Iceland - Parting Thoughts

 We finished up our last couple days in Iceland and have now met up with Joann's family in Amsterdam.  We're getting ready to board our cruise to Norway, but wanted to share our summary thoughts on Iceland now that we've left.

Our Last Two Days in Iceland
We ended our trip doing the famed Golden Circle route and spending some time in and around Reykjavik.  Some highlight pics are below and our route for the last two days is at the end of the post.

Thoughts on / Tips for Iceland
Overall, we left as huge Iceland fans.  If we were to travel here again (and we will certainly try), we'd definitely plan more time here (I think over a week for sure, maybe two weeks) and driven the whole island.  For those of you thinking about a trip and who are fans of nature, be generous with time - there's A LOT to see.

Most of our tips/views are probably fairly generic (i.e., amazing scenery and wildlife, extremely tourist friendly, very good food).  A few more idiosyncratic tips though for those who are interested, with some pictures:

Consider Under-Researching
This may be heresy for modern travelers like us who want to be 100% sure to see every one of the best things in a new place, but there is something kind of magical in having no idea what is coming on your route, and this was certainly the case for us on a good part of the trip. Iceland is a good place to do this because it's so easy to get around, and pretty much everywhere you go is drop dead gorgeous. See here for a little Icelandic guide that will help you decipher the signs for what you can see at each stop (e.g., words ending in -foss are waterfalls). 

Definitely, Definitely Rent a Car and Drive Yourself
Despite our challenges with Babe the 20-year-old rental car, we couldn't have imagined experiencing Iceland any other way. Since a couple of you asked - we rented our car from SADCars, which has a whole slew of hilarious slogans related to the dilapidated state of their fleet (i.e., "Sad cars, happy drivers"). There are, of course, slightly more expensive options like your average Avis where you don't have to fear for your life so much.

Go beyond the Golden Circle
Don't get us wrong, the Golden Circle is amazing and full of natural wonders. But we actually loved our first couple days driving around the southern and eastern coasts much more. It left much more room to be surprised, including by the amazing food and beer. The langoustines were as good as we'd heard at Humarhofnin in Hofn, the farthest we got from Reykjavik. They also had a local beer called Vatnajokull made from the local icebergs and flavored with local thyme growing in the valleys nearby. Greg loved it.

That's all for now, though we'd be happy to share more thoughts for those of you planning trips​. Thanks as always for reading!  We've had ~700 visitors so far, which is super fun, and we hope we you'll keep coming along our journey with us!

- GK & JC