Iceland - Road Trip of a Lifetime ...

What seems like a shipping container from outside is actually a very well developed airport from inside. You land in the Keflavik international airport with great excitement waiting to explore this remote part of the world. But actually it is not as remote as you expected, since a lot of European and especially English tourists flock this part of the world. Since our was just a 3 day trip in March, we concentrated only on the south coast of Iceland. We drove from the Keflavik airport on the west to the Jokulsarlon on the east and retraced our steps back to the airport. Following is our itinerary we accomplished and the ultimate road trip we undertook. Day 1 We took our rental car from the airport itself from Avis after landing at 9 am in the morning. It was our first experience driving in the snow with snow tires, and honestly it was an overwhelming experience to navigate the car through the snowy roads and patchy storms. But slowly we got used to it, and then never had any problem with either the car or the well paved roads of Iceland. Surprisingly there are a lot of vegan restaurants in Reykjavik, but we were not keen on spending much time in Reykjavik as we were more interested in spending our limited time in countryside seeing the nature. But good food is hard to leave by , so we made a lunch stop through Reykjavik at a restaurant named Glo'.

Then we drove by the South Coast towards Vik, through some nasty snow storms, some eye boggling scenery and even some scary hailstorms . You need to see it to believe that how just white landscape can be beautiful. White may seem a monotonous color, but in Iceland its full of life. But the best part of Iceland weather, which you need to remember is that its very variable. In 5 minutes, I have seen from rainfall, to snowstorm, to hail storm, to sunny weather and even rainbows ! Our first night was based in Hotel Laki, which is 70 kms further east from Vik, as we had a Ice Cave tour in Jokulsarlon next day and also this hotel had had some instances of Aurora sightings. But unfortunately the weather was not conducive to Aurora sightings that night in this area. Please check the following website for next to perfect forecasts : http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/

Day 2 A bright & sunny day welcomed us, and we were looking forward for our Ice Cave tour. But unfortunately upon our arrival in Jokulsarlon , the guides cancelled the tour due to safety issues because of the ice melt down. Disappointment would be a rather mild term to state our reaction but the sights of the glacial lagoon and the beach next to it converted our disappointment to euphoria. Seeing seals and walruses playing around in the unreal ice lagoon is like a dream. Adding cherry to the top, was experiencing with your own eyes, the centuries old crystallized ice washing ashore on the beach. One after the other, you see things in Iceland which seem unreal. This was the furthermost point on the west we planned to reach and now it was time to turn back towards east. Driving back, we took a small hike in the Skaftakell National Park. Then we drove back to Vik, saw the famous black sand beach, got a little wet in the waves, and regretted it later while walking back to the car !! We also drove to the hill top in Dyrholaey, and it was one of the best panoramic view we saw with snow capped mountains on one side and icy blue ocean with black sand beach on the other side. Our hotel for tonight was Hotel Skogar which was bang opposite the Skogarfoss, and again we could not see the Aurora due to bad weather in this area.

Day 3 Opened our eyes to 10 inches of overnight continuous snowfall which was still continuing. We had an ice climbing tour booked in the Solheimjokull Glacier near the Skogar area. But with so much snowfall, we feared even this tour being cancelled. We reached the entrance road of Solheimjokull, to find it blocked with many cars outside, since the road was closed due to heavy snowfall. One more tour was cancelled due to extreme weather, and now our only aim was to get back to Keflavik , since we had an early morning flight the next day. With low fuel and snow filled roads, we started navigating towards west hoping to find a gas station soon. Ultimately after 45 mins of cautious and slow driving, we found clearer roads and to our joy, gas stations. On the way we also saw the Seljalandfoss from a distance but did not have the time, to walk around it. Also saw the famous Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced as Eye-Aa-Fya-La-Jo-Kull) from the road.

Since we were re tracing our way back the same road, we thought of taking another way back to Keflavik. We took the way through Grindelwad and I am glad we took this way. An utterly isolated road, with snow everywhere, and pure heaven. It was one of the most exciting drive. We took so many pit stops in middle of the road, that our energy never subsided. Since we had time on our hand, we also tried the Blue Lagoon which we had decided not to. I am not going to waste time reviewing Blue Lagoon and I hope you also dont waste time going into it. Its a touristy trap with high prices, and nothing to be amazed about. FYI, its a man made structure and not a natural phenomena.

Taking advantage of long daylight hours, we also went to the Thingvillier park. We could not find access to the park entrance, but the drive to the park is most surreal drive I have ever taken place. It might seem exaggerating but you just want to sit there, and try to assimilate as much as you can with your eyes. Its plain unspoilt snow in all directions with you just driving through it. I wish I had better words to explain it, but you will pump your fist in the air for making the right decision of coming to Iceland. Finished off with a dinner in Sushi Samba in Rekjavik and in a very tired state drove to our Hotel Berg in Keflavik. Two of our most anticipated tours were cancelled, but things we saw and experienced filled that void & till this date we are not regretting it. And the best was saved for the last. Keflavik is the least expected place to see the Northern Lights amidst the city lights, but to our luck we saw a beautiful performance of the Auroras for full 30 minutes just as we checked in our hotel. We did not have to wait even for 5 minutes. I am glad it happened sooner, as we were in no state to stay awake longer. Just crashed - slept and somehow took our early morning flight to London & onwards to Hong Kong. See the photos on the right side to get a gist of the white natural beauty.

Tips 1. Take a big SUV with snow tires to navigate through snowy roads. 2. Mobile networks are very patchy in the interiors, so rent a navigation system which is quite reliable and also have a good sense of direction. 3. Invest on a good water proof snow shoes, you would thank me for it. 4. Vegetarian food is not an issue anywhere in Iceland, and neither is the language. Everyone speaks English. 5. Be flexible with your plan as you might encounter severe weather, but there is always a great sight just around the corner. 6. You spend more time in the car than in the hotels, so save on the hotels if you want but spend more on the car.