Night Before Iceland

This is it. Tomorrow morning, I embark on a trip to Iceland with my best friend and co-worker, Myles Kedrowski. Though we will fly separate airlines, both of our flights should touch down in Keflavik on Tuesday morning around the same time. Myles is fortunate to have a direct flight from Minnesota, via Iceland Air. I get to enjoy three separate Delta flights, with multi-hour layovers, which starts with a flight from K.I. Sawyer to Detroit. Fortunately for me, I love airports.

For the duration of the trip, Myles and I booked rooms at a hotel in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. We’ll only be in Reykjavik at night, as every day will consist of travel throughout the southeast and east of Iceland. Most of the locations on our itinerary include waterfalls, national parks and even a plane crash. The biggest attraction is Skaftafell, a massive national park. The park is a four hour drive from Reykjavik, which will require us to stay a night in the small area of Hof.

To remove the complication of public transportation and tour guides, Myles and I rented an automatic SUV. The vehicle has four-wheel drive and is rated for the F-Roads throughout Iceland, which may entail river crossings. The downside is the cost of the rental, which is over 10,222 Icelandic króna per day. There also is the added fuel cost, which puts gas at around 817.68 Icelandic króna per gallon. Yet the vehicle will provide us with the freedom to drive on our terms.

Cost aside, I am excited for this trip. Outside of getting to see the beauty of Iceland, the trip is unique for me since I typically only travel large cities. Instead of the clustered skyscrapers of New York or Tokyo, I get to see open plains and canyons. I also will see massive volcanoes, such as Hekla, for the first time. But all of this means that I have to be more careful. Though crime may be almost non-existent in Iceland, the weather can be as dangerous.

As the weather in Iceland changes rapidly, I’ve prepped a few applications on my phone. The first being Veður, which provides rapid weather updates specifically for Iceland. I also downloaded 112 Iceland, which allows for me to send my location to the emergency response center and call for help with a single button. Lastly, for road signs and other translation purposes, I added Google Translate and Iceland Road Guide. I just hope that I won’t need these applications.

With that said, wish me luck.