Category Archives: Camping

Oct7

An accident at the end of the world. Or, Icelandic roads are icy, and winds treacherous.

Posted on October 7, 2025 by perfectusvarrus

Thursday, 26-Dec-2024

There was an incident driving back to the airport in Iceland.

Now, let’s be clear here. I was safe, I was uninjured, and I wasn’t in a rush. This happened a day before my flight – I knew there was a risk while driving on the icy roads of the North, and so I planned in quite a bit of extra time. I was FAR below the recommended speed on those roads, doing 30kph vs. the official 80kph… or the 70kph of the people passing my plodding van. I had studded tires, an emergency beacon, and plenty of food and water.

All I didn’t have was a level horizon.

With that out of the way, let’s begin at the beginning – I had packed up camp and hit the road a day before my flight was due to take off from Reykjavik, planning on taking 3hrs to do the 1hr drive from Thingvellir back to Blue Lagoon, before heading the 20min to my campsite for the evening.

I made breakfast, had coffee, and locked everything down before heading onto the icy highway… carefully testing the road and the brakes before leaving the national park. The road conditions looked good on the Icelandic website that tracks those things, and I was feeling optimistic that I’d be sitting in a hot spring within 2hrs… maybe 2.5hrs.

Unfortunately, an errant wind gust (or possibly a surprise break in the wind) sent the van slowly and steadily sliding off the road and into the fluffy embankment of snow off the side.

A call to the rental agency.
A call to the towing agency.
Calls to Andrea, and my folks, to keep them in the loop.
Waiting. Lots of waiting.

2 hours later, a wrecker truck appears through the drifting snow… and an hour after that, the van is back on the main road.

Then, I’m on the path again… but this time, with the wrecker behind me just in case. And a rather hefty sum of money no longer in my account… but, I’m back on the road.

Oct4

At the end of the world, for the end of the year

Posted on October 4, 2025 by perfectusvarrus

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Monday, 23-Dec-2024, through Friday, 27-Dec-2024

I didn’t quite want to fly back to the United States for Christmas. Flights were long, they were expensive, and there weren’t any really good options that stood out to me.

Andrea was in Germany with her family, but we were still a bit too early in our relationship for me to join them. The invitation was there, of course, but it felt a bit intrusive for me to be a part of their Christmas celebrations this soon.

Staying in Dublin was an option, of course. But it didn’t quite feel right either… I’d been staying in town quite a bit, and I wanted the chance to see the Northern Lights, if at all possible… not something particularly likely on the Irish Island, regardless of how far North I went.

My thoughts strayed to Norway, to Finland, and to Lapland. Good options, but complex in terms of transit and connections.

Finally, a plan settled in for Iceland – a country I’ve been to, and rented a vehicle from, and knew at least vaguely well. Flights were booked, a campervan reserved, and campsites selected from the few still open in the long cold dark of Icelandic winter.

My bags were packed, my plan confirmed, and soon enough I was on my way.

I don’t mind the solitude – I really don’t.

It was calm, cold, and quiet… After the intense socialization of the MBA, the quiet and solitude was incredibly welcome – as was the cold, after the consistently mild temperatures found in Dublin proper. I took my time with walking around Thingvallir, with watching the latest Star Wars series on Disney, and with catching up on some blog posts.

I read, I relaxed, and I soaked up the glorious cold and the snowy environment.

I didn’t quite make it out to the hot springs, unfortunately, but I was able to catch a small glimpse of the Northern Lights one evenings, through a small gap in the clouds… They weren’t quite the intensity that I’d hoped for, unfortunately, and so my quest continues.

A few nights, a few hikes, lots of snow and wind… it was a glorious break.

Jun2

Þingvellir Park (pronounced Thingvellir, vaguely)

Posted on June 2, 2024 by perfectusvarrus

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Monday, 13-May-2024, a bit of Tuesday, 14-May-2024, and a little bit more on Friday, 17-May-2024

Silfra Fissure isn’t the only thing to see in Þingvellir park.

I know, shocker right?

After my friends had headed out to get checked into their hotel, I took a bit of time to wander around and take in the scenery of Þingvellir. I walked the nature trails, looked at signs, and appreciated the views and the lovely (absolutely staggeringly lovely) weather. It was cool (but not cold) and sunny (but not overly bright), and thankfully there weren’t too many tourists clogging the trails.

I’ll let the placards speak for themselves, but the summary is this: Þingvellir means “Assembly area” in Icelandic. Which makes sense, since it’s where the Icelandic chieftains would assembly for their annual parlament, the Alþingi. Pronounced, vaguely, “Allthingy”.

I’ll include a wikipedia link at the bottom, but the short summary that I learned is that the Chieftains would convene for as long as it took to discuss laws, review cases where laws had been broken, and pass judgement. They’d trade during that time, or their followers would, and they’d reside in smallish houses that they’d build each year for that express purpose.

Not even considering the history, it’s an absolutely beautiful park. Adding that history in, and… well, that’s really cool.

(Yes, I was able to fly the drone around a bit! Drone flights are limited to before 9am and after 6pm, though, so… thanks to Iceland for forcing me to fly at golden hour!)