I love exploring beautiful places and seeing all of the wondrous places and things God has made. So traveling speaks to my heart and to my creative spirit. This August I went on a 10 day road trip through Iceland with my friend and talented photographer Natalie of NBarrett Photography. She and I had a ball on our photographer trip through Iceland. I’ll share information about our trip below all of the photos for anyone who wants to read about our trip. But I mostly love sharing these landscapes and places God has created. We only had two or three sunny days, but don’t let the fog or the clouds fool you: this is an unbelievably beautiful country that must be experienced! So many times, we would try to photograph a place or a scene, only to take the camera away from our faces and laugh because we knew it just wouldn’t translate to a photograph. I hope these images do the country of Iceland justice and I honestly look forward to returning one day. It was one of the best trips of my life. Skál (Cheers)!
I believe Iceland is the place in the world where God put all of the cool things in the world in one place! Iceland has volcanoes, waterfalls, fjords, cliffs, basalt rock formations, black sand beaches, hot springs, mountains, valleys, beaches, pastures and rugged fields covered in volcanic rocks covered in moss. It’s truly unique terrain unlike anything I have ever seen before. And throughout our drive it was as if the scenery changed every 10 kilometers. With every turn, it was as if we were in a new planet. It’s no wonder that filmmakers love filming movies throughout this country’s rugged, untouched landscape. While we enjoyed all of the famous hot spots and must see locations in Iceland, I felt as though God had given us so much more in our day-to-day driving that overwhelmed me and spoke to me.
Natalie and I planned our trip by booking through AirBnB & Bungalo. We stayed a variety of guest homes, cabins and individual rooms. The Icelandic people were extremely hospitable. It’s imperative to book your housing or hotels before traveling to Iceland because nearly everything was booked even as we planned this about two months in advance. For a future trip, we would recommend booking hotels or AirBnB for Iceland about 5-6 months in advance. There are only about 320,000 people in Iceland, so there aren’t many “towns.” You can also camp if you like, but that was just never going to happen with Natalie and me for this trip. Haha.
These are the locations we stayed for our trip and we highly recommend any of them for future travelers: IceBlue Lodge B&B South Iceland,
Hotel Ijosaland (near the West Fjords), Apartment in Sauðárkrókur, Skagafjordur (on the Northern Coast), Summerhouse in Grmsnses on the Golden Circle.
Besides the beautiful landscapes, we loved hitting a hot spring or hot tub nearly every day. There are free natural hot springs, there are local geothermal pools with a small entrance cost and there are hot tubs throughout the country. This was truly amazing! The most famous is of course The Blue Lagoon and it was an amazing experience (also something you must book in advance because of its popularity).
We considered doing different adventure activities like white water rafting, horse back riding, snorkeling and kayaking, but as photographers, we have pleasure in the simple things like scenic drives and great food. And Iceland never disappointed. We loved the fresh food from homemade butter and breads to fresh fish and menus that would accommodate any traveler. Natalie was over the moon for their Fish Soup (which she said was different at every restaurant) and I loved the lobster.
My random tips for traveling to Iceland: 1) Bring a Towel that dries quickly so you can use the free natural hot springs any place you want. Hot Springs are the priority people! Haha – they’re amazing and you’ll be so happy you went every day. 2) You only need hiking boots and flip flops. Don’t overpack shoes. 3) Bring your own alcohol or buy some at the airport on your way into the country (don’t forget your own bottle opener if you’re bringing wine). Liquor, beer and wine are very expensive, there are only a few government-run stores and they have limited hours of operation. 4) Bring a great raincoat. If you want to get near the waterfalls, they’re insanely powerful and you’ll get soaked even 100 meters away because of the mist. 5) Don’t try to drive the entire country in 6 days – just don’t even try. We met people who did this and we only did about ¼ of the country and we didn’t get to see everything we wanted too. Iceland is deceptive in its size. So plan to spend some time soaking in different areas and don’t rush yourself to see it all in one trip. 6) Get the Mobile HotSpot with your car rental. It was worth it for a million reasons. 7) Make sure you plan your day trips around places where you can eat. Natalie and I were always pushing the dinner time limits by getting to restaurants by 9 or 9:30 p.m. while we were out in the Fjords or backcountry. Places close at 10 and even though the sun sets late, it doesn’t mean everyone stays open. Most places only have one or two restaurants within a few hours drive. So just be prepared. 8) Travel with toilet paper. There aren’t gas stations and pit stops everywhere, so again, just be prepared if you’re doing more of the scenic route trip. 9) Buy some eBags or travel packing cubes — just do yourself a favor and buy some. These things were a game-changer for my traveling because we unpacked at nearly every hotel and my bag and my clothes have never been so organized or clean.
Iceland is an enchanting place. I experienced such great peace in just being in this beautiful country. I hope you’ll add it to your travel bucketlist — you will not be disappointed.
