By the time you’re reading this, I’ll already be in Iceland and if you don’t like my list, there’s nothing you can do about it! And I know people won’t like my list because I joined the Iceland travel Facebook group a few weeks back and I know people have opinions about suitable clothing, which I, a person who’s been to Iceland seventeen times, do not necessarily agree with!
Camping
I’m actually glamping this year. I’m Having a Birthday this very week and it’s the sort of birthday you celebrate, so between that and some inheritance, I’m splashing out on two weeks with a campervan. Therefore, I’m not taking my tent (Blacks Octane 1, now more or less rebranded, with minor upgrades, as the OEX Bobcat 1) or my sleeping mat (Mountain Equipment Helium 3.8) which I normally take to Iceland in the summer. I’ve never mastered the art of ultralight packing but those two fit quite nicely in a duffle bag (Mountain Equipment Wet & Dry 70l Kitbag) along with enough other stuff for a week or so.
What I am taking is my own sleeping bag. It’s a Mountain Hardware Lamina Z Flame 4-season bag which I bought when I was hiking and camping the Laugavegur Trail in 2018 – it’s no longer available so no link. I last had a campervan in Iceland in 2017 and I was definitely chilly right up until the last night, when it occurred to me to sleep in my thermals, so I’m expecting to be toasty in a van in July & August with a 4-season sleeping bag. You can hire a sleeping bag, which means you don’t need hold luggage but I prefer the idea of having my own bag that no one else has ever used, which I know will be more than warm enough.
I’m also going to take a little plastic box of cutlery. I’m reasonably sure the van will have stuff for eating provided but the little box, bought with my pfand from returning plastic bottles to the supermarket in Berlin last year, doesn’t take up much space and then I know for sure that I’ve got something to eat with.
And since I have hold luggage, I’m going to take my Opinel knives. I have two of them, both with nice wooden handles, both N°07. The green one has a sharp point and the blue one has a rounded end which means it’s good for spreading butter but both blades are razor sharp and they’re really useful… well, for cutting things. Cheese, mostly.
That’s about it for camping stuff. The rest will be provided with the van – there’ll be a box of plastic plates and bowls and cups and cutlery, a camping stove and the basic pots & pans and utensils and a cushion and blanket.
Swimming stuff
Obviously I’m taking my swimming stuff! Most of the point of going to Iceland is to spend time in hot geothermal water! Two swimsuits – one on, one drying – plus two travel towels and a drybag are the basics. I’m also going to pop in my pool flipflops. I don’t normally take them but I bought them when I went on the Great German Spa Towns trip back in February and it doesn’t hurt to have a pair of pool-only shoes with you, especially if you’re exploring new-to-you pools that might require them, hint-hint.
In with my pool stuff is my GoPro because the lagoons actively encourage photos. I’m going to take a couple of other mounts for other adventures but for taking photos in the lagoons, the GoPro lives on the the floaty handle. The official name is The Handler and it’s my favourite mount. It gives me something to hold onto that means my hand doesn’t take up 70% of the photo and it floats. The image of the kayaking guide’s face as I casually chucked it into Jökulsárlón two years ago will be burned into my retinas until the day I die. Yes, it floats. I’m also taking a mount to film out the front of the van and I’ve invested in a couple of spares batteries and a battery charger, so hopefully I won’t be struggling by the end of the trip like I was last time. You’ll see it later on in this post.
Clothes
Now we get down to the meat of the business! Yes, the Facebook group is right that you need to expect bad weather. The Facebook group is not necessarily right that if you don’t have precisely the right brand of waterproof sock, hiking boot and rain pant that you’re “putting people’s lives at risk”.
For summer, I spend the majority of my time in Iceland wearing sandals. I go through a succession of hiking sandals. My first pair lasted fourteen years; my last ones less than one year. The onese I’ve been wearing recently are a pair I bought last year in a hurry in Decathlon in Łódź and they’re actually kids’ sandals – Quechua Kids’ Hiking Sandals MH120 TW. They’re bright blue and look like kids’ sandals. But the ones I’m taking to Iceland are the black and orange variant. First, sandals have got into a habit of falling apart really quickly, so if you find some you like, buy them in multiple colours. Second, I’m very picky about sandals. They need to have fairly thick sturdy straps and they need to be waterproof. I looked at so many last year which were almost perfect except the insole was a furry suede-like finish which didn’t look nearly as waterproof as plain rubbery-plastic. Usually the straps are too thin or the toes are closed or there’s some other reason they’re just not what I’m looking for. According to the Facebook group, wearing sandals in Iceland even in summer means certain death. According to me, who has worn sandals from April through to September (ok, even I draw the line at wearing them between December and February), they’re great. Third, if they come in kids’ sizes that actually fit you, take advantage of the kids’ prices and lack of VAT! I now have these sandals in three colours – bright blue, black & orange, pink & grey.
I do take a pair of proper hiking boots with me too, though. In fact, because they’re the heavier shoe, I wear the boots and take the sandals with me in my luggage. My plan was to take my Mammut Nova Women’s GTX boots, also bought for the Laugavegur in 2018. However, the uppers are starting to come apart, which is probably just the age of them, although it may be that I haven’t taken proper care of them. So I might take my hillwalking boots instead, which are a slightly wider fit (as in the Mammuts are narrow, not that the others are wide) but they’re not especially waterproof. They don’t really need to be. I only really put boots on when I’m hiking (so I’d wear them if I did the Askja trip or the volcano hike) or when I’m going to a hot springs area, by which I mean one of those places where the ground is literally boiling and you could at any moment put your foot through a fragile crust and into something hot. It’s that hot that hiking boots won’t actually protect you but it feels safer than strolling out there with my toes exposed.
For trousers, I’ve got three pairs of lightweight quick-drying hiking trousers from Decathlon. Two of them zip off to turn into shorts, which I do occasionally let them do in Iceland in summer. I’ll also take my waterproof trousers but if it rains, I’m very prone to jumping in the car and running to the nearest pool to wait it out rather than battling the weather. I may also take my fleece Cintamani trousers but at the moment, that’s still a decision to be made.
I’ve got a little pile of t-shirts. Just ordinary t-shirts. I’m taking one of my Solo crop tops because occasionally it does get hot and you want to be cool and it’ll be the lavender one. I’m trying to be a bit more colourful. Two years ago, as I edited the videos, I realised how much time I spent in greys and blacks. I love my reputation stadium tour t-shirt but it doesn’t look colourful on camera! So as well as the Solo crop top, my plan is to take my red Vatnajökull national park t-shirt, my green Eldhestar t-shirt. my big pink luminous t-shirt and my black Katla t-shirt. In case it’s chilly, I’ve chucked in my usual favourite misshapen slightly transparent yellow long-sleeved Lucy & Yak Kenny top. Plus I can’t quite resist my favourite oversized soft brown and black checked shirt as a half-layer. Because this is Iceland, I’m going to chuck in a thermal top and that’ll be either my yellow one or the bright blue one I had for Christmas and haven’t worn yet. Two jumpers as well – I love my soft yellow Solo sweatshirt and I feel like it’s something I don’t have to be terribly careful of because it’s designed for travel. The second one will be my Cintamani fleece jacket. That’s plenty of tops.
Because the Icelandic weather is hugely unpredictable, I’ll also take my packable down jacket because it’s so small and lightweight and easy that it’s stupid not to. I have a beautiful waterproof, strictly speaking a sailing waterproof, the Verso Lite Jacket by Gill, which I won in a competition I didn’t know existed and certainly hadn’t entered, and the same with the waterproof trousers, which are actually more like massive salopettes. The jacket has a nice big kangaroo pocket and when it’s not in use, I can fold the whole thing into that pocket so it fits easily in a bag.
Finally, I always take a hat. You’d be amazed how often you need a woolly hat, even in summer. It’ll be one of my Bear Knitcessities ones, made for me by my friend Tom. Last time, it was the Northern Lights hat, which is navy blue with rainbow flecks. This year, it’ll be the Musselburgh hat. Strictly speaking, it’s Fluffy Clouds’ turn but the Musselburgh hat has only had one trip so far and it hasn’t been to Iceland, plus it’s reversible so it’s two hats in one. Oh, and I’ll take my yellow bucket hat to keep the sun off me as well, of course.
Other miscellaneous bits
Then there’s the mountain of other bits and pieces. My washbag, for example, which contains all the obvious plus my lightweight travel hairwashing bag, which contains solid shampoo and conditioner bars in tins with a little mat to dry them on. With liquid conditioner, the little 100ml bottles do about one wash but sometimes I struggle to get through a whole bottle of conditioner bought at the supermarket on arrival, plus they take up space and weight in luggage. Solid bars are very light and they last months.
Sunglasses, of course. I’m something of a vampire and I’ll wear sunglasses on days when you think it’s time to switch the lights on. Jewellery – I’m building up a collection of waterproof jewellery because I like to try to look a bit put-together when I’m taking pictures in lagoons, even if I know I haven’t actually brushed my hair in two days and my eyes are falling out because I haven’t slept in the tent properly. I’ve got two pairs of gold hoops and one of gunmetal silver, plus two gold chains. I like to wear my Alrun Orka pendant, which isn’t waterproof and visibly tarnishes after wearing it in geothermal water but I’ll get a polishing cloth between now and departure, which won’t take up much space, and polish it up after wearing. I’ll take my ID bracelet – I bought it when I went to Iceland in 2013 when I was getting around by bus and camping in the mountains and didn’t realise how civilised it was all going to be. I genuinely had visions of my body needing to be identified. So nowadays I quite often wear it just because it feels like a not-entirely-stupid precaution to take. Another few bracelets are a stainless steel chain and a stainless steel bangle, neither of which tarnish. I’ll also wear my El Camino bracelet because that’s jewellery meant to be worn while travelling.
It’s not strictly jewellery but I always wear a watch. My travel one is a Casio Baby G which I bought in 2018. The strap snapped earlier in the year and instead of replacing it with a shiny black one, I replaced it with a semi-transparent pink one to match the bright pink face. I swear, people who’ve seen me wearing it 1000 times have been complimenting me on it as if they’ve never seen it before. I mean, it’s fair enough that they don’t recognise it as the same watch but if you’re going to notice a Baby G, surely you notice it just as much during the past seven years on a black strap as on a pink one? It’s waterproof, it’s knockproof, it’s pretty much bombproof (other than the occasional strap snapping) and it lights up!
I like to keep a “scrapbook on the road“, so I’ve made one for this year in the same size as my 2022 scrapbook, which covered both my April and summer trips. It’s bound with binder rings and I’ll chuck in my mini hole punch, a tape mouse and a roll of washi tape so I can stick things in and add things to the very fabric of the book. I really enjoyed that in 2016, which is a trip I remember in vivid detail precisely because of the little book, but it’s something I haven’t done properly since. At this point, I don’t really buy things in Iceland – except the lava necklace in December, the lava earrings and the eruption enamel mug last summer – but I like to collect stickers, receipts, postcards and the sort of thing that can be put in a scrapbook. Then there’s a handful of pens, some charcoal for sketching and a tiny watercolour palette. I probably won’t do much sketching or painting but if I don’t take it, I’ll burn to do it.
For entertainment, I’ve got an actual physical book (Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned) and I’ll take my Kindle for all the times I don’t fancy some vampires right then. I’ll have a notebook for all the blogs I want to start writing and the book I should be working on and all the scribbles that don’t go in the scrapbook. I think that’s it – I listen to music in the car at home but I probably won’t bother in Iceland, but I’ll have my headphones for movies on the plane.
I’ll have a load of camera stuff too. My main camera is a compact superzoom, the Lumix DC-TZ90 along with a tiny Gorillapod tripod that I carry a lot more than I use. I’ll take my film camera too, most likely the little plasticky Kodak but I’d love to bring the big Miranda, and of course spare film. GoPro, as mentioned before. Spare batteries for all, of course. To keep them charged, I’ll have my powerbank and I’ll take a 12v adaptor for the car with three more sockets and two USBs, since keeping things charged when you’re living out of campsites is a nightmare. I was really struggling by my last couple of days last year – my main camera just refused to work, the GoPro had enough battery for one last adventure and I was dipping in and out enough that even my phone wasn’t building up enough charge in the car between trips. According to the website, the van will have a USB charger but I don’t know whether it’s -A or -C and I don’t know if that means it doesn’t have a 12v socket too.
Volcano hike
That was it for the original post but a few days before I was due to go, it was announced that the new volcano was open to the public via a 9km round hike, which changed my plans slightly. Potentially. Right now, I have no idea what the volcano will be like by Saturday or Sunday or what the weather will be like. But I need to be prepared for potentially going to the volcano because I don’t have it in me to cold-bloodedly decide not to bother with a volcano! I’ll dither over hill vs mountain boots for the next few days – the hill boots are in better condition but they’re a little less waterproof and a little less sturdy than the mountain ones. Do I want to risk my mountain boots coming apart or do I want to risk wet feet?
I’ll throw in another thermal top, a pair of gloves, maybe my green lightweight fleece and my first aid kit. I was going to go first aid kit-less but if I’m hiking the mountains, let’s not be stupid. Its contents haven’t changed dramatically since I wrote that post about it in 2021. It’s the one I take to Dartmoor so it’s geared more towards hiking problems than major or medical incidents. The box of hydrocolloid blister plasters is topped up already, cooling and disinfectant sprays are full, I’ve got a blister stick and electrical tape and I’ve got a silver emergency blanket as well as a few other bits and pieces. Oh, and my hiking poles! They’ll be a pain to have in the van, especially if I don’t end up going to the volcano but they were invaluable last time, especially when my joints started coming apart on the way back. And I’ll want to track the hike but not completely wear out my phone, so I’ll take my GPS tracker, which has mostly been rendered obsolete by Strava.
I hadn’t really thought much about luggage except that the hold bag will be my big red duffle bag but if there’s a chance of volcanoes, my hand luggage will have to be my 45l backpack instead of my usual backpack-suitcase Osprey Farpoint 40, because I’m not carrying the Osprey across the mountains. It’s no bad thing to have a day-to-day backpack, anyway – useful for bringing the shopping back or carrying a few spare bits when you go out for a half-day stroll or to the pool.
And that really is all! Nothing is going to happen in the next three days to make my change my packing again!
I Am A Polar Bear 