Iceland - Epilogue

Since I started doing cross-country trips by bicycle over 20 years ago, I’ve had thousands of people come up to me inquiring various topics of how, where, when, and why of my journeys. In case someone wants to know how to bike around Iceland, I’ll give you the Director’s Cut.

What did you have to do to make this trip happen?

    Since this wasn't our first rodeo, we didn't panic and stress as much as previous trips. Simply put, our     travel plan was such: We talked about biking on the Ring Road and had various stops we wanted to        make on the way that I had starred on my maps (one stop I was particularly with was be at Akureyri        on Saturday the 9th so we could worship the next day as there are few chapels in Iceland, I needed to     be strategic with where I would be at on weekends so I planned accordingly); Purchase two plane        tickets from EZ Jet airlines for less than $200 gold each I believe, departing from Luton Airport north     of London; bring desired food, gear, and rent bikes (see below);Turn on Holly's roaming for her            phone

What was your Gear List?

    2 panniers each (the bags that go over the back tires, we didn't bring our front panniers since this trip     was short)

    2 small handlebar bags

    2 packpacks plus Holly's little camelback she'd wear which is like half a packpack.

    4 bungee cords

    1/2 roll of Duck Tape (didn't use)

    1 laptop

    1 journal

    6 power banks. Wasn't sure how often I could charge my devices plus my phone is 4 years old and        has lost some of its charge.

    2 sleeping bags

    2 sleeping pads

    1 crappy tent that had a broken pole starting the first night which then tore a hole in our rain fly. I            told Holly that I'm getting her a new tent.

    1 stove (and two different sized pots) to cook with and 1 can of butane. We only used about half of it.     I don't remember the size of the can because we left it at the airport since you can't fly with it. Butane     is easy to purchase abroad. Our stove also allows for a hookup with a canister that takes regular            gasoline, too, for when we do our Asia/Africa trip. 

    1 fork, 1 spoon, 2 fold-abowls, 1 small insulated mug for hot chocolate or Holly's hot water.

    Toiletries

    (The rest of the gear list is what I brought for clothing and can't always speak for what Holly brought     or used. All I know is she packs lighter than me.) I brought two extra pairs of clothes. I think Holly        only brought one extra pair. Since she is Asian and doesn't sweat, she doesn't need as much clothes as     I do. 

    Raincoat and rain pants. The pants didn't always keep me dry. There's a micron rating that rain gear        has. Be familiar with what number works best for you if you plan to do excursions in rainy weather.1     pair of thermal top and bottoms. I used these only a few times when my clothes' were wet and I            needed something dry. (Check out Day #1 blog post of me wearing them!)

    1 light jacket

    1 pair of biking gloves. My fingers are still numb, though.

    1 pair of warmer cold weather gloves. I used this one day when it was really cold and rainy in the        north.

    1 neck scarf thing. Used it a few times and it was nice to cover my neck and face while riding.

    1 beanie. This is very useful at night while you sleep because you lose a lot of warmth from your            head. 

    1 eye mask. This was necessary for the Eternal Daylight here in summer.

What did you do for your bikes?

    We thought about bringing our Montague bikes that we used in Japan but decided to not pay the extra     fees to check them in on the plane and struggle to find a bike box for the way back. So we contacted     Reykjavik Bike Tours and rented two mountain bikes for $1,161.20 (at the time of today's exchange     rate) for 17 days. They were very accommodating and we stored our luggage and everything we            didn't take with us with them while we toured.

What food did you eat?

    Holly packed about a week and a half worth of food from England which saved us a fortune because     everything is expensive in Iceland especially the delicacies. 

    For breakfast we'd consume oatmeal with nuts or dried fruit.

    Snacked on sandwiches, chips, candy, or fruit.

    Dinner we feasted on ramen, dried meals where you add boiling water, or wed' scavenge the                    campsites for abandoned food like one place had a bag of rice and three potatoes! We ate like Kings     and Queens that night. We didn't have as much success dumpster diving like we did in Japan.

    We went out to eat 4-5 times I think.

    Bought a lot of Nocco and other fun drinks. We'd also sample the abundance of black licorice                flavored candies which are deliciousssssssssssssssssssss.

How much did everything cost?

    Holly added it up and it was around 3,000 gold coins we spent together.