Iceland 2025

I met Daniel back in 2013, and we’ve been talking about driving the Ring Road in Iceland pretty much since then. It took me staring down the barrel of 40 (and a great deal on airfare) to make it finally happen, but finally happen it did.

On the way there, I had an overnight layover in London but decided to spend the night closer to Heathrow in Windsor, England (not recommended unless you’re hot for the royal family or private school lads). The next day, I arrived in Reykjavik around 10:30 a.m. Daniel had arrived in the wee hours and picked me up on a gray, drizzly morning in our rental car. Google “black Suzuki Jimny” and eat your heart out. Daniel said he’d always wanted to drive one, and we agreed it looked like a G-wagon that got shrunk in the dryer. It would be the first time I’d driven outside the U.S. and the first time I’d driven a standard in many years, but—spoiler alert—there were no problems.

The first of many waterfalls. Tiny people for scale.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the Ring Road in Iceland encircles the entire island (imagine that), though you’re not on the coast the whole time. Guidebooks recommend allowing for at least seven days to do it. Daniel and I would be doing it in about 4.5 days, which we both agreed after the fact was plenty. We probably missed some things, but thankfully neither of us approaches travel as a checklist, nor are we interested in visiting places just because “everyone goes there.” They tend to look just like everyone else’s photos anyway.

One of the more touristy waterfalls (we didn’t stay long)

It was only about 2.5 hours from the airport to our first stop, Vik, which was the easiest-to-pronounce town of the whole trip. On the way, we stopped at a couple waterfalls (soon realizing we couldn’t stop for all of them – they’re everywhere), a glacier, and just generally admired the otherworldly landscape. We stopped for lunch at a gas station called “Bjork” because it was called “Bjork” for the first of what would be many gas station hot dogs. I looked it up later, and that word just means “birch” in Icelandic, so I guess it’s like naming a girl Willow or something. Anyway, gas station hot dogs are actually pretty good there, especially when wrapped in bacon, and at around $5 they’re about the cheapest meal you can hope to get in Iceland.

We saw this sign on a playground and adopted it as our motto for the trip…and life

One of the coolest things about driving the Ring Road was how frequently the landscape would suddenly changed. You’d be driving through a vast field of lumpy lava rocks covered in green moss, then round a bend and suddenly its either a brown grass field or a massive mountain range, endless valley, or dramatic coastline. The word “epic” got abused pretty badly a few years ago, but it’s really the only word for Iceland.

I’d heard Iceland was expensive. Then I found out for sure. While the rental car and hotels weren’t particularly expensive, everything else generally cost 2-4 times what they do at home. Examples: beer was around $11-14 a pint, a large pizza was $35, gas was between $9-10 a gallon, a small plush puffin keychain was about $15, and so on. I’m pretty cheap by nature (and I had just left my job three days before the trip) so it always stung, but I just had to get over it and stop doing the math. However, travel tip: the Apple calculator now has a built-in currency converter – wish I’d known about that before I accidentally spent $75 on hamburgers in Norway that one time…

Daniel’s phone said it was only 270 meters to the waterfall, but we’re pretty sure it was missing a zero. Uphill.

I really liked all the modern, minimal architecture there

Friends have asked what my favorite part of the trip was, and the boring-but-true answer is simply looking out the window. Iceland is easily the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. Some parts reminded me of Oregon and Colorado, but the rest looked like nowhere else I’ve visited. I chose not to take many photos on the drive because I knew they wouldn’t do it justice. And while I don’t think I’d recommend doing the Ring Road with younger kids, I’d highly recommend anyone do it who can. We were not disappointed. I think it helped that I intentionally didn’t look up any photos or videos beforehand; I wanted to see it all for the first time in person.

We’re not NOT stopping to photograph a lighthouse…

I laughed at myself after taking this. So clever. Such an artiste.

While I remember the places we stayed in clearly, the days of driving mostly bleed together at this point. The small towns (and they’re pretty much all tiny by U.S. standards – a couple hundred to a thousand people, max) were clean, quaint, and picturesque. I had strong, wistful feelings looking at playgrounds and elementary schools; I couldn’t help imagining healthy, Viking-descended kids enjoying ideal childhoods, if that’s really a thing. In fact, everywhere we went seemed very clean and well cared for. We noticed that even some municipal and industrial buildings were sleek, modern, and stylish. Maybe there’s a price to pay for all that order, but I liked it.

The spot everyone takes pictures from in Seydisfjordur. Also where Walter Mitty barely escapes the volcano in the film.

A couple people have since asked me if I thought I could live in Iceland. If I knew people there, could find a job, and magically learn Icelandic without having to work at it, then sure. It’s very pretty, and I don’t mind the cold. (I might if I was there in winter.) But since those things aren’t going to happen by accident, probably not.

This place smelled like hell (I’m guessing) – rotten eggs with sulfur sprinkled on top

This was my first non-nonprofit trip traveling with anyone else, and of course it was a lot more fun. But people with friends and couples who actually like each other already knew that. Daniel’s been to about twice as many countries as I have thus far, so we’re both fairly seasoned and easygoing travelers (not tourists!). The simple back-and-forth of, “Want to stop?” “Sure, why not.” led to seeing some great stuff I’m sure I’d have skipped over if I was flying solo. Good travel buddies are hard to find, and I’m glad to know a good one.

Daniel in an abandoned house near Husavik

I was thinking of “Wind From the Sea” by Andrew Wyeth when I took this

It was also great traveling with a fellow photographer because we always wanted to stop for the same stuff. We spent a fair amount of time in an abandoned house outside Husavik, which was the farthest north either of us have ever been. We were only about an hour drive from the arctic circle, but it was too out of the way to go. With frozen hands, we drove into Husavik craving chowder and ended up a little cafe that served mushroom soup with free refills. At $20, I felt entitled to three helpings, but it was amazing. I don’t have a “favorite food” because I love the experience of craving something specific, seeking out that thing, and having it actually hit the spot (it doesn’t always). This one did. Lovely.

Let’s see, what were some other highlights… Akureyri up north is the second largest city in Iceland (at only around 20k people), but it was fun walking around there – had a good feel to it. We shared a good, spicy pizza in…Egilsstadir, I think? After that, a nice little happy hour in a hostel there. The road down into Seydisfjordur—the one Walter Mitty longboards down in the movie—was beautiful but super windy; Daniel did a great job keeping us on the road (it seemed like he got all the hard driving days). At our last stop in Borgarnes, we ended up in a little restaurant that had horse meat on the menu. I almost didn’t do it because it was the most expensive thing, but I pride myself on trying “weird” foods. I’m glad I did; it tasted just like beef and was the best steak I’ve had in a long time. Also the best meal I had in Iceland.

Daniel gassing up the Jimny in Grundarfjörður (try saying that once at regular speed)

I think the thing I’ll remember most was all the good, deep, personal conversations I had with Daniel. He had to listen to a lot of pre-forty processing, but he’s also one of my more intelligent and thoughtful friends, so it was a pleasure. His flight was a couple days before mine, so we walked around Reykjavik a bit before he dropped me off at the guesthouse and headed to the airport. My favorite parts of the Icelandic capital were walking around some quiet neighborhoods away from all the tourists (yuck), overhearing a children’s concert in the library (familiar tunes but in Icelandic), finding/trying the rotten shark (not tasty but it was on the bucket list), and enjoying a pizza in the upstairs of a quiet neighborhood spot.

Touristy viking ship sculpture and helicopter, Reykjavik

So there you go. Iceland was great. Favorite trip so far. I was worried it might not live up to my expectations, but it exceeded them. I hope anyone who wants to gets a chance to go someday. One more flag collected. On to the next one.

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