa and so the plan was dropped.
The seed of this bucket list item actually realising was now planted in my head and I started thinking, why not go by myself? God knows how long it will take for me to make it there if I keep waiting for others to join me. So, I started my research on the visa procedure and required documents.
What I found out was that since I only wanted to go to Iceland, getting the dates for submitting an application at VFS in India for Iceland was a rare occurrence and all the agents I contacted just told me one thing, no dates are coming for Iceland and that I should try some other country or keep looking for dates by myself and that if I can manage to book the dates from my side, they won’t even help with preparing the documentations etc since for that the dates too have to be booked by them. After being unsuccessful in looking for an appointment on the VFS website every day for a month I was pretty sure that my going to Iceland this year seemed unlikely and frankly almost dropped out on the plan.
One morning in June, out of boredom I randomly checked the website at 7 am and couldn’t believe what I saw. 3 new slots had opened at VFS Mumbai for the following month. I quickly booked mine for travelling between late August and Early September and so the hope of actually going was back.
My plan was to drive around the country on the Ring Road and stay at hotels/hostels along my way. Now all those who have gone or even read about Iceland travel in 2023 know that most good options are sold out months in advance and that booking very close to travel dates i.e 2 months like I was, meant whatever was available would be priced at a very high premium, even by Iceland standard and that is saying something. The prices are truly through the roof if you try to book as late as I was, even though I was travelling in the shoulder season. All hostels other than the ones in Reykjavik were fully booked too.
So I did the next best thing. I booked a camper van instead. This was now going to be a solo camper van road trip around Iceland and boy was I excited and nervous at the same time!
Day 1
I landed at Keflavik International Airport around noon and was pleasantly surprised by a celebratory welcome with snacks, toffies, champagne, soft drinks and live music right at our baggage carousel. Turns out, it was the opening day of the newest baggage reclaim hall of the airport.
I then took the FlyBus to Reykjavik for my stay at Kex Hostel. Met my new roommates and headed out for a stroll since the hostel was right in the heart of the city within walking distance of most of the famous attractions in Reykjavik.
The Sun Voyager sculpture with people chilling and fishing all around it.
Day 2
In the morning, I checked out and said goodbye to my roommate over breakfast and headed out to take a taxi to Cozy Campers to pick up my camper van. I was waiting for my very expensive taxi to arrive with a few others outside the hostel when a Tesla Model 3 taxi pulled up and asked for a pickup for Cozy Campers. Surprisingly, two other people also hollered yes. What had happened was that this was the free pickup provided by the rental company which I had forgotten to reserve but the other two had booked. The two kind girls who I later learnt were from New Jersey offered me to join them since the car had space and the driver had no problem with that. I saved about a good Icelandic dinner worth of money thanks to their gesture. Had a cool conversation with them about our plans for the trip and the orange alert for upcoming bad weather. We spoke a lot about what it’s like to drive in India and how it would be like to drive in Iceland when the taxi lady told us “Whatever you do darlings, mind the speed limits. You will get fined if you are caught going even 10 over the limit. And always keep an eye out for sheep on the roads!” as she casually drove at 100 in a 90 zone (something I later noticed was very common amongst the locals since they know where the common speed traps are).
As we were in the process of picking up our campers, the updated forecast predicted heavy rain and wind speeds up to 80km/h that evening through the next morning. Since we did not have concrete itineraries, the rental company suggested camping at a site which had some forest or buildings in the vicinity which would help if the winds picked up. We then said goodbye and went our separate ways.
My home for the next few days – a Renault Traffic van.
Met a few NRI dudes at this stop between Reykjavik and the Thingvellir National Park who were touring the South Coast. Most of my trip consisted of driving on such raised roads with a steep decline on either side of them. This particular one though is still wide enough with little space left after the white line. The majority of the Ring Road doesn’t have this space and there is a direct decline after the white line which makes driving on them rather challenging at times because of wind gusts etc. Not to mention, having to navigate around other similar or wider vehicles.
I camped at the Sellfoss campsite that night. My camper was at the very end of this line and while other vans did come and park next to me later, the tall trees were still further away for any significant help during the storm which was now gradually picking up with gusts throwing you off balance when walking.
Had an Apple and protein bar for dinner in the van itself and called it a night
I woke up several times throughout the night despite having had a long tiring day because of the violent winds shaking the van.
Day 3
Got up fairly early to figure out the whole living out of a van thing and arranging my stuff properly for the next few days. Bumped into my friends from New Jersey while freshening up at the campsite facilities, caught up with what all we did and again headed our separate ways.
Made myself a half-decent breakfast on the camping stove in my van and started for the very famous south coast of Iceland.
I was on schedule till I had to clean up after breakfast. Made a mental note to shift to boiled eggs instead of omelettes for the remaining days to save time and started on my way to the south coast.
It was far less windy today which made driving on the narrow Ring Road a lot easier.
The first stop of the day was Seljalandsfoss
Continue reading BHPian NerdyMillennial’s solo road trip adventure for more insights and information.
