My name is Diego, I am 1.5 years old. This summer my parents decided to fly to Iceland for my first big holiday. So I had to go!
We arrived in the late afternoon at Keflavík and a friendly guy from Rent.is was waiting for us. He brought us to the office, where we picked up our camper. Although we had a time difference of two hours I was too excited to sleep when we started driving. For the first time in my life, I could sit in the front of the car, just between my mum and dad, and enjoy the premium view out of the huge windscreen. Sitting next to my dad, I was able to study how he is driving and it took me just one week to learn it by myself. Unfortunately, I am still too small to reach the pedals.
At the beginning of our round trip we drove through Snæfellsnes and the Westfjords. I liked all the long and winding roads along the fjords. One day we saw a seal lying on a stone in the sun, posing for the attracted tourists. It was the same day, close to Tálknafjörður, when we saw two polar fox playing together and making strange things I had never seen before. In the evening I had my first hot pot experience. We went to Pollurinn, which had three small pools with hot, really hot and extreme hot water. Although, we had for some time all three of them for ourselves, I just tried two of them, and I liked it very much because it was only 12 degrees outside. One thing I learned here is that next time I definitely will drink less of the thermal water. After the hot pot visit, we took our table and our chairs out of the camper and had dinner directly at the banks of the fjord.
During our time in the northern part we came through Húsavík, where I made my first boat tour. I had to wear a really warm suit that was for four year old children. So I was not able to move a lot. It was raining and there were large waves shaking our boat. That were excellent conditions for me to get an additional 2.5 hours morning sleep, in the arms of my dad. Unfortunately I missed the two humble whales that crossed our boat. My parents told me, how they spotted them, and my mum even fed them with her breakfast. Further, we also visited the area of Mývatn. In this thermal highly active area I climbed on volcanoes, hiked through huge lava areas, passed bubbling mud holes and smelled the sulphur in the air. Of course we also enjoyed the hot pot lagoon there. Going further east we had some longer drives, where I had enough time to read a lot about all kind of animals in my books. Sometimes I directly started dreaming of them.
In the eastern part of Iceland we made a beautiful hike to Hengifoss, which is at the Lagarfljót lake. The path went always close to a river and you pass a few smaller waterfalls until you reach the large Hengifoss waterfall. It was nice and sunny there, so we cooled our feet in the cold water. After the hike we went to Klausturkaffi in Skriðuklaustur. There we enjoyed a lunch buffet, that had the best food in all over Iceland. For me it was the first time, I could convince my parents to get some (actually a lot of) pieces from various delicious cakes and cookies. Since we also stayed the night at the campground directly at the lake, we liked this part of Iceland very much.
In the southern part of Island I saw black sand beaches and also large banks with small well formed and smooth stones. I liked to grab and carry them and to throw them into the water. A spectacular place to do this is the ice lagoon of Jökulsárlón. Sitting there, watching the iceberg on their slow drift to the ocean, touching small pieces of ice that are washed to the banks, seeing the blue ice of the glacier reflecting the sunlight, and guessing what kind of sculptures the iceberg are, is just awesome! Of course, while throwing small stones and grabbing them again, I also tried how cold the water was, and now I can say it is ice cold.
In the south-western part we were lucky to meet some of the cute Puffins at the black beach in Reynisfjara, which is close to Vik. One of them was sitting on a rock where he was washed down by the waves of the ocean several times, but he always dried his wings and got up again. That is a little bit like me. I always get wet and dirty, when I am playing close to water, but until the next time I am always clean and dry again.
For the night we found a very nice campground next to the Gljúfrabúi waterfall. Parking our camper in the right direction we could see and listen to the waterfall when lying in our bed. It is just a 500 meter walk from there to Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall where you can walk behind (and get wet).
Since I liked the hot pots so much, we also went to Reykjadalur, which is close to Hveragerði. After 45 minutes of hiking through cold wind and rain, we reached the hot river where we enjoyed a long bath. This was really relaxing, so I could sleep the entire way back, while my dad was carrying me.
At every evening the table in our car was folded down so that our big bed was prepared in just a minute. Since I could sleep there every evening in my sleeping bag just between my mum and dad, I had no problems falling asleep and I believe I never woke up at night. At least it was never dark outside when I woke up!
I really enjoyed the two weeks and I cannot imagine a better way to explore Iceland than by a camper. No other option is so flexible: you need not book the accommodation in advance; you must not fight with the storm to built your tent; and you can shorten or lengthen the day tours according to my mood.
Read more: 4 Days in the west of Iceland
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