Iceland: Day one
With the departing flight leaving at 6pm Boston time and arriving at 4:45am Icelandic time - my decision to pick up my rental at 5:30am and immediately begin my adventure was tenuous at best. Having actually slept on my overnight flight for a few hours, I was confident that I would know enough to pull off the road and nap if driving unfamiliar roads in the dark lulled me to sleep. My friendly Iceland 4X4 Rental driver pulled in with his sign "Green Motion Car and Van Rental" - and though initially expecting something to say "Iceland 4x4 Car Rental" he quickly assured me that he would be my driver - and we buzzed the few minute drive over to their rental headquarters just down the road from the airport.
Notes about renting cars in Iceland:
1) Buy all the insurance (Gravel Protection, Collision Damage Waiver, Sand & Ash Protection, Super Collision Damage Waiver, and Theft Protection - peace of mind while traveling is well worth it. Just consider it part of the total rental fee. My rental was 86,500 ISK including GPS, all insurance, and 24% tax - holy crap that is a lot of tax! With fluctuations in currency and seasonal time or your rental your price will vary, but it was about $750 for the rental and about $300 for gas (the most expensive gas I've ever used). CURRENCY CONVERTER : CLICK HERE
2) Things like crossing rivers, and windblown damage to doors and the car chassis are not covered by any insurance - so look at the Wind Charts for the region you plan to drive and make sure it is a good day to drive !! CLICK HERE for Wind Speed Map of Iceland - note that anything over 14 could mean that gusting may be not suitable for driving (per my rental car assistant) - think light blue and below.
3) Get the freaking GPS. Trust me - it is easier even with just one main road around the country. I would not have enjoyed my trip half as much without a GPS.
Notes about renting cars in Iceland:
1) Buy all the insurance (Gravel Protection, Collision Damage Waiver, Sand & Ash Protection, Super Collision Damage Waiver, and Theft Protection - peace of mind while traveling is well worth it. Just consider it part of the total rental fee. My rental was 86,500 ISK including GPS, all insurance, and 24% tax - holy crap that is a lot of tax! With fluctuations in currency and seasonal time or your rental your price will vary, but it was about $750 for the rental and about $300 for gas (the most expensive gas I've ever used). CURRENCY CONVERTER : CLICK HERE
2) Things like crossing rivers, and windblown damage to doors and the car chassis are not covered by any insurance - so look at the Wind Charts for the region you plan to drive and make sure it is a good day to drive !! CLICK HERE for Wind Speed Map of Iceland - note that anything over 14 could mean that gusting may be not suitable for driving (per my rental car assistant) - think light blue and below.
3) Get the freaking GPS. Trust me - it is easier even with just one main road around the country. I would not have enjoyed my trip half as much without a GPS.
With so much darkness during winter - driving carefully and at or often below the speed limit of 90km/hr was required. Even during the day I never went faster than 100km / hr at any point in my trip - ever. Iceland is not a forgiving place for any sort of accident or car trouble. Towns are small and fairly far apart (usually at least 60-100 miles between large enough towns that may actually be able to help with a medical or vehicle emergency).
Pack enough water and food / extra gas in your vehicle in case you get trapped overnight in a snowstorm or car trouble.
Medical assistance appears to take at least 1 hour to get to a hospital (usually much more - or a helicopter ride) so be safer than you may think you need to be.
Pack enough water and food / extra gas in your vehicle in case you get trapped overnight in a snowstorm or car trouble.
Medical assistance appears to take at least 1 hour to get to a hospital (usually much more - or a helicopter ride) so be safer than you may think you need to be.
Enough detail - on to the good stuff. Leaving Keflavik in the wee hours on the morning (after turning around and purchasing the GPS - was stupid to think I'd be fine without it, and my "offline" google maps didn't work on my phone) I was quickly struck by just how dark a country can be. Iceland is DARK at night. That may seem obvious - but to a New England native who is currently residing in Boston, MA - the night never gets truly dark. Headlights, city lights, house lights - everything is lit. Not so in Iceland. I was thankful for powerful headlights on my Jeep - as other tourists commented that they had to drive about 35km at some points during bad weather because their headlights were not powerful enough to light the road enough to even do the speed limit.
Surrounded by darkness and listening to music on my iPhone with the Bluetooth speaker that I packed for the long car rides (so happy I didn't have to listen to Icelandic music for 4 days), I spent the first 3 hours of my vacation driving in the dark up the South East coast toward waterfalls. The first scenic spot on my trip was Seljalandsfoss - an incredibly scenic and large flow falls that leaves the Eyjafjallajokull / Katla Glacier area along with hundreds of other waterfalls as shown in the slideshow below.
Surrounded by darkness and listening to music on my iPhone with the Bluetooth speaker that I packed for the long car rides (so happy I didn't have to listen to Icelandic music for 4 days), I spent the first 3 hours of my vacation driving in the dark up the South East coast toward waterfalls. The first scenic spot on my trip was Seljalandsfoss - an incredibly scenic and large flow falls that leaves the Eyjafjallajokull / Katla Glacier area along with hundreds of other waterfalls as shown in the slideshow below.
After a short drive from Seljalandsfoss I continued on my Easterly course and found myself at Skogafoss, a larger "big brother" falls to Seljalandsfoss that falls directly in the center of the glacier valley between Eyjafjallajokull and Myrdalsjokull - forming a large glacier run-off from two separate peaks many kilometers inland from the shoreline road that I was traveling. Quickly getting my large volume - trail running pack together (Ultimate Direction Fastpack 30) I readied myself for a little morning wake-up trail running adventure past the falls into the heart of the mountains for a few kilometers. After reaching the top of the falls and departing inland - I saw only two people for the next almost 2.5 hours - a couple of local girls also out for a trail up to the edge of glacier. While they got a bit farther inland than I likely did - I had an incredible time just running through the green and rocky plateau that stretched for what looked to be 5-8 miles inland to the base of the glaciers themselves. While I had to turn around well before reaching the glaciers - it was one of the best trail runs I've had, recently only topped by the run I had on my Ireland trip while in the Mourne Mountains.
With the sun only an hour away from setting - I raced down the trail from Skogafoss and jumped into the Jeep for a 30 min drive down to the black sand and scenic arch at Dyrholaey near the small town of Vik. Basalt column arches and a massive surf crashing on the beaches with a strong wind coming straight North off the water, watching the sun go down at Dyrholaey was a great way to end the daylight. With no clue where I was going to spend the night - I just let the evening unfold. Realizing groceries would probably be a good thing to get - I drove on into the darkening evening and ended up in Selfoss for the night at the Hostelling International spot in town HERE. With a large grocery, gas station, and various stores - Selfoss is a good place to stock up for some serious road tripping!