By Andrew Booker Winner July 2024
My wife and I were looking for an adventure to celebrate our 10th anniversary and decided on a camper van trip through Iceland. We had been talking about buying a camper van to travel throughout our homeland of Canada so this was a great opportunity for us to try things out and see if we enjoyed the lifestyle. Some research on quality and customer service led us quickly to rent.is and their Volkswagen Beach 4×4 camper.
We had a fantastic time wandering through western Iceland and learned a lot about the camper van and how to use it. I thought I would share a few tips to help out other newcomers to camper vans
After an overnight flight, we arrived on a rainy day. Rent.is was great in showing us the details of the van, we threw in our gear and hit the road. We spend the next couple of days figuring out the best way to configure the van and our stuff. In hindsight, a little time spent upfront to organize ourselves would have made for smoother sailing and less tripping over our gear!
We had a problem with our rented power inverter not working and our wifi hub wasn’t working. A quick backtrack to rent.is and they exchanged both for working models quickly and with no fuss which was much appreciated.
The van was well set up with chairs, pillows, and sleeping bags for four people, but there were just two of us on this trip. We spent the rest of the trip working around the extra gear, which we didn’t need and kept getting in the way. We should have left it at the Rent.is office and not bothered with it as the VW was well equipped for two persons.
Spend a little time upfront getting the hang of the pop-up roof and how to latch it down. It went from 15 minutes of frustration to an easy 30 seconds once we figured out the tricks.
The van was well equipped with everything we needed, but the extra gas cylinder we bought came in very handy and is highly recommended.
Insurance! Even though we didn’t have to use it, the extra insurance was worth the peace of mind. The Platinum PLUS+ package included an extra driver and wifi which worked out great! Many people seem to rely on their credit card to provide coverage but check the fine print. Ours covered overseas rentals, but not for pickup trucks or campervans!
We had already decided to skip the really touristy areas, so we took to the areas less well-traveled.
Dirt and gravel roads were the norm. Even though we didn’t go on any F-roads, the 4WD was handy in the mountains!
Overall, a wonderful trip and we will be back someday, with rent.is high on our list!
