Drive Through Iceland 3 : Understanding the Logistics

 

Hekla Ice Glacier, Iceland

Katla Ice Glacier, Iceland

This is in continuation of earlier Blog: 2 Preplanning………..

Food – How do vegetarians survive?
We are strict vegetarians.  Pushpa, my wife was on a month-long shraavan fast, when she has only one meal a day. Unsure of what we would get for lunch, it would be best to have a heavy breakfast before leaving the hotel.  With enough cereal, bread, nuts and/or fruits for breakfast, even a sandwich is usually adequate for lunch. If breakfast and lunch are taken care of, dinner would depend on the vegetarian options we had on the given day.

As soon as we arrived at the airport, we picked up some snacks, bread and juice from a super market located right at the airport and went for replenishment wherever we got an opportunity. Considering  vegetarians options would be few, this would be our emergency backup. Water was taken care of since Iceland has the purest possible tap water!

As it turned out on this trip, our attempts at restaurants were not encouraging since they carried a heavy non-vegetarian odour.  We ended up back in the hotel’s restaurant or have the packed food we had with us – theplas, fruits, chutney, pickles and yoghurt. Nishi was happy as she would invariably get pasta and ketchup or sauce – very much to her taste. The last day was a feast because we got nice Italian pizza!  In any case, it was understood amongst the three of us that the main focus of our trip was to enjoy Iceland.  Quality of food was more or less irrelevant.

Cash or Card?

Visa and Master Credit cards were accepted everywhere in Iceland, even in the smallest of shops at the most isolated places.  Though I carried some local currency, it was not really necessary

Shopping was in restricted range as everything in Iceland is very expensive.  Practically everything is imported.

Going places

Iceland’s public transport system, especially the mountain buses, can get you to more or less all the places you would like to visit. But, I wanted to drive myself.  Besides, self drive would surely be more convenient and save a lot of time. I hired a car right from Keflavik airport –  a 4-wheel drive version of the Nissan CX5.

Iceland is shaped like a human heart!   Ring route No.1, a highway, goes around the country’s circumference, along the coast.  Most tourists with 8-10 days at hand, take this well-surfaced highway.  But, Route 1 misses out on a lot of interesting, though difficult to reach sites located in the interiors.

In August, the day time lasts about 18 hours from 5 AM to 11PM.  My average daily plan included a 3-4 hour drive and 5-6 hours of sight-seeing.  The plan was to start after breakfast at 8-9 AM, finish by 4-6 PM and then relax the rest of the evening.  We had enough cushion for any breakdowns or emergencies.

Since we had a child with us, we restricted the driving time to just 3-4 hours a day. That was a mistake.  Nishi enjoyed every moment of the experience, be it food, drive or trek. The so-called child, Nishi, had more energy than both of us and she would be absolutely fresh for nana-masti or a pillow-fight at the end of the day.  Had I properly assessed her level of energy earlier, I would have included a few more interesting places in my itinerary!

Contd as DTI 4 – fun begins…………….

Written : Badri Baldawa

Edited  : Meeta Kabra

 

This entry was posted in Adventure travel, Challenge, Driving, Fun, My First Lessons, Wonders and tagged , , by badri. Bookmark the permalink.

About badri

As I approached 68 (2013), my son, Anand insisted that I had proven enough in my 45-year long career and it was time I took life a little easier; enjoy traveling (that I love) and social life. Yet, I somehow wanted to contribute positively and was exploring my options. My son-in-law, Navin suggested that I should write and share my experiences, “being a self-made man, you should tell the next generation how you overcame various obstacles to reach this position, in both, business and social circles.” He pointed out that while I was sharing my experiences with family and friends, as they approached me, a blog had the potential to take your voice to many, many more. He also insisted that I start mentoring youngsters who were new in their businesses. I was convinced. I offered my services pro bono, as part of a Guidance Program. Also, I started writing on this blog, bringing out figments from my memory as experiences that might be of value to the readers here. My daughter Meeta is sweet enough to spare her time to edit what I write. As a youngster, I thought one meal a day, one set of school uniform a year, a public place to study, lack of finance and basic shelter would keep me from achieving my dreams. To compensate, I started giving 110% of what was normally expected. Yes, 110% even in bad deeds! This worked. The very limitations started inspiring me in different phases of my life – meritorious results in studies; strength to shoulder family responsibilities; satisfied employers; establishing a successful business of my own; and in my adventure trips and other travel plans. Having done what I wanted to, I agreed it was time for me to expose myself! I felt, through this blog, I could and should share my expereinces. Hopefully, readers would find some bits useful and if not, they’d enjoy reading. Look forward to interact with you. Happy Reading, Badri Baldawa

6 thoughts on “Drive Through Iceland 3 : Understanding the Logistics

  1. Nice ????????
    It’s not called noodles it’s called pasta ????, nana and I could sure do with a pillow fight after each day

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