Ísland

Iceland in Winter - on the cheap 

02/02 - 09/02 2018

Hello all family, friends and interested folks, to my first blog post about Ben and I on our grand winter shenanigans in Northern Europe. Our first stop was Iceland - land of Fire and Water they say, though it was more like Wind & Snow for us. First up, how did we get there and how much did it cost?

Icelandair - cheap flights with up to 7 days free layover in Iceland

    When we had finally decided our destination, I immediately began searching Icelandair for flights to Helsinki, Finland because I had heard such great things about travelling in Iceland. Granted I didn't consider how brutal the weather might be in winter. I saw that temperatures didn't dip much below -5 C so I figured that's not too bad after Kamloops being about an average of -10 C. So I went for the full meal deal. Flights to Helsinki at about 750 CAD, with 7 days layover. Surely we would get to see a tonne of Icelandic beauty in 7 days!

Dreadful/Delightful Winter Winds - finding shelter at an Air Bnb

   Our arrival in Iceland was not welcoming. It seemed the Norse Gods decided to shock us. Pitch black, sideways rain and extreme winds; we landed in the middle of a storm. We had booked a cheap Air Bnb at the Geirland Guesthouse with Siggi and Anne but the check in wasn't until 1 pm. After taking the Strætó (public transit) to Sandgerði we realized the darkness was not going to let up for a few hours and there was no shelter, no coffee shop, no open grocery stores or anything to bide our time with at 7:30 am. Afterwalking around for a while and slipping on snow that had been slicked completely by the rain into pure ice, I noticed I had an email from Anne - we could come early! So grateful to them that we could come in, at around 9:30 am, dry off, and sleep off our sleepless 8+ hours flight.


Sleep for Cheap at Vibrant Iceland Hostel - or would you save money staying in town? Depends...
    We quickly realized that camping WAS NOT an option in this pelting rain and predictable snow. We found a cheap hostel through Air Bnb, it cost about 65 CAD for the two of us to share a double bunk - which I recommend if you are travelling with a friend or partner, as a single bed was about 45 CAD each. From there, you can catch the public bus to Reykjavik in about 15 minutes, and it takes only one ticket. But, a ticket is about 5 CAD one way. So depending if you are going to Reykjavik a lot you may find it cheap to find a Air Bnb or hostel in the city. We knew we were only going to to Reykjavik only 2 nights, and be going to the South Island for the next couple days after that so we figured this was still the cheapest option.

Silly goodbye shot of me, Ben, Matt and Huw in the hostel

     Also we figured that we would meet people who would want to share in on adventures with us, and we did! We found Huw and Matthew from Britain. Two hilarious young blokes keen on seeing the countryside. We made food with them at the hostel from the left over traveller's discarded condiments, vegetables and insane amounts of pasta and cream cheese (another reason it was worth it to stay at this hostel - we saved so much money on food). We also decided to split the cost of a rental car together. Based on the weather predictions we thought it would be best to rent on Monday and chug around the island until Wednesday, as our new friends left on Thursday. Ben and I figured we could sleep in the car and cut the cost of the hostel. 


Rental Cars over Bus Tours
On Sunday night I found a cheap rental for Monday online. I went through Budget/Avis (same company in Iceland) and for 190 CAD we rented a Hyundai something-or-rather wagon. Loads of space for gear and long enough for Ben and I to sleep in. All rentals in Iceland in winter come with studded tires so we felt confident on the roads. The car was really fuel efficient, but we probably had to fully fill the tank for our 2 1/2 days of exploration, which cost around 125 - 180 CAD in fuel (really rough estimate, I know).  We went around 700 km, so basically, fuel is PRICEY in Iceland. I noticed that towns / suburbs of Reykjavik were a bit cheap than in the city though. All in all, spit between 4 people though it was a huge savings over booking tours - our friends went home with almost 500 Euros more than planned. (For example, one tour they booked cost about 180 CAD EACH, so they saved a tonne by joining us in the car rental)


Downsides of car rentals in winter
Like I mentioned before, the wind is brutal in Iceland in winter. One day, on our way to a beautiful, secluded and empty hot spring, and back to the hostel, we had to pull over every 10 minutes, for 5-15 minutes because of complete white out conditions. It WAS worth it, to soak in hotsprings by a adorable wooden change hut with runes carved into it and watch some faded green northern lights, for some 4+ hours. But we left the hot springs at maybe 1:30 am and didn't get back until about 5:30 am. It was a 130 km drive, and we were forced to take the coastal southern route because the interior roads were closed due to the extreme snow and wind. Yikes.          

Þingvellir

     So of course we slept in the next day, and we only got to really see one thing, 

Þingvellir. It is a beautiful and historical place that I highly recommend visiting, just a short 1 hour drive from Reykjavik.

A beautiful little community on the Reykjanes penninsula

On Wednesday we took full advantage of a snow-less, rain-less day to explore the Reykjanes Penninsula and some highlights within:

• Bridge between the Continents - between North American and Eurasian plate 
• Gunnuhver - Really cool steam outlet with colourful landscape due to oxidation and excess 
• Selatanger (hail and snow picked up on our walk there so we couldn't find the ruins, but also DONT DRIVE DOWN THE GRAVEL PATH UNLESS YOU HAVE AN EXTREME 4X4) Instead, embrace the elements and the shards of ice in your eyes. Make you appreciate what ancient viking Icelanders put up with at this small fishing settlement some 100 years ago.
• Cafe Bryggjan - bottomless lobster soup and bread with butter. Need I say more? Wash it down with fermented shark, mmmmmmmmmmmm. Cost is 25 CAD though :(

Other ways we did Iceland on the cheap:

• Don't eat out - costs about 25 - 45 for an average meal.
• Groceries. Buy from BONUS or Netto. Or hop into their dumpsters to get your fresh fruit, veggies, containers of salads, etc. 
• Again, dumpsters. Check bakeries, grocery stores, convenience stores, etc. Know your spoiled meat and try to wash everything as best you can in a vinegar or bleach and water mixture before eating. Unless its prepacked and good to go!
• Tray dive! I feel pretty confident about tray diving, most of the time you will not be ingesting someones saliva. It depends what left overs you are grabbing or asking the person who seems done for. Fries, chips, halves of sandwiches, toast, whatever! I also check out who and how is doing the eating, if they appear sick I obviously avoid it. But travelling on a budget makes me less ashamed of eating this way, and diverting food from the landfill. I haven't had this happen but I've heard of people getting fed proper meals at restaurants where they've been tray diving! The best luck we had with tray diving was at the airport, past security in the departures area.
• Happy hour and research your cheap bars. Beer is NOT cheap, its about 16-20 CAD a pint at most places. But, with a little research, we found that Kiki the queer bar, Gaukurinn pub, 9.8 CAD (also has live music / free shows), and another place I forget the name of with 2 beer for 1000 isk, 12.3 CAD
• PS: Tipping is not required, because, gasp! They pay a living wage here.

From Viking World musuem to Hafnarfjordur

• Hitch hiking. On less intense rain or snow days, we found it perfectly managable to hitch hike around the west side of Iceland. Granted, near the city there is NO shoulder, but when we walked on paths or roads paralelling the highway with a sign to our destination, we were often asked if we wanted a ride. People were friendly and often went out of their way to bring us further or directly to our destination! So kind.
• Walking to the airport. We hithched to Keflavik, the town the international airport is in, and then walked via a path all the way to the airport, despite RIDICULOUSLY high winds.
• ***Between hitching and walking we saved about 25 CAD each getting to the airport from Hafnarfjordur (where the hostel is). Would've been more from Reykjavik.
• Staying at the airport. Keyword: staying. We thought we'd save money and time by sleeping at the KEF airport before our flight at 7:30 am, but alas, once we set up our thermarests and sleeping bag on the floor at 1 am, we were rudely awaken at 3 am by a security guard. "GET UP!" She practically shouted at us, "Check in starts at 3:30." So, you can stay at the airport, as we witness a handful of others doing, but, like us, did very little sleeping. 

Tata for now!