Day 1 Reykjavik

The flight from Edmonton to Reykjavik is approximately 6 hours. The time difference between the two cities is also 6 hours. Which meant that we left Edmonton in the evening and arrived into Reykjavik in the morning. It was raining and cold and windy and not overly welcoming. But the Icelandic people were very helpful and gracious. The first thing on our agenda was to go to Camp Easy quarters (#campeasyiceland) to pick up our Camper van and learn how to operate it. After a short course on safety and advice on driving, including to always use the black pump to fill up the van with diesel, hold our doors securely as the wind can be so intense that it rips the door open, we received our keys. Armed with our tablets and instructional videos, we headed to our van and set up all our belongings. Having lost a night of sleep, we were sorely tempted to take a nap, however persevered and headed grocery shopping only to discover that both our credits card and debit cards didn’t work. Luckily we had access to an additional card which did work. (Note to anyone travelling to Iceland, make sure you take extra credit cards. )

Incidentally ,things are very expensive in Iceland so be prepared and bring some staple foods like nuts and protein bars and chocolate – like we did!

• 

We then learnt how to set up our beds and operate our water pump as well as our propane camping burner.. Between the lifting and organizing and packing and unpacking, we were both exhausted and sore and just needed a warm bath.

We found a lovely spot at Arbaejarlaug pools which consisted of a series of delightful geothermal heated pools. Our achy bodies responded to the warm healing water and we fell asleep by 7:30 pm right in the parking lot of the swimming pool. We had heard in Rick Steves’ video that we were allowed to park our camper van just about anywhere there was a parking spot. Which apparently is illegal. More about that tomorrow!

•