[dropcap custom_class=”whb”]This morning when we got up it was 27 F and there was ice on the car. Other than that it was bright and sunny, just cold. I discovered that the car had heated seats, which was nice. Today was spent mostly driving back to Reykjavik to turn in the car so nothing much happened.
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I will instead comment on my impressions of Iceland. It is a very beautiful country and the people are for the most part very nice. They also all speak English, which is great since Jay and I speak no Icelandic. Over two thirds of the population of Iceland live in the Reykjavik area. That was great since we were driving around on the Ring Road, once we left Reykjavik, we could drive for miles and never meet or see another car. You could stop in the middle of the road and take pictures and no one cared. You felt like you had the whole country to yourself. It is also a good idea to start out each day with a full tank of gas so you don’t have to worry about finding a gas station. Also when you see a bathroom, it is best to use it because you do not know when you will find another one.
The Ring Road for the most part is very good. The road sits up on a mound and there are no shoulders. The edge of the road had yellow poles as markers, but there are very few places where there are actual railings to keep you from running off the road. the livestock is allowed to run free in places. There were several times where we had to wait for the sheep to get off the road.
They say to check the weather report every morning before you set out, but we never did. For the most part we had good weather, sunny days, cloudy days, rainy days and today we even had fog. The temperatures were cooler in the morning, but would warm up in the afternoons. Where we were this morning it was 27 F, but this afternoon in Reykjavik, it had warmed up to 41 F. I proved to myself that this Florida girl can travel to a cold climate and survive and even have a good time.
One other thing, I want to comment on. No matter where you travel you will still be hit up by panhandler asking for money. This happens all over the world and yes it even happened in Reykjavik tonight. Jay and i were approached as we were walking down the street. He spoke to us in Islandic and when we said we didn’t understand he switched to English and asked for money. We shook our heads no and kept walking, I then watched as he approached other tourists. I really did not expect that in Iceland. Iceland is a very clean country. I did not see any trash on the roadways. I also did not see any billboards blocking the beautiful views.
Will I come back to Iceland again to visit? Probably if I get the chance to return. There are some things that I missed doing on this trip which I wanted to do, such as visit one of the geothermal pools and go horseback riding.
